Top Domestic Grosser 2022 (U.S only)

⇒ $718,732,821

Top Global Grosser 2022

 

⇒ $1,546,789,379

Highest-grossing films of 2022^[1][2]

Rank	Title	Distributor	Worldwide gross
1	Avatar: The Way of Water	Disney / 20th Century	$1,546,789,379
2	Top Gun: Maverick	Paramount	$1,488,732,821
3	Jurassic World Dominion	Universal	$1,003,674,010
4	Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness	Disney	$955,775,804
5	Minions: The Rise of Gru	Universal	$939,628,210
6	Black Panther: Wakanda Forever	Disney	$823,808,321
7	The Batman	Warner Bros.	$770,836,163
8	Thor: Love and Thunder	Disney	$760,928,081
9	The Battle at Lake Changjin II	Huaxia	$626,571,697
10	Moon Man	Mahua FunAge	$460,237,662

‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ Crosses $955 Million at the Global BO!!

After an excellent second weekend at the box office, where it ended up exceeding projections by quite a bit, director James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water has shot past the $950 million mark at the global box office to become the third-biggest film of the year. With $293 million domestically and another $661 million from overseas markets, the long-awaited science-fiction sequel has now made $955 million worldwide.

This takes the film past the lifetime global tally of Marvel’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and puts it at the third spot behind Jurassic World Dominion ($1.003 billion) and Top Gun: Maverick ($1.488 billion) on the 2022 list. The Way of Water will overtake Dominion (and $1 billion) before it enters its third weekend of release, and is currently expected to finish as the top-performing film of 2022 when all is said and done.

It is, however, still unclear if the film can hit the high threshold for success that Cameron has publicly set for it. The filmmaker has said The Way of Water was so expensive to produce — reports put the budget north of $400 million — that it will need to finish as the third or fourth-biggest film of all time to break even. This translates to around $2 billion in global box office revenue.

And even though The Way of Water didn’t hold as well as the first Avatar on a weekend-to-weekend basis, it still managed to exceed expectations at the domestic box office by nearly $10 million — that’s a lot. With little competition in the next couple of months — at least not until Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania drops — The Way of Water has a clear runway ahead of it.

Buoyed by positive word-of-mouth and the “event-movie” status that was so beneficial to the first movie as well, The Way of Water is currently showing strong legs over the holiday season. The first Avatar, released in 2009, famously had a rather muted debut at the domestic box office, but went on to dominate the marketplace for months. It ultimately finished as the highest-grossing movie of all time. Accounting for the several re-releases over the last decade, the film has made $785 million stateside and $2.9 billion globally. It was briefly overtaken as the biggest movie in history by Avengers: Endgame, before reclaiming the title shortly afterwards. At the same stage in its domestic run, the first Avatar had made $232 million.

The sequel takes place over a decade after the events of the first film, and follows the protagonists Jake Sully and Neytiri as they flee a familiar threat and seek refuge among the water clans of the tropical world of Pandora. Cameron spent years tinkering with the technology necessary for the sequel, and is presenting the film in state-of-the-art fluctuating High Frame Rate.

The Way of Water’s $955 million haul puts it just outside the top 50 all-time list, behind The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug ($959 million) and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End ($960 million). The film’s biggest international territories are China ($104 million despite a new COVID outbreak), South Korea ($25 million), France ($21 million) and Australia ($20 million).

via Collider

Despite Winter Weather ‘Avatar 2’ to Set $82M 4-Day Total at the BO!!

We’re hearing that some of those nearly 80 theaters that were closed are trying to get open today for what typically is the first of many lucrative moviegoing days as holiday distractions ease. That’s been complicated this year by Winter Storm Elliott in the Midwest, power outages and a deep wind chill that’s keeping many at home.

As far as where the box office stands now, as one distribution source observes, “These numbers are still very fluid.” Studios and exhibitors are hopeful for a bounce in business as the wicked winter weather calms.

Disney is sticking to its estimates on Avatar: The Way of Water, calling a $56M 3-day and $82M 4-day. Rivals believe that a great day is in store and that it could go to about $63M for the 3-day and $95M for 4-day, but that won’t be apparent until later today. Universal also largely is sticking to its 3-day and 4-day of $11.3M and $17.8M on Puss in Boots: The Last Wish. Nobody wants to get over their skis in trying to over-project a lackluster marketplace. Best to underestimate and overdeliver. Worldwide, Puss in Boots 2 is at $50.8M.

Said Universal Domestic Distribution Boss Jim Orr: “Puss In Boots: The Last Wish is the perfect movie to see this holiday season. This smart, sweet and funny film from DreamWorks Animation proves some franchises, and cats, only get better with age. Audiences across North America are obviously loving this next adventure, and we couldn’t be more proud.” Despite the pic coming in under Sing 2‘s 5-day of $39.6M, the confidence is that the DreamWorks sequel will be the definite second choice behind the Avatar sequel in the next few weeks.

Getting hurt the most under these circumstances are the new adult-targeted pics I Wanna Dance with Somebody and Babylon, which still are close to their single-digit projections. Even under the best of market conditions, Damien Chazelle’s opulent-priced $80M Hollywood period movie still would have suffered off its bad reviews and audiences scores, but we’ll have to see where overseas comes in as well as the next few hopefully normal days at the box office before we assess the damage. We stand corrected: C2 came in on as the co-financier on Babylon. Still, despite this shortfall for the Melrose Lot, the $1.48 billion global bounty from the studio’s Top Gun: Maverick alone will hopefully cover up any red ink here. At $3.5M 3-day and $5.3M 4-day, the Margot Robbie-Brad Pitt movie tanked, but so did TriStar’s Whitney Houston biopic. I Wanna Dance with Somebody didn’t even touch its $12M 4-day projection with an estimated $5.3M 3-day and $7.5M-$9M. But because it’s a distribution deal for Sony, there’s less damage for the studio.

 

via Deadline

‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ Launches with $134M and $435M at the Domestic and Worldwide BO!!

20th Century Studios/Disney’s Avatar: The Way of Water is coming in close to where we told you last night: $44.5M for Saturday and an opening weekend of $134M. The global $435M start of Avatar 2 puts Disney very close to notching the $4 billion mark worldwide for the year.

Despite Avatar: The Way of Water missing its $150M-$175M projections, rival distribution sources and exhibition aren’t bothered –nor do they believe that the sky is falling for cinema– particularly for a movie that cost according to sources (not Disney) at about around $460M before P&A. When it comes to the ultimate fate of Avatar 2, which was propped greatly by Imax, PLF and premium 3D ticket sales this weekend at 62%, we have to play the long-game. Factor in that 20% of the sequel’s presales are for showtimes beyond this weekend. Normally for an average Marvel movie, their presales stand at 5% beyond opening weekend. Each day from Monday through New Year’s weekend, is like a Saturday at the box office. Media outlets at the time of Titanic and Avatar‘s play immediately declared them bombs before they respectively became the highest grossing movies of all-time (the former before the latter).

As those studio executives who’ve worked with the Avatar filmmaker before exclaim, “Don’t ever bet against Jim Cameron.”

“We got the word of mouth, we’ve got a great movie, we have the screens and a clear run ahead throughout the holidays,” beamed Disney EVP of Theatrical Distribution Tony Chambers.

Providing confidence that Avatar 2 has a great play ahead are its stellar audience exits (A CinemaScore, 91% and 5 stars on ComScore/Screen Engine PostTrak) and great ability to hold. In fact, the movie is already holding in full force. Avatar 2‘s Friday to Saturday decline is only -16%. That’s the best Friday-to-Saturday hold for a year-end tentpole release of late beating Rise of Skywalker (-47%), Force Awakens (-43%), Spider-Man: No Way Home (-39%), The Last Jedi (-39%), and Rogue One (-35%).

Top Gun: Maverick was floated as a comp to Avatar 2 given how it was a long-awaited sequel to a legacy film. Avatar 2‘s ease from Friday is even ahead of that Tom Cruise title which declined -27% between its first Friday and Saturday. Top Gun 2 had a 5.67x multiple off its 3-day opening of $126.7M and got to $718.7M. See how that worked? It’s the 7th highest opening of 2022, but the top grossing movie of the year. Tentpoles do leg out off lower openings, and that’s the expectation here with Avatar 2 as moviegoers seek out the best tickets in the best formats in the coming weeks.

Again, there’s no direct competition for quite some time. A backloaded grossing movie like Avatar 2 is good for exhibition heading into a Q1 that’s largely dry of tentpoles until Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania on Feb. 17.

More juice for Avatar 2: schools start Christmas breaks on Monday per Comscore, with 41% K-12 off and 77% colleges. That jumps to 82% K-12 and 94% colleges off by Friday.

Drilling down more on the hold factor here for Avatar 2 throughout its opening weekend: It’s even better percentile-wise than Rogue One. That Star Wars prequel had $29M in Thursday previews, rose +45% on Friday to $42M, and then only upticked +10% on its first Saturday to $46.3M. Avatar 2‘s Thursday ($17M) to Friday ($36M) jump was a great +113%, and the Friday-to-Saturday surge here to $44.5M is a commendable +24%.

Avatar: The Way of Water‘s opening here is the 6th best domestic debut in December after Spider-Man: No Way Home ($260.1M), Force Awakens ($247.9M), Last Jedi ($220M), Rise of Skywalker ($177.3M) and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story ($155M).

Breaking down the premium of it all: Avatar: The Way of Water saw 31% of its weekend B.O. from traditional 3D screens, 12% Imax 3D, 12% PLF 3D, 4% PLF 2D, 2% Motion 3D, and 1% ScreenX 2D. In North America, the sequel opened to $16.5M on 407 IMAX screens, for a per screen average of over US $40K. Global Imax is $48.8M from 1,543 screens in 80 markets, the 2nd highest worldwide bow for the large format network.

“Avatar: The Way of Water’ is a watershed achievement in filmmaking innovation and technology, and it’s clear that global audiences are choosing to see this film through the best technology for blockbuster entertainment in the world: IMAX,” said Rich Gelfond, CEO of IMAX. “As excited as we are about these early results, we anticipate a long and successful run for Avatar: The Way of Water as more people around the world book their ticket to Pandora for the epic storytelling and unmissable visual splendor of what James Cameron and his team have created.”

“Just as the original Avatar did, Avatar: The Way of Water has set a new benchmark for the current 3D marketplace. James Cameron and his team have shown what is artistically, creatively, and commercially possible when you have filmmakers completely committed to immersing audiences in this 3D world and the result is visually mind blowing. We expect to continue to see strong 3D results worldwide thru the holiday and new year,” said Travis Reid, CEO and President of RealD about the format’s 66% share of Avatar 2′s global ticket sales.

Avatar was one of the big reasons why Disney acquired Fox, and the Mouse House isn’t set to simply spend on this sequel the first weekend and abandon it. The Burbank, CA based studio, despite embracing a theatrical day-and-date mentality during the pandemic with movies on Disney+ under the Bob Chapek era, is venerating the theatrical window here for a movie which is ideally seen only in theaters (3D big screen TVs, once vogue, have greatly waned in supply and demand). Typically movies greenlit by another administration are minimized under their new studio overlords, however, Bob Iger, who I hear was largely Cameron’s point person in the inheritance of Avatar, was supportive of Cameron’s process which began under the Rupert Murdoch era in 2013 with a novel feature screenwriters’ room at the time including the director, Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, Josh Friedman and Shane Salerno. The group worked in tandem with the art and production design department at the same time, the latter taking immediate inspiration from the ideas that sprang forth from that room in Manhattan Beach. The screenwriting group cracked all the screenplays for the sequels before the movie officially began shooting, with the actors reading them all so that they were aware of their character arcs. At CinemaCon 2016, Cameron showed up to announce that he was adding another sequel. Performance capture of the actors began in September 2017 for the first two movies. There was a live action shoot in late 2019, but that was interrupted by Covid in March, at which point the production was down for only eight weeks. Avatar 3, which is due out on Dec. 20, 2024 and is currently being finished. A third of the fourth film has been shot; that pic will hit cinemas on Dec. 18, 2026.

iSpot estimates that Disney spent over $23M in U.S. TV spots (plus another near $7M in co-branded spots), ranking up there with other big pics this year, including Black Panther: Wakanda Forever ($27M plus another $41M in co-branded spots), and Jurassic World Dominion $42.3 million (boosted by a Super Bowl trailer, plus another $24.1 million in co-branded spots.

All films grossed $152.3M per Comscore this weekend which is weekend No. 50 in the calendar. That’s comparable to the weekend when West Side Story debuted last year, +244%. Current running total for 2022 box office is $7.06 billion, +78% over last year which was at $3.97 billon.

1.) Avatar: The Way of Water (Dis/20th) 4,202 theaters Fri $53M, Sat $44.5M, Sun $36.5M, 3-day $134M/Wk 1

2.) Wakanda Forever (Dis) 3,380 (-345) theaters, Fri $1.44M Sat $2.25M Sun $1.7M 3day $5.4M (-52%) Total $418.99M/Wk 6

3.) Violet Night (Uni) 3,528 (-195) theaters, Fri $1.4M Sat $2.1M Sun $1.47M 3day $5M (-43%) Total $34.96M/Wk 3

4.) Strange World theaters, Fri $521K Sat $967K Sun $712K 3day $2.2M (-42%) Total $33.8M/Wk 4

5.) The Menu 1,875 (-835) theaters, Fri $500k Sat $660k Sun $540k 3day $1.7M (-39%) Total $32.1m/Wk 5

6.) Devotion (Sony) 2,211 (-1,247) theaters Fri $250K Sat $333K Sun $242K 3-day $825K (-59%) Total $18.7M/Wk 4

7.) The Fabelmans (Uni/Amb) 955 (-18) theaters Fri $220K Sat $320K Sun $210K 3-day $750K (-36%) Total $8.66M/Wk 6

8.) Black Adam (NL) 1,304 (-839) theaters Fri $125K Sat $205K Sun $170K 3 day $500K (-62%) Total $167.7M/Wk 9

9.) I Heard the Bells (Fath) 426 (-754) theaters Fri $93K Sat $123K Sun $93K 3-day $309K (-59%) Total $4.99M/Wk 3

10.) Empire of Light (Sea) 436 (+326) theaters, Fri $71K Sat $91K Sun $73K, 3-day $235K (+44%) Total $471,8K /Wk 2

 

via Deadline

‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ to Deliver Year’s Biggest Opening at the Global BO!!

A common refrain in most reviews of Avatar: The Way of Water is this: you never, ever bet against James Cameron. Over the years, the director has delivered all-timers that have fundamentally changed the industry. Two of his films — Avatar and Titanic — are among the top three most financially successful movies ever made. And it’s looking like the naysayers are going to bite the dust once again. According to The Hollywood Reporter, The Way of Water is poised to deliver the biggest opening at the worldwide box office this year.

The film is currently tracking to open between $150 million and $175 million in its debut weekend at the domestic box office, and with between $450 million and $550 million globally. The year’s biggest worldwide opening was delivered by Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness ($449 million). Last year’s Spider-Man: No Way Home currently holds the record for the biggest opening weekend of the pandemic-era, with $583 million. Domestically, Doctor Strange 2 made $187 million in its opening weekend. If tracking holds, The Way of Water will outperform hits such as Top Gun: Maverick ($126 million), Jurassic World Dominion ($145 million) and The Batman ($134 million) in its debut weekend.

Cameron himself has said in an earlier interview with GQ that The Water of Water would need to be the third or fourth-biggest movie in history to be counted as a success. Broadly speaking, that means anything below $2 billion globally would probably be considered disappointing. The first Avatar remains the biggest movie of all time, with over $2.9 billion at the global box office.

It’s also important to remember that the first movie didn’t really open big. The film made less than $80 million in its debut weekend in 2009, when it was released a week before director Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes. The Way of Water will face no such competition; instead, its biggest competition will likely be its own three-hour-plus run time. Studios cleared the runway for it two weeks ago, and will allow it the room to perform well into 2023. The film will face its first real test perhaps in February, when Marvel’s Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania lands in theaters.

Unlike most Hollywood movies in the post-pandemic era, The Way of Water is getting a day-and-date China release. While sanctions have largely eviscerated interest for imported movies in the Middle Kingdom, Pandora has remained a consistently reliable escape for local audiences. The first Avatar has accumulated over $200 million from China over multiple years. The film’s most recent re-release generated $75 million stateside, further quashing all concerns about its cultural relevance.

Produced on a budget of around $400 million — the number has been disputed, as with the first film — The Way of Water has a lot riding on it. While it’s likely that the third film will be completed and released — Cameron has shot all of it — the planned fourth and fifth movies will only be given the green signal if The Way of Water performs.

 

via Collider

‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ Crosses $409 Million at the BO!!

What happens when there’s no wide theatrical releases and it’s the holiday season as we emerge from the pandemic? Why, you get the second-lowest box office weekend of the year at an estimated $38.3M, a notch above the Jan. 28-30 frame, when we reached the bottom of the well for 2022 with all movies at $34.87M.

Top pic this weekend is, of course, the fifth go-around of Disney/Marvel’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which made $11.1M. On Friday, the Ryan Coogler movie crossed the four century mark with a running cume of $401.55M. Through today, Wakanda is pacing 5% ahead of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness at the same point in time. Total cume now stands at $409.8M. The movie will best Multiverse‘s domestic run of $411.3M by next weekend.

Also, with 20th Century Studios/Disney’s Avatar: The Way of Water set to conquer all business next weekend with a potential $200M domestic start, nobody wants to waste the marketing dollars to play in front of that, especially when moviegoing doesn’t pick up until after Christmas, when there’s zero holiday distractions and kids go on break.

A year ago, you’ll remember Disney made the mistake of opening Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story on the second weekend of December ahead of Spider-Man: No Way Home, and no one came, resulting in a box office take at $10.5M over 3-days. No studio was willing to risk a wide release this weekend after seeing how that went down.

However, in pre-pandemic times, family films playing ahead of year-end titans have done great on the second weekend of December, i.e. Jumanji: The Next Level, which opened to $59M ahead of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker‘s $177.3M start in December 2019, and 2018’s Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse, which opened to $35.3M ahead of Warner Bros/DC’s Aquaman. Solid family titles in the recent pre-Covid era have proved to break through. It remains to be seen when that will happen again. Next year, there are no wide releases booked by the majors on Dec. 1 or Dec. 8. And that’s before Warner Bros/DC’s Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom on Christmas.

This weekend, on the smaller side: A moderate expansion of Focus Features’ Michael Showalter– directed Spoiler Alert, based on the Michael Ausiello tome, made $700K after a $230K Friday at 783 theaters (+777). That’s good enough to get the movie into the top 10. Good PostTrak scores with 91% and Rotten Tomatoes audience at 93% from those who showed up, that being 58% guys, 45% between 18-34,  66% Caucasian, 15% Latino and Hispanic, 2% Black, & 17% Asian/other. Through the pic’s second weekend, its cume is $803K.

Despite no noise on the wide side, A24’s Darren Aronofsky-directed Brendan Fraser drama The Whale officially posted the best theater average of 2022, unseating the studio’s Everything Everywhere All at Once ($50K per theater) with $60k, or $360K over three days at six NYC and LA theaters as of Sunday AM. This movie was on fire this weekend boosted by Aronofsky doing sold-out Q&As in NYC and Fraser doing the same in LA. What’s working here? This pic, despite its depressing tale of an obese man, has an uplifting ending, and the 25-34 crowd, who repped over half of all ticket buyers, enjoys seeing this redemptive tale, which mirrors the comeback narrative of Fraser’s career in this stunning performance. That’s what sets this movie apart from all the darker prestige dramas on the marquee now. The ’90s star has much love. That provides some hope for prestige Oscar-bait dramas. Though only 67% on Rotten Tomatoes, Fraser has been buzzed to have a lock on Best Actor after the pic’s fall film festival tour. The Whale was the tale in all of its theaters where it played including New York’s Lincoln Square, Angelika, Alamo Drafthouse Brooklyn, and LA’s Burbank, Grove and Century City — meaning it was No. 1. Jill Goldsmith has more here.

Searchlight’s Empire of Light, directed by Sam Mendes and based on the life of the Oscar- winner’s mother, was panned by critics at 47% Rotten, and didn’t do so well. Booked in 110 sites, the movie flickered $67K on Friday for what is shaping up to be a $160K opening as of Sunday AM.

Weekend top 10:

1.) Wakanda Forever Dis 3,725 (-130) theaters, Fri $2.8M (-37%), Sat $5.1M Sun $3.1M 3 day $11.1M (-37%), Total $409.8M/Wk 5

2.) Violent Night Uni 3,723 theaters (+41), Fri $2.4M (-50%) Sat $3.89M Sun $2.39M 3-day $8.7M (-40%), Total $26.7M/Wk 2

3.) Strange World Dis 3,560 (-614) theaters, Fri $787K (-28%) Sat $1.8M Sun $1M 3-day $3.6M (-29%)Total $30.4M /Wk 3

4.) The Menu Sea 2,710 (-100) theaters Fri $825K (-21%) Sat $1.2M Sun $675K 3-day $2.7M (-21%) Total $29M/Wk 4
The Searchlight title has beat the domestic running total of the distrib’s 2019 genre title Ready or Not ($28.7M) as well as that of the trippy Ari Aster movie that summer, Midsommar ($27.4M). Menu is working with its core 18-34 demo, even though it lives in a lackluster marketplace.

5.) Devotion Sony 3,458 theaters (+53) Fri $600K Sat $885K Sun $515K 3-day $2M (-26%) Total $16.9M/Wk 3

6.) Black Adam (WB) 2,143 (-88) theaters Fri $330K, Sat $630K, Sun $380K 3-day $1.34M (-14%) Total $166.8M/Wk 8

7.) The Fabelmans (Uni) 973 (+355) theaters Fri $340K Sat $510K Sun $330K 3-day $1.18M (-7%) Total $7.3M/Wk 5

8.) Met Opera: The Hours (Fath) 826 theaters Sat B.O. is $791K/Wk 1
This Fathom Events title sneaked in and boxed Uni’s eighth weekend of Ticket to Paradise out of the top 10, that movie now at $67.5M running total. Hours reps soprano Renée Fleming return to the Met in the world-premiere production of Pulitzer Prize–winning composer Kevin Puts’s work here. Soprano Kelli O’Hara and mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato join Fleming as the opera’s trio of heroines. Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts.

9.) I Heard the Bells (Fath) 973 theaters (+445) Fri $233K Sat $295K Sun $221,8K 3-day $750,7K, Total $4.07M/Wk 2

10.) Spoiler Alert (Uni) 783 (+777) theatres Fri $250K Sat $240K Sun $210K 3-day $700K (+744%), Total $803K/Wk 2

 

via Deadline

‘Black Adam’ Set to Lose Up to $100 Million!!

Having barely scraped past the lifetime gross of Shazam!, fellow DC tentpole Black Adam can now be slotted as a bonafide box office dud. So much for reshaping the “hierarchy of power” in the DC Extended Universe. A new Variety report estimates that the big-budget superhero film will probably lose Warner Bros. between $50-$100 million.

That would’ve been a massive blow at any other time as well, but under current circumstances — Black Adam was supposed to usher in a new era for the troubled franchise — it feels particularly cruel. The film has made around $387 million at the global box office so far — $165 million of that total came from domestic theaters — but cost a whopping $195 million to produce.

The break-even point was earlier estimated to be $600 million, but the Variety report cites studio sources as saying that the film will break even after passing $400 million worldwide. That’s uncertain, too, considering just how majorly the movie was impacted by the arrival of Marvel‘s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. With Avatar: The Way of Water lurking in the shadows, Black Adam will have to pull out all the stops as it attempts to save face by touching $400 million globally. Sources cited in the report also dispute claims that $100 million was spent on marketing the movie, and peg the figure slightly lower, at around $80 million.

The rule-of-thumb is simple: a movie needs to make twice its budget (including the marketing spend) in theaters in order to break even because half the gross goes to theaters. Black Adam will ultimately fall short of Justice League’s disappointing $655 million global haul, and it has zero chances of coming close to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice ($872 million worldwide), Wonder Woman ($817 million worldwide), and Suicide Squad ($745 million worldwide). The top DCEU film remains Aquaman, which made $1.1 billion globally.

In addition to the disappointing result for W.B., the film also marks a rare box office failure for Dwayne Johnson, Perhaps among the last remaining stars who can open a movie, Johnson put all his marketing might behind Black Adam, a film that he has been attached to for over a decade. While the movie delivered a personal-best stateside debut for Johnson ($67 million), it will ultimately fall way short of the star’s biggest films. Even his moderate hits — Rampage and San Andreas — performed better globally. Variety estimates that the movie will probably pick up an additional $25 million to $35 million on PVOD before debuting on the HBO Max streaming service, but that isn’t good enough either.

Black Adam is performing along the lines of another W.B. bomb from earlier this year: Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore. That film might have killed its franchise, but it remains to be seen how Black Adam’s box office failure impacts the DCEU under the new leadership of co-CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran. Upcoming films in the franchise include Shazam! Fury of the Gods, The Flash, Blue Beetle, and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.

 

via Collider

‘Violent Night’ Opens Strongly with $13.3M as ‘Wakanda Forever’ Overperforms at the BO!!

On one of the dullest weekends of the year, it’s good to see some movies overperforming. And we have the fourth weekend of Disney/Marvel Studios’ Black Panther: Wakanda Forever coming in at $17.59M, and Universal/87 North’s horror action comedy Violent Night over-indexing with $13.3M, slightly above its $10M-$12M projection.

As previously mentioned, that opening is just under Universal’s 2015 horror comedy, Krampus, which played the same early December frame, opening to $16.2M and legging out to $42.7M stateside. That pic was PG-13 to Violent Night‘s R. The movie minted a $20.3M global launch from 73 offshore territories. At the end of the day, Violent Night did what it was suppose to do. I hear Universal execs when they were considering a greenlight took the script home for the weekend and came back that Monday morning and said ‘Hell, yeah!’ to Violent Night.

“Violent Night had a terrific debut this weekend. 87North, director Tommy Wirkola, and the incomparable David Harbour as Santa crafted an incredibly original, fun, irreverent take on the ultimate superhero that thrilled audiences this weekend and will for many weeks to come,” exclaimed Universal Domestic Distribution Chief Jim Orr this morning.

With an estimated $56.4M for all movies, it’s the 8th-lowest weekend of the year, the bottom belonging to Jan. 28-30, with $34.9M. That’s when Morbius was suppose to go and Sony pushed it to April because of Omicron. Even in pre-pandemic times, this was never a glowing weekend, as people are distracted with holiday activities, though there’s always been a place for a genre movie to at least play to the 18-34 crowd, which Violent Night did to a near 60%. Still, richer days pre-pandemic: The first weekend of December earned $90.3M for all titles back in 2019.

RelishMix points out that the social media universe for Violent Night at 110M was juiced by 34.4M YouTube views and Universal’s 46.4M social media fan followings, as well as notably the pic’s star David Harbour, who counts around 11M followers after fours seasons of Stranger Things. On PostTrak, close to 40% said they bought tickets because it’s a horror action movie, while 32% said they came for Harbour.

Says RelishMix about the social media buzz for the film, “David Harbour is the hot-trending theme in much of the chatter on Violent Night, and bringing his Stranger Things audience to the comments. Fans are comping the movie to Nobody, Bullet Train, Bad Santa, of course, with Billy Bob Thornton, plus Die Hard — and more recent horror, Smile and Halloween Ends. The tone runs predominantly positive-to-mixed, as fans are happy to have a dark, non-cheesy film to drop into, ‘during the nightmare of the season of merriment.’”

Harbour championing the big screen experience:

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Updated PostTrak showed 4 stars for Violent Night, with Men over 25 leading at 36% (82% grade), followed by women over 25 at 24% (84% grade), men under 25 at 23% (71% grade), followed by women under 25 at 17% (85% grade). Those who came with their spouse repped 19% of all ticket-buyers, followed by 18% with a date and 16% with one friend, 14% were solo, while 13% went to see the movie with 2-4 friends.

Top cities for Violent Night were LA, NYC, Dallas, Chicago, Philly, San Francisco, Phoenix, Houston, DC, and Atlanta. Top theaters on the Harbour movie were AMC Burbank, AMC Empire 25 NYC, AMC Grove, AMC Century City, AMC Porter Ranch, Cinemark Downey 14, Cinemark North Canton Cleveland, Harkins Estrella Falls in Phoenix, AMC Dine In in Orlando.

Next weekend, it’s really slow. There’s a reissue of Sony’s Mark Wahlberg title, Father Stu, an expansion of Focus Features’ Spoiler Alert, and finally, the limited launch of A24’s fest season darling, The Whale.

1.) Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Dis), 3.855 (-435) theaters, Fri $4.4M (-76%)/Sat $8.08M, Sun $5.1M, 3-day $17.59M (-61%)/Total: $393.7M/Wk 4

The pic is running 6% ahead of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness through four weekends and has a running total of $733M Worldwide.

2.) Violent Night (Uni) 3,682 theaters Fri $4.88M, Sat $5.3M Sun $3M 3 day $13.3M/Wk 1

3.) Strange World (Dis) 4,174 theaters Fri $1.08M (-78%)/Sat $2.4M, Sun $1.3M 3-day $4.9M (-60%)Total: $25.5M/Wk 2

4.) The Menu (Sea) 2,810 (-418) theaters Fri $1.04M  (-49%), Sat $1.5M, Sun $996K 3-day $3.55M (-33%)/Total $24.7M/Wk 3
The genre Mark Mylod directed title is running 2% ahead of Midsommar through its first four weekends (final total on that pic $27.4M), and 11% behind Searchlight horror movie Ready or Not which finaled at $28.7M.

5.) Devotion (Sony) 3,405 theaters, Fri $840K , Sat $1.2M, Sun $760K 3-day $2.8M (-53%) Total $13.8M

6.) I Heard the Bells (Fath) 955 theaters, Fri $424K Sat $796K, Sun $597K 3 day $1.81M/Total with previews $2.5M/Wk 1
Playing in 179 markets, the Fathom Event title had a few decent runs mostly in smaller markets up and down the East coast where it took in close to 61% of its gross versus the norm of 39% for all other titles.

7.) Black Adam (NL) 2,231 (-433) theaters, Fri $375K (-70%), Sat $760K, Sun $530K, 3-day $1.665M (-49%)/Total $165.1M/Wk 7

8.) The Fabelmans (Uni/Amb) 638 theaters Fri $350K, Sat $560K, Sun $390K, 3-day $1.3M (-43%) Total $5.56M/Wk 4

9. Bones and All (UAR) 2,727 theaters, Fri $385K (-54%), Sat $489K, Sun $318K 3-day $1.19M (-47%), Total $6M/Wk 3

10.) Ticket to Paradise (Uni) 1,715 (-523) theaters, Fri $240K (-66%), Sat $390K, Sun  $220K 3 day $850K (-54%) Total $66.5M/Wk 7

11.) Top Gun: Maverick (Par) 1,864 theaters (+1,796), Fri $180K, Sat $310K, Sun $210K, 3 day $700K, Total $717.8M/Wk 28

Notables:

Hit the 2nd Case 280 theaters Fri $230K Sat $220K Sun $150K 3-day $600K/Wk 1

The Quintessential Quintuplets Movie (Cru) 910 theaters Fri $266K Sat $143K Sun $93K 3-day $502K /Wk 1

Spoiler Alert (Foc) 6 theaters Fri $46K Sat $22K Sun $17K 3-day $85K/Wk 1

 

via Deadline

‘Black Panther 2’ Dominates with $64M 5-Day, ‘Knives Out 2′ Wows With $13M+ While ‘’Strange World’ Crashes with $18M at the BO!!

Even with a Marvel movie overperforming in the marketplace — such as Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which conquered $64M over 5 days — the Thanksgiving Wednesday-Sunday stretch wasn’t one for the record books. It ranked outside the top 10 with an estimated $122M, off 14% from a year ago. That’s when were had more Covid fears, a lest robust Marvel title in the marketplace, a solid adult draw in House of Gucci ($22M), and a better performing Disney family animated movie in Encanto, which did $40.5M in its 5 day launch. Black Friday, a typical potent day at the box office, also came up short from last year, down 12% with $33.7M versus 2021’s $38.3M. Per Comscore, 2018 ranks as the best Thanksgiving stretch with $315.6M for all films. That’s when Ralph Breaks the Internet and Creed II were on the marquee.

Wakanda Forever‘s Friday of $18.2M was more than the $16M-$17M that industry rivals were figuring Friday AM. Saturday was at $17.6M.

Despite the continued riches of Wakanda flowing into Disney coffers, they will be poorer with their new animated film Strange World, which is now looking at $18.6M over five days after a $5.2M Friday and $4.3M Saturday. Global here is awful at $28M.

The pic, as Nancy reported, given its gay character storyline, isn’t receiving a release in Russia, China, France, Middle East, Malaysia, Indonesia and a number of medium/smaller international markets. Disney is holding true to the film and not bending to these countries’ demands for cuts. The character’s gay storyline wasn’t in the marketing of the film, but was discussed greatly on the pic’s press tour by talent.

Disney has been in this hole before with original animation, with such duds as Home on the Range and Treasure Planet. It’s not the end of Disney Animation, and the cash raining for the sky from Wakanda Forever and the upcoming Avatar: The Way of Water which has a shot at $200M opening stateside, more than make-up for any shortfall from Strange World.

Those critics such as The Guardian‘s Cath Clarke are in line with the audience’s temperature of a B CinemaScore and 82% on PostTrak. “The clunky script feels like it’s been re-drafted and re-drafted to the point of incomprehension – blowing any chance of conveying a message. However well-meaning, it makes for a surprisingly dull watch,” writes Clarke. It doesn’t mean it’s the end of original animation with Disney, it’s just one of the risks of doing business. Remember, Disney did put out Zootopia, a very original, very socially conscious and hysterically funny film, which ruled with a $75M opening and $341.2M domestic back in 2016. It’s not like that magic can’t be replicated again.

Strange World played best in the West and Southwest, with Salt Lake City placing in four of the top ten runs. Exit demos updated for Strange World are 51% women, 33% under 17, 30% between 18-34, and 48% Caucasian, 24% Latino and Hispanic, 10% Black and 18% Asian.

We are hearing the Saturday afternoon one showtime previews for Universal/DreamWorks Animation’s Puss in Boots: The Last Wish didn’t really cut into Strange World grosses that much.

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery from Netflix continues to tower over adult fare with $3.6M on Friday (+91% over its Thanksgiving) and $3.5M on Saturday, per industry sources, more than Devotion, Bones and All, The Menu, and The Fabelmans. The Rian Johnson-directed, Ram Bergman-produced whodunit sequel is seeing $9.2M over 3-days, and $13.3M over five at 696 venues (revised count). The pic is expected to clock $15M in its first week. This is hands down the best theatrical launch for a Netflix movie ever, heads and tails about Red Notice‘s $1.25M-$1.5M. No PostTrak exits available, as they only poll for pics booked in 800+ theaters.

The marvel here is the sequel’s 5-day theater average of $19K, which is prevailing over The Fabelmans, which is booked in a similar number of locations at 638, but posts a lower 5-day per theater of $4,8K. Think about all these motion picture studios who are ticked off to be beat by the one-week sneak preview of a Netflix movie, and in fewer theaters at 638. Still, the Daniel Craig-led ensemble is a mass-appealing movie. The minds wonder over the amount of money Netflix is leaving on the table by not making Glass Onion a full-bodied theatrical release.

Note that we’re not claiming overall victory here for Glass Onion, which Netflix acquired for $200M and will clearly deflate its ancillaries: The pic is coming off screens by next Wednesday, and will hit the service on Dec. 23. At that time, theaters can re-book the film.

Some small exhibitors, I understand, wanted the movie, but were unable to get it this time around. Disney will clearly get more ancillary revenue out of their loss on Strange World than Knives Out 2.

Among the 3-day for films that debuted in less than 900 theaters, Disney’s Super Bowl weekend launch of Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus Concert Tour is the top with $31.1M opening at 683 theaters — however, that had a fire-breathing, 360-degree theatrical campaign (Knives Out 2 had a more holistic campaign stretched out to its streaming drop) and premium format theaters. Knives Out 2 ranks as the 10th-best in its 3-day among those pics that opened in less than 900 theaters, notching just above such movies as TriStar’s The Doors in 1991 ($9.1M at 840 theaters), 1978’s Grease ($8.9M on 862), 1980’s Stir Crazy ($8.7M on 813) and Universal’s 2004 Nov. 12-14 launch of Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, which posted $8.68M at 530 theaters.

Johnson showed up at AMC Century City on Friday night.

Devotion, which, as we said, is a distribution deal for Sony, saw $2.4M on Friday and $2.16M for a revised $6M 3-day and $9M 5-day. Those who watched it actually gave it an A- CinemaScore with 91% on PostTrak. Guys showed up at 58%, with 55% over 45 and 31% over 55. Diversity demos were 57% Caucasian, 12% Latino and Hispanic, 23% Black, and 8% Asian/other. Best markets were West, South, and Midwest, with zero LA & NYC theaters in the top ten.

A cannibals’ love story was never meant for a wide audience, but studios need to try to squeeze as many bucks out of these movies as they can, so it’s no surprise that Bones and All isn’t spurring any kind of hunger. The pic went wide fast so that it could monetize its ancillary dollars as quickly as possible. Friday was +92% over Thanksgiving with $835K, and a 3-day at $2.2M and 5 day of $3.5M. The pic was able to achieve out of Venice a social awareness of 116M that ran 13% ahead of drama, horror and romance genre comps, largely spurred by TikTok views at 49.5M and YouTube views at 20.1M per RelishMix. If you’re watching your social media feed, you’ll see Timothée Chalamet and Taylor Russell pumping the movie to their Gen Z demo.

RelishMix observed Chalamet pushing to his 20.1M social followers, averaging 3.5M clicks per Instagram posts. Russell added 120K new fans on her Instagram in the run up to opening in the last two weeks. B CinemaScore, 72% PostTrak with 56% female leaning, 74% between 18-34 and 53% Caucasian, 19% Latino and Hispanic, 17% Black and 11% Asian/other.

Fabelmans….Remember, Avalon?

And as for The Fabelmans, which made $880K on Friday, +83% from Thanksgiving, and $820K on Saturday for a 3- and 5-day of $2.2M and $3.1M. Look, if you were to bet what movie will win Best Picture at the Oscars right now, it’s this Steven Spielberg-directed and cowritten autobiopic, and perhaps when awards season kicks into high gear, we’ll see some type of hold for this movie. It’s unfortunate that the numbers are so low, but there’s two pieces of reality to consider, and it has nothing to do with the lack of slow-moving adults coming out of the pandemic to cinemas for a serious family drama.

First of all, biopics about directors aren’t crowd-appealing. We just had Armageddon Time, which was based on James Grey’s life, and that only made $1.85M. Even so, to that point, there’s nothing in The Fabelmans‘ marketing, official trailer, or one-sheet that screams ‘The Story About the Blockbuster Director of E.T. and Raiders of the Lost Ark You Never Knew.’ Recent TV spots have critic pull quotes which say “Spielberg’s Most Personal Film,” and the movie he’s been waiting 45 years to make — however, not directly to the point. Those outside NYC and LA don’t know it’s about Spielberg, and if they did, maybe that would have spurred a little bit of excitement here for the movie. It’s not shocking to hear that the pic’s top ten runs are from NYC and LA, and the rest all coasts. We’re hearing a PVOD streaming date for the movie sometime in December.

Second, let’s go back down memory lane. Remember the Barry Levinson-directed movie Avalon, released in 1990? That movie was a semi-autobiographical one for the Oscar-winning director, and was set in his hometown of Baltimore, exploring a Polish immigrant Jewish family assimilating to the US from 1910-1950s. The pic was in limited release for two weeks in seven theaters, a distribution plan that Universal emulated with Fabelmans, and then expanded in weekend 3 to –get this– 630 theaters. Pic’s 3-day was $2.8M in weekend 3 and a $3.4M running total at that point in time.

So, Fabelmans is doing pretty much what it’s expected to be. Avalon ended its US/Canada run at $15.7M, and it would be amazing if Fabelmans meets or exceeds that. And Avalon didn’t have the star power that Fabelmans has, the former starring Aidan Quinn, Elizabeth Perkins, Armin Mueller-Stahl, and Joan Plowright. Avalon was nominated for four Oscars, largely below the line, but with Levinson landing an original screenplay nod. CinemaScore on Fabelmans was an A.

Top 10 –chart updating

1) Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Dis), 4,258 (-138) theaters, Wed $10M (+6% from Tuesday)/Thurs $8.1M/Fri $18.2M/Sat $17.6M/Sun $10.1M/3-day $45.9M (-31%)/5-day $64M/Total: $367.6M/Wk 3
Pic’s running total through 17 days is 7% ahead of of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

2.) Strange World (Dis) 4,174 theaters, Wed $4.2M/Thurs $2.5M/Fri $5.2M/Sat $4.3M, Sun $2.4M, 3-day $11.9M, 5-day $18.6M/Wk 1

3.) Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (Netflix) 696 theaters, Wed. $2M, Thurs $1.88M, Fri $3.6M, Sat $3.5M/Sun $2.3M/3-day $9.2M, 5-day $13.3M/Wk 1

4.) Devotion (Sony) 3,405 theaters, Wed $1.8M, Thurs $1.24M, Fri $2.4M, Sat $2.1M, Sun $1.3M, 3-day $6M 5 day $9M/Wk 1

5.) The Menu (Sea), 3,288 (+17) theaters Wed $1.1M  (-15% from Tues), Thurs $1M, Fri $2M, Sat $2.1M, Sun $1.1M 3-day $5.2M (-44%)/5-day $7.3M /Total $18.67M/Wk 2

6.) Black Adam (NL) 2,847 (-525) theaters, Wed $660K (-4%), Thur $600K, Fri $1.225M, Sat $1.285M Sun $840K, 3-day $3.35M (-27%) 5-day $4.6M /Total $162.97M/Wk 6

7.) Bones and All (UAR) 2,727 (+2,722) theaters,  Wed $921K (+8671%), Thur $436K, Fri $835K, Sat $857K, Sun $514K 3-day $2.2M (+1723%), 5-day $3.5M Total $3.7M/Wk 2

8.) The Fabelmans (Uni/Amb) 638 theaters (+634) Wed $400K (+4201%), Thurs $480K, Fri $880K, Sat $820K, Sun $520K, 3-day $2.2M (+2374%) 5-day $3.1M Total $3.4M/Wk 3

9.) Ticket to Paradise (Uni) 2,238 (-1030) theaters, Wed $330K (-33%), Thurs $450K, Fri $720K, Sat $730K, Sun $400K, 3 day $1.85M (-42%), 5-day $2.6M Total $65M/Wk 6

10. ) The Chosen: Season 3 (Fath) 1,750 (-289) theaters (updated/revised), Wed 3-day $381K Thur $282K, Fri $614K Sat $554K, Sun $416K 3-day $1.58M (-82%) 3-day 5-day $2.2M, Total $13.4M/Wk 2

Notables:

She Said (Uni), 2,023 theaters, Wed $220K, Thurs $200K, Fri $430K,  Sat $430K, Sun $240K, 3-day $1.1M (-50%)/5-day $1.5M/Total $4.3M/Wk 2

 

via Deadline

‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ Retains Top Spot as ‘She Said’ Flops at BO!!

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever‘s second weekend is coming in lower than its projected $70M+ with $67.3M, -63%. That’s not necessarily something to get worried about, however, as sources keep telling me this pic’s running time is what’s slowing it down a bit. At the same time, that second weekend is slightly ahead of Black Adam‘s $67M opening weekend.

On the bright side, it’s Thanksgiving week, and if people aren’t seeing Wakanda Forever this weekend, then they’re making an appointment to see it sometime this week, hands down. Furthermore, there was always bound to be a steep drop in the Friday-to-Friday coming off the Veterans Day holiday and previews a week ago, that number being -79% for $17.9M Friday.

Even though the running total for Wakanda Forever at $288M today will be 2% behind Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness at the same point in time, let’s see where the Ryan Coogler-directed film stands by the end of next Sunday. Imax drove $4.5M ticket sales this past weekend for Wakanda Forever, putting the exhibitor’s running total at $21.4M.

Social media analytics corp RelishMix measured the social media universe for Wakanda Forever at 969M, 8% ahead of Black Panther. The bar has lifted since 2018, as marketing expands across Instagram and TikTok. Engagement has also popped from Rhianna videos that were dropped on her YouTube channel clocking 49M views, cross-posted on Marvel’s YouTube, which counts an enormous stack of 41+ videos — plus tie-in spots with Sprite, Target, Lexus, Mastercard, and more.

Greatly missing from this weekend? Another tentpole that typically precedes the Thanksgiving stretch before a Disney Turkey Day family title. This is the weekend where Harry Potter sequels have opened, as well as Justice League. The thing is, no one likes to program a tentpole in the wake of a Marvel movie, and Wakanda Forever didn’t launch during the first weekend of November. In regards to when we’ll be back at a steady supply of tentpoles, it won’t be until March 10, which is when Paramount and Spyglass have the next Scream. Yes, there’s Disney/Marvel’s Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania on Feb. 17, but it’s non-stop films for all audiences starting in March all the way through summer up until The Nun 2 in the post-Labor Day space.

With a production cost of $30M, She Said is doing the worst of the two studio attempts at adults, with $2.25M opening at 2,022 theaters. A few things: First, bravo for Universal for having the audacity to get behind an important #MeToo adaptation about The New York Times’ takedown of Harvey Weinstein. It’s not on streaming, it’s on the big screen, and at the end of the day it’s about this pic’s tail in home entertainment, especially as it ratchets up buzz among awards voters. That’s where this film will be watched. Uni launched She Said during Thanksgiving week in an attempt to get as many people as they could. Those who watched gave the film an A CinemaScore and 89% positive on Comscore/Screen Engine’s PostTrak.

In the same breath, there never was an audience for this newsroom-meets-Hollywood drama outside industry moviegoers in NYC and LA. Nobody cares about the downfall of Harvey Weinstein in between NYC and LA. Given the wonky turnout of adults during the post-pandemic, if a studio knows it doesn’t have any pulse for a film at 100%, they’re not going to spend, so it stands to reason the promo push for this Carey Mulligan-Zoe Kazan movie is in its awards ledger, not theatrical. At the end of the day, and to all studio and streamers’ benefit as we come out of the pandemic: Poor ticket sales don’t dilute your awards-seasons chances on a film anymore. As far as the future of crossover titles, specifically those that gain momentum off awards-season steam — well, that’s another story.

Demos on She Said were 62% women, 82% over 25, 59% over 35, 46% over 45, and 29% over 55. Diversity demos were 68% Caucasian, 15% Latino and Hispanic, 7% Black, and 10% Asian and other. RelishMix points out that the social media universe reach on She Said was below genre norms at 87.5M across Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and Facebook. Overall, mixed-to-negative chatter on social for the film, per RelishMix.

The Menu rises to a $9M opening, 4x that of She Said, besting faith-based The Chosen for No. 2 and also coming in ahead of the start of Searchlight’s 2019 summer genre movie Ready or Not. That movie legged out to $28.7M off of a B+ CinemaScore, and Menu has a B. It’s OK. Difference between the two films is that Menu cost a reported $30M with its star lineup of Anya Taylor Joy, Ralph Fiennes and John Leguziamo, versus Ready or Not‘s $6M before P&A. PostTrak for Menu was more severe at 78% and 53% definite recommend. At the end of the day, The Menu will have a better tail than She Said.

Look, Menu is an edgy arthouse film, much like 2019’s Midsommar, which ended at $27.4M. If Menu ends its domestic run in the Midsommar and Ready or Not range, it will have done its job. Searchlight was smart to open the pic during a week when it potentially could capture the most audience, versus early December before Christmas. It’s guy-leaning at 54%, 65% between 17-34 (remember, if arthouse thrives going forward, it’s on this demo). Diversity pull was 53% Caucasian, 20% Latino and Hispanic, 12% Black and 15% Asian/other. The West and Southwest were the best markets for Menu. The Alamo Drafthouse had four theaters in the top 10, including the No. 1 grossing location Alamo Brooklyn, AMC Burbank was No. 2 followed by The Grove, Century City and Lincoln Square.

RelishMix notes, “While social awareness for The Menu runs under norms by 38% for a film of this drama sector, the cast is serving up a well-plated array of activity, driven most by Anya Taylor Joy’s Instagram at 9.3M fans, fed into on the Searchlight’s social network at 2.3M fans. The cast on The Menu are well-activated on the campaign, with a total reach of 16.9M fans led by Taylor-Joy at 9.3M, Nicholas Hoult at 4.8M, John Leguizamo at 2.1M, and Judith Light at 146K. Convo tone runs mixed-positive, as fans are eating up these materials and several clips from the film — and hypnotized by the notion of #FantasyIsland meeting #HungerGames, with comparison’s to Gordon Ramsey, #HellsKitchen, #SoilentGreen and #SquidGame — in a culinary drama. Anya fans are also noting that this is a ‘non-blonde’ project for Anya, comparing her recent blonde outing, Amsterdam.“

Is adult counterprogramming dead? No. These are dark, niche films aimed at upscale audiences. Furthermore, the closing of Landmark on Pico and the Arclight Hollywood is like ripping the heart out of the tin man when it comes to the specialty box office. Remember what we wrote about product being the key driver to arthouses? What could still work? Broad-appealing adult movies like Ford v. Ferrari, which launched over the pre-Thanksgiving space back in 2019 and made its way to $117.6M. Warner Bros.’ Elvis proved this summer that there’s still appetite for broad-appealing, upbeat, vibrant original movies for adults. So don’t get cynical.

A faith-based title overperforming in a pre-holiday space is nothing exceptional, but to be expected. The Bible Belt South and Midwest are strong here. Dallas, Salt Lake City, Houston, Phoenix and Tampa are top markets for The Chosen: Season 3 (episodes 1 & 2) which is opening to $8.2M. The Jesus Christ series streams on Angel Studios app. Last year, Angels Studios launched Christmas With The Chosen: The Messengers with a $4.2M first weekend and $9.1M five-day gross. The event ended its run at $13.7M, the most successful Fathom Event ever, and season 3 looks to top that.

“For the second year in a row, The Chosen is capturing the imagination of moviegoers around the country. After the overwhelming response of Chosen fans–and now Wingfeather Saga fans at a packed theatrical event in Nashville last week–we’re seeing that the same audiences who have helped us break streaming records can have similar impact at the box office,” said Neal Harmon, CEO of Angel Studios in a statement. “And, in addition to the estimated $3.7 million Friday, based on last year’s Chosen special, we expect The Chosen Season 3 Sunday sales to exceed Saturday’s, partially driven by a strong showing anticipated on Sunday night.”

CHART UPDATED

1) Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Dis), 4,396 theaters, Fri $17.9M (-79%),, Sat $29M, Sun $20.4M 3-day $67.3M (-63%)/Total: $288M/Wk 2

2.) The Menu (Sea), 3,211 theaters Fri $3.6M, Sat $3.2M, Sun $2.2M 3-day $9M/Wk 1

3.) The Chosen: Season 3 (Fath) 2012 theaters, Fri $3.575M, Sat $2.6M Sun $1.99M 3-day $8.2M/Wk 1

4.) Black Adam (WB) 3,372 (-231) theaters, Fri $1.12M (-59%), Sat $2.1M, Sun $1.26M, 3-day $4.48M (-44%), Total $156.9M/Wk 5

5.) Ticket to Paradise (Uni) 3,268 (-372) theaters, Fri $960K (-56%), Sat $1.4M, Sun $840K, 3 day $3.2M (-46%), Total $61.6M/Wk 5

6.) She Said (Uni), 2,022 theaters, Fri $840K, Sat $820K, Sun $590K 3-day $2.25M/Wk 1

7.) Lyle, Lyle Crocodile (Sony) 2,307 (-179) theaters, Fri $415K, Sat $885K, Sun $600K 3-day $1.9M (-41%), Total $43.1M/Wk 7

8.) Smile (Par) 1,569 (-702) theaters, Fri $335K, Sat $505K, Sun $310K, 3-day $1.15M (-51%)/Total $104.5M/Wk 8

9.) Drishyam 2 (Yash Raj) Fri $280K, $435K Sun $335K 3-day $1.05M, Wk 1

10.) Prey for the Devil (LG) 1,389 (-775) theaters, Fri $263K, Sat $407K, Sun $265K 3-day $935K (-52%), Total $18.3M/Wk 4

Other notables:

Bones and All (UAR) 5 theaters, Fri $58K, Sat $36K, Sun $27K, Theater Average $24K, 3-day $120K/Wk 1
The Luca Guadagnino-directed cannibalism romance counts 86% certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes and pulled in an 18-34 young arthouse audience at near 80%. Women at 54% came out for Timothée Chalamet. The movie was booked at Lincoln Square, Union Square, Alamo Brooklyn and LA’s AMC Century City and The Grove. The movie goes wide on Wednesday.

Amblin/Universal’s Steven Spielberg autobiopic The Fabelmans, also goes wider on Wednesday to around 600, but stayed in four NYC and LA locations in its second frame which pulled in $94K, -42%, and a running total of $314K.

 

via Deadline

‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ Sets November Box Office Record with $180 Million Debut at the BO!!

Disney and Marvel Studios’ Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is settling in at a $180M opening, and there is absolutely nothing to complain about. The MCU title unseats the previous November opening champ, Lionsgate’s The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, which held the month’s domestic box office opening record for nine years. Wakanda arrived slightly higher than Disney and tracking’s $175M+ estimate. Exhibition were the ones projecting this sequel higher, toward $185M. Worldwide start for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is $330M.

In regards to admissions, EntTelligence reports that Wakanda Forever pulled in the second-most for an opening weekend this year at 12.7M, after Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness‘ 13.7M. The sequel’s opening reps the third-highest of the pandemic era after Spider-Man: No Way Home ($260.1M) and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness ($187.4M).

Though $7M lighter than the start of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and $22M less than the 3-day of Black Panther, peg that to the time of year, when there’s not as much audience available, Wakanda‘s running time, and yes, likely no Chadwick Boseman. However, everybody is loving this sequel, and it has enough gas to hold No. 1 each weekend until 20th Century Studios/Disney’s Avatar: The Way of Water arrives on Dec. 16.

The first Black Panther held No. 1 for 5 weekends straight back in 2018. On PostTrak, a huge 38% of those polled said they plan to see Wakanda Forever again in a theater. Even though Doctor Strange 2 did a 2.2x off its opening for a $411.3M domestic final, it would not be shocking, given the great buzz for Wakanda Forever, to go further, for a half billion stateside endgame.

Other notches in the MCU belt: Wakanda’s opening stands as the 13th-highest opening of all-time, as well as the No. 8 opening of all-time for an MCU title. MCU now accounts for nine out of the top 15 opening weekends ever. Seven MCU movies released between 2021 and current times have grossed $2.3 billion at the box office, repping 21% of the the industry’s $11 billion domestic box office over that near two years.

Updated PostTrak held up throughout the weekend at 5 stars and 93% positive (the first one was 95%), an 85% definite recommend (BP was 88%), and a huge share of Black and Latino/Hispanic audiences, at respectively at 43% and 22% (BP was 40% and 18%).

The big difference here between part 2 and part 1: a huge turnout from women over 25 for Wakanda, which pulled in 32%, and also gave the MCU sequel its highest grade at 97%. That demo only repped 23% on the first Black Panther. Men over 25 showed up next at 31% (91% grade); they repped 27% on the first chapter. Men under 25 repped 21% (88% grade) vs. 29% on Black Panther. Women under 25 showed up at 15%, a lower share than BP‘s 21%, however, they gave the Letitia Wright-Angela Bassett-Lupita Nyong-o sequel a 96% grade.

Proof that word of mouth is in full effect: PostTrak shows that 56% of those who watched Wakanda Forever bought their ticket either the day of or the day before they saw it this weekend, versus 44% who bought their tickets in advance.

Also in PostTrak exits, 55% said they went to see Wakanda Forever because it’s part of a franchise they love, while 44% says it’s because it’s an MCU title, and 42% the cast as a whole.

EntTelligence shows that the average ticket price for Wakanda Forever was $13.71 across the board for the U.S., $12.63 for a non-premium ticket, and $17.24 for a premium format ticket. Top markets for Wakanda were LA, NYC, Dallas, San Francisco, Chicago, Atlanta, D.C., Philly, Houston, and Phoenix in regards to attendance. More proof of the power of a Marvel tentpole: foot traffic was largely evenly spread throughout the day with 18% before 1pm, 29% between 1p-5pm, 30% between 5p-8pm, and 23% after 8pm.

Wakanda‘s Saturday at $56.5M is slightly up from Friday’s $56M (sans previews), a great sign in regards to momentum. Sunday is factored at a 30% from Saturday for a $39.5M take.

As we told you yesterday, Wakanda Forever‘s opening is a November US record for Imax with $14.2M at 405 auditoriums.

“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever has succeeded in delivering a poignant, unmissable sequel to the iconic original, while jumpstarting the global box office ahead of a strong blockbuster slate through 2023. Heading into the Thanksgiving holiday, we expect this film to have a strong run,” said Rich Gelfond, CEO of IMAX in a statement. “A Filmed for IMAX release, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is one of many forthcoming tentpoles created with our technology, for our screens, and further demonstrates the creative and commercial power IMAX can help unlock.”

While exhibition has received word that Disney’s animated Thanksgiving release Strange World will hit Disney+ in time for the year-end holidays, there’s a robust theatrical window ahead for Wakanda Forever, definitely more than 45 days, I understand, with no plans for a holiday drop on the studio’s OTT service.

The other highlight this past weekend, though lower in the charts, was Amblin/Universal’s Steven Spielberg-directed autobiopic The Fabelmans, which got a start at four locations with $160K, or $40K per theater. The film received an A CinemaScore in polling over the weekend. The movie expands on Nov. 23 to roughly 600 theaters. The pic’s opening theater average is solid, much like Tar ($39K) and Banshees of Inisherin‘s ($46K), but it’s a much different movie. While those movies are very arthouse, Fabelmans has the potential to find a crossover audience in its family drama. Uni is supporting this film big throughout awards season after it won the Oscar bellwether People’s Choice award at TIFF.

Busting into the top 10 was Cinegalaxy’s Indian sci-fi movie Yashoda at 200 theaters in 84 markets, with prints in Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu. Numbers were OK in NYC, San Francisco, Dallas, and Seattle for what is shaping up to be a $395K opening. The movie from directors Haresh Narayan and K. Hari Shankar follows a pregnant woman named Yashodha, who is advised to follow a few guidelines about her physical and mental well being and safety. However, a set of events occur that make her live on the edge, risking her well being.

1.) Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Dis), 4,396 theaters, Fri $84M, 3-day $175M-$185M/Wk 1

2.) Black Adam (NL) 3,603 (-382) theaters, Fri $2.7M (-43%), 3-day $10M (-45%)/Total $152.5M/Wk 4

3.) Ticket to Paradise (Uni) 3,633 (-433) theaters, Fri $2.1M (-17%), 3-day $6.3M (-25%)/Total $56.7M/Wk 4

4.)  Lyle, Lyle Crocodile (Sony) 2,486 (-519) theaters, Fri $1.125M (+52%), 3-day $3M (-9%)/Total: $40.6M/Wk 6

5.) Smile (Par) 2,271 (-775) theaters, Fri $800K (-31%) ,3-day $2.285M (-43%),total  $102.7M/Wk 7

6.) Prey for the Devil (LG) 2,164 (-816) theaters, Fri $678K (-40%), 3-day $1.9M (-51%) Total $16.8M/ Wk 3

7.) One Piece Film Red (Crunchy) 2,161 (-206) theaters, Fri $481K (-90%), 3-day $1.53M (-84%)/Total $12.8M/Wk 2

8.)  Banshees of Inisherin (Sea) 960 (+65) Fri $548K (-25%), 3-day $1.5M (-25%), Total $5.6M/Wk 4

9.) Till (UAR) 1,358 (-778) theaters, Fri $193K (-63%), 3-day $685K (-63%)/Total $8.1M/Wk 5

10.) Yashoda (Cine) 200 theaters, Fri $137K, 3-day $395K/Wk 1

 

via Deadline

‘Black Adam’ Continues to Top Slow Weekend with $18.5M at the BO!!

Before Disney/Marvel’s Wakanda Forever comes in and does $175M-$200M next weekend, providing a complete rebirth to the domestic box office, don’t knock New Line’s Black Adam this weekend which had a fantastic hold of -33% for a third weekend of $18.5M. Total running domestic cume stands at $137.4M.

Some rivals have snarked to me about the big cost for this movie at $200M before P&A, that Black Adam won’t profit like Johnson’s Fast & Furious spinoff Hobbs & Shaw which had the benefit of $200M out of China (again, Uni only got a 25% rental there), and a better exchange rate, that film doing $759M WW and yielding an $84M net profit after all ancillaries. Black Adam will be lucky to top out at $400M WW. Again, Warners couldn’t have seen that strong dollar coming abroad. Two quick thoughts, in some ways we’re still in a marketplace of rebuild, and you could argue this was a pricey pic to start a deep universe DC franchise. Then again, it’s a Rock movie with the same production price tag as Hobbs & Shaw.

However, stateside, we can’t throw shade on Black Adam. This movie is the biggest thing in the market right now, spurring concession sales for exhibition over the last three weekends. It came out of the gate as Johnson’s top solo opening with $67M. Black Adam‘s third weekend boasts a better hold and box office in its third weekend than Hobbs & Shaw (-44%, $14.1M). The pic’s running total is pacing 3% ahead of Hobbs & Shaw at the same point in time. Black Adam even had a better third weekend than San Andreas ($10.8M, -58%) and is also ahead of that film’s running U.S/Canada total $119.1M.

Crunchyroll’s One Piece Film Red is missing the $10M outlook it had yesterday AM with a $9.47M opening. The Toei Animation co-production looks to top out at $20M at the end of its short theatrical run, which is typically where these anime movies from Crunchyroll begin. The film is available as both subtitled or dubbed in English. Fans showed up and fans alone, giving the movie an A CinemaScore. Audience exits on Comscore/Screen Engine PostTrak saw 88% positive-leaning, 76% guys, 75% between 18-34. Diversity demos were 23% Caucasian, a great 37% Latino and Hispanic, 18% Black and 22% Asian/other. Those who bought tickets wanted to see it in Imax or on PLF, with those formats driving close to 40% of weekend ticket sales.

RelishMix noticed positive word of mouth for this movie on social, however, it’s clear it’s not as popular as Crunchroll/Funimation’s previous fare, i.e. the Dragonball franchise. “Crunchyroll fans navigate the robust anime social media ecosystem that connects 22.5M fans across Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok — and YouTube which is where the majority of engagement takes place with 714.2M views on five studio owned videos at an reposting viral rate of 65:1. Animated film clips, promos, some with subtitles, are woven in with music videos featuring artist Ado, who also is cross-promoting the film on her YouTube channel with 4.3M subs,” reports the social media analytics company.

And now a word about the specialty sector. Again, as box office looks to regain its pre-pandemic footing, granted, we’ve been soft and forgiving in our assessment, especially last weekend when the wide expansions of Till, Tar ($1M, $964 theater average), Triangle of Sadness ($883K) and Call Jane (a 1,000-plus opener with a $248 theater average; the pic fell 75% in weekend 2 with $60K) weren’t that super. It’s clear there continues to be a hobbled older adult audience out there.

But in some ways, it isn’t. Similar to big studio wide releases, the success of these movies goes back to product.

Searchlight’s Banshees of Inisherin in its 895 expansion with a $2M take, and $2,2K theater average didn’t wow. While business was best in the Northeast, when you look at the top ten runs, only three theaters came from there. Pic’s best markets were NYC, Chicago, DC, Boston, Philly, Austin, Minnesota, Denver and Vancouver, but even in those places, the ticket sales dropped off when you look outside the core areas. About 40% of the pic’s runs on Friday night were under $500. The pic skewed heavily Caucasian at 83%. PostTrak exits were 81% positive, with 57% guys, and 51% over 35.

Also, the wide break on Focus Features Armageddon Time at 1,006 didn’t impress with an $805 per theater, for an $810K weekend and $902K ten-day total. Audiences disagreed heavily with Rotten Tomatoes critics, 66% positive to 75%. Like Banshees, this pic skewed very Caucasian at 77%, men 53% and 57% over 35.

While Tar had a -36% hold at 1,090 cinemas in weekend 3, with $670K and current stateside total of $3.7M, the 2 hour 38 minute running time-film about a Type A personality, pretentious composer who gets in her way is expected to top out at only $5.5M.

Adding further agita for these movies is that Wakanda Forever is going to vacuum up all the theaters that aren’t doing business for this fare.

What’s going on?! Again, it’s product, product, and a bulk of these indie films are dour or tiresome for audiences: an egotistical composer, a drama centering around two older actors, and a director’s autobiopic to name a few. Nothing screams stampede. But look what is doing great with adults: an upbeat frothy George Clooney & Julia Roberts romantic comedy, Ticket to Paradise, which has an amazing -14% third weekend hold for $8.5M and a running cume of $46.7M and TriStar’s anomaly African warrior epic The Woman King ($65.9M running total through weekend 8). So we can’t say that adults aren’t entirely going to the box office. It’s the movies, stupid.

Also, as A24’s Everything Everywhere All at Once proved with a $70M stateside bank, if you want to create a renaissance for specialty cinema, make more edgy films for the the 18-34 crowd, as well as those that will pull in a diverse crowd. That’s who’ll save arthouses, at least in the near future.

Overall tickets sales for all movies are estimated to be around $62M, still God awful low.

1.) Black Adam (NL) 3,985 (-417) theaters, Fri $4.7M, Sat $8.36M, Sun $5.4M 3-day $18.5M (-33%)/Total $137.3M/Wk 3

2.) One Piece Film Red (Crunchy) 2,367 theaters, Fri $4.82M, Sat $2.688M, Sun $1.96M, 3-day $9.47M/Wk 1

3.) Ticket to Paradise (Uni) 4,066 (+374) theaters, Fri $2.6M, Sat $3.6M, Sun $2.28M 3-day $8.5M (-14%)/Total $46.7M/Wk 3

4.) Smile (Par) 3,046 (-175) theaters, Fri $1.15M , Sat $1.78M Sun $1.07M 3-day $4M (-26%),total  $99.1M/Wk 6

5.) Prey for the Devil (LG) 2,980 theaters, Fri $1.1M, Sat $1.69M Sun $1.05M 3-day $3.875M (-46%) Total $13.6M/ Wk 2

6.) Lyle, Lyle Crocodile (Sony) 3,005 (-130) theaters, Fri $745k, Sat $1.6M Sun $1M 3-day $3.36M (+23%)/Total: $36.5M/Wk 5

7.) Banshees of Inisherin (Sea) 895 (+837) Fri 734K, Sat $767K Sun $500K, 3-day $2M (+274%), Total $3M/Wk 3

8.) Till (UAR) 2,136 (+78) theaters, Fri $524K, Sat $795K, Sun $556K, 3-day $1.875M (-32%)/Total $6.5M/Wk 4

9.) Halloween Ends (Uni) 2,929 (-490) theaters, Fri $420K, Sat $630K, Sun $350K 3-day $1.44M (-66%)/Total: $63.4M/ Wk 4

10.) Terrifier 2 (Iconic) 1,245 (-305) theaters, Fri $351,5K, Sat $493,5K, Sun $375K 3-day $1.22M (-36%), Total $9.8M/Wk 5

 

via Deadline

‘Black Adam’ Tops Sluggish Halloween Weekend with $27.7M at the Box Office!!

Halloween adjacent weekends have rarely been good ones at the box office, and even less so during the pandemic, when there aren’t a lot of solid movies in cinemas. Saturday night is largely party night, not movie night. All titles this weekend are expected to gross $69M, just 7% up from last year’s $64.3M, but at a great drop from last weekend, when New Line/DC’s Black Adam propelled industry ticket sales, -40%. Pre-pandemic, the last weekend of October rang up $107.6M in 2019 and $105.7M in 2018, per Box Office Mojo.

The annual spooky effect on moviegoing is forcing Black Adam to be -59% in weekend 2 with $27.7M, a hold that’s steeper than a few of Dwayne Johnson movies in weekend 2, i.e. Rampage (-44%), Skyscraper (-54%), and San Andreas (-53%), and some DC films (i.e. The Batman, -50%; Justice League, -56%), yet better than others such as Green Lantern (-66%) and 2016’s Suicide Squad (-67%).

Halloween adjacent weekends have rarely been good ones at the box office, and even less so during the pandemic, when there aren’t a lot of solid movies in cinemas. Saturday night is largely party night, not movie night. All titles this weekend are expected to gross $69M, just 7% up from last year’s $64.3M, but at a great drop from last weekend, when New Line/DC’s Black Adam propelled industry ticket sales, -40%. Pre-pandemic, the last weekend of October rang up $107.6M in 2019 and $105.7M in 2018, per Box Office Mojo.

Despite this, Black Adams is flying past $100M by EOD with $111.1M, Johnson’s 18th movie to fly past the century mark at the domestic box office. Duly note that the 10-day gross of Black Adam is ahead of Johnson’s Fast & Furious spinoff Hobbs & Shaw ($108.3M) by 3%. That’s commendable. Worldwide, Black Adam stands at $250M.

Also not overindexing, no thanks to Halloween syndrome, is Lionsgate’s PG-13 horror film Prey for the Devil at 2,980 theaters, which made $2.8M on Friday (including Thursday previews) for what looks to be a $7.02M start third place. That’s close to where Lionsgate was projecting the film. It arrives in an already horror-laden marketplace, with Halloween Ends set to finish its third weekend with $60M-plus, and Paramount’s slasher sleeper Smile going to $92M-plus by tomorrow. Prey for the Devil, despite being a slightly different kind of exorcism film in its female-driven conceit, isn’t spreading the spirit all over this land, with a C+ CinemaScore, 68% Rotten Tomatoes audience score, and 64%/2 1/2 stars on Comscore/Screen Engine’s Posttrak.

Those who decided to buy tickets to date were 62% between 18-34, and evenly split between 51% females, 49% males. Demographic breakdowns were 33% Men over 25, 30% women over 25, 21% women under 25, and 16% under 25. Diverse audiences were 38% Hispanic and Latino, 33% Caucasian, 12% Black and 11% Asian. Top ten theaters came from West and Southwest.

RelishMix measured the social media universe for Prey for the Devil at 62.1M across Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok spurred by 29.4M for the latter on Lionsgate’s official channel. That outpaced the pic’s 20.8M YouTube views on eight studio-owned videos before opening.

United Artists Releasing’s third weekend expansion of Till at 2,058 locations notched an A+ CinemaScore and 91% positive on PostTrak, mostly women at 61%; with $1.03M on Friday and $2.81M for the weekend, and a running total of $3.6M for the Eon Production. That’s the third film this year to get an A+ CinemaScore. Black moviegoers gave Till 94% on PostTrak. Much older audience here at 84% over 25, 63% over 35 and close to have over 45 with 27% over 55. Diversity demos were 38% Caucasian, 42% Black, 11% Latino and Hispanic and 9% Asian/other. Till saw most of its box office coming from the Southeast, Northeast and Midwest.

Says UAR Distribution Boss Erik Lomis about Till, “The film’s tremendous word of mouth and exit polling bodes well for a long-term run of the film at the box office. Overall, the marketplace for upscale drama is still recovering, and that had a drag on all films overall.”

Trafalgar Releasing has the concert movie, Coldplay Music of the Spheres Live Broadcast from Buenos Aires, booked at 829 runs in 179 markets across only two showtimes. Friday’s was live and Saturday was a rebroadcast. It posted solid core runs in NYC, Los Angeles, Philly, San Francisco, DC, Seattle, Miami, Orlando, Baltimore, Salt Lake City and Toronto, with $673K on Friday for a $1.015M weekend. Clearly, older-skewing movie here, as Trafalgar’s younger skewing BTS Permission to Dance on Stage saw a $6.8M opening back in March at 803 theaters.

Focus Features’ fourth weekend wide expansion of Todd Field’s TAR at 1,087 made $340K on Friday, for a $1.02M 3-day and running total of $2.48M. Critics love the return of Field’s directing after a 16 year break at 94% certified fresh, Cate Blanchett is arguably a lock for Best Actress at the Oscars, but audiences couldn’t take the 2 hour and 38 minute movie about a Type A Personality classical conductor at 72% positive on PostTrak, 42% definite recommend. The movie skewed 54% female, older at 81% over 25, 59% over 35 and close to half over 45 and 34% over 55. TAR played best in New York and LA, however ticket sales got lighter the farther you got away from each metropolis.

Roadside Attractions’ abortion movement feature Call Jane, from filmmaker Phyllis Nagy didn’t fare that well with $240,7k at 1,070 theaters. That’s $225 per theater. Audiences gave it 77% positive, and a 51% recommend. Older women showed up at 61% overall with 73% over 25, 55% over 35 and 40% over 45.

James Gray’s Armageddon Time, also from Focus, was booked in six NYC and LA theaters at Lincoln Square, Union Square, Alamo Drafthouse Brooklyn, Century City, The Grove and Burbank AMC for $35K on Friday, $72K opening weekend in a light $12K per theater. We heard Lincoln Square and Grove were the strongest of the bunch.

Sunday estimates :

1.) Black Adam (NL) 4,402 theaters, Fri $7.5M (-72%), Sat $11.9M, Sun $8.33M 3-day $27.7M (-59%)/Total $111.1M/Wk 2

2.) Ticket to Paradise (Uni) 3,692 (+149) theaters, Fri $3.1M (-51%), Sat $4M, Sun $2.8M 3-day $10M (-37%)/Total $33.7M/Wk 2
Great hold here for this older female skewing title.

3.) Prey for the Devil (LG) 2,980 theaters, Fri $2.8M, Sat $2.46M Sun $1.73M 3-day $7.02M, Wk 1

4.) Smile (Par) 3,221 (-75) theaters, Fri $1.58M (-39%), Sat $2.2M Sun $1.2M 3-day $5.05M (-40%),total  $92.3M/Wk 5

5.) Halloween Ends (Uni) 3,419 (-482) theaters, Fri $1.16M (-55%), Sat $1.62M, Sun $1.05M 3-day $3.83M (-52%)/Total: $60.3M/ Wk 3

6.) Till (UAR) 2,058 (+1,954) theaters, Fri $1.037M (+712%), Sat $1.01M, Sun $760K, 3-day $2.81M (+673%)/Total $3.6M/Wk 3

7.) Lyle, Lyle Crocodile (Sony) 3,135 (-401) theaters, Fri $725k, Sat $1.22M Sun $880K 3-day $2.83M (-33%)/Total: $32.56M/Wk 4

8.) Terrifier 2 (Iconic) 1,550 (+795) theaters, Fri $575,5K (+5%), Sat $727,5K, Sun $500K 3-day $1.8M (+3%), Total $7.7M/Wk 4

9.) The Woman King (Sony) 1,446 (-412) theaters Fri $300K (-42%), Sat $500k, Sun $310K 3-day $1.11M (-41%) /Total $64.5M/Wk 7

10.) Tar (Focus) 1,087 theaters (+946), Fri $340K (+113%), Sat $390K, Sun $290K 3-day $1.04M (+100%), Total $2.48M/Wk 4

Notable:

Coldplay Music of Spheres Live (TRAF) 833 theaters, Fri $673K, Sat $342K, 3-day $1.015M/Wk 1

Triangle of Sadness (NEON) 610 (+330) theaters, Fri $180K Sat $199K Sun $170K 3 day $549K (-9%)/Total $2.28M/Wk 4

Banshees of Inisherin (Sea) 59 (+55) theaters, Fri $210K (+211%), Sat $185K Sun $145K 3-day $540K (+117%)/Total $790,7K/Wk 2
The top two grosses for the Martin McDonagh directed and written movie came from Canada with the single screen art house, the Park in Vancouver, as the highest gross in North America followed by the Varsity in Toronto. Five out of the top ten grosses came from the Alamo Drafthouse. Other highlights include the Coolidge Corner in Boston, Cinema 21 in Portland, Uptown in Seattle, and the Jacob Burns in Pleasantville NY.  Angelika and Lincoln Square in New York are also ranking in the pic’s top ten.

Call Jane (RSA) 1,070 theaters, Fri $88K Sat $89K Sun $63K 3-day $240,7K/Wk 1

Armageddon Time (Foc) 6 theaters, Fri $35K Sat $20K Sun $17K, PTA $12K, 3-day $72K/Wk 1

 

via Deadline

‘Black Adam’ Delivers Dwayne Johnson’s Career-Best Solo with $67M Opening at the BO!!

 

via Deadline

‘Halloween Ends’ Opens with Lower than Expected $41.2M at the BO!!

There’s about $10M missing from the current theatrical marketplace this weekend.

Projections for Universal/Blumhouse/Miramax/Trancas’ Halloween Ends were expected to come in around $55M and the 13th sequel in the franchise originally created by John Carpenter is settling at $41.2M after a $13M Saturday, off 36% from $20.4M Friday and previews. Clearly tracking didn’t account for the theatrical-day-and-date factor. Uni says the movie is the most watched film or series ever on the platform over a two-day period. Numbers weren’t provided, but note third party streaming analytics corp Samba TV measured Halloween Kills‘ Smart TV viewership over 30 days last year at 2.8M. Halloween Ends opening is also $8.2M less than Halloween Kills‘ $49.4M and that sequel opened at a time when there were more big films in the market.

Through reportedly still a profitable gross against the film’s $30M production cost (although note in these situations, Universal literally has to pay itself among internal departments — meaning Peacock pays for the streaming rights — go bend your heads on that accounting), as one razor sharp studio executive points out “It’s hard to underestimate the day-and-date factor”. Clearly, despite the fact that Peacock, on which Halloween Ends is also available, is in 15M paid subscriber homes (a low number next to the competition).

Uni’s theatrical distribution in its date execution and the studio’s marketing aren’t to blame here. Those departments didn’t do anything wrong. Also don’t point a finger at Paramount’s third awesome weekend for Smile (-33% with $12.4M; chances are genre fans are seeing both movies). I don’t even think Halloween Ends‘ C+ Cinemascore is a reason here (the lowest grade in the recent franchise subset trilogy from David Gordon Green). I’m hearing there were great viewership figures on Halloween Ends on Peacock, so some form of cannibalization of theatrical is taking effect.

Riddle me this, Jeff Shell: So you take a branded film, deflate its optics by making it day-and-date with a headlined lower box office number in exchange for financials, streaming viewership and subscriber numbers which can’t be immediately publicly disclosed? Or will be disclosed weeks from now? Or will never? Or will be leaked to the Wall Street Journal (remember Trolls World Tour near $100M puffy number according to sources)? And this is done at a time when the theatrical part of the business is starving and lacking product, and when Wall Street is falling out of love with streaming? It doesn’t matter that Halloween Ends is going to gross more than Barbarian or Don’t Worry Darling. Of course it will, it’s a franchise movie, duh. The point is money is being left on the table. A reminder that the equity players in Halloween Ends are Blumhouse, Trancas and Miramax, who were bought out whole for this experiment, and Uni is only getting a global distribution fee.

Essentially, if you think about it, by not going completely theatrical, there’s about $5M which isn’t going back to Universal this weekend in pure film rental (roughly 50% of the pic’s missing $10M). Possibly more will be lost as day-and-date movies have a big drop (Halloween Kills plummeted 71% in weekend 2 and that was on Peacock, too). Halloween Kills in regards to its $49.4M opening generated under a 2x leg-out factor with $92M. Whatever NBCUni makes in Peacock subscription fees is theirs to keep, not share with exhibition. Right now there’s a deal going on where you can get Peacock for $19.99 a year. So is NBCUni banking on more than 250,000 subscribers signing up? Will those subscribers stay? Whose your demo by having Halloween Ends go day and date? Older people? Because the 18-34 bunch drove most of Halloween Ends business at 65%. The conventional wisdom is that streaming subscribers who sign up off movies don’t stick; they stick around for the series. Halloween Ends is 2 1/2 stars on PostTrak, 64%. If business slows tonight due to word of mouth, it will also be impacted at the same time on the OTT service. Not exactly a win-win.

Furthermore, filmmakers and content creators don’t like theatrical day-and-date. So even if Halloween Ends is one of a few one-offs from Universal (and granted, the studio hasn’t been as big offenders as WarnerMedia), read the memo again, Shell: Content creators no gusta theatrical day and date. Christopher Landon, the director of Uni’s Freaky made clear his disdain yesterday as the studio mishandled his movie.

One thing to keep in mind when clocking viewership of Halloween Ends is how much was puffed by stolen password accounts, which happens on streaming. That 30-day viewership figure on Halloween Kills (2.8M) in terrestrial Smart TV homes last year was off greatly from the the 4.1M who watched Matt Reeves’ Batman in its first seven days on HBO Max after its 45-day theatrical run. When it comes to frosh streamers right now, it’s not about viewership, it’s about subscribers. A hard analysis of money gained versus money lost needs to be made clear here. What’s the worth in diluting a brand to prop a struggling streaming service?

Perhaps, Peacock, you just need to go build your own House of Dragon.

WarnerMedia wisely learned from the wrongs of practicing the upside-down economics of day-and-date, and NBCUni, I don’t know why you haven’t learned that yet. Streamers are on the precipice of embracing a theatrical window, for crying out loud with Netflix and its Glass Onion: A Knives Out Story experiment. As outgoing NATO President and CEO John Fithian declared at CinemaCon, “Simultaneous release is dead as a serious business model, and piracy is what killed it.”

NBCUniversal, get with the times.

*****

Other diagnostics on Halloween Ends: the third Green directed pic in the series has now matched its predecessor, Halloween Kills, in regards to its Rotten Tomatoes critical score at 39%. Audiences aren’t that far from disagreeing with reviewers at 57% on Rotten Tomatoes. Big diversity turnout here at 33% Caucasian, 37% Latino and Hispanic, 19% Black, and 4% Asian and 7% Other. The movie exceeded in the South, South Central and Midwest with the top gross coming out of the Cinemark Tinseltown El Paso. Premium Large Format screen drove a third of ticket sales so far with Imax separately reporting $2.7M from 400 auditoriums.

In regards to Uni’s efforts in respecting a theatrical window, let the record show that Illumination Animation’s Minions: The Rise of Gru is now the highest grossing of all the Minions and Gru movies at domestic box office with $368.3M running total in weekend 16. That finally beats Despicable Me 2‘s $368M US/Canada gross.

On the limited side of the box office, United Artists Releasing’s Till grossed $96K on Friday at 16 theaters in five markets, another $83K on Saturday for a $241K first weekend and very solid $15K theater average. The Eon produced drama is hot out of the gate in word of mouth for awards season following its New York Film Festival world premiere standing at 100% on Rotten Tomatoes and excellent audience scores at 92% positive, and an 85% definite recommend. Solid numbers I hear from the Chinonye Chukwu directed drama’s play in NYC, LA, Chicago, Washington DC and Atlanta with a great turnout at AMC Phipps Plaza in Atlanta.

Focus Features’ expansion of Tar from four to 36 theaters in 13 markets saw $120K on Friday, $130K on Saturday and $110K on Sunday, for a what is turning out to be a $360k second weekend or $10K a theater. Good numbers, I hear in NYC, LA, San Francisco, Toronto and Chicago.

NEON’s second weekend of Cannes Palme d’Or winner Triangle of Sadness saw $336,5K at 31 theaters (+11), +57%, for a running total of $657K. Twelves markets in play with great ticket sales in Austin, Los Angeles, NYC and Denver.

Total ticket sales are at an estimated $79M, which is off 27% from the same weekend a year ago which grossed $108.9M. There were more big films in theaters back then, i.e. No Time to Die and Venom: Let There Be Carnage.

Sunday numbers fully updated:

1.) Halloween Ends (Uni) 3,901 theaters, Fri $20.2M, Sat $13M, Sun $7.8M, 3-day $41.2M/Wk 1

2.) Smile (Par) 3,612 theaters (-47), Fri $3.75M (-31%), Sat $5.35M Sun $3.3M $12.4M (-33%), 3-day $71.1M/Wk 3

3.) Lyle, Lyle Crocodile (Sony) 4,350 theaters, Fri $2M (-43%), Sat $3.25M, Sun $2.1M, 3-day $7.4M (-35%)/Total: $22.7M/Wk 2

4.) The Woman King (Sony) 2,565 (-777) theaters Fri $1M, Sat $1.68M, Sun $1M, 3-day $3.7M (-27%)/Total $59.7M/Wk 5

5.) Amsterdam (Dis) 3,005 theaters, Fri $888K (-66%), Sat $1.2M, Sun $803K 3-day $2.89M (-54%)/Total: $12M/Wk 2

6.) Don’t Worry Darling (NL/WB), 2,734 (-590) theaters, Fri $745K (-35%), Sat $930K, Sun $510K, 3-day $2.185M (-38%)/Total $42.4M/ Wk 4

7.) Barbarian (20th/Dis) 1,805 theaters (-355), Fri $406K (-35%) Sat $596K, Sun $409K, 3-day $1.4M (-33%)/Total $38.9M/Wk 6

8.) Bros (Uni) 2,201 theaters (-1,155), Fri $290K (-57%), Sat $380K, Sun $250K, 3-day $900K (-58%)/Total $10.8M/ Wk 3

9.) Terrifier 2 (Iconic) 700 theaters (-186), Fri $250K (-2%), Sat $425K, Sun $175K, 3-day $850K (+6), Total $2.2M/Wk 2
Talk about a window working for a low-budget horror film — this Iconic Releasing title from filmmaker Damien Leone climbed in weekend 2 over its $805K opening. The appeal for genre fans? Moviegoers are fainting and throwing up in theater. More fun in public than watching at home.

10.) Top Gun Maverick (Par) 902 (-225) theaters, Fri $200K (-11%), Sat $315K, Sun $170K, 3-day $685K (-15%), Total: $715.8M/Wk 21

 

via Deadline

‘Amsterdam’: David O. Russell’s Latest Projected to Lose Almost $100 Million!!

Amsterdam, the latest big-budget star-studded film from David O. Russell has flopped massively at the box office, and is looking at a reported loss of around $100 million after its opening weekend. According to Deadline, initial opening weekend projections had predicted earnings in the $15 million region, but it has failed to reach even half that. Currently, the film has made just $6.5 million domestically, while it sits at around $10 million worldwide.

The budget of the 1930s-set comedy film was a reported $80 million, double that of Russell‘s previous, highly successful, period-set film American Hustle, which was a huge box office smash. The film netted $251.1 million worldwide off a production budget of $40 million, while grabbing ten Academy Award nominations along the way. However, the magical spark has been missing from this latest feature.

According to the report, the massive cost of production ballooned due to a change in location from Boston to Los Angeles, and then a halt to production when the COVID pandemic stopped everything in its tracks in March 2020. The film was intended to begin shooting in 2020 but was pushed back to January 2021, with the cast unwilling to travel any further than Los Angeles. The compromise was made to stay on the West Coast, adding $30 million to the budget.

The A-list cast, however, were not to blame for any further costs. The ensemble, which includes Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, John David Washington, Rami Malek, Robert De Niro, Anya Taylor-Joy, Taylor Swift and Michael Shannon, turned up because they wanted to work with Russell. The director’s conflicts with talent over the years did not deter them from joining, with some working for scale. Bale and Russell had worked on the film for five years together.

Reviews, meanwhile, were lukewarm across the board. The film currently sits at 33% from critics and 60% from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes, suggesting word-of-mouth is not doing the film any favors. Collider‘s Chase Hutchinson labeled the movie “a cinematic con that fails to convince us it’s actually any good as a film or worth even a moment of time taken seriously”.

The film came third on box office charts behind Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile, an animated family film starring singer Shawn Mendes that placed second, and horror film Smile, which has been a surprise hit and has performed well above expectations.

 

via Collider

‘Smile’ Retains Top Spot with $17.6 Million as ‘Amsterdam’ Flops at the BO!!

Some parts of the weekend box office are alive, and some are dead, and that which is vibrant is Paramount’s second weekend of Smile, which — as we mentioned during the weekend preview — was apt to steal No. 1 away from newcomers Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile and Amsterdam.

The Parker Finn R-rated horror film is posting the second-best hold ever for an R-rated horror movie, with an amazing -22% and $17.6M, after 2017’s Get Out, which eased -15%. This puts Smile‘s 10-day total just under $50M. Smile also owns the best non-holiday second weekend hold for a wide release during the pandemic era. Smile‘s second Saturday at $7.4M was up 38% over the pic’s second Friday of $5.4M. EntTelligence clocked 1.4M who saw Smile in weekend 2, to 900K admission for Lyle, Lyle Crocodile and 450K tickets punched for Amsterdam.

For all the talk that the marketplace hasn’t had a family film, and that Lyle, Lyle would organically over perform, that didn’t happen, as the Sony live-action animation hybrid pic took in an estimated $11.5M. Lyle, Lyle posted a $3.5M Friday (including previews) and $4.475M Saturday. The Columbus Day/Indigenous Peoples’ Day holiday tomorrow will get Lyle, Lyle over $13.4M through four days. What can we say? It’s not an IP that creates a stampede, clearly in the way that Peter Rabbit did.

Those buying tickets for Lyle, Lyle aren’t complaining at 4 stars and 80% positive and 62% recommend on ComScore/Screen Engine’s PostTrak. Kids under 12 are more bullish at 88%. Demos are 54% women, 46% men, with close to half the audience under 25, and the largest quadrant being 18-24 year olds at 33%. Diversity demos were 47% Caucasian, 21% Latino and Hispanic, 12% Black, & 20% Asian/Other, with the best plays for the pic being in the South, South Central, and Midwest. The top gross for the Josh Gordon-Will Speck animation hybrid was the Cinemark in Frisco, Texas. Premium large format screens rep 14% of weekend ticket sales to date.

Horror movies clearly work, and that’s created a lot of excitement around genre producers about those types of movies succeeding in the off-bent late pandemic box office marketplace. However, period absurdist comedies do not resonate on a wide level. New Regency/20th Century Studios/Disney’s Amsterdam was DOA with $2.6M Friday, including previews, and a $6.5M third place debut. Saturday was off $300K next to first day previews and Friday with $2.3M. A third of the movie’s theater count of 3,005 are delivering 70% of their gross. Premium large format is driving 33% of the pic’s business. Six of the pic’s top ten runs came from Los Angeles.

The Russell fans who showed up gave the movie a B CinemaScore (Russell’s Oscar nominated all-star American Hustle earned a B+) and harsher reactions on PostTrak at 3 Stars and 72%. Pic skewed toward men at 56%, with the largest demo being 25-34 at 37%. Diversity demos were 57% Caucasian, 17% Latino and Hispanic, 12% Black, and 14% Asian/other. Men over 25 at 47% and women over 25 at 37% gave Amsterdam its best response at 75%. But the rest of the audience wasn’t on board, i.e. men and women under 25, who each showed up at 9% respectively and gave the movie a 61% and 55% grade.

The takeaway lesson here is not to send such overpriced fare at $80M to streaming, just to make theatrical movies at responsible prices for the big screen. Wes Anderson films don’t even cost this much, and that’s the best comp out there for Amsterdam (Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou was Anderson’s most expensive movie at $50M before P&A. That movie was deemed a dud back in 2004, with a $4.5M wide break opening, $24M domestic, and $34.8M — but the pic is now a cult classic. Alas, the legacy of a big screen launch). Amsterdam, in its all quirkiness and stars, deserves to be seen on the big screen, not a mobile phone. Also working against this movie is its running time of 2 hours and 14 minutes.

As we mentioned, this was a hard one for Disney to market: You can only promote what one can explain succinctly from the film materials at hand, and this wild, heady tale is up there with a plot that sounds like it’s from playwright Eugene Ionesco. Disney went with the boom-boom listing of all the stars in the pic’s trailer, moved the title’s opening to a better weekend where it won’t get steamrolled by Marvel’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Amsterdam was originally suppose to open during the first weekend of November) in its second weekend, and grabbed all the Imax screens.

What else can a major studio do to better position this offbeat tale? Many like to complain that Disney doesn’t know what to do with these titles. However, Amsterdam was a critically panned title, which avoided a film festival launch (there was buzz it was going to Toronto, then didn’t, which was likely the best choice for the movie). Aside from Life Aquatic, Disney has also been in this position before with another period comedy, the Coen Brothers’ The Ladykillers starring Tom Hanks, back in 2004. That opened to $12.6M and ended its domestic run just under $40M.

Sure, it’s a sign of the times of how things have changed for these types of movies, and how hard it is at the box office for them. But period is always difficult. You need that critical love and awards momentum to cross over such fare. Let the record show, your honor, that Disney is releasing 11 theatrical titles between September and December from all its brands. It’s not just all about Disney+, even though Hocus Pocus 2 was the most-watched movie ever on the OTT service (many out there still scream, why didn’t that go to theatrical?!).

NEON’s pic-up of Cannes Palme d’Or winner The Triangle of Sadness from filmmaker Ruben Ostlund is seeing an estimated opening of $210K from ten runs in NYC, LA, San Francisco, and Toronto, for a $21K theater average, which I’m told is solid. Alamo Brooklyn and AMC Burbank led the way with 24,4K and 22,2K respectively weekend to date. The movie, which is 72% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes and played to raucous laughs at Cannes, runs 2 hours and 30 minutes.

Todd Field’s return to feature directing after a 16-year hiatus, Tar, starring Cate Blanchett, is posting a solid $40K theater average or $160K opening weekend from four locations: NYC Lincoln Square, the Angelika, and AMC Century City and The Grove (LA’s arthouse market is on its knees with the closings of Arclight Hollywood and Landmark on Pico). That opening theater average is $10K shy of A24’s Everything Everywhere All at Once’s $50K (different audience), and the $86K opening theater average of last year’s Licorice Pizza (still, a different younger audience than Tar).

However, it’s good enough for a 2-hour 38-minute running title about a stuffy classical composer, besting the pre-pandemic $10K opening weekend average of Terrence Malick’s A Hidden Life which was booked at five theaters. Juicing grosses a bit this weekend was a Q&A at AMC Century City with Blanchett and Field on Friday. Focus believes in this movie so much that they’re platforming it throughout awards season rather than going wide over 17 days and segueing it onto PVOD and Peacock ultimately. Critics love this movie at 97% fresh which since its Venice and Telluride festival debut has propelled Blanchett to frontrunner Oscar Best Actress contending status.

It’s another $60M+ weekend at the box office for all titles, the third straight in a row, with an estimated $61.6M, -5% from last weekend’s Comscore reported $64.77M, and off a massive 59% from 2019, when Warner Bros/Village Roadshow/Bron’s The Joker conquered October with a $96.2M opening. Even next to last year, when Sony’s Venom: Let There Be Carnage opened to $90M, this weekend is down 52%.

1.) Smile (Par) 3,659 theaters (+14), Fri $5.4M (-34%), Sat $7.4M, Sun $4.8M, $17.6M (-22%), 3-day $49.9M/Wk 2

2.) Lyle, Lyle Crocodile (Sony) 4,350 theaters, Fri $3.5M, Sat $4.475M, Sun $3.45M 3-day $11.5M/Wk 1

3.) Amsterdam (Dis) 3,005 theaters, Fri $2.6M, Sat $2.4M, Sun $1.5M, 3-day $6.5M/Wk 1

4.) The Woman King (Sony) 3,342 (-162) theaters Fri $1.35M, Sat $2.3M , Sun $1.63M 3-day $5.3M (-26%)/Total $54.1M/Wk 4

5.) Don’t Worry Darling (NL/WB), 3,324 (-797) theaters, Fri $1.15M (-50%), Sat $1.4M, Sun $915K, 3-day $3.47M (-49%)/Total $38.45M/ Wk 3

6.) Avatar (re) (20th/Dis) 2,040 theaters (+180), Fri $655K (-44%), Sat $1.1M, Sun $760K, 3-day $2.6M (-47%), Total $783.7M (re-issue running total through ten days is $23.3M)/Wk 3 of re-issue

7.) Barbarian (20th/Dis) 2,160 theaters (-560), Fri $629k (-22%), Sat $940K Sun $611K  3-day $2.18M (-24%)/Total $36.5M/Wk 5

8.) Bros (Uni) 3,356 theaters (+6), Fri $690K (-63%), Sat $860K, Sun $600K  3-day $2.15M (-56%)/Total $8.89M/ Wk 2

9.) Ponniyan Selvan: Part One (Sar) 500 locations, Fri $264K (-87%), Sat $388K, Sun $242K, 3-day $894K (-78%)/Total $5.7M/ Wk 2

10.) Terrifier 2 (Iconic) 875 theaters, Fri $275K, Sat $350K, Sun $200K 3-day $825K, Total $1.22M/Wk 1

 

via Deadline

‘Avatar’ Has Become the First Film to Cross $2.9 Billion at the Global BO!!

Director James Cameron’s Avatar has become the first film in history to pass $2.9 billion at the global box office, thanks to a two-week re-release in over 40 markets ahead of December’s long-awaited sequel, Avatar: The Way of Water. With $18 million domestically and another $39 million from overseas territories, the latest re-release has pushed the film’s global haul to $2.905 billion.

The film’s running domestic total now stands at nearly $780 million — the fourth-largest of all time, behind Spider-Man: No Way Home ($814 million), Avengers: Endgame ($858 million in 2019) and Star Wars: The Force Awakens ($936 million in 2015). Adjusted for inflation, Avatar’s domestic total stands at $916 million, according to box office tracking website The Numbers.

This is the fourth time that the film has been re-released in theaters, following its record-breaking original run that began in 2009. Avatar wasn’t the biggest film out of the gate, debuting to $77 million in its opening weekend, which was the second-biggest for the month of December at the time, behind I Am Legend. But the science-fiction epic displayed incredible legs over the next few months, eventually overtaking Cameron’s own Titanic to become the biggest film of all time, both domestically and internationally. They say that the franchise has had no cultural impact, but the sustained interest over the last decade proves otherwise.

A special extended edition was released in theaters in 2011, and grossed nearly $45 million worldwide. A smaller re-release targeted at APAC territories took place in 2020, followed by a China-specific re-release in 2021. The film was a major hit in the Middle Kingdom back in 2009, but the pendulum has swung all the way back in the decade since its release. In that decade, China became the world’s largest movie market, attracting major Hollywood films to cater directly to the local audience. But stricter sanctions in the post-pandemic era have limited the number of imports that are allowed to be exhibited there.

Thanks to this latest re-release, Avatar also extended its lead as the biggest film of all time at the global box office. It briefly ceded the top spot to Endgame, before reclaiming it with the China re-release in 2021. Endgame’s global total stands at $2.797 billion. The top five all-time list also includes Titanic ($2.2 billion), The Force Awakens ($2.06 billion) and Avengers: Infinity War ($2.04 billion).

Starring Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang, Michelle Rodriguez, and Sigourney Weaver, Avatar is set in the 22nd century and tells an epic story about colonization and revolution. The film utilized state-of-the-art visual effects and introduced industry-altering possibilities for 3D exhibition. The sequel will welcome new cast members such as Cliff Curtis, Edie Falco, Jemaine Clement, Kate Winslet, Michelle Yeoh, Brendan Cowell, and Vin Diesel. Slated for a December 16 release, The Way of Water was shot simultaneously with Avatar 3; two more sequels have been announced, which means that over the course of the next decade, the original film will get several opportunities to pass $3 billion at the global box office.

 

via Collider

‘Smile’ Tops Weekend with $22 Million at the BO!!

Unlike other genre films during this lackluster time at the box office, Paramount’s Smile isn’t even beginning to frown this weekend. Paramount officially reports this morning, after we heard last night that the Parker Finn directed/written horror pic had a very strong Saturday of $8.6 million. That’s now +4% from Friday and previews’ $8.2M, which will soar Smile to a $22M opening. Worldwide, Smile is exuberant at $36.5M. The pic only cost a reported $17M before P&A. Note, this is the first $20M+ opening at the domestic box office since Sony’s Bullet Train debuted to $30m during the first weekend of August.

How does a B- CinemaScore movie like Smile overindex on Saturday night, when a starry film like Don’t Worry Darling, with the same grade, did not in its opening? One is a horror movie with a clearly defined demographic of 18-34 (68% turnout) and multicultural audiences (40% Caucasian, 32% Hispanic and Latino, 16% Black, 7% Asian and 5% other), and Paramount never lost sight of that in their marketing.

The Olivia Wilde-directed film was an arthouse movie conceived for upscale adults, but wound up attracting younger females (the Harry Styles fans), and neither crowd yielded enough heat coming out of the theater to propel the film’s demand. Still, thank God for Styles, or else Don’t Worry Darling would never have opened to $19.3M. Warners is reporting the second weekend for Don’t Worry Darling at $7.3M, -62%, with a running total of $32.8M. Worldwide the pic stands at $54.7M.

“It’s hard to open original IP in this marketplace. But we created a mystique around Smile and ran a clever campaign,” beamed Paramount Domestic Theatrical Distribution Boss Chris Aronson, “This is a very good start for Parker Finn; there is a style to this movie that is clever and smart.”

Paramount leaned in heavily with the digital spend, we understand, and aired TV spots during sporting events. The pic trailered in-theaters on such movies as Bullet Train, Black Phone, Beast and Barbarian in recent months. RelishMix noticed that TikTok views were driving engagement at 42M, plus YouTube views at 39M, prior to the weekend, fueling the pic’s social media universe to 110.2M across Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. That figure is above the horror averages measured by the analytics company. One zany stunt the studio pulled to raise awareness for the film was to have people infiltrate MLB games. Paramount placed these individuals in the crowd, and had them smile throughout the entire game directly into broadcast cameras. Really.

Comscore/Screen Engine’s PostTrak says that those who decided to buy tickets to Smile: 41% came because it was a horror movie, 27% came with a friend who wanted to see it, while 25% heard it was ‘good’. For those polled by PostTrak, the most effective pieces of marketing for Smile were the in-theater trailer (15%), the YouTube trailer (14%) and social media personality endorsements of the film (17%).

What did we learn this weekend at the box office? It pays to go theatrical, not streaming. Kudos once again to Paramount Motion Pictures boss Brian Robbins for not sending this one to Paramount+.

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According to PostTrak, those who saw Smile: 24% saw it with a date, 19% saw it with 2 to 4 friends, while 16% went with a friend.

The overindexing of Smile puts total weekend ticket sales at around $64.2M. But the sad state of affairs remains that compared to the same weekend in 2019, when DreamWorks Animation’s Abominable opened –coincidentally at the same level as Smile with $20.6M, and all films grossed, $94.5M– there’s $30.3M missing in the current domestic theatrical marketplace. Yes, sure, there’s a lack of supply of big pics, and 2019 then had It Chapter Two in its 4th weekend, ranking 4th with $10.2M. However, the holdovers of older adult and upscale fare was immensely stronger, and underscores how we continue to lack the drive and interest from that demographic. Three years ago, in second place, we had Downton Abbey‘s second sesh making $14.3M, -54%; the third weekend of Jennifer Lopez’s crime caper movie Hustlers earning a beefy $11.3M (-32%), and the $10M second weekend of 20th Century Studios/Regency/Disney’s Ad Astra (which we gave a hard time to back then over its $100M cost and arthouse sensibility; by today’s standards the slow sci-fi pic looks like a blockbuster) in No. 5. The point is, we’re still not back, even with the lack of movies.

Still, let’s give it up for the major studios committing to the big screen at this point in time: If you think about it — Woman King, Bros, Don’t Worry Darling, Smile — these are all very original movies, and extremely ambitious. All of them were greenlit during the pandemic. See any one of them and, you’ll agree, they deserve a theatrical treatment, and that will carry their legacy through in home ancillaries. Even though Universal’s Bros tanked with a $4.8M opening (after a $1.74M Saturday, -5% from Friday+previews’ $1.84M), the pic will only make Peacock that more attractive and have more leverage on a streaming menu amid the noise of several titles than had it went straight to the service.

Said Universal domestic distribution boss Jim Orr about Bros, “All of us at Universal are incredibly proud of Bros. Billy Eichner, Nick Stoller, and Judd Apatow have crafted the funniest film of the year, as evidenced by our very enthusiastic audience and critical reaction scores, which will no doubt lead to great word of mouth as Bros continues to find its audience in the coming weeks. “

While box office for most of these titles isn’t as robust as it was pre-pandemic, it means originality will have to come at a very low cost for such projects moving forward (not that any of them cost north of $50M before P&A), but it puts a strain on P&L. Streamers can easily outbid the motion picture studios for the packages of such original movies, however, in regards to pure word of mouth, will we be talking about Netflix’s Blonde three weeks from now? The discourse for The Woman King continues, and that’s a movie that demands to be seen on a big screen, not a mobile phone (the pic made $7M in weekend 3, -36% with a running total of $46.7M). In the end, it’s up to filmmakers and producers where they want their movie to be seen: in homes, possibly lost on a streaming menu, or with a loudspeaker multi-million global campaign in theaters. Sometimes, that higher budget which the streamers are offering is just too much to resist.

Elsewhere at the box office, Sarigama Cinemas title Ponniyan Selvan: Part One looks to have held to its industry estimate with $4.1M at 500 sites in the No. 6 spot.

Studio reported Sunday numbers for the weekend of Sept. 30-Oct. 2:

1.) Smile (Par) 3,645 theaters, Fri $8.2M, Sat $8.6M, Sun $5.15M, 3-day $22M/Wk 1

2.) Don’t Worry Darling (NL/WB), 4,121 (+8) theaters, Fri $2.35M (-75%), Sat $2.9M, Sun $2M, 3-day $7.3M (-62%)/Total $32.8M/ Wk 2

3.) The Woman King (Sony) 3,504 (-261) theaters Fri $1.75M (-41%), Sat $3.1M, Sun $2.1M, 3-day $7M (-36%)/Total $46.7M/Wk 3

4.) Bros (Uni) 3,350 theaters, Fri $1.84M, Sat $1.74M, Sun $1.22M 3-day $4.8M, Wk 1

5.)Avatar (re) (20th/Dis) 1,860 theaters, Fri $1.16M (-65%), Sat $2.2M, Sun $1.3M, 3-day $4.696M (-62%), Total $779.09M (re-issue running total through ten days is $18.5M)/Wk 2 of re-issue

6.) Ponniyan Selvan: Part One (Sar) 500 locations, Fri $2.1M, Sat $1.1M, Sun $818K, 3-day $4.1M/Wk 1

7.) Barbarian (20th/Dis) 2,720 theaters (-145), Fri $809K (-42%), Sat $1.25M, Sun $754K, 3-day $2.8M (-42%)/Total $33.1M/Wk 4

8.) Bullet Train (Sony) 1,931 (+24) theaters, Fri $370K, Sat $630K, Sun $400K,  3-day $1.4M (-23%)/, Total $101.3M/Wk 9

9.) DC League of Super-Pets (WB) 1,924 (-427) theaters, Fri $250K (-31%), Sat $620K, Sun $435K, 3-day $1.3M (-25%)/Total $91.7M Wk 10

10.) Top Gun: Maverick (Par) 1,561 (-464) theaters, Fri $335K (-27%), Sat $575K, Sun $320K 3-day $1.23M (-24%), Total $713.4M/Wk 19

 

via Deadline

‘Don’t Worry Darling’ Takes Over Weekend with $19.2 Million at the BO!!

Well, there was always a chance that New Line’s Don’t Worry Darling could dip below $20M, and it looks to be at $19.2M after a less-than-expected Saturday of $5.85M, repping a -39% drop from Friday+previews updated $9.55M. As we said in the previous update, this is the nature of young female skewing films where they come out in packs on Thursday and Friday — but then there wasn’t the anticipated momentum because they weren’t over the top about the Olivia Wilde-directed pic.

Still Warner Bros. is seeing victory in the opening here for Don’t Worry Darling: The Florence Pugh-Harry Styles-Chris Pine genre movie came in ahead of where they were eyeballing it at $17M, and next to the film’s production cost of $35M, $19M is a respectable opening, especially after the industry celebrated that number last weekend on a $50M production, that being TriStar’s The Woman King. More for Warner Bros. to brag about is that Don’t Worry Darling posted a $30M global opening. Don’t Worry Darling made $600K in Imax auditoriums which includes money from that Monday fan event.

“We’re continuing to bring non-traditional audiences back to theatres with a predominantly female-skewing film, proving that audiences of all kinds are willing to return to theatres given the appeal,” said Warner Bros Domestic Distribution Boss Jeff Goldstein this morning.

At the end of the day, Wilde made an arthouse film, which didn’t bring out the arthouse crowds in droves stateside, and didn’t overexcite the young female fans who showed up. Still, good on the studio for casting Styles and drawing the female crowd that they did. The demographic hasn’t had a lot of choices at the multiplex. Interesting comp at the end of the day, in regards to its opening and the type of film: Don’t Worry Darling‘s start here is very similar to the Will Smith-Margot Robbie Warner Bros noir movie, Focus, which debuted at $18.6M. That skewed female at 53% (not as large as Don’t Worry Darling‘s 71%), but the point is Focus, like Don’t Worry Darling, was a highbrow genre pic that had a B CinemaScore and didn’t overindex with adults. However, Focus was a bit more expensive with a $50M production budget before P&A. Studio accounting departments are smart about the financial bandwidth of these original, riskier films, and at the end of the day, Warner Bros. was responsible with Don’t Worry Darling. 

Los Angeles was the best market for Don’t Worry Darling with around 10% of the weekend’s marketshare followed by NYC with around 8%. with solid results out of Dallas, San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, Washington DC, Philadelphia, Phoenix, and Toronto. The top 5 locations to date this weekend are 1. AMC Century City $80,267, 2. AMC Burbank $65,749, 3. AMC Lincoln Square New York $65,639, 4. AMC Boston Common $64,278, and 5. AMC Grove Los Angeles $52,066.

Also, let’s have the continued come-to-Jesus that the fall marketplace isn’t at its pre-pandemic prime, all pics coming in this weekend at an estimated $61.8M. This same weekend back in 2019 saw all titles grossing $123.4M off the $31M opening of Downton Abbey. The point is that there’s only so much box office dollars to be made in the current marketplace which is greatly lacking a tentpole like autumns past, i.e. It, The Nun. Moviegoing begets moviegoing. If there’s not a lot of people entering the multiplex, there won’t be any spillover into other films. Also, it’s interesting to note that The Woman King came in higher than expected (from yesterday’s estimates) with an $11.1M second weekend, as did Disney’s re-issue of 20th Century’s Avatar at $10M. Choices were made by moviegoers, and those dollars spent by adults, which were expected for Don’t Worry Darling, went to other titles.

In regards to Avatar, Disney reports 56% guys led, with 54% between 18-34 attending. Of those buying tickets, 93% chose to do so in 3D. Broken down that’s 39% Traditional 3D, 27% Imax 3D (which grossed $2.9, repping 29% of the pic’s weekend B.O.), 21% PLF 3D, and 6% motion 3D. The whole exercise of this re-release is to get audiences excited about 3D again, which James Cameron did back in 2009; although the format has waned as a primary choice for current-day blockbusters. Avatar: The Weight of Water is expected to re-energize interest again. At $2.88 billion, Avatar continues to be the highest grossing movie of all-time worldwide, with Avengers: Endgame ranking second with $2.79 billion.

Box office analytics corp EntTelligence reports that the average ticket price for Don’t Worry Darling was $11.67 to that of The Woman King at $11.13 and Avatar at $15.51M, the latter because it was relegated to 3D and premium formats. Don’t Worry Darling brought in 1.4M admissions, while Woman King saw 900K and Avatar 600k. 

Weekend box office Sept. 23-25, Sunday studio-reported estimates:

1.) Don’t Worry Darling (NL/WB), 4,113 theaters, Fri $9.55M, Sat $5.8M, Sun $3.8M, 3-day $19.2M/Wk 1

2.) The Woman King (Sony) 3,765 theaters Fri $2.975M (-56%), Sat $4.7M, Sun $3.4M, 3-day $11.1M (-41%)/Total $36.2M/Wk 2

3.) Avatar (re) (20th/Dis) 1,860 theaters, Fri $3.3M, Sat $4.1M, Sun $2.757M, 3-day $10M, Total $770.5M/Wk 1 of re-issue

4.) Barbarian (20th/Dis) 2,890 theaters (+550), Fri $1.4M (-29%), Sat $2M, Sun $1.29M, 3-day $4.8M (-26%)/Total $28.4M/Wk 3

5.) Pearl (A24) 2,982 (+47) theaters, Fri $585,5K (-55%), Sat $742,5K, Sun $590,5K, 3-day $1.918M (-39%)/Total $6.65M/Wk 2

6.) See How They Run(Sea) 2,404 theaters, Fri $570K (-47%)/Sat $796K, Sun $534K 3-day $1.9M (-37%)/Total: $6.1M/ Wk 2

7.) Bullet Train (Sony) 1,907 (-695) theaters, Fri $500K (-31%), Sat $810K, Sun $505K 3-day $1.81M (-29%)/, Total $99.2M/Wk 8

8.) DC League of Super-Pets (WB) 2,351 (-405) theaters, Fri $370K (-14%), Sat $820K, Sun $575K  3-day $1.76M (-19%)/Total $90M Wk 9

9.) Top Gun: Maverick (Par) 2,025 (-579) theaters, Fri $460K (-27%), Sat $725K, Sun $375K 3-day $1.56M (-30%), Total $711.5M/Wk 18

10.) Minions: Rise of Gru (Uni) 1,642 theaters (-328), Fri $210K (-22%), Sat $500K, Sun $330K, 3-day $1.04M (-25%), Total: $365.5M/Wk 13

Notables:

Moonage Daydream (NEON) 733 (+563) theaters, Fri $320K, Sat $315K Sun $287K /PTA $1,2K/3-day $922K (-25%)/Total $2.6M/Wk 2

 

via Deadline

‘The Woman King’ Takes Top Spot with $19 Million at the BO!!

TriStar/eOne’s The Woman King is coming in higher than expected, with a $19M opening boosted by lively word of mouth off an A+ CinemaScore and a massive 95% positive on Comscore/Screen Engine’s PostTrak. Friday, including $1.7M previews, came in at $6.8M while Saturday pulled in $7.15M.

A+ CinemaScores are hard to come by, and The Woman King is right up there with previous awards contenders like Harriet and Hidden Figures. 

Comping this Black female epic to other Hollywood titles was a challenge, but that’s also what made the project extremely appealing; the fact that there’s been nothing else like it, as TriStar Boss Nicole Brown said at TIFF last weekend. Some guessed that Harriet ($11.6M) and Viola Davis’ Widows ($12.8M) were the right comparisons, but even going back to Thursday previews, Woman King has already bested those numbers. No theatrical window has been indicated yet for the Gina Prince-Bythewood directed movie, which indicates Sony’s commitment for the long haul theatrically for this movie during awards season.

Should this Viola Davis-produced and starring vehicle go higher, that will hinge on business this afternoon when Sony is expecting the churchgoing demo to head to cinemas. The studio is estimating Sunday at $5M.

Credit is due here to Sony marketing for getting this movie to as close to a $20M start as possible. While they dropped the first trailer to The Woman King for exhibition at CinemaCon back in April, with that trailer being made to the public in July, the Davis feature loaded up all its fuel in the last week in its premiere at TIFF where the Oscar-winning actress delivered an impassioned speech and the crowd in Roy Thomson Hall went wild.

The social media universe for Woman King stands at 123.8M (“strong for the genre” says RelishMix) with 35.1M views off six YouTube videos that have “an exceptional viral repost rate of 37:1” reports the analytics corp. Beyoncé re-recorded or re-mixed her song “The Power” for the soundtrack “which is unifying the message of the film and also playing in the trailer. Viola Davis fans are well aware of the film and word-of-mouth will impact the turnout on opening weekend as the film is well connected,” said RelishMix in its pre-weekend report.

As expected, women are the majority at Woman King at 60%, with 58% over 35 and 39% over 45, another promising sign for an older demographic that was reluctant to head out during the height of the pandemic. Black moviegoers turned out at 59%, with Caucasians at 19%, Latino and Hispanic at 12%, and Asian/other at 10%. The Woman King saw its best business in the East and South, where seven of the top ten runs came from. LA’s AMC Burbank and the Grove also ranked in the top ten, along with the Country Club in Chicago. PLF screens and Imax auditoriums are repping 34% of Woman King‘s weekend ticket sales at this point in time. Imax Woman King prints at 235 grossed $950K for the weekend. Best markets were NYC, Atlanta, DC, Dallas, Houston, Chicago, Philly, Miami, Baltimore, Orlando, Detroit, and Tampa.

20th Century Studios/Disney’s Barbarian is holding up pretty spectacularly for a horror movie at -40% (they’re typically down -65% in weekend 2) with an estimated $6.3M. Disney always had a feeling the pic would thrive off of hot buzz; that’s why they went theatrical with it. Curious to see how far this might be able to go in the long run. Pic’s second weekend will bring its ten-day running total to $20.9M.

A24’s horror movie Pearl, which got an extra boost with a run at TIFF last weekend after its world premiere at Venice, is expected to come in slightly lower than the $4M debut of its predecessor, X, with a $3.124M start in third place. The R-rated Ti West-directed movie skewed 53% guys, with 79% between 18-34. Grades were meh, though on par for a horror movie, at B- CinemaScore and 75% positive, 54% recommend from PostTrak. The coasts and Southwest were potent here, with nine of the top ten runs. Alamo counted four of the top ten. Demos were 51% Caucasian, 25% Latino and Hispanic, 11% Black, and 13% Asian/other.

Searchlight’s wide release of comedy caper See How They Run, directed by Tom George and starring Sam Rockwell and Saoirse Ronan, didn’t have the best reviews at 70% on Rotten Tomatoes. While Searchlight had a lot at the festivals, i.e. The Menu and Chevalier at TIFF and The Banshees of Inisherin and Empire of Light at TIFF and Venice, this title wasn’t in the mix, and I hear it was just merely a pithy title, not really one with any awards patina.

Still, applause is needed for this movie going theatrical vs. Hulu, as Disney has confined Searchlight to a set amount of big screen releases annually. As we’ve been preaching throughout this part of the pandemic, anything is better with a window, even for an OTT service, and See How They Run is at 45 days. Unless Pearl has a strong Sunday, See How They Run will settle for fourth at $3.1M at 2,404, the pic falling in the range of Searchlight’s projections. Honestly, it feels like See How They Run is more like the type of Sunday film to overindex vs. a horror film which is frontloaded on Friday and Saturday nights. The caper played best on the coasts and Midwest, but results were OK: Only a third of the pic’s runs were over $500 on Friday while Saturday put over a third of the pic’s runs over $1K+ for the two days. Friday’s $1.08M includes $200K Thursday previews. Strong results at AMC Lincoln Square, Century City, Grove, Burbank and in hipster markets like Brooklyn and Austin; even Utah where PG-13 titles fare quite well.

However, if there’s life in the arthouse sector, it’s coming from NEON’s Brett Morgen-directed David Bowie doc Moonage Dream, which is chalking up an awesome $7,2K per theater at 170 locations for what looks to be a $1.22M opening in No. 10. That’s easily the best opening for a music documentary post pandemic, and the best start for a docu post pandemic on less than 200 screens, second only to Focus Features’ Roadrunner which was booked at 900+ sites and debuted to $1.988M. In the last 52 weeks, the only pic to go out on less than 200 screens and surpass $1.2M was Searchlight’s French Dispatch. A lot of that business had to do with the documentary being booked in Imax. Also, Morgen did Q&As to sold out shows at the TCL Chinese Theatre in LA. Bravo. The movie in 77 markets is putting up excellent ticket sales in NYC, LA, San Francisco, Chicago, San Diego, and Toronto. The pic premiered in the Midnight section at Cannes back in May and was the centerpiece of NEON’s CinemaCon session. Moonage Dream expands to 600 theaters next weekend.

Another film capturing a bulk of screens during this dry period at theaters is UP2U Films’ faith-based drama Running the Bases, from directors Marty Roberts and Jimmy Womble. Logline: When a small-town baseball coach gets the offer of a lifetime from a larger 6A High School, he uproots his family and leaves the only home he’s ever known, but soon faces opposition to his coaching methods from the school superintendent.

Friday was $195K in a 3-day that looks like $545,5K. Audience scores at 86% positive on PostTrak, and 76% were brighter than the bucks being made. Female faith-based crowd here at 51%, 79% over 35, 58% over 45, and 40% over 55. Diversity demos were 86% Caucasian, 11% Latino and Hispanic and 3% Black. Midwest and South saw the most activity.

Paramount has the Miramax Jon Hamm title Confess, Fletch, which is theatrical day-and-date on PVOD. Booked at 516 locations, the pic did $96K on Friday for what is a $260K 3-day opening.

While the industry, especially during awards season, calls for the need for diverse films, Focus Features has the wonderful, and emotionally moving The Silent Twins, which made its premiere in Un Certain Regard at Cannes. This Agnieszka Smoczynska-directed drama was amazing in its based-on-a-true story of June and Jennifer Gibbons, who spent their childhood only communicating with each other, and yielding brilliant, creative endeavors.

However, they hit teenage-dom, open up and fall in love with the same guy, and everything goes sideways. It’s a tragic, jarring story. With $102K at 279 theaters (a $365 theater average), the movie isn’t making waves on the arthouse set when it should. It’s so early on the fall release schedule here, I don’t even know if Focus screened the movie for Academy members. The pic is truly underrated, and critics were too harsh at 60% fresh. Really, this is a movie that could have made a dent and with reviews like that, I don’t know if Focus will carry this Letitia Wright production further into awards season. I heard there would be an expansion next weekend, then heard that’s not the case. It’s very upsetting, as this is a very original movie, much like when Moonlight came on the scene, that deserves much more attention, support and push.

All of these wide releases spell for a weekend that’s estimated at $51M for all titles. While +16% from last weekend, it’s the fourth-worst weekend YTD. So far, there has only been 14 weekends in 2022 that have grossed over $100M. Three weekends have seen all movies grossing north of $200M+.

Next weekend will be fun as we watch how much the Harry Styles fans’ over deliver on Olivia Wilde’s genre movie Don’t Worry Darling. The under-and-over is $20M. As we already reported, paid preview screenings in Imax were the fastest selling-to-date for the large format exhibitor.

Top 10 pics for Sept. 16-18., chart updated with Sunday numbers.

1.) The Woman King (Sony) 3,765 theaters Fri $6.8M, Sat $7.15M, Sun $5M, 3-day $19M/Wk 1

2.) Barbarian (20th/Dis) 2,340 theaters, Fri $1.96M (-48%), $2.7M, Sun $1.6M  3-day $6.3M (-40%)/Total $20.9M/Wk 2

3.) Pearl (A24) 2,935 theaters, Fri $1.3M, Sat $1M, Sun $803K, 3-day $3.124M/Wk 1

4.) See How They Run(Sea) 2,404 theaters, Fri $1.08M/Sat $1.16M, Sun $854K, 3-day $3.1M/Wk 1

5.) Bullet Train (Sony) 2,602 (-454) theaters, Fri $720K, Sat $1.1M, Sun $655K 3-day $2.5M (-24%)/, Total $96.3M/Wk 7
By hook or by crook, this Brad Pitt movie will make it to $100M.

6.) Top Gun: Maverick (Par) 2,604  (-401) theaters, Fri $630K (-25%), Sat $1M, Sun $550K 3-day $2.18M (-31%), Total $709M/Wk 17

7.) DC League of Super-Pets (WB) 2,756 (-287) theaters, Fri $440K (-11%) Sat $1.02M, Sun $715K, 3-day $2.175M (-18%)/Total $87.8M Wk 8

8.) The Invitation (Sony) 2,425 (-692) theaters, Fri $485K, Sat $775K Sun $440K 3-day $1.7M (-36%)/Total $21.4M/Wk 2

9.) Minions: Rise of Gru (Uni) 1,970 theaters (-304), Fri $260K (-21%), Sat $640K, Sun $420K, 3-day $1.32M (-24%), Total: $364.1M/Wk 12
This Illumination Entertainment sequel is still trying to catch up and become the highest grossing movie in the Minions/Despicable Me universe stateside, that title currently owned by Despicable Me 2 with $368M domestic.

10.) Moonage Dream (NEON) 170 theaters, Fri $592K, Sat $373K, Sun $260K, PTA $7,2k/3-day $1.22M/Wk 1

Notables:

Brahmastra Part One – Shiva (Dis/Star) 810 theaters, Fri $319K (-83%), Sat $480K Sun $301K 3-day $1.1M (-76%)/Total $6.76M/Wk 2

via Deadline

‘Barbarian’ and ‘Brahmastra Part One: Shiva’ Dominate Slow Weekend at the BO!!

The late summer/early fall box office woes continue. Though the new releases opened well on their own terms in this post Labor Day weekend (which was once set to have Salem’s Lot come out, alas it was delayed), they weren’t enough to keep this from becoming the year’s second worst grossing weekend. With an overall box office of $40.3 million, it comes in only ahead of the $34.9 million weekend of January 28-30, which didn’t have a single new wide release. If there’s a positive spin to put on the weekend, it’s that the newcomers overperformed slightly and the weekend fell less than expected, “only” dropping 28% despite larger than usual drops on the holdovers thanks to inflated grosses last weekend with the National Cinema Day $3 ticket promotion last Saturday. If the coming weeks’ releases such as The Woman King and Don’t Worry Darling hit their targets and then some, it could be enough to keep the box office from falling to new 2022 lows over the next month before Halloween Ends opens and ushers the industry out of the current slump.

Disney took the top two slots, first up with Barbarian from 20th Century Studios. The Airbnb horror film opened in a modest 2,340 theaters and became the first film in three weeks to hit the double digits, squeaking past with $10 million, which will hopefully hold when the actuals come out. All in all, a solid opening for the low budget (said to be under $5 million) film with no big stars (Georgina Campbell, Bill Skarsgård and Justin Long aren’t box office draws). However, given the strong hook and exceptional critical response (92% on Rotten Tomatoes), there’s the feeling that it could have gone further with a little more marketing muscle. The C+ CinemaScore isn’t great, but isn’t a dealbreaker for strong legs, as we saw with Hereditary, another well reviewed (90% on Rotten Tomatoes) horror film with a poor CinemaScore (D+), which opened to $13.6 million and had a 3.2 multiplier with a cume of $44 million. We could see similarly long legs for a $30+ million finish, but though that’d be a great outcome, it wouldn’t be nearly enough to save the box office.

Coming in second place is the Bollywood-meets-Marvel fantasy film Brahmastra Part One: Shiva, with $4.4 million from 810 screens, giving it the weekend’s best per theater average with $5.4k. The film, produced by the Disney-owned Star Studios and led by Indian superstars Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, and Amitabh Bachchan, begins a planned cinematic universe and is one of India’s most expensive films at $51 million. The domestic opening is among the best ever for an Indian film, and Brahmastra had a global launch of $26.5 million, $18.9 million of that coming from India, making it the tenth biggest opening ever in its home market.

Bullet Train took third place, grossing $3.25 million in its sixth weekend. With a cume of $92.5 million, it should be able to leg out to $100 million, and it is now at $212 million globally.

After its spectacular return to number one last weekend, Top Gun: Maverick fell to fourth place this weekend with $3.17 million. That brings its cume to $705.6 million and its total weekends in the top five to 15 out of 16 total (seven of those were in the top two). Its global cume is now $1.453 billion, putting it past Frozen 2’s $1.450 billion and making it the 11th highest grossing film of all time worldwide.

DC League of Super-Pets took fifth place with $2.84 million, bringing its cume to $85.4 million after seven weekends. This was just ahead of the sixth place film The Invitation, grossing $2.62 million in its third weekend for a cume of $18.8 million.

Another notable opener is Lifemark, coming in seventh place with $2.21 million. The faith-based, abortion themed film has a 1,531 theater one week limited engagement release from Fathom Events. Kirk Cameron stars and the Kendrick Brothers (Fireproof, Courageous, and War Room) co-wrote the script with director Kevin Peeples. As for the weekend’s other wide release Medieval, it wiped out with $810,000 from 1,331 screens, coming in 14th place.

Barbarian (2022)  $10 million ($10 million total)

Brahmastra Part One: Shiva (2022) $4.4 million ($4.4 million total)

Bullet Train (2022) $3.2 ($92.5 million total)

Top Gun: Maverick (2022) $3.1 million ($705.6 million total)

DC League of Super-Pets (2022) $2.8 million ($85.4 million total)

The Invitation (2022) $2.6 million ($18.8 million total)

Lifemark (2022) $2.2 million ($2.2 million total)

Beast (2022) $1.8 million ($29.3 million total)

Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022) $1.6 million ($362.3 million total)

Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) $1.3 million ($8.56 million total)

 

via Box Office Mojo

‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Re-Release and ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Fighting to Take Top Spot at the BO!!

$3 tickets on National Cinema Day helped drive even more audiences to the highest-grossing movie of the year to date, Paramount/Skydance’s Top Gun: Maverick, putting the highest-grossing Tom Cruise movie over the $700M mark in its 15th weekend.

However, Saturday’s discount day has many distribution box office analysts confused on what exactly is the No. 1 film for the weekend. They say it’s Top Gun: Maverick. But Sony is calling champs of the sluggish Labor Day frame with their re-release of Marvel’s Spider-Man: No Way Home grossing $7.6M over four days.

While it’s organic in any given weekend for Saturday business to be higher than Friday, the last-minute publicized (the press release dropped a week ago Sunday AM), National Cinema Day fueled movies in the top 10 to see 100%-257% Friday-to-Saturday surges, and in the case of the Jerry Bruckheimer produced Top Gun: Maverick, it was +139% on Saturday, with $2.6M. Paramount is calling the 4-day weekend at $7M.

As far as the results of National Cinema Day, NATO is reporting 8.1M admissions for Saturday vs. box office stat org EntTelligence’s 8M admissions. Saturday’s box office for all movies is estimated around $24.3M, which is +9% from last Saturday, per Comscore. What National Cinema Day did was suction most of the $ business out of Friday and displaced it to Saturday: EntTelligence reports that just under 1M people went to the movies on Friday. In addition the analytics org saw Saturday notching 6x more presales than Friday. Friday to Saturday business for all movies last weekend was +37% versus +96% this weekend over the last two days. The 3-day box office for all titles this weekend is estimated to come in at $53.5M, roughly on par to last weekend.

No one is saying that holding a National Cinema Day with $3 tickets (even cash-strapped Regal was among the three major circuits participating) is a bad idea. Three thousands locations across 30K screens took part. The whole point of the day is to attract those who haven’t been to the movies during the pandemic, in addition to provide life to cinemas at a time when studios don’t have any fresh fare. And headcount-wise, that is a mission accomplished: 8.1M people came out in one day, which is just under the total weekend admissions for the 3-day portion of Labor Day 2019 (8.2M per EntTelligence) and even higher than last year’s 3-day 7.8M, when Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings was on the marquee. Moviegoing begets moviegoing.

“The success of National Cinema Day was measured in patron count this past weekend.  It was about bringing back audiences who were still concerned about the return to the theater, and for rewarding loyal moviegoers. Arguably, this is the first time there was a push for moviegoing as opposed to seeing a particular movie. Collectively, the industry succeeded,” said EntTelligence Chief Strategy Officer Steve Buck.

“With National Cinema Day, we wanted to do something to celebrate moviegoing,” said Cinema Foundation president Jackie Brenneman in a statement. “This event outstripped our biggest expectations. The idea of the day was to thank moviegoers for an amazing summer, and now we have to thank them for this amazing day.”

However, the mind wonders if we’d get an even greater surge had we known about National Cinema Day earlier in the summer. Distribution sources say the Saturday during Labor Day weekend sans a major movie was an ideal day to pull this stunt off. I’m told ads for National Cinema Day were placed on connected TV (if you saw a commercial literally on TV, please email me…, we did see news about the day on Spectrum One here in LA), digital billboards, in-store digital, paid social media (YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook) and Fandango.

I know that exhibition rolled up their sleeves, got hold of slews of advertising assets to get the word out on their social media handles (how else to publicize when no one went to the movies last weekend in what was the lowest-grossing one of the summer?) and to their loyalty club members.

THANK YOU FOR CELEBRATING MOVIES WITH US YESTERDAY!! #NationalCinemaDay

Part of the theatre experience is being able to enjoy a movie on the big screen with other amazing movie-goers. We have some great movies coming to us and we can’t wait to see you all back soon! pic.twitter.com/MDaNChTSfi

— Regal (@RegalMovies) September 4, 2022

Look at this MADNESS at @AMCTheatres Times Square! Movies are back! #NationalCinemaDay pic.twitter.com/74IPhVJKP3

— Jenny Donadio (@CurlySueChick19) September 4, 2022

We're keeping this short.#NationalCinemaDay September 3.#ThreeDollars pic.twitter.com/OEBBLESAG1

— National Association of Theatre Owners (@NATOcinemas) September 2, 2022

Sunday reported studios estimates:

1.) Spider-Man: No Way Home (Sony) 3,935 theaters, Fri $1.75M, Sat $2.2M (+26% from Fri), Sun $2.05M, Mon $1.6M,  3-day $6M, 4-day $7.6M, Total $812.3M/Wk 29

2.) Top Gun: Maverick (Par) 3,113  (+151) theaters, Fri $1.09M, Sat $2.6M (+139%), Sun $1.8M, Mon $1.5M, 3-day $5.5M (+16%), 4-day $7M/Total $700.3M/Wk 15

3.) DC League of Super-Pets (WB) 3,115 (-169) theaters, Fri $725K, Sat $2.55M (+252%), Sun $2.175M, Mon $1.53M/3-day $5.45M (+32%)/4-day $6.97M /Total $82.3M Wk 6

4.) Bullet Train (Sony) 3,117 (-396) theaters, Fri $1.1M, Sat $2.38M (+116%), Sun $1.92M, Mon $1.4M, 3-day $5.4M (-4%)/4-day $6.8M, Total $87.3M/Wk 5

5.) The Invitation (Sony) 3,114 locations, Fri $1.05M, Sat $2.05M (+95%), Sun $1.6M, Mon $1.045M, 3-day $4.7M (-31%)/4-day $5.75M, Total $13.77M/Wk 2

6.) Beast (Uni) 3,217 (-537) theaters, Fri $760K, Sat $1.8M (+137%), Sun $1.08M, Mon $700K,  3-day $3.64M (-25%)/4-day $4.34M,Total: $26.1M/Wk 3

7.) Minions: Rise of Gru (Uni) 2,457 theaters (-37), Fri $490K, Sat $1.76M (257%), Sun $880K, Mon $750K, 3-day $3.13M (+15%), 4-day $3.88M Total: $359.6M/Wk 10

8.) Thor Love and Thunder (Dis) 2,090 (-360) theaters, $436K, Sat $1.26M (+189%), Sun $746K, Mon $537K, 3-day $2.44M (-8%), 4-day $2.98M, Total $340.4M, Wk 9

9.) Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero (Cru) 2,500 (-600) theaters, Fri $511K, Sat $1.08M (+111%), Sun $814K, Mon $394K  3-day $2.4M (-48%), 4-day $2.79M, Total $35.1M/Wk 3

10.) Jaws (Uni) 1,246 theaters, Fri $870K, Sat $890K (+2%), Sun $540K, Mon $430K, 3-day $2.3M, 4-day $2.73M, Total $266.65M
The Steven Spielberg directed classic saw an Imax global weekend of $1.23M over four days of which the bulk is $1.2M from 285 stateside screens.

Notables:

Honk for Jesus: Save Your Soul (Focus, also on Peacock) 1,882 theaters, Fri $430K, Sat $610K (+41%), Sun $400K, Mon $310K, 3-day $1.44M, 4-day $1.75M/Wk 1
Jill Goldsmith will have more details on the Deadline indie report.

 

via Deadline

‘Orphan: First Kill’ Expands to More Theaters; Grossing $6 Million at the BO!!

It’s been an incredible year for the horror genre so far. Before fans enter the Halloween season, one of the final summer horror films to take the genre by storm has been Orphan: First Kill. While this killer prequel primarily saw a Paramount+ and VOD release earlier this month, First Kill also received a limited theatrical release. Now the film has passed the $6 million mark at the box office and in its second weekend it has expanded from 498 theaters to 557 theaters. First Kill has so far made an almost even split of $3.2 million domestically and $2.9 million internationally for a worldwide grand total of $6.3 million.

This number is very impressive given its hybrid release and makes you wonder how much this film would have made if it got a full dedicated theatrical release. The original Orphan made $77 million worldwide on only a $20 million budget with that standard release strategy. It’s safe to believe that First Kill’s budget was around that same ballpark and the film would have definitely made at least its money back with a wider release. We don’t know how well the film is doing on streaming or how much money it’s made with VOD, so First Kill has become surrounded by a bunch of what-if scenarios. However, the saving grace here is that the film is being shown in more theaters because that’s where it deserves to be seen.

Even though First Kill came out 13 years after the cult classic original, the film is an amazing prequel. Esther hasn’t lost her killer touch. The writing retained the clever sharpness of the first film, but completely threw the original shocking twist on its head to keep this prequel feeling fresh. The brilliant twist has the original’s deadly spirit and adds so much rich tension to the whole story. The sequences of suspense are so much fun, the kills are delightfully deranged, and the twisted characters manipulate you into thinking that this is just a retelling of the first film’s structure. However, this prequel is anything but that. It forms a very morbid and unique identity in all its smile-inducing insanity. Then there is Esther whose once again played wonderfully by Isabelle Fuhrman. It’s like Fuhrman never left the role and how they practically pulled off her performance adds an extra layer of off-putting creepiness to this demented experience.

Esther has emerged from her blood-soaked bath to present another murderously entertaining good time at the movies. These box office numbers prove that audiences are celebrating this iconic horror character. It’s also just more proof that most people prefer their horror movies on the big screen. Hopefully Paramount will realize that if they ever make an Orphan 3.

For now, horror fans should just enjoy the fact that Esther is back, and her prequel is a worthy successor to her first reign of terror. You can support Orphan: First Kill’s box office by seeing it in theaters now. However, if she’s not killing in a theater near you, you can stream First Kill on Paramount+ if you dare.

 

via Collider

‘The Invitation’ Leads Worst Weekend of this Summer with $7M at the BO!!!

The bowels of the summer box office have been reached, with Sony’s new C CinemaScore horror movie The Invitation leading with $7M at 3,114 theaters. Like the late Andy Rooney, I get a lot of mail from sources. But in this instance, it’s about why it’s important to be gentle when covering the box office: We’re still in the pandemic, we’re not back yet, it’s not good for our business to be nasty, blah blah blah.

However, simply putting random movies in theaters without any great P&A spend doesn’t do the box office, or exhibitors, any favors. This weekend will rank as the lowest-grossing weekend to date of summer, with an estimated $53.7M for all titles (some think it’s as low as $51M). If it makes anyone feel better, it’s not the worst weekend of the year. That belongs to Jan. 28-30, when all titles made $34.9M, per Box Office Mojo.

On some level, I get it: It’s late August. A majority of kids are back in school (Comscore says 32% K-12 were out Friday, with 38% colleges on break), and Sony traditionally has had a horror film during this latter part of the summer. Don’t Breathe was a wonderful hit for them back in late August 2016, opening to $26.4M and ending its run at $89.2M.

But let’s be honest, the more you spend, the more you gross. True, the diagnostics here on this period vampire thriller at a 29% critical rating on Rotten Tomatoes and 53% audience score doesn’t warrant a studio to spend wads of cash to open it. But we’ve seen Sony do better with less: Their August 2018 movie Slender Man, which had a D-, 8% critic score, and 17% audience on RT, opened to $11.3M and had a 2.7 multiple for a $30.6M domestic end game. Also, Sony, we’re being hard here because we know how serious you are about the theatrical window, and, yes, we know, you’ve had the biggest blockbuster of the pandemic in Spider-Man: No Way Home ($804.7M) which had a generous four-month exclusive theatrical window.

However, if studios are going to keep “experimenting” (forget about day-and-date) by underspending on P&A and releasing “small” movies in favor of bigger, it’s not going to do any favors to theatrical or exhibition. We’re already hearing that 20th Century Studios’ post Labor Day horror title Barbarian (which replaced New Line’s Salem’s Lot after it moved to 2023) is already set to crash and burn with a single digit opening. Why didn’t the Predator title Prey go in the post-Labor Day slot? It doesn’t matter that Prey was the No. 1 Hulu movie premiere to date over the Aug. 5-7 weekend. How many subscribers did you have Hulu two weeks before Prey and how many did you have two weeks following? Was that worth blowing $65M on Prey for? I’m curious how much higher Hulu subs are north of 46.2M next quarter…Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav would defend such staight-to-streaming movies don’t have any kind of subscriber stickiness like series do and are a complete waste of money.

Social media chatter on The Invitation wasn’t horrible at mixed-leaning positive, according to RelishMix, with “fans comping and calling-out Vanilla Sky, Ready or Not, Twilight, Meghan Markle and Jordan Peele films, too. Chatter wonders how these ingredients look right for a wild date-night vampire outing.”

Let’s get away from the pandemic excuse that people don’t want to go back; it’s simply about product. Disney proved that last year by opening a Marvel movie over Labor Day weekend with Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings to holiday record results of $94.6M. Great movies will get people out at any time of year.

If you’re going to push out a theatrical release, let’s put some oomph behind it if we’re serious about the window and the longevity of this part of the business. What’s sad as exhibitors’ Covid bailout money runs out is that they’re desperate for anything, and are powerless when it comes to a major studio dictating that the first big franchise title outside the summer, Halloween Ends, goes theatrical day-and-date. Let’s not be morons, that maneuver will siphon grosses. Enough of this widest audience crap between streaming and theatrical. Peacock is starving for paid subs.

It’s not like the PG-13 rated The Invitation is some older-skewing movie: It’s aimed right at the 18-34 crowd who’s attending movies right now, that demo repping 57% of the pic’s ticket buyers to date. Like the run-of-the-mill PG-13 horror title, The Invitation skewed more female at 57%. Those under 35 repped 70% of the crowd with diversity demos showing 44% Caucasian, 23% Latino and Hispanic, 18% Black, and 15% Asian/other. The Jessica M. Thompson-directed movie was accepted the most on the coasts and in the South. Seven of the top ten runs were in LA, which leaned toward Latino and Hispanic moviegoers.

And not to pick on Sony, but of late, yes, you, Lionsgate, are guilty of shortchanging P&A on YA film Fall, which opened to $2.5M, and stands at a running total of $5.9M. The diagnostics on that movie wasn’t horrible with 74% critic reviews on RT and 78% audience score, and a B CinemaScore. Why not stretch it to a wider audience? With results like that, there seems to be money left on the table. That pic could have potentially grossed more. In sum, let’s stop with the cutesy economic slide rule B.S. games at the box office, and how we’re profiting-off-less, and really commit to theatrical. Can we do that, studios? Obviously, if it’s a bad movie, send it to to the home market, just like they used to do with movies like The Last Seduction II. Sending terrible movies to the home market isn’t some brand new business model.

Given the lack of product this weekend, MGM/UAR went significantly wider than anticipated on George Miller’s Cannes Film Festival premiere Three Thousand Years of Longing, which, off of a 67% Rotten Tomatoes and B CinemaScore, is opening to $2.876M at 2,436 theaters. Guys actually showed up for this Idris Elba-Tilda Swinton genie romance, with 51% between 17-34, and 48% over 35. Diversity demos were 55% Caucasian, 16% Latino and Hispanic, 13% Black and 16% Asian/other. Pic’s ticket sales are from the big coastal cities, with AMC and Alamo owning the top ten runs.

But, hey, Amazon, why aren’t you going wide on a Sylvester Stallone movie? When are you guys going to grow up, realize you bought MGM and start releasing wide theatrical titles and reporting box office? I mean, like the tentpole kind of ones!? Cherish and behold the theatrical studio you bought, don’t squander it!

Why in God’s name is the movie direct to service? The last Stallone movie Rambo: Last Blood opened to $18.8M. That’s a diamond mine by pandemic box office standards. I agree with Zaslav on this one: Why are you shedding the patina (and future ancillaries) of a theatrical movie by sending it straight to homes? Did it occur to you that perhaps more toilet paper could be sold off a title with a theatrical window than merely dropping it on the service? I mean, you have the billion-dollar cost of Lord of the Rings: The Power of the Rings series next weekend (the rights alone were scooped up by the streamer for $250M). That alone should trigger an early Christmas season for the marketplace site. On Rotten Tomatoes, audiences love Samaritan at 82%.

RelishMix noticed the online convo for the film, and believes Samaritan coulda been a contender at the box office, with fans expressing “absolute adoration for Stallone, everything that he represents in the film industry, and the heroic characters that he’s played,” to those who “are also intrigued that this aging superhero project is not a Marvel or DC production and that in of itself has fans interested in a unique way.”

The objective is to get people to leave their homes, not stay at home.

Top ten films for the weekend:

1.) The Invitation (Sony) 3,114 locations, Fri $2.6M (includes $775K previews), $2.55M, Sun $1.8M, 3-day $7M/Wk 1

2.) Bullet Train (Sony) 3,513 (-268) theaters, Fri $1.54M (-31%), Sat $2.39M, Sun $1.66M, 3-day $5.6M (-30%)/Total $78.2M/Wk 4

3.) Beast (Uni) 3,754 (+11) theaters, Fri $1.3M (-70%), Sat $2.1M, Sun $1.45M,  3-day $4.9M (-58%)/Total: $20.09M/Wk 2

4.) Top Gun: Maverick (Par) 2,962  (-7) theaters, Fri $1.35M (-13%), Sat $2.06M, Sun $1.34M 3-day $4.75M (-20%), Total $691.2M/Wk 14
They have to get this to $700M. C’mon!

5.) Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero (Cru) 2,941 theaters (-77), Fri $1.3M (-88%), Sat $1.894M, Sun $1.35M, 3-day $4.544M (-78%)/Total $30.76M/ Wk 2

6.) DC League of Super-Pets (WB) 3,284 (-253) theaters, Fri $1.065M (-25%), Sat $1.85M, Sun $1.3M 3-day $4.225M (-26%)/Total $74.1M Wk 5

7. ) Three Thousand Years of Longing (UAR) 2,436 theaters, Fri $1.16M, Sat $1M, Sun $706K, 3-day $2.876M/Wk 1

8.) Minions: Rise of Gru (Uni) 2,494 theaters (-160), Fri $700K (-26%), Sat $1.2M Sun $840K 3-day $2.74M (-26%), Total: $354.78M/Wk 9

9.) Thor: Love and Thunder (Disney) 2,450 (-305) theaters, Fri. $694K (-35%), Sat $1.16M, Sun $838K, 3-day $2.7M (-33%)/Total $336.5M/Wk 8

10.) Where the Crawdads Sings (Sony) 2,216 theaters (-392), Fri $650K (-28%), Sat $957K, Sun $700K 3-day $2.32M (-28%)/Total $81.8M/Wk 7

11.) Nope (Uni) 1,909 (-472) theaters, Fri $640K (-39%), Sat $920K, Sun $650K 3-day $2.210M (-38%), Total $117.6M/Wk 6

Notables:

Star Wars: Rogue One (re) (Dis) 255 theaters Fri $500K, Sat $326K, Sun $274K, 3-day $1.1M, Total $533.2M/Wk 1 (re)
The Imax reissue included an exclusive look at the upcoming Disney+ series, Andor (I wonder what would happen if Disney just made some extra bucks and showed the first two episodes in Imax? How about we experiment with that? Why do I want to go to the theater for an advertisement??). Rogue One is now in the Imax all-time top ten with a running total of $105M.

Breaking (BST) 902 theaters, Fri $364K, Sat $372K, Sun $286K, 3-day $1.022M/Wk 1
Originally titled 892, Bleecker picked up this Sundance world premiere which stars John Boyega as Marine veteran Brian Brown-Easley. When he’s denied support from Veterans Affairs, and becomes financially desperate, he takes a bank and several of its employees hostage, setting the stage for a tense confrontation with the police. One of Michael Kenneth Williams’ final films. Critics liked it at 79% fresh, audiences gave it a 78%, but on Comscore/Screen Engine’s PostTrak it’s a 55%. Those who attended were 53% guys, 47% between 18-34, 50% over 35 with 50% Caucasian, 24% Black, 16% Latino and Hispanic, and 10% Asian/other. iPic had top four of the top ten runs, but numbers, I hear, weren’t very good overall.

 

via Deadline

‘Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero’ Overpowers ‘Beast’ with $20M+ Opening at the BO!!

While Crunchyroll’s Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero is coming in at the lower end of what we foresaw yesterday with $20.1M (still significantly more than what we were spotting Friday AM), Universal’s Beast grew some teeth last night, improving its 3-day from $10.1M to now $11.57M. That’s after a $4.27M Saturday that’s -1% from Friday + previews’ $4.3M. Some rival distributors believe Super Hero made more at $21M.

What impresses rival distribution bosses is how Crunchyroll (ne Funimation) continues to draw their fans out and post these robust openings without a standard TV marketing campaign. Whatever juice Crunchyroll is drinking, other major studios want it, too. One of the bold box office feats Crunchyroll pulled off during the pandemic was coming close to stealing the No. 1 weekend opening from New Line’s Mortal Kombat ($23.3M) back in late April 2021 with their release of Demon Slayer: Mugen Train, which settled for second at $21.2M (that said, Crunchyroll had bragging rights to being No. 1 for the week of April 23-29 with Demon Slayer at $27.7M).

Even iSpot shows Crunchyroll underspending Universal’s Beast this past weekend in TV spots by a significant amount (like 97% less). iSpot shows that Super Hero had spots on Adult Swim (36.3%), Comedy Central (31.4%), FX (30.6%) and USA (2.2%) across such shows as South Park (17.7%), Black Panther (12.1%), The Office (11.8%), King of the Hill (8.2%) and American Dad (7.2%).

But the superpower here for Crunchyroll’s marketing remains in social media. Comscore/Screen Engine’s PostTrak shows that only 10% of those who bought tickets saw TV ads for Super Hero, versus 39% who had caught the YouTube trailer and 22% who watched the Instagram trailer. Compare this to Uni’s Beast: That pic’s ticket buyers largely saw the pic’s trailer in theaters (28%) and on TV (16%) as well as billboards (15%) in addition to YouTube (20%). Out of all the ads for Super Hero, 25% of those who attended this weekend said the YouTube trailer was the most influential versus TV (3%) and in-theater promotions (2%).

“We have this special one to one connection with our fans, talking with them on social media and at in-person events. They give us great feedback,” says Crunchyroll Head of Distribution Mitchell Berger, who points to social, and the Super Hero‘s big footprint at this summer’s San Diego Comic-Con and San Jose Crunchyroll Expo, where the studio showed off 20 minutes of footage at each with the voiceover cast in tow.

Also required for a big Crunchyroll weekend win are all the premium ticket formats, i.e. Imax saw Super Hero as their highest-grossing anime opening ever with $3.4M at 327 screens, repping close to 17% of the pic’s opening weekend. Imax and PLFs combined contributed close to 40% of Super Hero‘s weekend total.

Updated demos on Beast still show a big turnout among Black moviegoers at 34%, followed by 26% Caucasian, 23% Hispanic, and 10% Asian. Close to half of the audience was over 35, with close to a third over 45. That’s a nice proportion for adult moviegoers during the pandemic, but we need to see bigger bucks into the fall from this demographic if older-skewing titles are going to survive on the big screen. Slightly heavier on guys here for the Idris Elba movie at 52%. Beast was best across the South, over-indexing in Atlanta, Raleigh-Durham, Charlotte, Memphis, Baltimore.

RelishMix was underwhelmed by the social media wattage of Beast, reporting that its reach across Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter was only 120M “average levels,” with “studio assets representing much of the segmentation, however the content stack is light with one trailer and two featurettes, so activity is limited.” The one edge Uni had was Elba’s 18.3M social media followers, which he reached out to; the following bit capturing 319K views on his Instagram with wordless comedian and TikTok sensation Khaby Lame:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/ChDQSvrj3u0/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=297bb705-5997-46eb-9421-fb830f5f8667

 

via Deadline

‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Crosses ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ at the Domestic BO!!

Apologies to the Avengers, but the Tom Cruise-led Top Gun: Maverick has officially snapped Avengers: Infinity War out of their sixth place spot at the all-time box office chart as its 13th weekend in theaters kicks off. With the film’s latest daily gross on Friday, August 19, Maverick has now grossed $679 million domestically, which is good enough to surpass 2018’s Infinity War ($678 million). This puts Maverick, a sequel that came over three decades after the first, on the outside looking in on a top five consisting of other IP films such as Black Panther ($700 million), Avatar ($760 million), Spider-Man: No Way Home ($804 million), Avengers: Endgame ($859 million) and Star Wars: The Force Awakens ($936 million).

The news of Maverick’s milestone comes shortly after Paramount announced a “Fan Appreciation Weekend” event that saw the film return to certain formats such as IMAX in select theaters. These screenings included bonus footage including a behind-the-scenes look at the film and some theaters gave out exclusive posters. Maverick has been a monumental success for both Paramount and Tom Cruise himself. The film is the distributor’s highest-grossing film of all time domestically, passing the likes of Titanic ($600 million) during its theatrical run.

Since its record-breaking opening this past Memorial Day weekend, Maverick has continued to maintain success atop the box office; never dipping below sixth place on a given weekend. Even then, that sixth-place finish came a couple of weeks back during its 11th weekend open when it was competing against the likes of Bullet Train opening and Nope in its third weekend. Maverick is also the highest-grossing film of 2022 domestically, sitting comfortably at the top spot with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness ($411 million) holding the second spot.

This milestone also comes after Collider reported the news of Maverick‘s digital and home media release dates. After over three months open in theaters, you will finally be able to purchase the film digitally on August 23. But for those who are physical media collectors, you will have to wait until November 1 to add the film to your collection. Maverick is directed by Joesph Kosinski and was penned by Ehren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer and Christopher McQuarrie and stars Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Ed Harris, Glen Powell, Lewis Pullman, Danny Ramirez, Monica Barbaro, Manny Jacinto and Val Kilmer alongside Cruise.

Top Gun: Maverick is still playing in theaters.

 

via Collider

Universal’s 2022 Films Crosses $3 Billion at the Worldwide BO!!

In the war to rebound back at the movie theaters since the pandemic hit, Universal becomes the first studio to pass $3 billion dollars at the global box office this year — and its the first studio to do so at all since 2019. Deadline reported the news and it is shocking given the success of films like Top Gun: Maverick (which is a Paramount film) and Spider-Man: No Way Home from Marvel Studios, but with Jurassic World: Dominion reaching $974.5M globally (with a breakdown of $601.4M internationally and $373.1M domestically), the dino-sized threequel certainly helped push Universal over the edge.

Currently, the only other titles in 2022 to make it over the $500 million mark internationally have been Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, The Batman, and Top Gun: Maverick. Alongside Jurassic World: Dominion, Minions: The Rise of Gru has grossed $790.4M globally which has helped to push the studio further into the winning slot.

Universal also had the success of Jordan Peele‘s latest film to give it that extra edge over other studios. Nope, which stars Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer, brought both fans of Peele as well as general horror buffs into theaters and it was the kind of movie that you didn’t want to miss. And for good reason, Peele‘s films keep audiences on the edge of their seats and engaged in the theater-going experience.

What this shows however is that it seems as if Universal has been constantly putting out movies this year. On top of Nope, Jurassic World: Dominion, and Minions: The Rise of Gru, the company also released Scott Derrickson‘s The Black Phone starring Ethan Hawke which added $152.7M globally to their total. They also had the DreamWorks film The Bad Guys come out this year with a total of $246.8M globally, and it’s an oddly good example of how putting more things out wields higher totals rather than relying on a smaller pool of films.

It’s not as if the other distributors are hurting too much or that far behind. They’ve had their successes to bring in massive totals but with a larger collection of films out and bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars with each global release, it all adds up in Universal‘s favor very quickly. So yes, it is strange to stop and think about Universal films and what movies they released versus the big hits of the summer like Top Gun: Maverick and Thor: Love and Thunder but then again, never underestimate the Minions.

 

via Collider

‘Bullet Train’ Leads Lowest Grossing Weekend of Summer with $13.1 Million at the BO!!

Sony’s Bullet Train will have a softer second weekend ease than expected at -55% with $13.4M at No 1 in a low wattage August frame that is around $66.8M for all movies. That’s the lowest grossing weekend to date this summer, the previous low being the May 20-22 frame when Downton Abbey opened to $16M and saw all movies $75.6M. Bullet Train‘s second weekend hold is a bit better than director David Leitch’s previous summer hit, Hobbs & Shaw, which was down -58%.

This weekend is also +3% from the same mid August period a year ago.  Again, it’s not that nobody wants to go to the movies. It’s because there isn’t a movie that’s intriguing enough which merits a trip to the cinema.

A24 opted to go wider, but not super wide on Bodies Bodies Bodies which has a lower Rotten Tomatoes audience score at 78% and only 3 stars/63% on CinemaScore/Screen Engine’s PostTrak. That indicates another divide by the studio between moviegoers and critics (90% certified fresh) who love this horror social satire. The Pete Davidson title grossed $3.25M for the weekend at 1,285 theaters after a $1M Saturday that’s 23% down from Friday’s $1.3M. The guy skewing R-rated movie at 52% men, and 78% between 18-34 played best in the cities, i.e. LA, NY, San Francisco, Chicago, Dallas, Austin, DC, Boston and Seattle and fared quite well in the Alamo Drafthouses which notched seven of the pic’s top ten runs. Diversity demos were 48% Caucasian, 23% Latino and Hispanic, 13% Black, and 16% Asian/other.

On social media per RelishMix, conversation runs super-mixed for Bodies Bodies Bodies as fans are on the critical fence on the film and also have loads to chew on with Davidson’s recent un-coupling from Kim Kardashian — and who’s side they are on in his personal drama. Fans are also quizzing the mixed genre elements from the horror comedy. Maria Bakalova fans, who are activated, are stoked about the movie.

While Lionsgate did have something to offer to exhibition during this theatrical dry period, they didn’t go wide on their YA title Fall, which actually did earn a B CinemaScore, but lower PostTrak at 69% positive and a 44% recommend. Those who showed up for Fall were 53% guys 56% between 18-34. The pic’s most notable business was in the South and West but didn’t wow with less than 100 theatres of its 1,548 run cracking $1K on Friday. Saturday grossed $835K, -10% from Friday’s $923K, in what looks like a $2.3M opening. The pic is vying for No. 10 with Universal’s second weekend of Jo Koy’s Amblin family comedy, Easter Sunday.

Paramount has the Hindi Forrest Gump remake Laal Singh Chaddha from Advait Chandan Booked at 516 theaters in 154 markets, the pic has good numbers in Toronto, Vancouver, and some solid figures in NYC, San Francisco, Houston and Seattle. $575K on Saturday, +32% over Friday’s $435K, will get this movie to a $1.47M weekend and $1.78M over 5-days. Twenty five reviews on Rotten Tomatoes are so-so at 60% fresh.

Gravitas Ventures’ Diane Keaton-Taylour Paige comedy, Mack & Rita, didn’t impress with a D+ CinemaScore and 61% PostTrak and low 46% recommend. Pic made $370K on Saturday for a $1.095M opening at 1,930 theaters. Those who dared to spend very little money were in the West and Southeast.

Universal’s Imax re-release of E.T. is seeing $310K on Saturday, -37% from Friday’s $490K for a $1.07M take over FSS.

Typically mid-August is a prime place to launch a horror movie that carries the domestic box office over into the fall, i.e. Don’t Breathe ($89.2M) or Annabelle Creation ($102M). Perhaps Universal’s campy Idris Elba lion hunt movie, Beast, does the trick next weekend.

Weekend estimates:

1.) Bullet Train 4,357 theaters, Fri $3.8M, Sat $5.5M,  3-day $13.4M (-55%)/Total $54.4M/Wk 2

2.) DC League of Super-Pets 3,803 (-529) theaters, Fri $1.96M, Sat $2.975M, Sun $2.2M 3-day $7.17M (-35%)/Total $58.3M Wk 3

3.) Top Gun: Maverick (Par) 3,181 (+421) theaters, Fri $1.97M, Sat $2.96M, Sun $2.2M  3-day $7.15M (+2%), Total $673.8M/Wk 12
The Tom Cruise movie was re-released in theaters for fan appreciation weekend in immersive formats and a behind-the-scenes look. Pic is the No. 10 grossing film for Imax with $52M stateside, and counts $102M WW for the large format exhibitor.

4.) Thor: Love and Thunder (Disney) 3,175 (-225) theaters, Fri. $1.4M, Sat $2.2M, Sun $1.6M, 3-day $5.311M (-31%)/Total $325.3M/Wk 6

5. ) Nope (Uni) 2,760 (-256) theaters, Fri $1.58M, Sat $2.2M, Sun $1.54M, 3-day $5.3M (-38%)/Total $107.5M/Wk 4

6.) Minions: Rise of Gru (Uni) 3,068 theaters (-120), Fri $1.4M, Sat $2.1M, Sun $1.44M, 3-day $4.9M (-31%), Total: $343.7M/Wk 7

7.) Where the Crawdads Sings (Sony) 3,164 theaters (-362), Fri $1.2M, Sat $1.6M, Sun $1.2M, 3-day $4M (-29%)/Total $72.1M/Wk 5

8.) Bodies Bodies Bodies (A24) 1,285 (+1,279) theaters, Fri $1.3M, Sat $1M, Sun $877K 3-day $3.25M (+1338%), Total $3.5M/Wk 2

9.) Elvis (WB) 2,211 (-200) Fri $740K, Sat $1M, Sun $785K, 3-day $2.585M (-34%), Total $141.2M/wk 8

10.) Fall (LG) 1,548 theaters, Fri $925K, Sat $888K, Sun $692K, 3-day $2.5M/Wk 1

11.)  Easter Sunday (Uni/DW) 3,176 (+1) theaters, Fri $670K, Sat $960K , Sun $770K, 3-day $2.4M (-56%)/Total $9.96M/Wk 2

Notables:

Laal Singh Chaddha (Par) 516 theaters, Fri $435K, Sat $575K, Sun $460K, 3 day $1.47M, Total $1.78M/Wk 1

Mack & Rita (Grav) 1,930 theaters, Fri $400k, Sat $370K, Sun $325K, 3-day $1.095M/Wk 1

E.T. (Uni) 389 theaters, Fri $490K, Sat $320K, Sun $260K, 3-day $1.07M/Total $483.2M/Wk 1 of re-release

 

via Deadline

‘Bullet Train’ Speeds to $30.1 Million Opening Weekend at the BO!!

Sony is calling Bullet Train at a $30.1M opening. Some rival studios saw it lower. However, knowing the Culver City studio, they like to underestimate, not overestimate, in their box office gross reporting. Worldwide was $62.5M.

Bullet Train made $12.6M on Friday, but that includes $4.6M Thursday previews. That means Friday grossed $8M. Saturday made $9.6M, +20% ahead of Friday, which is a very good sign for business. Some box office prognosticators believe that the David Leitch-directed movie can get to $100M.

The CinemaScore is a B+, which, interestingly enough, is the same as 20th Century Fox’s Kingsman: The Secret Service, one of the comps that was being floated around before Bullet Train‘s opening. That 2014 movie opened to $36.2M. PostTraks for the Brad Pitt actioner aren’t shabby at 82% positive and a 63% recommend. The pic always was going to hit with the over-35 demo, and that’s clear here, at close to 40% of the audience.

The 18-34s are at 58%, who I hear always would be slow to come out to this movie, and the hope was that there could be more of them — this despite the fact that they’re the dominant demo. Guys over 25 are leading at 37% (81% grade), followed by women over 25 (28%, 83% grade), men under 25 (18%, 77% grade) and women under 25 (16%, 89% grade). In regards to the male-female turnout here for Bullet Train it’s very similar to Nope‘s, especially since both received four stars on PostTrak.

However, Nope brought in a very strong Black audience at 33%, as well as 35% Caucasian, 20% Latino and Hispanic and 12% Asian/other. Diversity demos on Bullet Train were 46% Caucasian, 24% Latino and Hispanic, 14% Black, 16% Asian/other.

Thirty-five percent came to Bullet Train because of Pitt, while 35% on PostTrak also cited the genre type of movie, and 33% the cast as a whole. Only 8% came because it was a Leitch film (vs. Nope, which saw 56% come for Peele). In regards to the advertisements that put butts in seats for Bullet Train: 34% came because they were enticed by the trailer, 26% were influenced by the YouTube trailer, 20% said it was the in-theater banners/posters, while 17% cited TV spots.

Why is Bullet Train not a super train? The pic is bit of a feathered fish when it comes to action movies: Pitt in what looks to be a stylized live-action take on an anime cartoon. While the action is relentless, bloody and fun, one of the hang-ups moviegoers have to get past is that the movie never shuts up. It’s too talky, too much backstory — and not good Quentin Tarantino talky and backstory.

Bullet Train also doesn’t take its time to tonally breathe like a Nic Winding Refn genre movie. This was evident in the 20 minutes that Sony showed off to exhibition at CinemaCon. Deadline’s Pete Hammond said Bullet Train “tries too hard to stay on track”. All that snark said, it’s well worth the price of Imax and PDF admission, and a lot of fun (both formats delivering close to 40% of the B.O. through yesterday; Imax accounting for $2.4M). For Joe Shmoe moviegoer, it isn’t exactly like Pitt’s Mr. & Mrs. Smith, which also starred Angelina Jolie and opened to $50.3M. You can’t fault Sony for having the guts to be original here, and as the new slogan goes in a vaccinated pandemic: better for a film to be theatrical with a window and have ancillary legs than to get buried day-and-date on a streaming menu. That’s the only way to have peace of mind here in spending $90M before P&A.

Bullet Train was fast in the West and Southwest, but its top 10 theaters were on the coasts.

RelishMix noticed that there was a mixed positive reaction to Bullet Train materials online before opening:

“Fans are loving The Bee Gees’ ‘Staying Alive’ as the trailer soundtrack, and the fun thriller tone of the film that they say was shot in a tube on a LED virtual stage at Sony during the pandemic. Others credit that the story comes from novel Maria Beetle by Kōtarō Isaka, and there’s call-outs to director Leitch’s credits: John Wick, Atomic Blonde, Deadpool 2, Hobbs & Shaw. Mentions for ‘waiting for streaming’ are few — as the draw of a popcorn thrill ride is clear. Some snarks are on the fence that it looks like Fight Club, but wondering if John Wick will show up.”

RelishMix says that the pic’s social awareness runs 17% above action genre norms, with a core social media universe of 224.6M across Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok. Activity spiked on the movie’s Instagram following Monday’s red carpet premiere in Hollywood, adding 1.1K fans per day, plus a hefty stack of 21 videos on YouTube, including NBA spots, Father’s Day spots, and vertical social mobile spots, which would normally only be seen on Facebook and Instagram.

Universal/DreamWorks’ Jo Koy comedy Easter Sunday is arriving where the studio was expecting it, in the mid-single digits, that being $5.25M. The movie made $2M on Friday (which includes Thursday’s $500K) and $1.8M on Saturday. Audiences aren’t exactly falling out of their seats with laughter, giving the movie a B+. PostTraks were lower at 71% positive and a 49% recommend. Who came out? Women at 55%, with 52% between 25-44 and 29% over 45. Diversity demos were a great 37% Asian, 31% Caucasian, 15% Latino and Hispanic, and 11% Black.

RelishMix says that for a diverse comedy, Easter Sunday was tracking under genre norms on social media with 83.5M across Facebook, TikTok, Instagram and Twitter, with activity on materials running at moderate levels comparatively. That said, Koy’s 5M fans are activated on social, with Jimmy O. Yang at 843K and Tia Carrera at 580K. Tiffany Haddish pushed the trailer on Instagram 13 weeks ago to her 7.4M followers, which rep 54% of her 13.7M social media fans.

A24 has the horror comedy Bodies Bodies Bodies at six locations in NYC and LA, which rang up $226,5K. That translates into a $37,75K per-theater average, which is the second-best limited screen average debut YTD, after the $50K opening weekend theater average posted by A24’s Everything Everywhere All at Once. Friday was $94,7K for the Pete Davidson starring comedy. Very solid numbers, we hear, at NYC’s Lincoln Square, Union Square, Alamo Drafthouse Brooklyn, and LA’s AMC Century City, Grove and Burbank. The pic expands to 1,200 locations next weekend.

Weekend chart with Sunday numbers:

1.) Bullet Train 4,357 theaters, Fri $12.6M, Sat $9.6M, Sun $7.85M 3-day $30.1M/Wk 1

2.) DC League of Super-Pets 4,332 (+18) theaters, Fri $3.36M (-64%), Sat $4.4M Sun $3.4M  3-day $11.2M (-51%)/Total $45.1M Wk 2

3. ) Nope (Uni) 3,016 (-791) theaters, Fri $2.52M (-57%)/3-day $8.05M (-57%)/Total $97.5M/Wk 3

4.) Thor: Love and Thunder (Disney) 3,400 (-250) theaters, Fri. $2.2M (-41%), Sat $3.1M, Sun $2.2M, 3-day $7.6M (-42%)/Total $316M /Wk 5
The fourthquel is on the verge of crossing $700M. Thor: Ragnarok finaled at $853.9M.

5.) Minions: Rise of Gru (Uni) 3,188 theaters (-391), Fri $2.09M (-38%), Sat $2.79M, Sun $2.2M, 3-day $7.11M (-35%), Total: $334.57M/Wk 6
The movie will soon overtake Minions‘ $336M domestic gross and it’s pacing 1% behind Despicable Me 2 in its sixth session which ended its U.S./Canada run at $368M.

6.) Top Gun: Maverick (Par) 2,760 (-248) theaters, Fri $1.9M (-21%), Sat $2.8M, Sun $2.3M,  3-day $7M (-16%), Total $662.5M/Wk 11

7.) Where the Crawdads Sings (Sony) 3,164 theaters (-362), Fri $1.68M (-27%),Sat $2.2M,  $1.76M, 3-day $5.65M (-25%)/Total $64.6M/Wk 4

8.) Easter Sunday (Uni/DW) 3,175 theaters, Fri $2M, Sat $1.8M, Sun $1.4M, 3-day $5.25M/Wk 1

9.) Elvis (WB) 2,411 (-490) theaters, Fri $1.13M (-35%), Sat $1.55M, Sun $1.32M  3-day $4M (-30%) Total $136.5M/Wk 7

10.) The Black Phone (Uni/Blum) 1,197 (-441) theaters, Fri $450K (-42%), Sat $600K, Sun $410K, 3-day $1.46M (-42%)/Total $85.8M/Wk 7

NOTABLES:

Vengeance (Foc/Blum) 1,003 (+5) theaters, Fri $200K (-69%), Sat $300K, Sun $210K, 3-day $710K (-60%), Total $3.2M/Wk 2

Bodies Bodies Bodies (A24) 6 theaters, Fri $94,7K, Sat $71,2K, Sun  $60,5K, 3-day $226,5K/Wk 1

 

via Deadline

‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Has Become 7th Highest Grossing Movie Of All Time at the Domestic BO!!

Top Gun: Maverick has just officially become the seventh highest-grossing film of all time domestically, surpassing James Cameron‘s Titanic. The Tom Cruise-starring sequel just experienced its eleventh weekend of theatrical release, and earned $1.9 million on Friday. The film is expected to pull in a total of $6.7 million for the weekend. Top Gun: Maverick has now earned $662 million domestically overall, after being released on May 27. Titanic, which at one point was the highest-grossing film of all time, has accumulated a total of $659.5 million domestically. Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens currently holds the top spot for the highest domestically grossing movie of all time.

Even though Top Gun: Maverick did perform well this weekend, it fell out of the top five at the domestic box office for the first time since its release. This causes the popular movie to have the fifth most consecutive top five weekends of all time. E.T currently holds that number one spot with 27 weekends in the top five in a row. Top Gun: Maverick is expected to return to the domestic box office’s top five as the weeks continue since August’s releases don’t hold many big titles, but it doesn’t seem likely that E.T‘s top spot will be threatened. Top Gun: Maverick is already ahead of several notable additions to the list such as including Black Panther, The Sixth Sense, and The Force Awakens, which all were in the top 10 for nine consecutive weeks.

Brad Pitt-vehicle Bullet Train took the Friday top spot at the domestic box office with $12.6 million, with the studio expecting a $30 million weekend in total, although it may underperform by about $2 million. Other newcomers to the box office include Jo Koy‘s Easter Sunday, which took Friday’s number six spot with a little over $2 million. Top Gun: Maverick sat at number seven, but its numbers may increase again with time since it’s such a popular film. Top Gun: Maverick‘s success isn’t surprising anyone, since its predecessor grossed $357.3 million against a $15 million budget and is considered a classic by many. Top Gun: Maverick was released close to 40 years after the original Top Gun, which hit theaters in May 1986.

Top Gun: Maverick is undoubtedly a huge critical success in addition to a box office smash, currently holding a certified fresh rating of 96 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. As such, its box office success doesn’t seem to be slowing down much, and as earlier mentioned, it seems likely that its theatrical run will not end before it rises up into the top five again.

The film is now Paramount‘s highest-grossing domestic release ever, which was formally Titanic. However, even though the action drama sequel currently holds the top seventh spot of highest grossing film of all time domestically, Titanic may be coming back for its spot with a re-release next year.

 

via Collider

‘Elvis’ Continues Success Story with $234 Million at the Worldwide BO!!

It has been a healthy season at the summer box office. While big blockbuster films are leading the charge, they’re not the only success story worth singing about. One of the biggest success stories this summer has been Warner Brothers musical biopic Elvis starring Austin Butler and Tom Hanks. Even though the film has been out for over a month, Elvis made another $6.2 million at the international box office this weekend. This brings the biopic’s international total up to $105.3 million and its worldwide total up to $234.3 million.

Elvis has been helped by the fact that it’s about a historic musical legend, but this is another great example of a film in the pandemic-era having legs. Great word of mouth has carried this film to Graceland and then some. Director Baz Luhrmann made a film that not only mesmerized audiences and respected the story of Elvis, he crafted a compellingly complex tragedy that showed us sides of the legendary singer that fans have only ever read about.

Audiences came to hear all their favorite Elvis tracks, but they stayed for the visually stunning direction, deep thematic darkness, and brilliant performances. Butler simply owned the role of Elvis. He nailed the puppy dog naivety of the legend while bringing such a somber human layer to the singer that will just break your heart. That’s only exacerbated by Hank’s disgustingly sinister performance as Elvis’ manager Colonel Tom Parker. It’s one of the best villain performances in recent memory and, by the time you get to the end of the film, both performances will make your jaw hit the floor.

All this greatness is reflected in Elvis’ continued box office success. At over $120 million domestically it’s WBs fourth most successful film since the pandemic began. It recently passed other domestic studio hits like Dune and Godzilla vs. Kong. This film is proof, in the same vein as Top Gun, that audiences are willing to see a movie multiple times in theaters if worthy enough. Also, like Top Gun, it’s a film that is proving a traditional theatrical run of 90 days probably shouldn’t go extinct. Elvis made over $6 million in its sixth weekend of release. That’s only an impressive 25% drop between weekends.

Elvis is showing no signs of slowing down anytime soon. It’s one of the rare event films that needs to be seen in a theater to truly appreciate the film’s tragic magic. Elvis is still rocking in theaters around the world. You can see what all the fuss is about by dancing your way to your local theater now.

 

via Collider

‘Jurassic World Dominion’ Nears $950 Million at the Worldwide BO!!

With $1.75 million in its seventh weekend at the domestic box office, Jurassic World Dominion took its tally to $369.5 million. The third installment in the Jurassic World trilogy has made $573 million from overseas territories, taking its worldwide total to $942 million.

Dominion is the third-biggest film of the year, behind Top Gun: Maverick ($1.3 billion) and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness ($954 million). This weekend, the film debuted in its last major international territory, Japan, and made $10.2 million. The film’s two-day total is actually higher than what the first Jurassic World made in 2015, and in line with Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom’s debut in 2018. It registered the biggest opening day for Universal in Japan, and the second-biggest of the year, ahead of Maverick.

The film’s biggest international territory remains China, which accounts for $157 million. Dominion is one of the rare American films to have been given a release in the Middle Kingdom, amid a changing political landscape and an increasing disinterest among Chinese audiences in imported titles. The film has made $41.2 million in the United Kingdom and Ireland, $27.9 million in France, and $22.6 million in Germany.

Jurassic World Dominion‘s success has defied expectations as reviews for Dominion have been generally negative, with many suggesting that it is time to fossilize the franchise. Collider’s own Ross Bonaime wrote in his review, “Almost every joke falls flat, every action scene lacks stakes, and again, that mixture of awe and danger that once made this series so enthralling is completely absent here. Instead, Dominion is a shell of a franchise at its best, desperate to coast on the love of the original without managing the tonal requirements.”

Directed by Colin Trevorrow, Dominion has been touted as the conclusion to the Jurassic Park sequel trilogy. Trevorrow also directed the first Jurassic World, which made $653 million domestically and $1.6 billion globally, while Fallen Kingdom was directed by J.A. Bayona. That film grossed $417 million in the U.S. and $1.3 billion worldwide.

Dominion stars Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, DeWanda Wise, Mamoudou Athie, Dichen Lachman, Scott Haze, Campbell Scott, B.D. Wong, Justice Smith, Daniella Pineda and Omar Sy, and brings back fan-favorite characters Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern), Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum), and Alan Grant (Sam Neill).

Dominion is available digitally and in theaters.

 

via Collider

‘DC League Of Super-Pets’ Tops with $23M Opening at the BO!!

The expected summer slowdown is taking its expected course with Warner Bros. animated film DC League of Super-Pets grossing a $9.3M Friday, for a $23M+ opening at 4,314, which is a solid result for a piece of original animation in the marketplace right now, not that far from Universal/DreamWorks Animation’s The Bad Guys which did $23.95M and is at $96.6M off an A CinemaScore. Abroad, Super-Pets brought in $18.4M for a $41.4M global start in 64 markets.

Warners has really stepped up its game in making a DC animated movie a notable choice in a crowded summer market; July alone cleared $1 billion through Thursday with another near $100M this weekend per ComScore. Consider the fact that 2018’s Teen Titans GO! To the Movies, which opened to $10.4M and finaled at $29.7M didn’t really reach a big audience. Super-Pets received more oomph from the Burbank lot, not only because it’s a Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart movie, but also because DC means a significant amount to Warner Discovery Boss David Zaslav.

For those who saw Super-Pets, they gave it an A- CinemaScore and 3 1/2 Stars on Comscore/Screen Engine’s PostTrak for general audiences, but 4 stars from Parents and 4 1/2 stars from kids under 12.

Understand, we were originally suppose to get Warner Bros./DC’s Johnson movie The Black Adam this weekend, which would have rained a significant amount of cash on the box office. But that pic was pushed to late October because of the backlog of VFX tentpoles at post-production houses. The plus for Warners with that movie is that they were able to give it a big blast at Comic-Con last weekend with Johnson, which only helps excitement for that pic in the long run. The most previous release date for Super Pets was May 20 before it landed here. Why another animated movie in the summer space? Kids are still off from school, and why waste that opportunity when you have a wide release?

Again, in this environment of whether movies are prime for streaming or the big screen, an $89M production with the loud speaker promotional wattage of Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart and this kind of production cost, is meant for a global theatrical audience. With these types of facets, a theatrical release raises a movie’s patina, which will carry it through its subsequent windows and make it more of a driver on a streaming service like HBO Max vs. merely going day-and-date.

This is the new philosophy over at the Zaslav-run Warner Discovery, and it’s a business axiom which, believe or not, is shared increasingly among the motion picture studios, as theatrical bounces back during the pandemic. Some studios with streaming services, such as Warners, find that the production of $100M+ movies for the streaming service just doesn’t make solid business sense. People can subscribe to the service, and then cancel it after they watch a movie; vs. the appeal of a series like House of the Dragon which can keep current subs content and attract more subs. This despite all the rah-rah for WarnerMedia spiking HBO Max subs off the 2021 theatrical day and date pandemic plan, which cost the conglom crazily in regards to talent relationships and the massive outlay of bucks. An insane plan, which I hear will never be attempted again in the history of the company.

Yes, streamers believe making a $100M+ movie is essential to keep current subscribers happy with new content. But seriously, at that cost? What’s the reasoning if it’s not on the big screen? There’s arguably no lucrative ancillary window with a straight to streaming $100M+ pic. It’s simply a vanity spend.

Super-Pets drew 51% men, with 73% under 35 and 44% under 25; the largest demo being 25-34 at 29%. Diversity demos were 41% Caucasian, a hearty 26% Latino and Hispanic, 14% Asian, and 11% Black. The pic played best in between the coasts,with the South Central the strongest. No Imax auditoriums here, but PLFs are accounting for 14% of weekend ticket sales to date.

Top ten theaters in the nation for Super-Pets were 1. Harkins Estrella Falls Phoenix, 2. AMC Burbank, 3. Santikos 3. Casa Blanca San Antonio, 4. Wellfleet Drive‐In (Cape Cod), 5. AMC Century City Los Angeles, 6. AMC Disney Springs Orlando, 7. Cinemark Tinseltown El Paso, 8. AMC Porter Ranch (posh suburb 30 minutes north of LA) 9. AMC Thoroughbred Nashville, and 10. Cinemark 18 Houston.

More deep dive demos from PostTrak: Women over 25 repped 29% of the audience, guys over 25 drew 27%, men under 25 were 24% while women under 25 were 20%. On CinemaScore, 36% of the under 18 demo gave Super Pets an A, while 47% of of the under 25 gave it an A, and 58% of the under 35 also graded the Warner Bros title an A.

Focus Features’ has BJ Novack’s Blumhouse murder mystery dramedy Vengeance at 998 theaters for a $1.75M opening in 10th place. While not super, again, the way to look at any movie at the box office is: Thank, God, it received a theatrical release, it’s what the filmmaker wanted, and it only makes the title more attractive and stand-out in a streaming and PVOD menu. This title will hit PVOD in 17 days.

Vengeance received a B+ CinemaScore and lower PostTrak exits at 76% in the top boxes and a 57% recommend. Guys decided to buy tickets at 57% with 54% between 18-34 and the largest demo being 34% for those 25-34. Diversity demos were 66% Caucasian, 16% Latino and Hispanic, 10% Asian/other and 8% Black. Best markets for Vengeance were West and South Central, with seven of the top ten theatres coming from California and Texas, the latter where the Novack pic takes place.  In the end it will be easy to algorithm this title on the Peacock streaming service to those soaking up The Office.

Universal’s Nopeis having a better than expected second weekend hold of -58% at $18.55M taking its 10-day total through today of $80.6M.

Total weekend box office (weekend 30) looks to clear $98.99M from all titles, which is 42% ahead of the same period a year ago, but 39% below the same weekend in 2019, which was when we had the second frame of Disney’s remake of The Lion King.

The CDC currently counts a 7-day rolling average – 0.9% this week to 126.72k new cases/day. Hospitalizations were +1.7% to 6.340 new admissions/day last week.  Daily death rate was down to 364 a day last week. The total number of Americans who have died from Covid is at 1.02M. Those fully vaccinated are at 67.2% of the population with 48.3% eligible to have at least one booster shot and 30.9% eligible for a second shot.

On the indie side, Utopia opened Lena Dunham’s Sundance premiere from this year, Sharp Stick to $18K with $9K a piece from NY and LA. Dunham, Luka Sabbat, Janicza Bravo, DP Ashley Connor and Jerry Saltz drove a sold out at NYC’s Quad Cinema. The pic also played LA’s newly renovated NuArt. An expansion is in the works for next Friday.

Bleecker Street’s A Love Song also opened to $18,7K from four runs in NY and LA at the Angelika, Lincoln Square, the Grove and Century City. Angelika did the best of the four we hear. The Max Walker-Silverman directed film follows a woman at a campground in the rural West who waits alone for an old flame from her past to arrive, uncertain of his intentions while bashful about her own. Pic is 95% certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes from critics.

There was also Rhythm Boyz Entertainment’s Chhalla Mud Ke Nahi Aaya which was booked in 65 runs in 33 markets (Punjabi) with solid figures in Canada from Toronto, Winnipeg and Vancouver which did $665K.

Well Go USA had Hansan: Rising Dragon in 32 runs and 19 markets. Largely OK runs in Chicago, NYC and San Francisco for an estimated $151K opening or $4,7K per theater.

Detective vs. Sleuths from Ka-Fai Wai was booked at 54 runs in 32 markets with halfway decent figures in Toronto, Winnipeg and Boston and will wind up on $112k.

Sarigama Cinemas‘s VR/Vikant Rona booked at 115 runs in 59 markets (Hindi, Telugu, Kannada) had blasé runs in San Francisco and wound up with a $106K opening.

IFC Films and Shudder had Resurrection, another pic that premiered at Sundance earlier this year, booked in 97 locations and grossing $93K. The psychological thriller starring Rebecca hall and Tim Roth will hit PVOD on Friday and continue to play in theaters.

Weekend studio reported estimates final as of Sunday:

1.) DC League of Super-Pets 4,314 theaters, Fri $9.3M, Sat $7.7M, Sun $5.8M, 3-day $23M/Wk 1

2. ) Nope (Uni) 3,807 (+22) theaters, Fri $5.8M (-70%)/3-day $18.55M (-58%)/Total $80.6M/Wk 2

3.) Thor: Love and Thunder (Disney) 3,650 (-720) theaters, Fri. $3.75M (-41%), Sat $5.1M, Sun $4.1M, 3-day $13.1M (-41%)/Total $301.5M /Wk 4

4.) Minions: Rise of Gru (Uni) 3,579 theaters (-237), Fri $3.3M (-37%), Sat. $4.1M, Sun $3.3M, 3-day $10.88M (-40%), Total: $320.4M/Wk 5

5.) Top Gun: Maverick (Par) 3,008 (-152) theaters, Fri $2.4M (-11%), Sat $3.3M, Sun $2.5M, 3-day $8.2M (-20%), Total $650.1M/Wk 10

6.) Where the Crawdads Sings (Sony) 3,526 theaters (-124), Fri $2.3M (-26%), Sat $2.8M, Sun $2.3M, 3-day $7.5M (-27%)/Total $53.5M/Wk 3

7.) Elvis (WB) 2,901 (-204) theaters, Fri $1.7M (-7%), Sat $2.2M, Sun $1.88M, 3-day $5.8M (-11%) Total $129M/Wk 6

8.)  The Black Phone (Uni) 1,638 (-417) theaters, Fri $770K (-30%), Sat $990K, Sun $740K, 3-day $2.5M (-29%)/Total $83.1M/Wk 6

9.) Jurassic World Dominion (Uni) 1,747 (-420) theaters, Fri $610K (-30%), Sat $840K, Sun $630K, 3-day $2.08M (-33%), Total $369.4M/Wk 7

10.) Vengeance (Foc) 998 theatres, Fri $660K, Sat $630K, Sun $460K, 3-day $1.75M/Wk 1

 

via Deadline

‘Minions: Rise of Gru’ Climbs to $710 Million at the Worldwide BO!!

Illumination‘s Minions: The Rise of Gru continues its monstrous success at the box office. Despite a crowded and competitive market this week with the likes of the continued success of Top Gun: Maverick and the debuting Nope, the popular animated film has come in at 4th place in its fifth week in theaters, with its 3-day North American weekend estimate of $10.880 million. This puts the film behind DC League of Super-Pets, the previously mentioned Nope, and Thor: Love and Thunder for this weekend’s domestic box office. Interestingly, this brings its global box office total to $710.366 million.

The $10.880 million income comes from 3,579 North American theater showings. The Friday domestic earnings for this weekend came out to $3.370 million with Saturday’s domestic earnings coming out to be $4.170 million. The Sunday domestic estimate is expected to come out $3.340 million. The 3-day North American weekend estimate brings the cumulative earnings of the domestic box office since the film’s release to an impressive $320.411 million.

Moving on to the international markets, the film saw its greatest holdover week-to-week in Korea, with the animated film adding an additional $3.2 million in earnings this weekend and placing it at #2 at the market’s box office behind local opener Hansan: Rising Dragon. This earning brings the cumulative earnings for the Korean market to $11.2 million, 9% ahead of Minions at the same point. UK & Ireland saw their cumulative earnings to a total of $40 million over this weekend, in line with the first film and DM3 at the same point. Germany had another excellent hold, dropping just 15% this weekend to reach $23.4 million gross with the movie holding on to its #1 spot in the market. Japan’s third weekend since opening saw a 20% drop weekend-to-weekend adding $1.8 million and bringing its gross earnings to $15.6 million. The film ranked at #3 for the weekend behind the opening of Jurassic World Dominion and local film Kingdom 2.

The fifth weekend for Mexico reached a total gross of $35.2M with Minions: The Rise of Gru holding #2 in the market, overtaking the first film’s cumulative earnings at the same point, having already surpassed the lifetime of DM3 last weekend. France holds strong in Weekend 4, reaching $17.9 million cumulative earnings, placing it at #2 in the market. Minions remain at #2 in the market. In Argentina, the film is the biggest film of 2022 in admissions (used due to hyper-inflation on currency) and added another $1.6 million this weekend reaching $19 million in cumulative earnings. Minions remains #1 in the market. Finally, Brazil had another strong hold in Weekend 5, adding $1.5M to its cumulative earnings $18.1 million, performing in line with the first Minions at the same point. Minions: The Rise of Gru remains No.1 in the market.

This weekend’s income from both the domestic and international markets for Minions: The Rise of Gru brings its worldwide box office earnings to a total of $710.366 million since its release on July 1. This earning puts Minions: The Rise of Gru puts the film on track with the earnings of its predecessors’ Minions and Despicable Me 3 at the same point in their theatrical runs.

Minions: The Rise of Gru is currently in theaters.

 

via Collider

‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Crosses $1.3 Billion at the Worldwide BO!!

With the hit film now at its 10th weekend, Top Gun: Maverick still continues to soar to new heights at the box office as it has gained an additional $13.8 million internationally to a cumulative total of $671 million at international markets. Domestically, the film added $8.2 million this weekend as it remains strong at the box office and totals $650.1 million, one of the best showings of all time.

Internationally, Top Gun: Maverick grossed an additional $2.9 million in its 6th weekend in Korea, down 32% from the previous weekend with the film’s total at the Korean box office now stands at $57.8 million. In Japan, the film delivered $1.6 million on its 10th weekend to a total cume of $75.9 million. The film’s performance in Taiwan saw a 28% decrease with $400 thousand, adding to a cumulative total of $22.9 million. The United Kingdom added $1.2 million to the film’s box office this weekend as Top Gun: Maverick only falls 6% from last week to a total of $94.4 million.

The film fell 14% in France with $990 thousand on its 10th weekend, adding to its $50.0 million cume. In Germany, the movie soared to an additional $890 thousand in 479 locations to an overall total of $31.4 million. On par with its performance from last week, the film gained an additional $360 thousand in the Netherlands with a cume of $11.1M. In Saudi Arabia, the film still stands strong as it increased 10% at the local box office compared to last week with an additional $580 thousand from 51 theaters to a total of $20.1 million. Lastly, Australia has added $875 thousand to a total of $60 million at its local box office.

With the film’s dominance at the box office, Top Gun: Maverick’s performance continues to soar to new heights at the box office. Starring Tom Cruise as Maverick, the film’s performance at the box office has gained wide recognition for its strong legs due which can be attributed to its positive word-of-mouth with the receiving a rare A+ on Cinemascore.

The film has also achieved critical acclaim with a 96% critical score on Rotten Tomatoes and an incredible audience rating of 99%. The popularity of the long-awaited sequel has led to it becoming Cruise’s highest grossing film of all time, surpassing $1 billion at the box office. With the film still standing strong at the box office after 10 weeks, Top Gun: Maverick will continue to resonate with audiences as it reaches its final weeks at the summer box office.

Directed by Joseph Kosinski, Top Gun: Maverick is now playing exclusively in theaters.

 

via Collider

‘Nope’ Nabs Jordan Peele His Third Top Spot with $44 Million at the BO!!

Nope, despite its B CinemaScore and 79% PostTrak, did not exactly fall apart between Friday and Saturday. If you back out those $6.4M previews out of Friday’s $19.59M, that means the Jordan Peele pic’s first day was $13.19M, and with Saturday at $13.95M, that’s a 6% rise. All of this results in a $44M opening.

While not the 17% rise that Us got over its Friday to Saturday (sans previews), Nope didn’t crater.

While not Us, it’s a respectable result for an original movie, and Universal has shown a talent to make and support those types of movies where some other motion picture studios fall flat. Again, the start for Nope is higher than late summer 2019’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood ($41M), also a piece of original IP, and higher than Warner Bros.’ Elvis ($31.2M), another adult counter programming title this summer.

All films this weekend grossed an estimated $125.1M, which is 37% ahead of weekend 29 a year ago. However, as we expected, it’s 53% below the same frame in 2019, which saw all titles make $263.9M, led by Disney’s Lion King. Still, there’s also another win for Universal this weekend, as six of their movies controlled 56% of the weekend box office.

Nope is the fifth Universal horror movie during the Covid era after Black Phone, Halloween Kills, Candyman and Forever Purge. The pic is the second top R-rated opening during Covid, after Halloween Kills ($49.4M). Said Universal Domestic Distribution Boss Jim Orr, “Jordan Peele is a master storyteller and with Nope, another example of his unique voice. He and his incredible cast led by Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer thrilled audiences across North America this weekend with a film that is a true ‘see it on the big screen’ theatrical experience.’”

Nope was more guy-leaning than previous Uni horror pics at 57%, vs. Candyman (53%), Us (50%), and Get Out (48%) and older, meaning more over 25 at 63%, vs. Candyman (58%), Us (61%) and Get Out (59%). The 18-34 through yesterday turned out at 68%. The robust turnout of Black audiences at 33% for Nope is in line with these three other horror pics, as well with Caucasians at 35%, Hispanic and Latino at 20%, and Asian at 8%.

Broken out, guys over 25 repped 38% of the audience (78% score), women 25+ were 25% (75% score), guys under 25 were 20% (77% score) and women under 25 were 17%, but gave Nope its highest grade at 89%. Those 25+ at 25% came with a spouse/partner, while 16% came with date in that age range, and 17% came alone according to PostTrak.

Four hundred Imax screens drove 12% of the gross, or $5.2M, with 800 PLF screens repping another 20% of Nope’s ticket sales.

Top markets were L.A., NY, Dallas, San Francisco, Chicago, Atlanta, Washington D.C., Houston, Philadelphia, and Phoenix.

While distribution sources believe that this movie can get over $100M stateside, the question is with this production cost of $68M (before P&A) whether Nope profits like Peele’s other movies. For those movies opening under $50M, Uni typically sends them to PVOD after 17 days, followed by Peacock thereafter. However, on Nope, I understand it’s PVOD post theatrical 31 days, which is good because the Peele pic and Sony’s Bullet Train are the only marquee offerings during the late summer/early fall dry spell at the box office. Uni has a turnkey windows system, with monetizing opportunities in a subsequent Amazon window, to make bank. However, Peele’s movies only make a third of their global take abroad.

Nope become the first R-Rated movie to receive a push via NBCUniversal’s Symphony program, which markets tentpoles throughout the conglom’s subsidiaries.

Of note, there was the Jupiter’s Claim saloon attraction at Universal Studios Hollywood. That set marks the first time that a Studio Tour attraction opened day and date with a Uni movie release. It will be staged within Universal Studios’ backlot, alongside other big movie sets, such as War of the Worlds, the Psycho house, and Courthouse Square from Back to the Future.

There were also spots running across NBCUni programming, such as American Ninja Warrior, America’s Got Talent, Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Late Night with Seth Meyers, NASCAR and WWE Raw.

In April, there was a custom spot that aired during NBA playoffs with Steph Curry, and in June, a new quartet of spots blanketed the NBA Finals. Similar to the Super Bowl, it was an opportunity to go after a wide guy audience with Nope. The four spots communicated a broad range of emotional tones. Each of the spots can be viewed here: Hell No, Rainbow, Once Upon a Time in Haywood, Choices.  

The two official trailers of Nope racked up 120 million global digital views to-date, and were attached to such big pics in theaters as The Batman, Doctor Strange and The Multiverse Of Madness, Top Gun: Maverick, Jurassic World Dominion and Thor: Love and Thunder. 

High-Impact digital takeovers included a Snapchat Grenade, as well as a Meta Blast across Facebook and Instagram and a YouTube Reach Accelerator, Twitter Spotlight Trend, and TikTok Top View.

RelishMix grades the social media reach of Nope at 180M at a 6.4, which is in the range of such horror movies as Us (6.9), A Quiet Place (6), and Halloween Kills (6.3). Social media champs from the cast include Keke Palmer with 28.3M across Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter, along with Steven Yeun, who’s new to social in the last few months for the movie at 4.8M fans, Peele at 3.2M, and Daniel Kaluuya at 548K.

Palmer getting ready for the world premiere drew over 145K views:

@kekepalmer

#NOPE 😍💋

♬ original sound – Keke Palmer

Weekend estimates as of Sunday AM:

1.) Nope (Uni) 3,785 theaters, Fri $19.59M/Sat $13.9M/Sun $10.4M/3-day $44M/Wk 1

2.) Thor: Love and Thunder (Disney) 4,370 (-5) theaters, Fri. $6.4M, Sat $8.9M Sun $6.8M , 3-day $22.1M (-53%)/Total $276.2M /Wk 3

3.) Minions: Rise of Gru (Uni) 3,816 theaters (-298), Fri $5.2M, Sat $6.9M, Sun $5.5M, 3-day $17.7M (-34%), Total: $297.8M/Wk 4

4.) Where the Crawdads Sings (Sony) 3,650 theaters, Fri $3.1M, Sat $3.9M, Sun $3.2M, 3-day $10.33M (-40%)/Total $38.3M/Wk 2
Great hold here for a female skewing movie during the pandemic, even better than the -45% decline Note Book had, and that was over a July 4th weekend. Industry outlook sees Crawdads’ final domestic B.O. in the $60M range.

5.) Top Gun: Maverick (Par) 3,160 (-132) theaters, Fri $2.7M Sat $4.1M Sun $3.2M , 3-day $10M (-19%), Total $635.5M/Wk 9

6.) Elvis (WB) 3,105 (-200) theaters, Fri $1.8M, Sat $2.55M, Sun $1.9M, 3-day $6.3M (-21%) Total $118.3M/Wk 5

7.) Paws of Fury (Par) 3,481 +6) theaters, Fri $1.1M, Sat $1.5M Sun $1.2M, 3-day $3.87M (-39%)/Total $13.7M/Wk 2

8.)  The Black Phone (Uni) 2,055 (-222) theaters, Fri $1.07M , Sat $1.36M, Sun $1M, 3-day $3.45M (-36%)/Total $78.5M/Wk 5

9.) Jurassic World Dominion (Uni) 2,165 (-495) theaters, Fri $870K, Sat $1.2M, Sun $860K, 3-day $2.96M (-43%), Total $365.5M/Wk 7

10.) Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris (Foc) 1,001 (+21) theatres, Fri $410K, Sat $540K, Sun $400K, 3-day $1.35M (-31%)/Total $4.65M/Wk 2

 

via Deadline

‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Becomes the Ninth-Highest Domestic Grossing Film in History at the BO!!

At this point, we’re starting to wonder when Top Gun: Maverick will finally cease crossing milestones as it continues to dominate the summer box office ahead of even highly-anticipated Marvel titles. Unlike its titular hero, Maverick has hit Mach 10 and just keeps going, having passed yet another box office milestone and outdoing not just this year’s Thor: Love and Thunder, but the superhero team-up that started it all. The high-flying Tom Cruise film has officially surpassed The Avengers at the domestic box office, stealing the Marvel film’s spot to become the ninth-highest grossing domestic release in cinema history. Take that, Iron Man!

To achieve such a spot in cinematic history, the legacy sequel brought in $623.8 million at the domestic box office, surpassing The Avengers’ haul ($623.3 million) by about half a million dollars. With the end of its theatrical release window still nowhere in sight, many experts believe that the film can come out of the cinematic dogfight even more victorious, with the possibility to surpass the films that sit in seventh and eighth place on the chart — Titanic with $659 million, and Jurassic World with $653 million, respectively.

It’s rare that a film not tied to a long-running franchise, like Marvel’s Love and Thunder or Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, or even Jurassic World Dominion, do so spectacularly well at the box office that they continue to bust records long after their opening weekend. For context, James Cameron’s Avatar, which earned $760 million at the domestic box office, is the only film in the top six spots that isn’t a Marvel or Star Wars film — the rest of the list includes Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Avengers: Endgame, Spider-Man: No Way Home, Black Panther, and Avengers: Infinity War. If Maverick manages to crack that list, it’ll be the only film in cinematic history not owned by Disney to do so.

The success of Top Gun: Maverick continues to astound as it racks up records. Not only has the film becomes Paramount’s highest-grossing film ever, but it’s also one of less than fifty films in history to crack a billion dollars at the box office, as well as being Cruise’s highest-grossing film in his entire career, and making rare returns to IMAX and XD theaters because audiences just cannot get enough. Paramount has yet to announce when the film will be pulled from theaters for a theatrical or streaming release, and as Maverick continues to soar past its competition, all we can say is: goodness gracious, great balls of fire!

Top Gun: Maverick, also starring Miles Teller, Glen Powell, Monica Barbaro, Lewis Pullman, Danny Ramirez, Jay Ellis, Greg Tarzan Davis, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, and Val Kilmer, is playing in theaters now.

 

via Collider

‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ Holds Top Spot Despite 68% Drops While ‘Crawdads’ Opens with $17M at the BO!!

The wearing down of the MCU luster is unfortunately being seen, as Disney’s Thor: Love and Thunder is having a great fall, with a -68% drop for a second weekend to $46M. And the sequel isn’t even theatrical day-and-date like Black Widow was last year on Disney+. While the Taika Waititi-directed movie improved beyond its high $130M opening estimates last weekend into the $144M range, it’s clear those sour audience exits of a B+ CinemaScore and 3 1/2 stars are taking their toll.

Thor‘s second weekend drop ranks among the MCU’s worst, including Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (-67%) and Black Widow (-68%). Forget about Spider-Man: No Way Home‘s -68% second drop. That’s largely due to Christmas falling on a Saturday, and everyone knows that Sony/MCU title was making money hand over fist on a daily basis. It’s an outlier.

Worldwide, Disney has a different brag on Thor: Love and Thunder and that’s that that the superhero is about to cross the half billion mark worldwide. Domestic stands at $233.2M, global at $498M. The pic’s Imax screens stateside at 412 posted $3.7M this weekend for a running total of $20.5M.

Marvel is getting beaten this summer by a Tom Cruise movie, granted a long-awaited sequel by his fans, with Top Gun: Maverick hitting $617.9M by EOD today. The erosion here in MCU box office bucks and audience exits is a rich man’s problem for the studio. Again, is the dilution of results because they’re stretched thin between the development of streaming series and movies?

Anecdotally, Thor 4 is quite a fun ride, and if you see it in Screen X, it’s mind-blowing. It’s a fast clip at 1 hour and 58 minutes, and not as Byzantine as Doctor Strange 2 and Eternals. But clearly, something isn’t resonating with fans. I’ve been told by sources that they and critics obviously don’t think it’s as good as Ragnarok. That pic, despite having a lower opening than Thor 4 at $122.7M, possessed a higher-grossing second weekend with $57M. And that was during November, not summer.

Meanwhile, Sony/3000 Pictures/Hello Sunshine’s feature take of the Delia Owens novel, Where the Crawdads Sing, is coming in ahead of its $9M-$10M projections with $17M in 3rd. A good win here for a $24 million production before P&A, and ahead of other female-skewing novels on screen during the pre-pandemic, i.e. Crawdads. The new film is ahead of the openings of 2004’s The Notebook ($13.4M), the 2015 adaptation of Nicholas Sparks’ The Longest Ride ($13M), and John Green’s Paper Towns ($12.6M).

Crawdads is another example this summer of a harshly reviewed movie beating its projections. Critics piled on Crawdads at 37% rotten, and here’s the pic’s opening, 70% ahead of where tracking thought it would be. That’s a wonderful thing for the business when Rotten Tomatoes doesn’t ruin a movie’s ticket sales.

However, being the mega-bestseller that Crawdads was, it’s not a Dear John ($30M) or a Fault in Our Stars ($48M), which truly ignited the female demographic to come out. The question remains how frontloaded Crawdads is and whether it legs out off its great scores. There is nothing like it for female audiences in the coming months. Backing out $2.3M previews, Friday actually made $5M, and Saturday was slightly up at 8% from that with $5.4M

The 74% skewing female movie is winning over its core audience in its big screen treatment, with 4 1/2 stars, 87% positive, 70% recommend on PostTrak, and an A- CinemaScore. Those fans who showed up clearly didn’t read reviews, as critics weren’t won over by the 35% Rotten.

Social media monitor RelishMix noticed that the pre-release social chatter “spun around the book, as savvy fans wonder how the movie would play with the compression of the story into a two-hour film — and the tone of the trailer in relation to how they experienced the ‘lyrical, and haunting, but oddly peaceful story’ of the novel. The added layer of the Taylor Swift soundtrack, which was released two weeks ago, is also as a fresh element for fans, too.”

Of those attending, PostTrak showed that 32% came with someone who wanted to see it, while 30% were there because they were fans of the book.

Hence, those audience exits are quite promising. Had fans of the book been truly upset, Crawdads would be in freefall at the box office. Crawdad‘s social media awareness levels are running in line with drama thriller norms at 156.5M across Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok. “However, the bonus factor feeding activity on the project is soundtrack artist Taylor Swift, with her social network of 431.3M fans, including her YouTube channel at 46.8M subs — plus producer Reese Witherspoon at 34.8M fans — at a social grand total of 587.8M,” reports RelishMix.

Fifty-five percent of Crawdads‘ ticket buyers are women over 25. The overall audience was 40% between 18-34, but still an amazing 41% over 45. Box office firm EntTelligence shows that 8% of the audience came after 8PM to see Crawdads, indicating how older-leaning the pic is. Diversity demos were 71% Caucasian, 17% Latino and Hispanic, 4% Black, & 8% Asian/other. Crawdads crooned the loudest in the South and Midwest, where nine out of the top ten grossing theaters were. Pic’s best markets included Dallas, Atlanta, Salt Lake City, Denver, Tampa, Nashville, Charlotte, Minneapolis, Austin, cities which largely aren’t among the highest-grossing in a given weekend. There were only four New York and LA runs were in the top 100; none in Crawdad‘s top ten, with NYC Lincoln Square charting at No. 11 through Friday and LA’s The Grove at No. 20.

Key marketing stunts for Crawdads included the launch of Taylor Swift’s lyric video for “Carolina” across her and the pic’s social handles, reaching over a half-billion followers. Sony also launched an Influencer Compilation with TikTok Creators with a combined reach of 40M followers to further engage fans on social.

Additionally, there was the amplified lyric video with a Swift Vevo Custom Artist Takeover, owning all the pre-roll video across all her music catalogue, and tapped into local iHeart DJ influencers to surround the song with chatter about Crawdads.

RelishMix measured that Swift counts over 356M fans with producer Witherspoon at close to 35M, and lead star Daisy Edgar-Jones at 1.3M.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Reese Witherspoon (@reesewitherspoon)

Sony teamed with Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine & Reese’s Book Club to create a bounty of behind-the-scenes digital ads and social content, including a TikTok Live with talent and filmmakers. Reese’s Book Club promoted the film across their site, social, and their popular book club app, and the studio worked with Hello Sunshine for a word-of-mouth screening program in 26 cities.

Sony also collaborated with the creators of BookTok (62 Billion Views on TikTok) and he Bookstagram community throughout the course of the campaign with trailer reactions, Crawdads-inspired BookNooks, and TikTok trends.

Also, the studio worked with ABC and Bachelor fan favorites Ashley Iaconetti & Jason Haibon to create a custom toss and special look at the film ,which aired in the premiere episode of The Bachelorette, and was touted across top social platforms.

On the downside, Paramount’s animated feature Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank isn’t punching with a $6.25M opening. If you want to know where families want to spend their money, it’s on the third weekend of Universal/Illumination Entertainment’s Minions: Rise of Gru, which is racking up $26M in second place, -44%, for a running total of $262.5M.

Why is Paws of Fury in a crowded summer market? And not later in the fall, which is starving for product? Paramount, nor others in the industry, were not expecting Rise of Gru to overpower this much. A two-week space in regards to opening felt safe. Paws of Fury was on this release date before Warner Bros. decided to push Black Adam, originally at the end of this month, and replace it with DC League of Super-Pets, which is tracking to do around $30M. Originally, the thinking was that Paws of Fury, before Super-Pets’ dating, would have the rest of the summer.

Withering down the appeal of Paws of Fury is the fact that it feels, in an animal martial arts movie, too similar to Kung-Fu Panda (despite the fact that Paws is set in Japan and the former franchise in China). There’s the notion that we’ve seen this film before.

Nonetheless, the new credo moving forward in the motion picture industry that’s chained at the hip to a streaming afterlife is that it’s better to bomb with a film on the big screen, rather than send it straight to streaming. The mere fact that Paws of Fury gets a big theatrical release raises its patina and distinguishes  the title greatly in the home aftermarket and beyond, versus if Paramount just dropped this on Paramount+.

That said, the irony is that Paw Patrol and Clifford, which were theatrical day-and-date on Paramount+, respectively opened to bigger numbers at $13.1M and $16.6M, but keep in mind they are big branded movies; Paws of Fury is original, which makes it a harder sell. The notion is that had Clifford an Paw Patrol went full on theatrical, they would have grossed significantly more.

Those families who spent their money on Paws of Fury and were polled by CinemaScore didn’t feel it was a waste of time giving the animated movie an A-. PostTrak was significantly harsher, with general audiences slamming it with a 66% positive and 49% recommend, while kids under 12 enjoyed it enough at 80% positive. Dad-leaning turnout at 51% guys, with 36% under 17 and a diversity spread of 40% Caucasian, 26% Latino and Hispanic, 18% Black, & 16% Asian/other. Paws of Fury was most prominent in the West and Southwest.

Focus Features booked the eOne financed Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris at 980 theaters, and it’s grossing $1.9M for the weekend, in 9th place with a $1,77K per theater. Well-reviewed movie at 93% on Rotten Tomatoes, with 70% women turning up, and a very notable 39% over 55, with 87% over 25. The movie is doing best on the coasts, I hear, but not so great in other places. Between Top Gun 2 and Crawdads, returning older female moviegoers during the pandemic have many options. Diversity demos were 65% Caucasian, 14% Latino and Hispanic, 13% Asian/other, and 8% Black.

Netflix/AGBO’s Ryan Gosling/Chris Evans/Ana de Armas spy film Gray Man, which is getting a promotional one-week theatrical play near 400 locations, is coming up significantly short in ticket sales next to Red Notice. That Dwayne Johnson-Gal Gadot-Ryan Reynolds action heist film chalked up between $1.25M-$1.5M in its opening weekend at 750 locations.

This was during a fall when the box office was beginning to get back on its feet, and more auditoriums were available because we didn’t have as many blockbusters around then as we do now. Gray Man is estimated to be doing just under $200K, according to distribution sources. Again, the streamer doesn’t care, nor do they report figures. It’s all about maintaining subscribers and possibly adding new ones after this $200M+ investment hits the service on Friday. Even though this movie is at 52% on Rotten Tomatoes, ya gotta think if it was a wide theatrical release, it would be raining an additional $10M-$20M in box office cash on exhibition. They’d gladly take it.

The overall weekend box office, the 28th this year, looks to clock an estimated $130.2M from all titles. Next to weekend 28 in 2019, that’s +3%. Very good.

Chart updated with Sunday numbers:

1.) Thor: Love and Thunder (Disney) 4,375 theaters, Fri. $13.8M (-80%), Sat $18.4M, Sun $13.8M, 3-day $46M (-68%)/Total $233.27M /Wk 2

2.) Minions: Rise of Gru (Uni) 4,111 theaters (-316), Fri $8.1M (-44%),  Sat $10.1M, Sun $7.69M, 3-day $26M (-44%), Total: $262.5M/Wk 3

3.) Where the Crawdads Sings (Sony) 3,650 theaters, Fri $7.3M, Sat $5.4M, Sun $4.3M, 3-day $17M/Wk 1

4.) Top Gun: Maverick (Par) 3,292 (-221) theaters, Fri $3.4M (-24%), Sat $4.89M, Sun $3.7M, 3-day $12M (-23%), Total $617.96M/Wk 8
The older 40 crowd keeps on comin’: Anecdotally, the Simi Valley Studio Grill’s 7:45pm show in SoCal was packed on Friday night.

5.) Elvis (WB) 3,305 (-409) theaters, Fri $2.3M (-31%), Sat $3M, Sun $2.27M,  3-day $7.6M (-32%) Total $106.2M/Wk 4

6.) Paw of Fury (Par) 3,475 theaters, Fri $2.4M, Sat $2.1M, Sun $1.75M, 3-day $6.25M/Wk 1

7.) The Black Phone (Uni) 2,271 (-288) theaters, Fri $1.6M (-32%), Sat $2.1M, Sun $1.58M, 3-day $5.3M (-32%)/Total $72M/Wk 4

8.) Jurassic World Dominion (Uni) 2,647 (-604) theaters, Fri $1.4M (-43%), Sat $2M , Sun $1.4M, 3-day $4.95M (-42%), Total $359.7M/Wk 6

9.) Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris (Foc) 980 theatres, Fri $700K, Sat $680K, Sun $520K 3-day $1.9M/Wk 1

10.) Lightyear (Dis) 1,350 (-740) theaters, Fri $395K (-58%), Sat $538K, Sun $367K, 3-day $1.3M (-58%),  Total $115.4M/Wk 5

11.) Marcel the Shell With Shoes On (A24) 153 theaters (+105), Fri $176,5K (+73%), Sat $221,4K, Sun $177,1K, 3-day $575,3K (+72%), Total $1.695M/Wk 4

via Deadline

‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Surpasses ‘Titanic’s Record; Become Paramount’s Highest Domestic-Grossing Film!!

Top Gun: Maverick has officially soared past not only the rest of its box office competition, but the rest of its competition at Paramount Pictures across the studio’s entire 110-year history. Paramount has just announced that the high-flying sequel to 1986’s Top Gun is officially their number one top domestic grossing film of all time, bringing in $601.9 million at the domestic box office and surpassing one of the most iconic films of all time: Titanic.

The Tom Cruise-led action film has been breaking box office records since it hit theaters over Memorial Day weekend — including becoming Cruise’s highest grossing film of all time and passing $1 billion at the global box office — but this newest record might just be its most impressive. Titanic grossed a total of $600.7 million at the box office during its initial release, and has held the number one spot in Paramount’s line-up for twenty-five years, a whopping amount of time. (For context, that’s as long as this writer has been alive!) But it looks like, even more than their desire to see a tragic love story, audiences around the world are still feeling the need — the need for speed.

“For 110 years, Paramount Pictures has produced and distributed some of the most iconic films in Hollywood history, including the all-time classic Titanic, which marks its 25th anniversary this year,” said Brian Robbins, President and CEO of Paramount Pictures. “Top Gun: Maverick is a phenomenal motion picture, and we take deep pride in celebrating this tremendous achievement alongside Tom Cruise, our filmmakers and cast, our marketing and distribution teams, and, of course, all the new and original Top Gun fans, without whom this wouldn’t have been possible.”

Globally, Maverick is still bringing in impressive numbers, returning to the top of the international box office last week for an international total of $595.6 million, combining with the $601.9 million domestic total for an overhaul haul of $1.19 billion — and it’s still running in theaters! With a combination of nostalgia, high-flying action in real F-18s, and a talented cast of newcomers, Maverick has set itself up for a place in the history books, defying its multiple COVID-related delays and expectations the world over. And from our perspective? It deserves it.

If you still haven’t entered the danger zone, Top Gun: Maverick, also starring Miles Teller, Glen Powell, Monica Barbaro, Jay Ellis, Greg Tarzan Davis, Danny Ramirez, Lewis Pullman, Jon Hamm, Jennifer Connelly, and Val Kilmer, is playing now in theaters. Check out the trailer for the film down below:

via Collider

‘Thor: Love And Thunder’ Opens Strong with $143M at the BO!!

Disney/Marvel’s Thor: Love and Thunder held steady on Saturday, despite those lower than normal CinemaScore and PostTrak exits for a Marvel Cinematic Universe title. The Taika Waititi-directed sequel grossed $42.1M yesterday which is 4% above Friday’s true take of $40.5M (That’s $69.5M less $29M Thursday previews). This will get Thor: Love and Thunder to a $143M opening, per Disney. Worldwide is $302M, just like Nancy and I told you.

That number is the 12th-best opening for a Marvel Cinematic Universe title, after Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol 2‘s $146.5M. As we mentioned previously, the wonderful thing for motion picture studios as they put tentpoles out in the rebounding pandemic marketplace is that critical scores and exits aren’t watering down grosses like they did during pre-pandemic days.

Thor, like Jurassic World dinosaurs, is a big enough franchise to keep moviegoers coming, and again, this is the best the Norse Marvel superhero has ever opened in his history. Compared to Thor: Ragnarok, Thor: Love and Thunder pulled in a more diverse crowd, with more Hispanic and Latino (near a third of all ticket buyers, per PostTrak) and Asian at 13%.

Per EntTelligence, Thor: Love and Thunder became the sixth movie during the pandemic to pull in over 10M admissions in its opening weekend, after Spider-Man: No Way Home (20.6M), Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (14M), Top Gun: Maverick (11.6M), Jurassic World Dominion (10.8M), and The Batman (10.1M)

When it comes to the box office legs for a MCU movie, those “A” CinemaScores do make a difference. Spider-Man: No Way Home with an A+ CinemaScore saw a 3.1x multiple off its $260.1M 3-day opening, landing it at a domestic final of $804.7M. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, which had an A, generated a near 3x multiple off its $75.3M 3-day, for a $224.5M stateside final gross. However, Eternals, with a B Cinema Score, posted a 2.3x multiple, while Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness with its B+ saw a 2.19x off its $187.4M opening, which is resulting in a current domestic take of $411M. Can Thor: Love and Thunder defeat the odds? It’s the only massive crowd pleaser, arguably until Warner Bros/DC’s Black Adam arrives on Oct. 21 and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever on Nov. 11.

Imax auditoriums took in $23M for Thor: Love and Thunder around the globe, making it the fifth-biggest July debut for the exhibitor, or 7.6% of the fourthquel’s worldwide opening. North America’s 412 Imax screens drove $13.8M of Thor: Love and Thunder‘s weekend opening, or close to 10%, making it the large format’s fifth-biggest July opening weekend stateside. PLF screens overall contributed 36% to Thor 4‘s weekend. That includes Imax, Premium Large Format brands, 3D, and motion auditoriums.

Eighty-six of the audience was general, with 9% parents and 5% kids under 12. The moviegoing 18-34 demo repped 53% of Thor 4‘s weekend audience.

Marvel Boss Kevin Feige announced Thor: Love and Thunder at San Diego Comic Con 2019 (the last time the MCU sent shockwaves there), noting that there would be a new femme Thor played by Natalie Portman (aka Jane Foster). Disney launched the teaser trailer for Thor: Love and Thunder back in April, before Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness opened. In 24 hours, the trailer chalked up 209M views online, placing it in the top tier of MCU trailers, behind only Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, and Spider-Man: No Way Home.

Spots ran across Good Morning America, summer reality competition programs, late night shows (Colbert, Fallon, Kimmel, Corden, Meyers), Hispanic network/cable, general audience cable, major sports events, including the NHL Stanley Cup Finals, MLB, and UFC.  During the multigame NBA Eastern Conference Finals, the second trailer dropped, including custom promotional spots with Tyler Herro, Game No. 3 custom creative with Kevin Love and a ticket sales announcement, custom content featuring James Worthy prior to Game No. 4, and during the game, the trailer debut at halftime.

Notable promo partners on Thor: Love & Thunder included Geico, Old Spice, McDonald’s, and a custom console with XBOX. Geico’s creative played off of a current campaign in which new homeowners talk about their experiences – but in this case, there’s a lot of “hammering” going on in the neighborhood.

Old Spice had placement in the movie. In addition, there was a custom TV/digital/social campaign shot mockumentary-style, inspired by the Asgardian play theater troupe, with Luke Hemsworth as the actor version of Thor.

McDonald’s served up a worldwide Happy Meal program, TV spot, and a McDonald’s Power Up element, which gave kids the chance to rock out with their toys and the mobile app. There was also a big Times Square AR interactive billboard splash.

Xbox had its sixth Marvel partnership, with custom co-branded console kits amplified with out-of-home advertising in Times Square/LA Live, and pushes on the platform and online. Xbox and PC Games’ had a Goat Simulator Challenge inspired by the bombastic, screaming Toothgnasher and Toothgrinder, where the top gamers go head-to-head to determine who is the ‘Greatest of All-Time.’

Disney further leveraged the cast with its social media channels, which has a reach near a half-billion. That part of the campaign included custom Twitter emojis and influencers tapping into fun ‘Greatest of all Thor’ facts, crafters, cosplay and art. @TwitterMovies was on the red carpet with the cast answering fan questions, and the film took over the account on opening week, including changing the location to New Asgard. There was also a Twitch Love and Thunder Couples Challenge, where a real-life gamer couple livestreamed together and quizzed each other on MCU trivia while also answering dating game-style questions about each other. It should be noted that in PostTrak exits, close to a third of those women under 25 who watched the movie came with a date; 11% of that demo saw Thor 4 with a spouse/partner.

There were also digital takeovers on the Amazon Fire TV Feature Rotator, Hulu, Fandango, and ESPN, with additional digital support on social, search, YouTube, streaming audio, Twitch, IGN, Fandom, and Playwire, etc.

A Mighty Thor walkaround character and the Mjolnir Experience made its debut at Disneyland.

The near 200K likes on Waititi’s Instagram post on Saturday:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Taika Waititi (@taikawaititi)

Universal/Illumination’s Minions: The Rise of Gru will see a second weekend of $45.55M, -57% — which is the same second weekend hold as 2015’s Minions. The movie, now at $210M, is pacing behind Minions by just $5.7M by EOD today. This is after a $17.45M Saturday, +20% over Friday.

Paramount’s Top Gun: Maverick‘s Saturday jumped 41% over Friday, $6.3M vs. $4.47M putting the pic’s 7th weekend at $15.5M, -40% for $597.4M.

Warner Bros.’ Elvis notched its third weekend where we were seeing it, coming in at $11M, for a $91.1M running total after a Saturday that was +30% over Friday, $4.36M vs. $3.3M.

An excellent healthy indicator that the theatrical business is in fantastic shape: Comscore is reporting the weekend for all movies at $236.1M, which is 28% ahead of the same post-July 4th weekend in 2019. The annual 2022 box office from Jan. 1-July 10 stands at $4.2 billion, 234% ahead of the same frame a year ago, and 30% behind that period for 2019.

The summer box office for the first Friday in May through July 10 has reaped $2.27 billion to date, +218% over the same period last summer, and pacing only 12% behind 2019 gross of that frame which was $2.58 billion. Spider-Man: Far From Home, off a $185M 6-day opening (of which Fri-Sun made $92.5M) ended its run at $390.5M, and industry sources this morning believe Thor 4 can emulate that final US/Canada gross.

Sunday AM reported figures:

1.) Thor: Love and Thunder (Disney) 4,375 theaters, Fri. $69.5M, Sat $42.1M, Sun $31.4M, 3-day $143M/Wk 1

2.) Minions: Rise of Gru (Uni) 4,427 theaters (+36), Fri $14.56M, Sat $17.45M, Sun $13.5M,  3-day $45.55M (-57%), Total: $210M/Wk 2

3.) Top Gun: Maverick (Par) 3,513 (-330) theaters, Fri $4.47M, Sat $6.3M, Sun $4.7M, 3-day $15.5M (-40%), Total $597.4M/Wk 7

4.) Elvis (WB) 3,714 theaters (-218), Fri $3.3M, Sat $4.36M, Sun $3.29M,  3-day $11M (-40%) Total $91.1M/Wk 3

5.) Jurassic World Dominion (Uni) 3,251 (-550) theaters, Fri $2.44M, Sat $3.4M, Sun $2.56M, 3-day $8.4M (-49%), Total $350.3M/Wk 5

6.) The Black Phone (Uni) 2,559 (-597) theaters, Fri $2.37M, Sat $3M, Sun $2.27M,  3-day $7.66M (-37%)/Total $62.3M: Wk 3

7.) Lightyear (Dis) 2,090 (-1,710) theaters, Fri $939K, Sat $1.22M, Sun $736K, 3-day $2.9M (-55%),  Total $112.3M/Wk 4

8.) Marcel the Shell With Shoes On (A24) 48 theaters (+26), Fri $102K, Sat $132K, Sun $105,6K  3-day $340K (+30%), Total $963,4K/Wk 3

9.) Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (Dis) 140 (-450) theaters, Fri $87k, Sat $107K, Sun $68K, 3-day $262K (-36%), Total $411.06M/Wk 10

10.) Everything, Everywhere All at Once (A24) 286 (-321) theaters, Fri $68,5K, Sat $95,8K, Sun $76,7K, 3-day $241,1K (-56%), Total $67.6M/Wk 16

11.) Mr. Malcolm’s List (BST) 1,057 (-327) theaters, Fri $70K, Sat $109K, Sun $65,5K, 3-day $245K (-76%), Total: $1.64M/Wk 2

 

via Deadline

‘Minions: Rise Of Gru’ Heading for a Record $128M Independence Day Opening at the BO!!

As Illumination/Universal’s Minions: The Rise of Gru clinches an Independence Day 4-day opening record of $127.9M, the movie’s success this weekend should come as a reminder to many executives, both motion picture and streaming, as well as Wall Street, about the power of the big screen.

While it may go without saying, realize that Rise of Gru‘s success here, in addition to being built on the back of a multimillion dollar global marketing campaign, is also propped by a kid’s brand that has generated over $6 billion in retail sales. And that brand was built off of what was an original motion picture IP 12 years ago, which hasn’t dimmed. Streaming movie franchises — they don’t yield these types of results.

True, there’s the assortment of Viacom Nick properties, i.e. South Park, SpongeBob, and Dora the Explorer. But those are long-running TV series.

When you’re a motion picture global brand, advertisers want to partner with you, and in the case of Minions: The Rise of Gru, Universal pulled in a group of global advertisers, who all together delivered the biggest media value ever for an Illumination Despicable Me/Minions movie at $285M+, according to sources.

These stateside partners included Liberty Mutual, CarMax, Zip Recruiter, IHOP restaurants, HelloFresh, Hippeas, Levi’s, Supergoop!, Olipop, McDonald’s, and more.

Consider the feat with pulling this promo partnership off for a minute. This was a movie that was originally scheduled to come out two years ago. The pandemic screwed up all these promo partnerships for a number of movies, i.e. bags of Wonder Woman 1984 Doritos were hitting grocery shelves during the summer of 2020 as that sequel was originally set to be released that summer (before jettisoning to a HBO Max theatrical day-and-date plan at the end of the year). There were certain promotions connected to tentpole movies that summer which had to go, as the product and supply chain was ready for that product. In the case of Minions: The Rise of Gru, toys connected to the movie were hitting Walmart. Ditto for Top Gun: Maverick, which had a Matchbox airplane set on shelves, too.

Whenever there are massive last-minute release theatrical date shifts (we’re talking last-minute, within months), promo partners are apt to get riled up at studios, as products have been created for a film, and there’s a time line in which they’re expected to hit the market. However, during the earlier part of the pandemic, there were a multitude of release date changes as box office capitals New York and LA remained closed, and studios, for the most part, remained on level terms with promo partners because of force majeure rules.

Some of Minions: Rise of Gru‘s stateside advertisers include:

Liberty Mutual, which had their first animation partnership with Rise of Gru, with their custom spot starring the guys in an iconic New York boardwalk backdrop from Liberty Mutual’s Truth Tellers campaign.

In its first film partnership, automotive retail partner CarMax aired two spots featuring the Minions around its 30-Day Money Back Guarantee (up to 1,500 miles) and Instant Online Offer to sell one’s car. The sequel was promoted on CarMax’s social channels and at their 230+ store locations nationwide. There was a social filter, whereby CarMax customers could take a photo or video with the Minions as they capture the memory of purchasing their new car, along with CarMax’s iconic big yellow bow.  

McDonald’s is a returning partner to the franchise, and they’ve pushed the sequel in 70 markets, including Australia, France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Korea, Japan, and Canada. The campaigns included three lines of Happy Meals and a line of plastic toys. There was a custom animated spot featuring the Minions putting their Kung-Fu skills to the test for the last McNugget.

IHOP served up a limited menu centered around the film with Ba-Ba-Banana Pudding Pancakes, Cinna-minions, Gru’s Evil Steakburger, and more at their 1,700 restaurants in the US, Mexico, Peru, Panama, and Puerto Rico. The partnership included a 360 marketing campaign and custom TV spot featuring a Minion dreaming about the pancakes and fantasizing about a whirlwind romance together.

Rise of Gru was featured in Levi’s 275 stores around the world, where consumers could choose from an assortment of pins, patches, and more, then work with a tailor to adorn to their favorite Levi’s piece. The in-store experience included a Minions takeover of the Levi’s Tailor Shop, a custom Levi’s Minions video spot, and an interactive element.

HelloFresh offered up a limited-edition inspired-by meal kit for consumers to create their own Minions Pizza. Consumers were able to submit photos on social media with the hashtag, #HelloFreshMinions, and enter into a contest to win movie tickets and swag.

Suncare brand Supergoop! launched a limited-edition Minions line with its Play sunscreen. The collaboration dropped right around National Sunscreen Day to promote the film, while educating on the importance of SPF. Supergoop! also has a Minions-themed PSA, organic social, and PR/influencer campaign.

Soda brand Olipop created a limited-edition Banana Cream flavor inspired by the Minions’ infatuation with the fruit. Olipop pushed the movie via organic social, digital media, influencer partnerships, email newsletters, SMS, and a webpage takeover in a campaign that racked up 22M impressions.

Chickpea-based snack brand, Hippeas is a returning partner to the series with a campaign in the US, UK, and Ireland. Minions are splashed across all flavors of its chickpea puffs in a program that’s supported by outdoor, in-store displays, digital and PR.

****

There was never a question about family moviegoers returning during the pandemic. In fact, they already did, and Spider-Man: No Way Home‘s record $804.8M domestic performance was proof, along with Illumination/Universal’s Sing 2 playing in the shadow of it during the year-end holidays, with a final $162.7M U.S./Canada gross.

However, Rise of Gru did attract a massive under-25 demographic at 89%. Even more impressive is how Universal made a brand that was unhip, hip again for the 13-17 crowd, who showed up at 34%. Alas, the power of TikTok. Scroll down for more detail.

Said Universal Domestic Distribution Boss Jim Orr about the success of Minions: The Rise of Gru this weekend, “This is an amazing debut, proving that when you have an incredibly well-crafted, brilliantly acted, hysterically funny film, as we do with Minions: The Rise of Gru, family audiences will pour into theatres. Chris Meledandri and Illumination add to their extraordinary record of success with a film that audiences are embracing around the world.”

Of Minions: Rise of Gru‘s ticket sales, $8.6M ($7.3M for the 3-day) came from 400 Imax auditoriums in the US and Canada, making it the fourth-highest Domestic IMAX opening weekend ever for an animated title.

There’s a handful of tentpoles that Universal promotes through its Symphony program, which means they get a huge push across all sister brands in the Comcast conglomerate.

In partnership with its streamer, Peacock, there was a cobranded Minions: The Rise of Gru x The Office custom animated piece which dropped, yielding over 14M views in its first day online.

Minions had in-show integrations on America’s Got Talent and TODAY, which had a Minion segment daily during its week of release, including anchors drawn as Minions by The Rise of Gru codirector Brad Abelson. There was also a Minion fan celebration event from the TODAY plaza, exclusive clip reveals, and an appearance by star Steve Carell. There was also a full Minions episode takeover of American Ninja Warrior, including a branded obstacle course, animated Minions running the course, and a cobranded logo.

Leading up to release, the franchise’s movies aired via themed nights across NBC, Telemundo, USA and more than 40 international broadcasters, including Sky, Globo, Studio Universal, Channel 9 and Fuji TV. This included exclusive scenes from the sequel and talent greetings.

Rise of Gru kicked off with the Tokyo Summer Olympics featuring two custom animated, cobranded spots highlighting the yellow guys’ encounter with Olympians Caeleb Dressel and Simone Biles. There were also placements across the Beijing Olympics, French open, Indy Car, MLB, Premiere League, Belmont Stakes, Sky’s broadcast of The Hundreds, and Telemundo’s broadcast of the FIFA World Cup.

And, of course, there were activations at Universal Parks and Resorts, including Minions tricked-out at entrances, tram tours, etc. at Universal Studios Japan, Singapore, Hollywood, and Orlando resorts.

Weekend estimates as of this morning:

1.) Minions: Rise of Gru (Uni) 4,391 theaters, Fri $48.2M, Sat $32.6M, Sun $27.7M,  3-day $108.5M, 4-day $127.9M/Wk 1

2.) Top Gun: Maverick (Par) 3,843 (-105) theaters, Fri $7.1M, Sat $9.6M Sun $8.7M,  3-day $25.5M (-14%), 4-day $32.5M, Total $570.9M/Wk 6
At $1.1 billion, the sequel is now producer Jerry Bruckheimer’s highest grossing movie of all-time worldwide, outstripping 2006’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest which did $1.066 billion.

3.) Elvis (WB) 3,932 (+26) theaters, Fri $5.3M, Sat $6.9M, Sun $6.9M 3-day $19M (-39%) 4-day $24M, Total $72.3M/Wk 2
Great hold here. But it’s not the young kids who are propelling this movie in weekend 2 PostTrak exits. Rather, it’s the continued flow of older women. Females 25+ repped half the audience (+5%). The over 55 crowed showed up at 33% this weekend (+2%), while the under 25 at 18% (-3%).

4.) Jurassic World Dominion (Uni) 3,801 (-432) theaters, Fri $4.7M, Sat $5.9M, Sun $5M, 3-day $15.6M (-41%), 4-day $19.2M, Total $335.3M/Wk 4

5.) The Black Phone (Uni) 3,156 (+6) theaters, Fri $3.9M, Sat $4.5M Sun $3.8M, 3-day $12.3M (-48%), 4-day $14.6M,/Total $49.7M: Wk 2
Typically horror films drop like a rock in weekend 2, more than -60%. Not this one.

6.) Lightyear (Dis) 3,800 (-455) theaters, Fri $2M, Sat $2.4M , Sun $2.1M/3-day $6.5M (-64%), 4-day $8.1M, Total $106.9M/Wk 3

7.) Mr. Malcolm’s List (BST) 1,384 theaters, Fri $311K, Sat $285K, Sun $256K, 3-day $851,8K, 4-day $1.03M/Wk 1

8.) Everything, Everywhere All at Once (A24) 607 (+83) theaters, Fri $141K, Sat $209K Sun $202K, 3-day $552K (+4%), 4-day $673K, Total $67.1M/Wk 15

9.) Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (Dis) 590 (-1,265) theaters, Fri $108k, Sat $152K, Sun $130K, 3-day $390K (-78%), 4-day $482K, Total $410.6M/Wk 9

10.) Jug Jugg Jeeyo (Moviegoer) 318 theaters, Fri $98,6K, Sat $112K, Sun $97,4K, 3-day $308K (-58%), 4-day $375,6K, Total: $1.5M/Wk 2

11.) Marcel the Shell With Shoes On (A24) 22 theaters (+16), Fri $92K, Sat $85K Sun $82K , 3-day $258,4K (+62%), 4-day $308K, Total $530,7K/Wk 2

via Deadline

‘Jurassic World Dominion’ Adds Another $19.1 Million to Take Total to $824.5 Million at the Worldwide BO!!

Dinosaurs are still ruling the Earth as audiences are flocking to movie theaters this Fourth of July weekend, Universal‘s Jurassic World Dominion has achieved an estimated $15.650 million three-day and a $19.180 million four-day total at the domestic box office so far. This adds to a $335.345 million domestic performance of the film alongside $824.5 million worldwide.

The film also made $4.660 million total on Friday with an additional $5.940 million added on Saturday. Jurassic World Dominion is also estimated to receive $5.050 million this Sunday. An additional $3.530 million is expected this Monday which will add on to the weekend box office total due to the Fourth of July holiday.

Compared to previous films of the franchise, Jurassic World Dominion falls slightly behind Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom on its fourth weekend which made $16.2 million at the domestic box office for a three-day weekend and fell to fifth place. On its fourth weekend, the original Jurassic World grossed an impressive $29.242 million at the box office where the film fell to second place.

Still playing in 3,801 North American movie theaters, the film has also now reached fourth place at the box office behind Minions: The Rise of Gru, Top Gun: Maverick, and Elvis. Despite the negative reviews the film has received, and falling behind the previous two Jurassic World films, Dominion is still holding its own at the box office with pretty decent legs as it continues to roar in theaters.

Jurassic World Dominion is directed by Colin Trevorrow and stars Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Sam Neill, Mamoudou Athie, and Campbell Scott.

The film is now playing exclusively in theaters. Check out the synopsis for the film below:

This summer, experience the epic conclusion to the Jurassic era as two generations unite for the first time. Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard are joined by Oscar®-winner Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum and Sam Neill in Jurassic World Dominion, a bold, timely and breathtaking new adventure that spans the globe. From Jurassic World architect and director Colin Trevorrow, Dominion takes place four years after Isla Nublar has been destroyed. Dinosaurs now live—and hunt—alongside humans all over the world. This fragile balance will reshape the future and determine, once and for all, whether human beings are to remain the apex predators on a planet they now share with history’s most fearsome creatures. Jurassic World Dominion, from Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment, propels the more than $5 billion franchise into daring, uncharted territory, featuring never-seen dinosaurs, breakneck action and astonishing new visual effects.

 

via Collider

‘Elvis’ and ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Battling for Top Spot with $30.5M at the BO!!

Elvis and Top Gun: Maverick are in a dead heat for No. 1, with both Warner Bros and Paramount respectively calling each film at $30.5M for the weekend.

If you boil this face-off down to admissions, box office analytics firm EntTelligence is calling the weekend in favor of Top Gun Maverick, with 2.5M admissions to Elvis’ 2.4M admissions.

Industry average weekend estimates show Elvis ahead of Top Gun: Maverick, $30.1M to $29.965M.

Top Gun: Maverick had a slightly lower average ticket price over Elvis, $12.47 to $12.52.

Paramount is calling the 5th weekend for Top Gun: Maverick at -32% dip from weekend 4, after a Saturday night that beat Elvis‘, $12M to $10M.

Warners believes Elvis‘ first Sunday will decline by 23% from Saturday to $7.7M. Paramount is saying Top Gun 2‘s Sunday will be at $10.2M, -15% from Saturday.docto

Still with fierce numbers like this, it’s a rich man’s problem. As one industry marketing executive couched the weekend, “Craziness, but a rising tide to lift all boats for sure.” The top four films grossed over $20M apiece. In addition to Elvis’ opening here and Top Gun 2‘s fifth weekend, Universal is claiming third and fourth place with the third weekend of Jurassic World Dominion at $26.4M and the opening of Blumhouse’s R-rated horror movie The Black Phone, which overperformed to $23.3M. That’s off the backs of the 18-34 crowd, which showed up at 64%; 53% under 25 and 51% female.

The last time that box office feat occurred was over Thanksgiving weekend 2018 (Ralph Breaks the Internet $56.2M, Creed II – $35.5M, The Grinch – $30.3M, Fantastic Beasts 2 – $29.3M) and before that during a non-holiday weekend it was July 21-23, 2017 (Dunkirk – $50.5M, Girls Trip – $31.2M, Spider-Man: Homecoming – $22.1M, and War for the Planet of the Apes – $20.6M).

Big cheer here to Warner Bros. for getting much older out, which in updated Comscore/Screen Engine PostTrak exits is 31% over 55, 48% over 45. Not to mention, Elvis reps a breakthrough at the box office for a long-running time pic at 2 hours and 39 minutes. It’s also been over-written how cautious older women were to return to cinemas during the pandemic. However, Elvis pulled in a huge 45% women over 25 (who gave the pic its highest grade at 92%). The success here with Elvis is that it shows these adult skewing movies can still open on the big screen to very good numbers. Everything that’s non-tentpole doesn’t have to be sent to streaming. Amen.

Warner Bros. Domestic Distribution Boss Jeff Goldstein was over the moon: “Our marketing team went all out. This team was in the field for 30 days straight, on the road. They’re absolutely everywhere, doing surprise and delights in theaters. Baz Luhrmann is a spokesperson to the theatrical experience.”

Luhrmann rallied folks to get out to theater, not just for his film, but all films:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Baz Luhrmann (@bazluhrmann)

Warner Discovery CEO David Zaslav has much to be proud here with Baz Luhrmann’s $85M production. We hear that outgoing Warner Bros Motion Pictures Group Boss Toby Emmerich was a big champion of Elvis, and the results here are a nice send-off as he transitions to a producer role on the Burbank, CA lot.

Excellent buzz for Elvis to keep it going at 4 1/2 stars, 88% positive, 72% definite recommend on PostTrak, and a Rotten Tomatoes audience score of 94% that beats that of Bohemian Rhapsody (85%), Rocketman (88%), and A Star Is Born (79%). Also indicating word-of-mouth is working is the fact that 63% bought their tickets on Saturday on the same day, per PostTrak. Proof that the older crowd showed up is in the EntTelligence admission shares, which showed 50.9% of moviegoers watching the pic before 5PM.

This was a passion project of Luhrmann’s that defied the odds when the Covid pandemic hit, with Tom Hanks catching the virus “six days from starting principal” and production shutting down for months. Luhrmann took the time to refocus the screenplay, particularly from Hanks’ Colonel Tom Parker pov, and Austin Butler stayed in Australia, where the pic was shot, to work on his Elvis from head to toe during the Covid downtime. Warners world premiered the movie at the Cannes Film Festival last month. That’s where Luhrmann launched his filmmaking career with Strictly Ballroom back in 1992. Elvis received the longest standing ovation at Cannes this year, clocked at ten minutes by Deadline.

What did family audiences think of Disney/Pixar’s Lightyear in weekend 2? Well, it took a 65% tumble ($17.66M), which is arguably the second-worst decline for a Pixar movie after Onward‘s -73% second weekend, which was when the pandemic was roaring up in early March 2020.

Back to Black Phone. Not only did the Blumhouse title have great reviews, but great exits, with 86% positive on PostTrak and 90% on Rotten Tomatoes’ audience poll, to pair with its B+ CinemaScore. Evidence that the younger demos turned out for this movie is in its post 9PM business, which repped 30.9% of admissions yesterday, per EntTelligence, the largest share among the top five movies for that time frame.

Exclaimed Uni Domestic Distribution Chief Jim Orr, “Blumhouse and Scott Derrickson brought Joe Hill’s frightening story to theatres this weekend and terrified audiences across North America. This is a tremendous, well-deserved debut for The Black Phone, and our terrific critical reviews and audience reaction scores point to a very healthy run through the summer.”

There’s really no other genre movies on the calendar like Black Phone until Jordan Peele’s Nope on July 22, and New Line’s Salem’s Lot on Sept. 9. Top markets were LA, NYC, Dallas, Chicago, Houston, Atlanta, San Francisco, Phoenix, Philly, and D.C. At $1.7M over the last two days, LA is a strong market for Black Phone. The pic overperformed on the West Coast, South Central and Northeast regions.

1.) Elvis (WB) 3,906 theaters, Fri $12.8M, Sat $10M, Sun $7.7M, 3-day $30.5M/Wk 1

2.) Top Gun: Maverick (Par) 3,948 (-87) theaters, Fri $8.3M, Sat $12M, Sun $10.2M,  3-day $30.5M (-33%), Total $521.7M/Wk 5

3.) Jurassic World Dominion (Uni) 4,233 (-464) theaters, Fri $7.5M, Sat $10.8M, Sun $8.1M, 3-day $26.44M (-55%)/Total $302.77M/Wk 3

4.) The Black Phone (Uni) 3,150 theaters, Fri $10.2M, Sat $7.5M, Sun $5.6M, 3-day $23.3M/Wk 1

5.) Lightyear (Dis) 4,255 theaters, Fri $5.4M, Sat $6.95M, Sun $5.3M /3-day $17.66M (-65%), Total $88.7M/Wk 2

6.) Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (Dis) 1,855 (-610) theaters, Fri $521k, Sat $704K, Sun $500K, 3-day $1.72M (-61%), Total $409.1M/Wk 8

7.) Jug Jugg Jeeyo (Moviegoer) 318 theaters, Fri $235K, Sat $287K, Sun $203K, 3-day $725K, Wk 1

8.) Everything, Everywhere All at Once (A24) 524 (-155) theaters, Fri $144K, Sat $216K, Sun $173K,  3-day $533K (-44%), Total $66.1M/Wk 14

9.) Bob’s Burgers (20th/Dis) 590 (-760) theaters, Fri $156K, Sat $203K, Sun $154K, 3-day $513K (-56%), Total  $31M/Wk 5

10.) The Bad Guys (Uni) 1,033 (-461) theaters, Fri $140K, Sat $170K, Sun $130K 3-day $440K (-56%), Total $95.4M /Wk 10

 

via Deadline

‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Crosses $1 Billion at the Global BO!!

Yet again Top Gun: Maverick is claiming headlines, racing past its coveted $1 billion benchmark and back to the top, leaving all other blockbusters far in its wake. Exceeding all initial expectations, Maverick steals the show in its fifth weekend, pulling in an astounding $1.006 billion worldwide in just under a month. Paramount‘s top gun snagged the #1 spot, grossing $521.7 million domestically, and $484.7 million from international.

At the one-month mark, the Top Gun sequel has become a sensational success as the first film of the year to clear the $1 billion benchmark. This past weekend, Maverick took the #1 spot in its opening weekend in Korea grossing an impressive $12.9 million at just 478 locations. Already having staked its claim for the highest earning film of the year domestically, trumping Disney‘s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Maverick now sets its sights for highest grossing film worldwide. Dropping only 26% from last weekend, the international earnings now total $484.7 million on top of $499 million domestic. This billion dollar landmark will be the first in actor Tom Cruise‘s four-decades-long career of blockbusters, including his previous most successful film Mission: Impossible – Fallout, at only $791.1 million worldwide.

In its fifth weekend, Top Gun: Maverick has surpassed Sony‘s Spider-Man: No Way Home without openings in two major markets, Russia and China. In Japan, Maverick took another remarkable $4.7 million from only 376 locations, seizing the #1 spot for the fifth weekend running. Internationally, as a whole, Maverick has pulled $484.7 million with Korea on top, Japan ($51.1 million total), then the UK dropping a mere 18% from last weekend at a tremendous $4.3 million ($78.7 million total), Australia at $3.6 million ($45.5 million total), France pulling $3 million ($38.8 million total), and Germany with $1.7 million for its fifth weekend, totaling $23.4 million total. Well past its extended Memorial Day weekend opening, the Paramount sequel continues soaring to new heights.

For Paramount 2022 has been a goldmine after the pandemic’s slow releases. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 has raked in $570 thousand across 44 markets this weekend, totaling $210.2 million internationally, and The Lost City starring Channing Tatum and Sandra Bullock has grossed $84.4 million internationally.

Top Gun: Maverick stars Cruise, Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Ed Harris, Glen Powell, Lewis Pullman, Danny Ramirez, Monica Barbaro, Manny Jacinto, and Val Kilmer.

According to Paramount, a recent re-release to IMAX and repeat views – with some movie-goers seeing Maverick three times in theaters – has exponentially fueled the surge. You can watch Top Gun: Maverick in theaters now, and check out the synopsis below:

Test pilot Captain Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Cruise) has purposely dodged an advancement in rank after thirty years of service. One day Maverick is called to be put in charge of training a group of Top Gun graduates for a specialized mission under the orders of his fellow naval aviator friend and former rival, Tom “Iceman” Kazansky (Kilmer), who is the commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. Among them is Lieutenant Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw (Teller), the son of Maverick’s late best friend Nick “Goose” Bradshaw (Edwards).

 

via Collider

‘Sonic the Hedgehog 2’ Crosses $400 Million at the Global BO!!

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 has crossed $400M globally. Released on April 8, the movie grossed over $190 million on the domestic front and over $209 million internationally. Directed by Jeff Fowler, the sequel follows Sonic, who is adamant to prove that he has what it takes to be a real hero. His opportunity comes when Dr. Robotnik returns with a new partner (and a familiar face to the fans of the franchise), Knuckles. Together, they are on a search for a mystical emerald that can destroy civilizations. Sonic gets a sidekick in this sequel, teaming up with the fan-favorite Tails to find the emerald before Dr. Robotnik and Knuckles.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 had the #1 highest-grossing domestic opening for a video game adaptation ever, supplanting the first film in the series. “With Sonic the Hedgehog 2, our filmmakers and producing partners delivered the high-quality theatrical experience that the whole family had been waiting for, and we are thrilled with the enthusiastic global response to the characters and world we have created out of the beloved Sonic IP,” said Marc Weinstock, President, Worldwide Marketing & Distribution, Paramount Pictures. Daria Cercek, Co-President, Paramount Motion Picture Group, added,

This milestone demonstrates that audiences are hungry for great family entertainment, and that when we deliver on world-class, enduring franchises, crowds deliver in theatres. We can’t wait to expand the Sonic universe further and bring more exciting stories to fans with the next film installment and the upcoming Paramount+ series.

The sequel stars Ben Schwartz as the voice of Sonic, James Marsden as Tom Wachowski, Tika Sumpter as Maddie Wachowski, Natasha Rothwell as Rachel, Adam Pally as Wade, and Jim Carrey returning as Doctor Robotnik, alongside new additions Shemar Moore as Randall, with Idris Elba as the voice of Knuckles, and Colleen O’Shaughnessey as the voice of Tails.

Pat Casey and Josh Miller penned the sequel’s story, alongside John Whittington. The movie is produced by Neal H. Moritz, Toby Ascher, Toru Nakahara, and Hitoshi Okuno.

Sonic The Hedgehog 2 is out in theaters. Here’s the official synopsis for the film:

After settling in Green Hills, Sonic is eager to prove that he has what it takes to be a true hero. His test comes when Dr. Robotnik returns with a new partner, Knuckles, in search of a mystical emerald that has the power to destroy civilizations. Sonic teams up with his own sidekick, Tails, and together they embark on a globe-trotting journey to find the emerald before it falls into the wrong hands.

 

via Collider

‘Jurassic World Dominion’ Beats ‘Lightyear’ to Retain Top Spot at the BO!!

Blame the fact that it doesn’t appeal to girls, blame Disney+ for stealing family moviegoers, blame the lack of an ensemble Toy Story cast, heck, blame everything as Disney/Pixar’s Lightyear didn’t do its magic by internal studio or industry standards this weekend with $51M, close to a third below its lowest $70M pre-release projection.

This is an opening more in the vicinity of Pixar’s original fare (i.e. Coco $51M, Ratatouille $47M), so it could still leg out to $200M+. However, given how this IP was built on the back of the Toy Story brand, it’s clear many were expecting significantly more. Lightyear overall was down in its global start, $85.6M versus the top-end $135M estimate we reported. In sum, there wasn’t any urgency for mass moviegoers to see Lightyear. 

Universal/Amblin is calling Jurassic World Dominion at $58.66M, -60%, and a $68M 4-day.

While Lightyear had good exits, if you stack them up against Toy Story 4, it’s just not as vibrant. Lightyear had a 61% definite recommend to the latter’s 75%. Toy Story 4‘s positivity score was higher 89% to Lightyear‘s 85%, and that 2019 sequel had an even split between boys and girls. Also, while an A- CinemaScore is, of course, great for any movie, an A is even more platinum, and makes all the difference in regards to legs, especially when it comes to animation. The slight difference is vital.

How else did Jurassic World Dominion whip Lightyear? I hear that Dominion had more large format availability and more evening activity than Lightyear, which helped the box office for the Colin Trevorrow film. Box office stat firm EntTelligence reports that Dominion had 51% of the premium format seats (PFS) to Lightyear‘s 43%. The presales in weekend 2 for the dinosaurs indicated this would happen. Four hundred Imax auditoriums generated 8% of Dominion‘s gross, with other premium large format (PLF) screens driving 11%. All in, all premium formats repped close to a third of Dominion‘s second weekend take, or $17M. Imax and PLF drove 24% of the gross for Lightyear. Next weekend, Disney gets all the Imax screens for the Angus MacLane-directed Pixar title. 

Overall, EntTelligence showed that Dominion pulled in 36% of the weekend audience in the last two days, to Lightyear‘s 33%. Dominion overindexed in the South, South Central, and Midwest. The dinosaurs beat Lightyear in Canada over the first two days, $2.875M to $1.76M, and popped in Hispanic and Latino markets like San Antonio and more. This despite the fact that Lightyear beat Dominion in LA and family hub Salt Lake City.

RelishMix reports Lightyear‘s social media universe in the TikTok era was lower than the massive footprint that Toy Story 4 had, 396.1M across all social formats to 757.7M. Among recent comps like Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Lightyear ran 12% under that pic’s social media reach before opening. Disney had a social media champ in MCU star Chris Evans, who promoted to his near 34M fans. Keke Palmer was well-activated at 21.8M fans, along with Uzo Aduba at 3.6M, plus Taika Waititi at 5.4M.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cezoda7tE-W/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=87fbb2cb-3814-4721-8b04-a0eca68ef162

Paramount/Skydance’s Top Gun: Maverick is coming in at $44M, down an amazing 15%, for a $466.1M total by EOD today, which, as we reported last night, is the third-best fourth weekend ever for a movie, after American Sniper ($89.1M) and Avatar ($50.1M). 

We’re hearing that Top Gun 2 on Father’s Day is leading presales. Over the weekend, Top Gun 2 became producer Jerry Bruckheimer’s top-grossing title at the domestic box office, clicking past 2006’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, which did $423M. Worldwide, Dead Man’s Chest is still the producer’s top around the world with $1.07 billion, followed by 2011’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Stranger Tides ($1.05B) and 2007’s Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End ($961M). It will take a bit for Top Gun 2, currently at $885M WW, to fly past that trio.

In tenth place is Focus Features’ Brian and Charles. In 279 locations in 100 markets, it did $198K over 3-days, for a $711 per theater, with an expected $221K. The numbers speak for themselves. Only one theater cracked $1K, and that was the Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar in Austin, TX. Focus didn’t overspend here, I understand, digitally targeting the audience and taking global rights at a low cost.

1.) Jurassic World Dominion (Uni) 4,697 (+21) theaters, Fri $15.8M, Sat $21.98M, Sun $20.88M,  3-day $58.66M (-60%)/4-day $68M/Total $259.1M/Wk 2

2.) Lightyear (Dis) 4,255 theaters, Fri $20.7M, Sat $16.3M, Sun $14M, 3-day $51M, 4-day est $55M+/Wk 1

3.) Top Gun: Maverick (Par) 4,262 (-489) theaters, Fri $11M, Sat $15.6M, Sun $17.3M, 3-day $44M (-15%), 4-day est $48M, Total $470.1M/Wk 4

4.) Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (Dis) 2,465 (-880) theaters, Fri $1.1M, Sat $1.57M, Sun $1.52M, 3-day $4.2M (-19%), 4-day $4.4M, Total $405.2M/Wk 7

5.) Bob’s Burgers (20th/Dis) 1,350 (-1,255) theaters, Fri $349K, Sat $441K, Sun $310K, 3-day $1.1M (-51%), 4-day $1.3M, Total  $30M/Wk 4

6.) Everything, Everywhere All at Once (A24) 679 (-755) theaters, Fri $260K, Sat $359K, Sun $341K, 3-day $960K (-26%), 4-day $1.2M, Total $65.1M/Wk 13

7.) The Bad Guys (Uni) 1,477 (-939) theaters, Fri $280K, Sat $370K, Sun $330K, 3-day $980K (-61%), 4-day $1.15M, Total $94.4M /Wk 9

8.) Downton Abbey – A New Era (Foc) 1,179 (-832) theaters, Fri $260K, Sat $300K, Sun $270K, 3-day $830K (-53%), 4-day $970K, Total: $42.3M/Wk 5

9.) Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Par) 439 (-628) theaters  $54K, Sat $94K Sun $80K, 3-day $228K (-70%), 4-day est $280K, Total $190.5M/Wk 11

10.) Brian and Charles (Foc) 279 theaters, Fri $74K,Sat $73K, Sun $51K, 3-day $198K, 4-day $221K, Wk 1

 

via Deadline

‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Has Become Paramount Pictures’ Second Highest Grossing Film of All-Time!!

Since its release, Top Gun: Maverick has been exceeding expectations, and now continues its box office domination. The movie has constantly broken box office records, and now, the film is Paramount Pictures‘ second-highest-grossing film of all time.

The sequel film starring Tom Cruise had only recently taken up the mantle as the highest-grossing movie of 2022, passing $400 million and replacing Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness at the top of the box office standings. Now, following three weeks of its worldwide theatrical release, Top Gun: Maverick is now the second highest-grossing film from Paramount Pictures, overtaking another blockbuster, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen,which pulled in $402 million in its heyday. With $415 million to its name, Maverick now sits behind the legendary film, Titanic which grossed over $658 million. The top spot is somewhat within sight if this wind holds, however. Since the film was released worldwide, it has gone on to become Cruise’s highest-grossing movie at $800 million. This surpasses the record held by another hit Cruise film, Mission: Impossible – Fallout, which grossed $791 million.

One thing is for certain: Maverick has been doing amazing numbers and is setting new records. With the global view looking strong, the domestic side of this is also nothing to be sniffed at, with $422 million pulled so far. International markets are not being sloppy either, with $384 million reported from overseas. This film is now Tom’s highest opener of all time and his most lucrative. In 23 international markets including the United Kingdom, Australia, and Brazil, Top Gun: Maverick is the biggest Tom Cruise movie. It also holds the record as Paramount Pictures’ biggest live-action movie in 15 markets. Given that the sale of tickets is still going strong, there is still the prospect of the film hitting new heights, and maybe the global $1 billion mark can be attained.

Released over Memorial Day weekend, Top Gun: Maverick has proven that when a sequel is done right, it can be a massive success. Asides from Cruise, who reprises his role from the original movie as the titular Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, Maverick also features another Top Gun alum in Val Kilmer. Other stars of the film include Lewis Pullman, Danny Ramirez, Monica Barbaro, Jay Ellis, Miles Teller, Glen Powell, Jon Hamm, Jennifer Connelly, and Greg Tarzan Davis. The film is directed by Joseph Kosinski.

It would be interesting to see if Maverick holds out for the rest of the year, but given that there are huge movies yet to release like Thor: Love and Thunder and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, it will be an exceptional joust. Check the official synopsis for the film below if you are yet to see it:

Test pilot Captain Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Cruise) has purposely dodged an advancement in rank after thirty years of service. One day Maverick is called to be put in charge of training a group of Top Gun graduates for a specialized mission under the orders of his fellow naval aviator friend and former rival, Tom “Iceman” Kazansky (Kilmer), who is the commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. Among them is Lieutenant Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw (Teller), the son of Maverick’s late best friend Nick “Goose” Bradshaw (Edwards).

 

via Collider

‘Jurassic World Dominion’ Stomps with $143M+ Opening at the BO!!

Jurassic World Dominion isn’t going extinct at the box office. The Universal/Amblin sequel saw its Saturday business jump to $46.7M compared to Friday’s actual gross less $18M previews of $41.7M, a 12% climb. This puts the Colin Trevorrow-directed, written and executive produced movie on a course for a $143.37M opening, off 3% from the last film, Fallen Kingdom.

Box office analytics corp EntTelligence says 10.8M moviegoers saw Dominion this weekend, which is the fourth-best admissions for a major studio movie’s opening weekend during the pandemic after Spider-Man: No Way Home (20.6M), Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (14M) and Top Gun: Maverick (11.6M).

As previously mentioned, Dominion has posted the best stateside debut for a non-superhero movie during the pandemic, ahead of the $126.7M 3-day previously posted by Paramount’s Top Gun: Maverick, which held up tremendously against the dinos in its third weekend with $50M, -44%, and a running total of $393.3M. Even more impressive about that hold: Universal took all of Top Gun 2‘s Imax and premium format screens this weekend.

The worldwide weekend for Dominion is $319M, for a global running total of $389M, which includes offshore holdovers.

Seriously, that’s an amazing result. I thought that the bad reviews and prickly PostTrak exits would collapse Dominion‘s domestic opening far below the $125M that the studio was projecting, but clearly there’s a great enthusiasm here for the brand. Says one rival studio executive this morning, “Never underestimate the power of dinosaurs.” That and Universal’s marketing machine across all Comcast tentacles (named NBCUniversal’s Symphony program which includes movie promotions across all sectors including theme parks, Xfinity cable, networks, etc) .

One industry source argued to me over the weekend that Uni didn’t do enough to promote this movie; that there should’ve been more dinosaurs everywhere outside on billboards and buses. I disagreed. I think Uni was widespread with this Jurassic for a long time, and had the movie faltered this weekend, then that was due to poor word-of-mouth, given how critically this is the worst of the bunch. That didn’t happen. We’ll see what next weekend brings, but the last movie, which was perceived as a low point in the series, reception-wise, from the 2015 film, saw a 60% decline in weekend 2, and a 2.8x leg out factor from its opening to a final domestic of $417.7M.

Exclaimed Universal Domestic Distribution Boss this AM, “This incredible debut for Jurassic World Dominion is driven by not only the loyal fans of the original Jurassic trilogy beginning in 1993, but many new fans experiencing Jurassic for the first time as our casts united for an epic conclusion.  After a long journey from being the first Hollywood film to safely return to production during COVID, up through our global release dates, we’re thrilled for our filmmakers and talent who worked tirelessly on this movie, and for our great partners in exhibition benefiting from a tremendous start to their summer.”

In firing up the campaign for Dominion, the studio had access to one of the biggest launchpads in NBC’s broadcast of the Winter Olympics, where they debuted a two-minute spot featuring gold medalist Nathan Chen, 2x gold medalist Mikaela Shiffrin and retiring 3x gold medalist Shaun White running into the dinosaurs in the wild. A very clever cross promotion.

But what else was a draw here? Having the original Jurassic Park trio Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, and Sam Neill altogether in another Jurassic movie after 29 years, is also a huge selling point.

Paramount+ Star Trek architect Alex Kurtzman once told us his rule of thumb for building out the Gene Roddenberry franchise: “Render onto Caesar what is Caesar’s, everybody from the older generation should be incorporated into the new generation, there should always be respect for both, and yet it always has to forge new ground.” One could argue that same adage could apply here to making Jurassic a continual success for generations, or for that matter, any legacy franchise. And it’s what Uni did from the early onset in making Dominion: They tipped their hat to the old fans in having Dern, Goldblum, and Neill return. As we pointed out yesterday, PostTrak exits showed that 43% of all moviegoers bought tickets because the sequel is part of a franchise they love, while 25% cited the cast as a whole.

Dominion skewed more male at 56%, consistent with the previous sequels, with the majority being over 25 at 56% and the 18-34 moviegoing demo showing up at 46%. Dominion, while overperforming in the West Coast and in the South Central region, also overindexed in Latino and Hispanic markets such as Houston, San Antonio, Albuquerque and El Paso.

Imax, PLFs and all enhanced formats drove 35% of the weekend’s ticket sales. Imax’s 400 auditoriums claimed 8% of the gross or $12.3M making it the fourth best domestic debut for a Uni title in Imax. Interesting to note here as we barrel toward Avatar 2 in December that 3D screens repped 13% of Dominion‘s domestic gross. On a global basis, 25% of Dominion‘s ticket sales were earned by 3D theaters or $90M.

Uni spared no expense in getting the U.S./Canada opening to where it needs to be. And while studios tout the power of social media in their marketing, nothing drives people to theaters more like good, old-fashioned TV ads. iSpot, which only shows a portion of what the studio shelled out on ads here, estimates that Universal shelled out $41M –an enormous number by the ad metrics corp’s measures– earning 1.46 billion impressions.

The bulk of those impressions were seen across networks as NBC (28.6%), ABC (6.8%), Telemundo (5.1%), TNT (4.9%) and USA (4.4%), with pushes during The Masked Singer, SNL, Grey’s Anatomy, Atlanta and the series finales of This Is Us and Ellen, the NBA Semi and Conference Finals, the Billboard Music Awards, the Liga MX Futbol Final, America’s Got Talent and Law & Order: SVU. There were also cobranded Dominion spots from Progressive ($10.5M ad value), Carl’s Jr ($8.3M), Kinder ($2M) and Jeep ($1.5M).

The first Dominion trailer was released across Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Google and Hulu, followed by a 90-second Superbowl spot earlier this year, introduced by the pic’s star Chris Pratt, which aired during the pre-game. That was the first time fans caught a glimpse of Dern, Goldblum and Neill. The result of these efforts? 265 million views worldwide. The second trailer dropped out of CinemaCon and clocked 200M views worldwide. The second trailer drop was also bolstered by several media activations including a featurette, an NBA co-branded spot and the launch of ticket sales.

Final weekend ticket sales for all movies per Comscore is $209.98M, +27%.

Studio reported box office as of Sunday AM:

1.) Jurassic World Dominion (Uni) 4,676 theaters, Fri $59.7M, Sat $46.7M, Sun $36.9M, 3-day $143.37M/Wk 1

2.) Top Gun: Maverick (Par) 4,262 (-489) theaters, Fri $14.1M, Sat $20.1M, Sun $15.8M 3-day $50M (-44%), Total $393.3M/Wk 3

3.) Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (Dis) 3,345 (-420) theaters, Fri $1.38M, Sat $2M, Sun $1.4M,  3-day $4.9M (-46%)/Total $397.8M/Wk 6

4.) Bob’s Burgers Movie (20th/Dis) 2,605 (-820) theaters, Fri $698K, Sat $943K, Sun $697K,  3-Day $2.33M (-49%), Total $27M/Wk 3

5.) The Bad Guys (Uni) 2,416 (-456) theaters, Fri $670K, Sat $930K, Sun $650K, 3-day $2.25M (-33%), Total $91.5M/Wk 8

6.) Downton Abbey- A New Era (Foc) 2,011 (-1,460) theaters, Fri $500K, Sat $640K, Sun $510K, 3-day $1.65M (-48%), Total $40M/Wk 4

7.) Everything Everywhere All at Once (A24) 1,434 (0) theaters, Fri $359K, Sat $507K , Sun $405K, 3-day $1.27M (-37%), Total $63M/Wk 12

8.) Firestarter (Uni) 150 (-193) theaters, Fri $330K, Sat $340K, Sun $150K, 3-day $820K (+720%), Total $9.2M/Wk 5

9.) Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Par) 1,067 (-1,025) theaters Fri $190K, Sat $290K, Sun $230K, 3-day $710K (-58%), Total $189.8M/Wk 10

10.) Ante Sundharaniki (Ind) 350 theaters, Fri $213K, Sat $240K, Sun $168K, 3-day $620K/Wk 1

11.) The Lost City (Par) 353 (-458) theaters, Fri $190K (-54%), Sat $220K, Sun $140K, 3-day $550K (-60%), Total $104.95M/Wk 12

12.) Crimes of the Future(NEON) 712 (-61) theaters, Fri $115K, Sat $149K, Sun $111,7K, 3-day $375,7K (-66%)/Total: $2M/Wk 2

via Deadline

‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Continues Soaring to $291M, Becoming Tom Cruise’s Top-Grossing Movie at the BO!!

Paramount/Skydance’s Top Gun: Maverick held throughout the week, and it’s holding at a brilliant steady in weekend 2. The sequel’s -32% ease is the best for a wide release that opened to $100M+, ahead of the -40% weekend 2 posted by Star Wars: The Force Awakens in December 2015 as well as 2004’s Shrek 2  (-33%).

Top Gun 2 clocked $86M, which will put it at $291.6M EOD today; easily the best Tom Cruise has ever seen at the domestic box office, and Skydance’s as well (beating Star Trek Into Darkness‘ $228.7M). The Joseph Kosinski-directed movie cashed in a second Friday at $25M, $5M ahead of where we saw it on Friday afternoon. The sequel’s global stands at $548.6M, and it will need to topple Mission: Impossible – Fallout ($791.6M) to become both Cruise and Skydance’s top grossing movie ever around the world.

EntTelligence reports 6.5M moviegoers came out to see Top Gun 2 in its second weekend, taking its running admissions count to north of 22M. The average ticket price for the movie has dipped from $12.68 to $12.53. Premium large format ticket sales continue to drive per EntTelligence with a 32% share, the same as last weekend. Imax reports that their auditoriums eased 21% in weekend 2, repping close to 13% of weekend 2 ticket sales or $11M for a near $40M running cume. Next weekend all Imax screens cede to Universal’s Jurassic World Dominion. On Saturday, EntTelligence reports that 51% came out to see Top Gun 2 before 7PM.

The sequel is playing broadly. In weekend 2 PostTrak exits, Top Gun 2 is seeing 38% over 45, with the 25-34 crowd delivering the best attendance at 24%, followed by 45-54 at 20%. Still a marvelous audience response here at five stars and a 75% definite recommend. Men over 25 were big over the weekend at 43% (95% grade), then women over 25 at 38% (93% grade), with men under 25 at 11% (95%) and women under 25 at 8% (82% grade). Paramount reports that the under 35 demo gained 3% in weekend 2 from weekend 1, now standing at 49%.

Spots RelishMix about the sequel’s social media, “Exit chatter continues to fly positive for the film, for the cast, and the experience — with mentions of how ‘expectations were exceeded’ and those who waited 36-years for a Hollywood sequel that fans are calling an ‘instant classic’ and cinematic ‘big-screen thrill ride’; claiming, ‘I like streaming at home, but nothing beats seeing a great big movie in the theater’ as fans are pushing to spread-the big-screen Imax message. Social shout outs go out to Iceman, Rooster, Phoenix, Payback, Fanboy, Hangman and remembrances of Goose. Coming off of Cannes, new social speculation swirls around big nominations odds — and potential to include this tentpole to extend Oscar fan viewership. Some of the topical chatter touches on how well Top Gun may spike military recruitment — plus discussions whether this is the end of an era of manned battle flights, as AI pilots and drones continue to emerge.”

The new cast members to the franchise haven’t let up in pushing the film to fans:

Phoenix & 🐓 pic.twitter.com/UqpRYb63SG

— Miles Teller (@Miles_Teller) June 4, 2022

Glen Powell’s muscle beach:

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A post shared by Glen Powell (@glenpowell)

Top Gun 2 is leading all titles during the 22nd weekend of the year to an overall estimated haul of $119.6M, which is -31% from the same pre-pandemic weekend in 2019. How do we continue to be off in a marketplace where there’s a big movie leading the charge? Same old answers: It boils down to the lack of product, and how studios are continuing to be cautious. During the May 31-June 2, post-Memorial Day weekend, there were three new studio titles appealing to a variety of demos: Godzilla: King of the Monsters (which was No. 1 with $47.8M), Rocketman with $25.7M, and horror movie Ma with $18M.

Then there was weekend 2 of Aladdin in the No. 2 spot, with $42.8M. For the rest of the summer, studios seem to be bobbing and weaving around major blockbusters on the calendar, i.e., no one is going wide against Jurassic World Dominion on June 10, Lightyear on June 17, Minions: The Rise of Gru on July 1, or Thor: Love and Thunder on July 8.

That type of booking by the majors signifies their current belief that it’s a one picture per weekend marketplace. They’re even practicing that distribution method into August with smaller movies, and that’s a time when more can feasibly be booked on the calendar.

What’s optimistic is that just because summer ends, that doesn’t mean people stop going to the movies, as evident in last October. But we need product. People are coming; they just need a reason. Hopefully the turnaround in older demos here by Top Gun: Maverick will provide others with confidence to put more on the schedule, because there’s plenty of opportunity out there.

Other great things occurring at the box office sans any major studio wide entries: A24’s Everything Everywhere All at Once crossed $60M in its 11th weekend with $2M. When will the Daniels’ movie quit? Not yet. “It’s going to be around for a while,” says one insider close to the pic. Some rivals see possibly another $10M in U.S./Canada. With a weekend decline of -17%, that’s the lowest for a movie in the top 10 this weekend. After becoming A24’s highest grossing title stateside, Everything Everywhere All at Once will also become the studio’s overall top global grossing movie this week, surpassing Hereditary‘s $80.2M.

The other prolific opening of the weekend is NEON’s moderate (Comscore had it originally listed on the calendar as wide) release of David Cronenberg’s kinky dystopian surgery movie Crimes of the Future, which grossed $1.1M in tenth place at 773 locations in 146 markets, or a $1,4K theater average.

The pic scored a six minute standing ovation at its Cannes Film Festival world premiere. It’s Cronenberg’s first movie since 2014’s Maps to the Stars. A 78% fresh rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, and a divided result from those who bought tickets at 51%. I hear that the movie did OK in big cities on the coasts and Canada, but the further you got away from those markets, the more ticket sales became smaller.

No surprise, as Cronenberg has a cult appeal. His biggest opening at the box office belongs to one of few major studio distributed movies on his resume, that being 20th Century Fox’s The Fly, which opened to $7M and legged out to $40.4M in late summer 1986. After that, the filmmaker’s second-biggest opening at the box office was his 1983 Stephen King feature adaptation of The Dead Zone, with $4.55M; and these were major studio titles back in their heyday.

Here’s what’s interesting, and again, granted, it’s pretty small. But when you get into Cronenberg’s core, die-hard, gritty genre titles at the domestic box office, the opening here for Crimes of the Future ranks behind 1988’s Dead Ringers ($3M opening at 1,042 theaters; which Crimes of the Future arguably plays as a call-and-echo piece to) and 1983’s Videodrome ($1.19M at 600 theaters). So by Cronenberg’s own slide rule, Crimes of the Future is par for the course.

Social media corp RelishMix observed, “Neon took a simple approach for Crimes of the Future on social, with materials predominately built onto channels for the studio, with YouTube views at 4M+ views for owned-and-earned videos for the three trailer/spots — plus there are seven Facebook videos in place as the film platforms out from the Cannes premiere.”

Among the Cronenberg devotees on social, RelishMix reports, “Chatter runs positive, as horror fans are definitely drawn to see the latest psychological mind-and body-bender by the horror maestro, ‘I love that even a 79-year-old Cronenberg can still shake up the squares better than anyone else.’ — and the cast with Viggo Mortensen’s very selective roles and Kristen Stewart fanatics, too.”

As major studios leave gaps at the box office in their bookings, Indian cinema is taking advantage of those auditoriums. Lokesh Kanagaraj’s Vikram centers around Amar, a policeman who is deployed for secret assignments. He’s been sent to get a gang of masked men who might be responsible for a series of serial killings. However, Amar himself might not be all that he’s cracked up to be. Some 131 markets with prints in Hindi, Telugu, and Tamil are seeing good numbers in NYC, LA, Dallas, San Francisco, Boston, DC, Atlanta and Detroit. Estimated outlook is $1.77M.

Trumpets for Disney this weekend: Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness clicks to $909.4M WW, the second highest-grossing MPA movie of the pandemic era after Spider-Man: No Way Home ($1.89 billion) and the highest-grossing title YTD. It’s also the tenth highest-grossing MCU movie of all-time. Who needs China and Russia to get to a billion nowadays?

1.) Top Gun: Maverick (Par) 4,751 (+16) theaters, Fri $25M (-52%), Sat $35.8M, Sun $25.2M, 3-day $86M (-32%), Total $291.6M/Wk 2

2.) Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (Dis) 3,765 (-40) theaters, Fri $2.6M (-43%), Sat $3.8M, Sun $2.77M, 3-day $9.25M (-42%)/Total $388.7M/Wk 5

3.) Bob’s Burgers Movie (20th/Dis) 3,425 theaters, Fri $1.3M (-76%), Sat $1.9M,  Sun $1.22M, 3-Day $4.5M (-63%), Total $22.2M/Wk 2

4.) The Bad Guys (Uni) 2,869 (-75) theaters, Fri $940K (-25%), Sat $1.37M, Sun $1M, 3-day $3.34M (-24%), Total $87.2M/Wk 7

5.) Downton Abbey- A New Era (Foc) 3,451 (-379) theaters, Fri $990K (-46%), Sat $1.18M, Sun $830K,  3-day $3M (-48%), Total $35.7M/Wk 3

6.) Everything Everywhere All at Once (A24) 1,434 (+247) theaters, Fri $567K (-18%), Sat $808K, Sun $646K, 3-day $2M (-17%), Total $60.5M/Wk 11

7.) Vikram (Ind) 465 theaters, Fri $875K, Sat $541K, Sun $354K, 3-day $1.77M/Wk 1

8.) Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Par) 2,092 (-237) theaters Fri $445K (-33%), Sat $710K, Sun $570K,  3-day $1.725M (-30%), Total $188.3M/Wk 9

9.) The Lost City (Par) 811 (-216) theaters, Fri $400K (-18%), Sat $595K, Sun $385K, 3-day $1.38M (-34%), Total $104M/Wk 11

10.) Crimes of the Future (NEON) 773 theaters, Fri $515K, Sat $340K, Sun $245K, 3-day $1.1M/Wk 1

 

via Deadline

‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Flies to Best Ever Tom Cruise $151M Opening at the BO!!

Paramount is now calling the 4-day weekend for Top Gun: Maverick at $151M after a $38M Saturday, which is technically up 16% from Friday’s $32.7M ($52M less $19.3M Thursday previews). That uptick means a ton in today’s market, given how older skewing this movie is. Disney asserts it continues to own the Memorial Day weekend record with 2007’s Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End with $153M; read previous update for all the agita. Still, with Top Gun 2, that’s the best Memorial Day weekend we’ve seen in quite some time.

Worldwide for Top Gun 2 is $248M, which is also the best Cruise has ever seen. For producer Jerry Bruckheimer, it’s his second best 3-day stateside debut after 2006’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest ($135.6M), and ahead of the 3-day of At World’s End ($114.7M). EntTelligence reports that 11.1M moviegoers will have seen Top Gun 2 to date through EOD Monday, blowing away the 2M opening weekend traffic of the 1986 pic.

Updated demos are 58% guys, 42% women. The under-35 repped 45%, which is promising, considering that the sequel is appealing to a wider demo. Those over 35 repped 55%, while the 18-34 segment repped 37% of attendance. Diversity demos were 66% Caucasian, 16% Latino and Hispanic, 7% African American, and 7% Asian.

Close to half of the audience said Top Gun 2 exceeded expectations, while another 30% said they would see it again in theaters. All promising.

The sequel overperformed in the western US, Rockies, South Central, and southeastern US, was at norm in the Midwest, and underperformed in the Northeast. Canada drove 7% of the pic’s weekend. Those markets that overperformed include Phoenix, Salt Lake City, Seattle, San Diego, Tampa, Portland OR, Kansas City, Nashville, Oklahoma City, and Jacksonville. “Top grossing theaters hailed from a diverse and varied geographical spread including LA, Nashville, NY, San Antonio, OKC, Knoxville, SLC, Denver, Dallas, Wash DC, SD, Tampa, Seattle, Phoenix, Portland OR, Fresno, and Orlando,” reads Paramount’s note. PLF screen accounted for 22% of the weekend, while Imax contributed another 15% or $21M. For Imax, it’s also the biggest opening weekend ever for a Cruise film, and the biggest ever over Memorial Day weekend.

“If you thought movies were dead, go see Top Gun: Maverick and then let me know what you think. This film heralds the return of the summer blockbuster, and is a catalyst that will accelerate demand for moviegoing like an F-18 breaking the sound barrier,” beamed Rich Gelfond, CEO of IMAX in a statement. “There’s no way you sit in a theatre, with a huge screen and chest-pounding speakers, and come away thinking there’s any other way you want to experience Top Gun: Maverick, and our hats are off to Tom Cruise, Joe Kosinski, and their fearless creative team for what they’ve accomplished.”

There’s an argument to be made that Top Gun 2 is soaking up all the business this weekend at the box office; a trend that was certainly occurring pre-pandemic with big tentpole movies, and even as recent as Christmas with Spider-Man: No Way Home. 

However, credit goes to Disney for giving the weekend some breadth with the fourth weekend of Doctor Strange 2, which beat The Batman as the highest-grossing movie of the year to date, and the debut of The Bob’s Burgers Movie. In regards to the latter, that was a project put into development before the Disney-Fox merger. It was always a niche movie, so these numbers aren’t shocking. The Simpsons Movie ($74M opening in 2007) was never expected to be. EntTelligence says that roughly 1.1M moviegoers saw Bob’s Burgers over the last three days, a figure that’s not far from its weekly series average of ~1.3M viewers (according to Nielsen data published on TVSeriesFinale, from 9/27/20 to 5/23/21). Great exits coming from the fans who showed up. Parents and kids combined repped 16% of the audience, while general audience was 84%. The 18-34 demo repped a huge 67% of the weekend’s traffic.

Overall, EntTelligence reports that Memorial Day 2022 vs. the holiday a year ago: Ticket prices are up 7.5%, PLF tickets are +3.2% and there’s 69% more available seats for the public.

Sunday AM studio reported estimates; we’ll have more for you tomorrow.

1.) Top Gun: Maverick (Par) 4,735 theaters Fri $52M, Sat $38M, Sun $34M, Mon $27M, 3-day $124M, 4-day $151M/Wk 1

2.) Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (Dis) 3,805 theaters (-729), Fri $4.4M (-48%), Sat $6.1M, Sun $5.88M, Mon $4.7M, 3 day $16.4M (-49%), 4 day $21.1M, total $375.4M, /Wk 4

3.) The Bob’s Burgers Movie (20th/Dis) 3,425 theaters, Fri $5.7M, Sat $3.7M, Sun, $3.2M, Mon $2.4M, 3-day $12.6M, 4-day $15M/Wk 1

4.) Downton Abbey: A New Era (Foc) 3,830 theaters (+10), Fri $1.8M (-75%), Sat $2M, Sun $1.98M, Mon $1.6M,  3-day $5.9M (-63%), 4-day $7.5M, total $30M/Wk 2

5.) The Bad Guys (Uni) 2944 theaters (-761), Fri $1.2M (-18%), Sat $1.74M, Sun $1.65M, Mon $1.52M, 3-day $4.63M (-25%), 4-day $6.1M, total $82.8M/Wk 6

6.) Everything Everywhere All at Once (A24) 1,189 (-389) theaters, Fri $693K (-22%), Sat $913K, Sun $905K, Mon $679K, 3-day $2.5M (-19%), 4-day $3.189M, Total $57.5M/Wk 10

7.) Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Par) 2,329 (-614) theaters, Fri $670K (-28%), Sat $1M, Sun $850K, Mon $600K, 3-day $2.52M (-38%) , 4-day $3.12M, Total $186.2M/Wk 8

8.) The Lost City (Par) 1,027 (-369) theaters, Fri $445K, Sat $710K, Sun $635K, Mon $510K, 3-day $1.79M (+15%), 4-day $2.3M, Total $102.2M/Wk 10

9.) Men (A24) 2,196 (-16) theaters, Fri $379K (-73%), Sat $433K, Sun $411k, Mon $309K 3-day $1.2M (-63%), 4-day $1.53M, Total $6.27M/Wk 2

10.) F3: Fun and Frustration (Independent Indian) 400 theaters, Fri $518K, Sat $261K, Sun $249K, Mon $167K,  3-day $1.04M , 4-day $1.2M/Wk 1

 

via Deadline

‘Doctor Strange 2’ Continues Reign at Top-Spot as ‘Downton Abbey: A New Era’ Opens with $16M at the BO!!

Downton Abbey: A New Era debuted at the number two spot in its first weekend with $16 million, which is lower than Friday’s $18 million forecast, but good enough for Focus Features’ best weekend debut of the pandemic era. This is less than half of the $31 million that the first Downton Abbey film opened to back in 2019, but a win nonetheless for a marketplace struggling to lure older audiences to theaters.

Downton Abbey 2 comes with a heftier production budget compared to the first film ($40 million against the first film’s $20 million), but brings back fan favorite cast members Hugh Bonneville, Elizabeth McGovern, Maggie Smith, Michelle Dockery, Laura Carmichael, Jim Carter and Phyllis Logan. Both films are a continuation of the hit television series, which ran for six seasons on ITV in the U.K. and on PBS in the U.S. The first film legged it to nearly $100 million domestically, finishing with $194 million worldwide. Internationally, Downton Abbey 2 made $35 million, pushing its worldwide tally to over $51 million.

Nearly 50% of Downton Abbey 2’s audience was over the age of 55, which is a healthy sign considering how poorly other adult-skewing titles such as West Side Story and King Richard have performed. Possibly the sole outlier was directed Ridley Scott’s House of Gucci, which tapped out with over $50 million domestically.

Disney’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness held on to the top spot for the third (and probably last) time, before Top Gun: Maverick clips its wings next weekend. With another $31.6 million, the film’s running domestic total stands at $342 million. Doctor Strange 2 has made over $460 internationally, pushing its worldwide total to over $800 million. It’s the biggest hit of the year. There’s a chance that it becomes the second film of the pandemic era to make over $1 billion worldwide, following in the footsteps of its immediate predecessor, Spider-Man: No Way Home.

Two kid-friendly titles—Universal’s The Bad Guys and Paramount’s Sonic the Hedgehog 2—took the third and fourth spots, with $6.1 million and $3.9 million, respectively. The Bad Guys has made over $74 million domestically and $182 million worldwide, while Sonic 2 has made $181 million domestically and $368 million worldwide.

Rounding out the top five was director Alex Garland’s follow-up to the well-reviewed Annihilation, the A24 horror picture Men, which failed to generate much attention with a $3.29 million debut weekend. The film earned a terrible D+ CinemaScore, which is very common for arthouse horror fare. But A24 has reason to celebrate this weekend, with the word-of-mouth hit Everything Everywhere All at Once overtaking Uncut Gems to become the indie outfit’s biggest-ever domestic release.

Expect Top Gun: Maverick to fly away with a top-spot finish next weekend, as Paramount prepares to put a cherry on top of an already excellent year.

via Collider

Sunday AM estimates:

1.) Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (Dis) 4,534 theaters, Fri $8.5M (-50%), Sat $13.8M, Sun $9.3M, 3-day $31.6M (-51%)/Total $342M/Wk 3

2.) Downton Abbey: A New Era (Foc) 3,820 theaters, Fri $7.38M, Sat $4.75M, Sun $3.89M,  3 Day $16M/Wk 1

3.) The Bad Guys (Uni) 3,705 (-83) Theaters, Fri $1.46M (-14%), Sat $2.7M, Sun $1.9M, 3-day $6.1M (-13%)/Total $74.3M/Wk 5

4.)Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Par) 2,943 (-173) theaters, Fri $925K, Sat $1.83M, Sun $1.18M,  3-day $3.94M (-15%)/Total $181M/Wk 7

5.) Men (A24) 2,212 theaters Fri $1.4M, Sat $1M, Sun $832K, 3-day $3.29M/Wk 1

6.) Everything Everywhere All at Once (A24) 1,576 (-150) theaters, Fri $889K (-3%), Sat $1.2M, Sun $962K, 3-day $3.1M (-6%)/Total $52.3M/Wk 9

7.) Fantastic Beasts…Dumbledore (WB), 1,923 (-655) theaters, Fri $500K (-24%)/Sat $825K/Sun $580K/ 3-day $1.905M (-25%)/Total $93M/Wk 6

8.) Firestarter (Uni) 3,413 theaters, Fri $560K (-64%), Sat $830K, Sun $510K, 3-day $1.9M (-50%)/Total $6.79M/Wk 2

9.) The Lost City (Par) 1,396 (-279) theaters Fri. $415K (-12%), Sat $685K, Sun $400K, 3-day $1.5M (-12%)/Total $99.26M/ Wk 9

10.) The Northman (Foc) 1,263 (-671) theaters, Fri $290K (-41%), Sat $430K, Sun $300K, 3-day $1.02M (-42%)/Total $33M/Wk 5

 

via Deadline

‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ Has Become A24’s Biggest Domestic BO Success!!

Director duo Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, collectively known as Daniels, can expect to be courted by the biggest studios in the industry after the record-breaking success of their difficult-to-describe second feature together, Everything Everywhere All at Once. In its ninth weekend of release, the martial arts fantasy will become indie outfit A24’s highest grossing domestic release, with over $50 million in the bank.

Everything Everywhere All at Once edged out director Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird ($48.9 million) on Friday to become A24’s second-biggest domestic grosser. It should overtake the Safdie brothers’ Uncut Gems ($50.02 million) to claim the top spot by Sunday. Ari Aster’s debut horror film Hereditary remains A24’s highest-grossing release worldwide ($80 million) but it tapped out domestically with $44 million.

Starring Michelle Yeoh, Jamie Lee Curtis, Stephanie Hsu, Ke Huy Quan, Everything Everywhere All at Once tells a multiverse-hopping love story filled with visual energy and narrative ambition. It pays homage to martial arts movies, black comedies, animation and sci-fi/fantasy epics. The film is currently playing in over 1,500 domestic theaters, after a careful platform release that began over two months ago, kick-started after a headline-grabbing premiere at the SXSW Film Festival.

The film was released in 10 theaters in its opening weekend, where it broke the record for the best per-theater average of the year ($50k). Everything Everywhere All At Once subsequently crossed over from specialty cinemas and made it to nationwide chains, all on the strength of positive word-of-mouth, a smart marketing campaign, and some truly spectacular reviews.

Describing it as “one of the most ambitious and bonkers films in recent memory,” Collider’s own Ross Bonaime wrote in his review, “Everything Everywhere All At Once is a bombardment of hot dog fingers, googly-eyes, Wong Kar-Wai homages, fanny packs incredibly strong pinkie fingers, talking rocks, the Nine Days song ‘Absolutely (Story of a Girl),’ raccoons, the guy who played Santa Claus in I Think You Should Leave, and butt plugs.”

Daniels broke out with their 2016 absurdist black comedy Swiss Army Man, starring Paul Dano and Daniel Radcliffe. Scheinert followed it up solo with 2019’s The Death of Dick Long. Both films were released by A24, which is dominating the ongoing Cannes Film Festival with multiple titles playing in various categories.

Everything Everywhere All at Once is expected to finish its ninth weekend at the domestic box office at the number six spot, behind fellow A24 release Men, directed by Alex Garland. Up next, the distributor has Marcel the Shell with Shoes On on June 24 and Bodies Bodies Bodies, which is set for August. Earlier in 2022, A24 debuted Josephine Decker’s The Sky is Everywhere on Apple TV+, Kogonada’s After Yang in theaters and on Showtime, and Ti West’s X exclusively in theaters.

 

via Collider

‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ Retains Top Spot with $61 Million at the BO!!

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness had a great fall in its second weekend, down -67% for a Disney-reported $61M take (rivals are seeing $60M, -68%).

While that drop is akin to the second weekend declines of recent MCU titles, the uber-successful Spider-Man: No Way Home (-67.5%) and Black Widow (-67.8%), know that all these percentile plummets are not equal. Doctor Strange 2 ranks among the MCU’s biggest second weekend box office drops which includes Black Widow, No Way Home and 2003’s Hulk (-70%) (the latter was executive produced by Kevin Feige, though not part of Disney’s Marvel).

Doctor Strange 2‘s second weekend decline simply rests on bad word of mouth; the sequel receiving a back-to-back meh grade from CinemaScore for an MCU movie, B+ to Eternals’ B back in November.

All of this should be a splash of cold water in Marvel’s face as they go crazy exploiting IP between features and streaming Disney+ series.

Now, we made a lot of hay about Disney/Marvel’s Black Widow‘s second weekend drop back in July; that the pic’s release was impacted by a theatrical Disney+ PVOD day-and-date strategy, plus piracy. That argument still stands, rock solid. Not to mention, witness the immense amount of money that Doctor Strange 2 opened to at $187.4M when it was exclusively available in theaters compared to Black Widow‘s $80.3M back in July.

But what about the third highest grossing movie ever at the domestic box office ($804.66M), Spider-Man: No Way Home, and its second weekend fall? Why did that movie tumble? That beloved sequel’s decline was strictly due to Christmas Eve (a low traffic moviegoing day) falling on Friday, and the fact that the Jon Watts-directed movie was making money hand over fist during its weekdays, it’s first midweek grosses ranging from $28.8M to $37M per day. Note, Doctor Strange 2‘s fall this weekend doesn’t have anything to do with a slow traffic moviegoing day.

However, yesterday afternoon, it finally hit me in the face that the bad word of mouth on Doctor Strange 2 and that B+ grade were taking its toll; that a Batman v. Superman factor was in effect (another B graded, -69% second weekend decline comic book title). This occurred when my jaunt to Bed, Bath and Beyond was interrupted by a phone call from my cousin Vinny in the Bronx, a guy who is a very passionate MCU fanboy and fits tracking’s definition of being a frequent moviegoer watching at least 3 movies a month. Typically, such phone calls on a Saturday are from box office sources complaining about my analysis, or trying to whisper that Moonfall was in the black.

Vinny is also the type of moviegoer who shows up to an MCU movie on a Thursday night at Lincoln Square and buys his tickets in advance. He’s definitely not wasting his time seeing Doctor Strange 2 a second time, which is an anomaly for him.

“I’m going around telling everyone I know to avoid Doctor Strange 2,” Vinny complained (Marvel/Disney calm down; my cousin isn’t a social media influencer).

“Why?” I asked, “I mean, it’s not the best, but it’s not the worst.”

Vinny unloaded: “It’s a two-hour season finale to WandaVision. I expected more from Sam Raimi; what’s going on here? They set-up this whole multi-universe thing and then re-set it by the end of the film. Where do we go from here? Thor: Love & Thunder is going to be a comedy. And what’s with killing all those great cameos in the middle? That was senseless in addition to Charlize Theron’s stunt casting at the end; why should we care? The entire phase 4 has been completely random movies. Black Widow, Shang-Chi, Eternals have nothing to do with setting up anything. They have no set plot in mind. My head hurts just thinking about it.”

Marvel, I did defend that Disney+’s Secret Invasion, Loki season 2 and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania are on the horizon in regards to building out the multiverse. However, Vinny’s not alone in the lackluster reception to Doctor Strange 2. 

“The movie has to be loved and enjoyed enough to want to see it a second time,” said Kentucky-Delaware exhibition boss Rick Roman to Deadline this weekend, “My moviegoers feel the film is not good enough to see again.”

Also potentially triggering lower grosses for Doctor Strange 2 this past weekend is the fact that exhibition, per EntTelligence, downsized the available seats for the film by over 17%, meaning less showtimes. Many of the shows that were lost were in the daytime (which is when cheaper ticket pricing is in effect). With less shows at a lesser price, the national average falls. Doctor Strange 2 according to EntTelligence clocked 4.5M admissions to last weekend’s 13.5M, also a 67% decline.

Some more statistical proof that second trips to Doctor Strange 2 were curbed can be seen in the Comscore/Screen Engine PostTrak exits: 27% said they plan on seeing Doctor Strange 2 a second time, below the 36% who said they were seeing No Way Home again and 34% for Shang-Chi. Those polled after watching Eternals also weren’t over the moon forking over money again to see that film at 22%.

Social media analytics firm RelishMix provided an updated pulse on what was being said about Doctor Strange 2 heading into weekend 2: “Exit chatter for Doctor Strange 2 swings mixed-positive — from adoration of the visual experience of cinematic joy, fight scenes, to threads about Wanda, Spider-Man, dream-walking, the Illuminati, and Sam Raimi’s director masterwork — to deep critical MCU discussion about storylines that may have jumped the shark and high expectations from the trailer to the actual film.”

Recently, I was told by one distribution source that when a movie keeps missing its projection calculations during the course of a weekend, i.e. some rivals saw Doctor Strange 2 by Saturday AM a week ago with a $200M start before descending to $187.4M; that falloff is all because bad of word of mouth is sinking in.

True, at Doctor Strange 2‘s opening level and its second weekend drop here, it’s like complaining about the distance of a Mike Trout homerun.

Still, all of this should speak truths to Marvel and Kevin Feige’s power. Something is clearly off in the development of the movies of late (and Moon Knight didn’t exactly shine bright. Also Samba TV didn’t report any viewership for the finale, which typically means it was bad). This could possibly have to do Covid and the factory runway, and which MCU projects are coming down the pipeline first (Doctor Strange 2 scribe Michael Waldron told Deadline’s Hero Nation that at one point while he was writing the screenplay, he expected the sequel to be released before Spider-Man: No Way Home, thus kicking off the multiverse concept. That didn’t happen). Feige and Marvel have relied on friends and family test screenings (which I hear counts some fanboy media influencers in its mix), and have constantly had a philosophy of “plus-ing” (an old Walt Disney rule of thumb); and that at any given point in time during any movie’s production, it’s the worst the studio ever made.

Well, Marvel, it’s time to take the “plus-ing” and testing to a whole other stratosphere. Maybe include some average folks from the flyover states and stop worrying about secrets leaking. Regroup, re-think and get these movies back on track. Some will feasibly give the MCU a pass now, saying it stands to reason that after a hot streak, there will be some misses.

Then there’s the whole 45 days of exclusive theatrical before heading to Disney+ — once fanboys figure that out, could that hold them back from a second trip to the cinema? Maybe.

Why all the fuss, Marvel? Because as the entire town knows, the success of movie theaters and the box office as we come out of this pandemic hinges on your movies, and the last thing we need is for that to break down.

****

Universal’s $12M production of Firestarter is in bad shape, with $3.8M over three-days after a $1.54M Friday. I mean, the original 1984 Drew Barrymore movie, unadjusted for inflation, opened to more money with $4.7M, and at fewer theaters, that being 1,356. The Blumhouse co-production was slammed with a C- CinemaScore. Even if there was a full theatrical here, sans Peacock, the mind wonders how much more business would trickle in. Screen Engine and Comscore PostTrak was bad at 50%, with a 27% recommend. Of those who showed were 54% guys, 71% over 25, with 69% between 18-44. Diversity demos were 42% Caucasian, 22% Latin and Hispanic, 22% Black, and 14% Asian/other. Most potent markets were West and South. Firestarter only saw 130K admissions, per EntTelligence.

Why is the movie on this weekend? It was Friday the 13th yesterday, and that opportunity launch for a horror title can’t be passed up by a genre studio such as Blumhouse. Certainly, the window collapsing here on Peacock will do further damage to Firestarter‘s downstream revenues in the long run. Again, it’s experimentation. Universal knew it was a bad movie, and here it is with a theatrical day-and-date. It doesn’t mean they’ll practice this with all bad horror movies.

Mixed chatter on social media before opening, per RelishMix, “From the 1984 Drew Barrymore title trending in convo with continuous positive references to the original, and questions as to why she does not make an appearance in the remake. Zac Efron’s casting is well-received, as well as Stephen King’s cinematic legacy. That said, questions bubble about if the film is ‘straight to streaming’ with some confusion if it is day/date — with expected criticisms of ‘Hollywood reboots.’”

In regards to Firestarter‘s reach on social media, RelishMix counted 182.3M across Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. While that’s ahead of norms, close to half of the pic’s SMU connects to Efron’s social media followers at 90.3M. Blumhouse’s social channels, with 1.2M fans, are moderate, and Peacock’s social at 1.7M are lightly sprinkled into the mix.

Roadside Attractions has the family faith-based movie Family Camp booked in 854 locations which opened to $1.425M. The Brian Cates directed and co-written film follows two polar-opposite families who are forced to camp together. The dads struggle to hold onto their families and marriages as they compete for the coveted camp trophy. Any business this title did was in the faith-based belt of the South and Mid-West, a total of 175 markets, with the best markets being Dallas, Phoenix, Oklahoma City, Nashville, San Antonio and Sacramento.

All of this action is amounting to a $93M box office weekend for all titles off 38% from the same weekend in 2019 which did $148.9M.

FINAL SUNDAY AM STUDIO-REPORTED ESTIMATES. 

1.) Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (Dis) 4,534 theaters, Fri $16.7M (-81%)/ Sat $26.5M, Sun $17.7M, 3-day $61M (-67%)/Total $291.9M/Wk 2

2.) The Bad Guys (Uni) 3,788 (-51) Theaters, Fri $1.68M (-28%), Sat $3.16M, Sun $2.06M, 3-day $6.9M (-28%)/Total $66.2M/Wk 4

3.)Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Par) 3,116 (-242) theaters, Fri $1.03M (-31%), Sat $2.1M, Sun $1.42M, 3-day $4.55M (-24%)/Total $175.7M/Wk 6

4.) Firestarter (Uni) 3,412 theaters, Fri $1.55M (includes previews), Sat $1.38M, Sun $890K, 3-day $3.8M/Wk 1

5.) Everything Everywhere All at Once (A24) 1,726 (+184) theaters, Fri $917,4K (-3%), Sat $1.36M, Sun $1M, 3-day $3.3M (-6%)/Total $47.1M/Wk 8
Wow, get a load of that hold in weekend 8. The Daniels directed, AGBO production is the third highest grossing at the domestic box office for A24 after Uncut Gems ($50M) and Lady Bird ($49M).

6.) Fantastic Beasts…Dumbledore (WB), 2,578 (-473) theaters, Fri $640K (-38%), Sat $1.08M, Sun $700K,  3-day $2.42M (-43%)/Total $90M/Wk 5

7.) The Lost City (Par) 1,675 (-222) theaters Fri. $470K (-25%), Sat $765K, Sun $530K, 3-day $1.73M (-37%)/Total $97.1M/ Wk 8
The pic is currently available on Paramount+ to watch.

8.) The Northman (Foc) 1,934 (-479) theaters, Fri $490K (-41%), Sat $730K, Sun $480K, 3-day $1.7M (-41%)/Total $31.1M/Wk 4

9.) Family Camp (RSA) 854 theaters, Fri $499K, Sat $530K, Sun $398K, 3-day $1.42M/Wk 1

10.) Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (LG) 1,076 (-255) theaters, Fri $291K (-31%), Sat $459K, Sun $300K, 3-day $1.05M (-33%)/Total $18.2M/Wk 4

 

via Deadline

‘Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness’ Set for Huge $190M+ Opening at the BO!!

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is coming in with a Disney-reported $57.5M Saturday, which is 36% off from the pic’s opening day of $90M. Many believe that the sequel’s opening is between $194M-$197M, according to industry estimates. But Disney is calling stateside at $185M as of this morning, or as Entelligence reports, that translates to 13.5M admissions.

Either way, that’s a great kickoff to summer and the best opening for a Disney movie during the pandemic, and the second-best during the Covid-19 era after Spider-Man: No Way Home‘s $260.1M.

While domestic will likely come in higher by tomorrow AM, global for Doctor Strange 2 at $450M reps the second-highest WW opening for any MPA movie during Covid-19, as well as the best year to date; all of this after Spider-Man: No Way Home‘s $600.5M global launch.

There’s been concern that Mother’s Day will drag the grosses down today. However, that’s already been accounted for, with an estimate around $44M per industry projections (-23%). Disney is forecasting $37.5M. The trajectory is roughly similar to Avengers: Age of Ultron, which saw a Friday to Saturday decline of 33% and a 3-day of $191.27M. One rival distribution boss says, “Mother’s Day is actually a great day for moviegoing.” Furthermore, as we previously mentioned, one of the selling points here with Doctor Strange 2 is in mama bear herself, Elizabeth Olsen’s Wanda Maximoff.

Now, back out those $36M Thursday previews from Doctor Strange 2‘s first day, and Friday was really $54M for the pic. That means Saturday was +6% over Friday, which is great and means the movie isn’t collapsing from that B+ CinemaScore.

Meanwhile, in case you were wondering, why, yes — the big chains and other exhibitors did upcharge on Doctor Strange 2 next to other films. Hey, after being movie theaters were closed for roughly a year between 2020-2021, they gotta eat. By and large, AMC is commanding the highest average ticket price for the Sam Raimi movie at $14.84, with Regal second at $13.77. Data is courtesy of EntTelligence.

Marvel wisely kicked off the marketing campaign for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness with a trailer at the end of Spider-Man: No Way Home. If my memory serves me right, that’s the first trailer that Marvel actually dropped for a subsequent MCU title in a pic’s end credits. That was a brilliant stroke in regards to reach, as everyone saw that Sony/Marvel title, with Disney releasing the trailer online a few days after No Way Home‘s $260.1M second-best-ever domestic opening.

The trailer and teasers were further trumpeted during Super Bowl LVI Pre-Kick, Olympics, NCAA Final Four Pre-Sale Messaging, and more. There were digital takeovers on Amazon Fire TV, YouTube CTV Masthead, Roku, Snapchat First Commercial, ESPN FrontPage, Fandango, Twitter Spotlight Trend, Twitch First Impression, Reddit Trending, and more. There was also placement in high-profile programming, including the NBA Playoffs, late night, SNL, American Idol, This Is Us, The Walking Dead, American Song Contest, The Good Doctor, Univision Novelas. Disney made a special media focus on April 28, which was National Superhero Day and included spots during the NBA Playoffs and NBA Draft.

RelishMix notes that coming off of the Super Bowl on Feb. 13, the Doctor Strange 2 trailer grabbed the most viewership online in the 24 hours after the game, with 93.1M social views besting Jurassic World Dominion (86.8M views) and upcoming Prime Video series Lord of the Rings (80.3M views).

Promo partners for Doctor strange included Procter & Gamble/Tide, who launched “Cloak vs. Tuna Melt,” in which Marvel Partnerships developed and produced a co-branded short-form spot where Wong accidentally dirties the Cloak with a tuna sandwich, resulting in an even dirtier NYC chase to get the Cloak into the wash.

Another promo partner was G Fuel, which is a top drink among gamers, Xbox (which included custom cobranded console kits; Xbox’s 4^thMarvel partnership) and Jaeger-Le Coultre. International partnerships included Mori Building Co., Japan’s leading urban landscape developer, leveraging its existing pop-culture fan events by turning its café and menu into a cobranded interactive photo-op experience, as well as Cadillac, Maybank, and Shell in APAC; Xiaomi and T-Mobile in EMEA; and Club Premier (Mexico) and Virgin Plus (Canada).

Digital activations for Doctor Strange 2 featured Xochitl Gomez taking over the @Instagram account (480M followers). It should also be noted that Hispanic and Latino audiences are overindexing for this Marvel title with a 28% turnout versus the Marvel average of 22%.

Other digital promos included a custom Instagram AR lens that utilized the shattered glass motif, Instagram stickers, and a Messenger AR Group Effects which also used the shattered glass motif. There was a Twitter Spotlight with exclusive branded “like” custom animations utilizing the recognizable Doctor Strange portal; six custom emojis and a Twitter Q&A with Cumberbatch and Olsen on @twittermovies.

Also, according to RelishMix, most of the cast for the sequel was non-social, which is unusual for a Marvel movie, i.e. Cumberbatch, Olsen, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Rachel McAdams. Benedict Wong does have 692K followers on Instagram, and Cumberbatch has a super fan page with 2M followers with posts from premieres, marketing materials and behind-the-scenes.

Imax screens at a 410 count amped up $18M for Doctor Strange 2, a $44K theater average and the biggest Imax U.S./Canada opening ever in May, and the sixth highest Imax Marvel stateside opening ever. Overall, all premium formats are contributing 36% of Doctor Strange 2‘s box office.

“Summer blockbuster season is off to a roaring start with Doctor Strange— an excellent sign for the phenomenal slate ahead representing some of the most bankable franchises, filmmakers, and stars in the world,” said Rich Gelfond, CEO of IMAX in a statement. “From our Filmed for IMAX camera program to IMAX Enhanced on Disney+, IMAX and Disney have built a strong partnership that will only grow this year with amazing releases like Lightyear, Thor: Love and Thunder, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and Avatar: The Way of Water to come.”

Another bragging point here about Doctor Strange 2, especially with the exclusive drop of the Avatar 2 trailer in its theaters this week, is that 3D accounted for 9% of the pic’s opening weekend, an encouraging number not far from the pre-pandemic shares of Captain Marvel – 11%, Ant-Man & The Wasp – 10% and Spider-Man: Far From Home – 9%.

Disney reported demos show a general audience of 88%, with parents and kids at a combined 12% turnout. There’s been a lot of hay made about the PG-13 rating and how scary Doctor Strange 2 is. However, that turnout by families is one point shy of the ratio of Spider-Man: No Way Home, which was 13%. Yeah, if you have a 5- or 6-year-old, this is a scary movie. But no one is getting their hearts pulled out of their chests like in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Furthermore, kids under 12 gave the movie 5 stars, while their parents awarded it with 4 1/2 stars. Umm, so, not so scary after all. Sequel is still being driven by 62% guys and 57% 18-34.

Total overall ticket sales for the weekend per ComScore are at $219.1M, +10% vs. the same first weekend of May in 2019. Total running domestic B.O. for Jan. 1-May 8 is $2.19 billion, +361% over the same frame last year.

Again, Doctor Strange 2 pulled in the second biggest audience over a pic’s opening weekend during the pandemic per EntTelligence. Check out the chart below:

EntTelligence

1.) Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (Dis) 4,534 theaters, Fri $90M/Sat $57.5M/Sun $37.5M, 3-day $185M/Wk 1
Industry projections for the weekend are between $194M-$197M for the Marvel sequel. TBD tomorrow AM.

2.) The Bad Guys (Uni) 3,839 (-203) Theaters, Fri $2.3M (-38%), Sat $4.1M, Sun $3.3M, 3-day $9.77M (-40%)/Total $57.5M/Wk 3

3.)Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Par) 3,358 (-443) theaters, Fri $1.5M (-41%), Sat $2.74M, Sun $1.96M, 3-day $6.2M (-46%)/Total $169.9M/Wk 5

4.) Fantastic Beasts…Dumbledore (WB), 3,051 (-911) theaters, Fri $1.045M (-51%), Sat $1.7M, Sun $1.2M, 3-day $3.95M (-52%)/Total $86M/Wk 4

5.) Everything Everywhere All at Once (A24) 1,542 (-671) theaters, Fri $951K (-39%), Sat $1.35M, Sun $1M, 3-day $3.3M (-40%)/Total $41.56M/Wk 7

6.) The Northman (Foc) 2,413 (-871) theaters, Fri $830K (-54%), Sat $1.1M, Sun $800K, 3-day $2.77M (-56%)/Total $28M/Wk 3

7.) The Lost City (Par) 1,897 (-698) theaters Fri. $635K, Sat $1M, Sun$865K, 3-day $2.5M (-35%)/Total $94.38M/ Wk 7
This movie is heading toward $100M; underscoring that middle budget movies do work at the box office, and that women during the pandemic indeed want to go back to the cinema.

8.) Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (LG) 1,331 (-1,705) theaters, Fri $437K, Sat $618K, Sun $470K, 3-day $1.525M (-61%)/Total $16.3M/Wk 3

9.) Memory (Open Road) 2,433 (-122) theaters, Fri $370K (-66%), Sat $510K, Sun $340K, 3-day $1.22M (-60%)/Total/ $5.49MWk 2

10.) Father Stu (Sony) 1,265 (-1,211) theaters, Fri $210K, Sat $285K, Sun $305K, 3-day $800K (-64%), Total $19.2M/Wk 4

 

via Deadline

‘The Bad Guys’ Takes Back Top Spot with $16.1 Million at the BO!!

After all the hallelujahs about the return of theatrical at CinemaCon this past week, the major studios skipped out on programming any new wide releases this weekend. All of this is resulting in a marketplace which is seeing an estimated $68M in total ticket sales, down 28% from last weekend. Ugh. In regards to when the majors will sit on the sidelines again this year, there’s June 3, and possibly Aug. 12 (Searchlight is holding the date for an untitled wide entry).

If it feels like a desert at the multiplex, get ready for the monsoon on Thursday night, with Disney/Marvel’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which is expected to rain down anywhere from $150M-$200M in its first weekend.

Tracking sees it at a minimum of $150M; it wouldn’t be shocking if the pic gets to $200M, but Disney doesn’t want to get over its skis. Already, Doctor Strange 2 is seeing the best presales of the year, higher than The Batman, with $42M. This is all the start of a very rich summer, and after the exuberant response of Top Gun: Maverick out of CinemaCon, Tom Cruise has to be in store for the biggest global and domestic opening of his career, overtaking War of the Worlds ($64.8M, his highest domestic) and The Mummy ($172.3M, the 3x Oscar nominee’s biggest worldwide debut).

As such, this weekend will see Universal/DreamWorks Animation’s The Bad Guys at No. 1 again in weekend 2, with $16.1M, -33%, for a ten-day total by EOD $44.4M. That’s better than the $14M that Uni was spotting yesterday. And all the other family fare is holding on to their top spots, i.e. Paramount’s Sonic the Hedgehog 2 notched a better than expected fourth weekend of $11.35M in 2nd, -27%, for a running total of $160.9M, and Warner Bros.’ Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, with an estimated $8.3M in weekend 3 in 3rd, -41%, with a running cume of $79.6M by EOD.

Continuing to show proof that there’s an appetite for original fare at the box office is the amazing hold by A24’s in weekend 6 Everything Everywhere All at Once, which is seeing $5.5M, up a great 2%, for a running total of $35.4M. What’s the extra juice here? Aside from the 80 theater count surge, the Daniels directed movie returned to Imax at 256 hubs in a special extended run, minting $850K. This AGBO production is easily headed to $40M+. Forget that, some say $50M, which could mean it possibly topples A24’s highest-grossing movie of all-time, Uncut Gems ($50M).

Open Road is zigging to the major studio’s zagging, putting out their wide entry of Liam Neeson’s action movie, Memory, from director Martin Campbell, which debuted to $3.1M at 2,555 theaters. While I’m sure exhibition is thankful for new product, what’s upsetting here is that in an improved marketplace, the feature is doing similar business to what other Neeson Open Road pics were doing when NYC and LA were closed during Covid, i.e. The Marksman ($3.1M) and Honest Thief ($4.1M).

Memory‘s top five markets on its $1.1M opening day Friday were Los Angeles, New York, Phoenix, Dallas – Ft Worth and Chicago, with the day’s top-grossing cinema being the iPic Theater at Fulton Market in Manhattan.

Well, it’s all about home ancillaries and dudes for these Neeson cookie cutter action titles. Critics have had enough of the Neeson-with-a-gun pics at 29% Rotten, and those who decided to show up and sit in the dark and eat popcorn for close to two hours gave it 66% and a 49% on Comscore/Screen Engine’s PostTrak. Jeez.

Turnout was men at 51%, 84% over 25, and 46% over 45. Diversity demos were 49% Caucasian, 20% Hispanic and Latino, 20% Black, & 11% Asian/other. The most amount of money this pic is seeing came from West and Southeast. RelishMix says that social media awareness on Memory “are well under genre norms for action thrillers at 18.6M across Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok.”

Ahead of opening, the social media analytics corp said, “Chatter runs mixed, with expectations that are crystal clear — on any Neeson film with the assumption that someone will be kidnapped and that ‘we’ll bring them back’. The storyline and filmmaking components are incidental for these super fans, who also feel that Neeson would make for a perfect Batman with his voice, plus other chatter about his stockpile of burner phones. Super fans also put Neeson and Denzel Washington as ‘unironically the best action stars in recent time’. Fans are exposing the secret algorithm behind this film; Taken + Unknown=Memory… and, Memento ÷ Unknown = Memory.”

Focus Features’ Viking epic The Northman is seeing a second weekend that’s -49%, with $6.3M for a ten-day of $22.8M.

Lionsgate’s Nic Cage satire Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent is looking at $3.9M in weekend 2, -45%, a 10-day of $13.5M for what appears to be a $20M final domestic gross when all is said and done.

Some thoughts coming away from this at CinemaCon: Despite the movie’s upsetting opening following its vibrant world premiere at SXSW, rival distributors who’ve handled similar product believe this movie stands to overindex in home entertainment, which is Cage’s bread and butter.

Even though Cage is arguably on an upswing, career-wise, post his critically acclaimed Pig, he has been in a funk at the box office for quite some time; his last live-action tentpole being 2007’s National Treasure: Book of Secrets ($220M domestic, $459M WW). Hence, the limited reach for this great, critically acclaimed (87% certified fresh) comedy, which stokes audiences who finally turn out for it. If Neeson did a self-parody comedy, we’d expect similar results.

Still, thumbs up to Lionsgate for putting this movie out theatrically, and not jettisoning it to PVOD or streaming. Why’s that? Odds are history will be on Unbearable Weight‘s side, and that it will turn into a cult classic in the same breath as This Is Spinal Tap ($4.7M domestic by 1984 standards) and The Big Lebowski ($18.2M in 1998 bucks). If this pic was a straight-to-home release, it wouldn’t have that resonance.

Also trying to fill the gap at the weekend is the Telugu language action drama Acharya, which is now poised to earn an estimated $1M at 396 theaters in 117 markets after being front loaded on Friday with $832K, and a Saturday that’s at $100K. The pic did see some big numbers in NYC, Dallas, San Francisco, Atlanta, Houston, Seattle, Charlotte, and Baltimore. The Koratala Siva written and directed movie centers around a Naxalite-turned-social reformer who launches a fight against the Endowments Department over misappropriation of temple funds and donations.

1.) The Bad Guys (Uni) 4,042 (+34) Theaters, Fri $3.7M (-54%), Sat $7.5M, Sun $4.87M, 3-day $16.1M (-33%)/Total $44.4M/Wk 2

2.) Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Par) 3,801 (-8) theaters, Fri $2.5M (-37%), Sat $5.37M/ Sun $3.48M, 3-day $11.35M (-27%)/Total $160.9M/Wk 4

3.) Fantastic Beasts…Dumbledore(WB), 3,962 (-283) theaters, Fri $2.1M (-47%), Sat $3.7M, Sun $2.4M, 3-day $8.3M (-41%)/Total $79.55M/Wk 3

4.) The Northman (Foc) 3,234 (+50) theaters, Fri $1.8M (-64%), Sat $2.7M, Sun $1.77M, 3-day $6.3M (-49%)/Total $22.8M/Wk 2

5.) Everything Everywhere All at Once (A24) 2,213 (+80) theaters, Fri $1.56M (+1%), Sat $2.2M, Sun $1.7M, 3-day $5.5M (+2%)/Total $35.4M/Wk 6

6.) Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (LG) 3,036 theaters, Fri $1.1M (-62%),Sat $1.7M, Sun $1.1M, 3-day $3.9M (-45%)/Total $13.5M/Wk 2

7.) The Lost City (Par) 2,595 (-233) theaters Fri. $1M (-21%), Sat $1.78M, Sun $1.1M, 3-day $3.9M (-10%)/Total $90.78M/ Wk 6

8.) Memory (Open Road) 2,555 theaters, Fri $1.1M, Sat $1.2M, Sun $790K, 3-day $3.1M/Wk 1

9.) Father Stu (Sony) 2,476 (-229) theaters, Fri $615K (-40%), Sat $940K, Sun $655K, 3-day $2.2M (-33%), Total $17.55M/Wk 3

10.) Morbius (Sony) 1,726 (-580) theaters, Fri $388K, Sat $685K, Sun $427K, 3-day $1.5M (-34%), Total $71.4M/Wk 5

 

via Deadline

‘Sonic the Hedgehog 2’ Has Become the Highest Grossing Video Game Movie in the U.S.!!

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is still going strong at the box office, and now it has a crown for its efforts. The sequel is now the highest-grossing video game movie ever in the U.S, surpassing its predecessor with $147 million domestically and counting. Sonic the Hedgehog had an impressive run of its own, ending at $146 million, though the success of that first film paved the way for its sequel to go even further with the goodwill garnered.

It’s not the first time Sonic 2 has taken the game film crown from its predecessor. The film’s debut served as a harbinger of what was to come with it capturing $71 million en route to becoming the highest-grossing debut of a video game film ever while felling both the Jared Leto-led Morbius and Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum’s The Lost City in the process. Despite strong domestic numbers, the sequel is still just below the $306 million global mark of the first film, though that’ll likely change too as the film keeps chugging along in theaters. The blue blur still has a ways to go if it wants to take the global title for highest-grossing video game film. 2016’s Warcraft made up for its paltry domestic numbers with an insane overseas run that grossed a whopping $391.7 million, bringing its total to $439 million globally.

For a video game movie to post such strong numbers in the face of major releases from big studios is impressive, especially considering the constant derision video game movies often get. Sonic 2 has not just proven that the ongoing pandemic hasn’t killed the blockbuster, but that the video game rabbit hole is worth going down and can be done in a way that doesn’t violate the spirit of the source material while still making a genuinely fun film. It reflects a growing trend of studios looking to the gaming sphere now armed with the knowledge to make these stories work. Ben Schwartz, who stars as Sonic, celebrated the occasion with a tweet about the continued run of the juggernaut film.

It should be noted that Sonic 2‘s record doesn’t count for inflation, meaning it’s technically still below Angelina Jolie‘s Lara Croft: Tomb Raider whose $131 million jumps up to a robust $212 million when adjusted. Unlike that film though, Sonic 2 earned its strong box office through building on the positive air induced by the first film and by being a genuinely loved family film. The follow-up to Tomb Raider, meanwhile, was poorly received at the box office following the disastrous reviews of the first film.

Sonic 2 came packaged with an even more star-studded cast than the first with Schwartz joined by fellow superstars Jim Carrey and Idris Elba as well as Jim Marsden, Tika Sumpter, and Colleen O’Shaughnessey. The film is still out in theaters if you haven’t had the chance to see it. Check out Schwartz‘s tweet below:

#SonicMovie2 has officially passed the domestic box office total of the first #Sonic film, officially making the sequel the highest domestic grossing movie based on a video game of all time. AND THIS LITTLE BLUE GUY IS STILL GOING!!! AHHHH!!!! pic.twitter.com/H3YOr3DIeb

— Ben Schwartz (@rejectedjokes) April 26, 2022

via Collider

‘The Bad Guys’ Steals Top Spot from ‘Fantastic Beasts 3’ with $24 Million at the BO!!

As the pandemic eases and the town questions what works on the big screen, the answers are largely family films, even if they are dated three weekends in a row. We’re talking about Universal/Dreamworks Animation’s overperformance of its $69M production The Bad Guys, which is notching a solid debut of $24M and a great A CinemaScore. Per EntTelligence, the Pierre Perifel directed animated movie drew 2.1M admissions. Paramount’s third weekend of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is even coming up strong in second place with -48% hold, a $15.2M weekend, and tally of $145.8M by EOD Sunday.

“The very positive critical and audience reaction to The Bad Guys echoes the overperformance of our title at the domestic box office this weekend and deservedly so as this is a broad, action-packed, charming film with clever comedy for the entire family,” celebrated Uni domestic theatrical distribution Boss Jim Orr this morning.

And when it comes to counter-programming working at the box office, please pull up a chair while we explain. There’s a lot of pacing back-and-forth in studio offices as to whether mid-sized and low-budget movies are meant for in-home consumption or the big screen. Seriously, it’s not so much of a Sophie’s Choice, because at the end of the day, it comes back to good old-fashioned movie industry economics. Really.

At a time when Netflix is losing 200K subscribers, waking up to the fact that we’ve been sharing passwords with our cousins, and not even in the running for NFL’s Sunday ticket (which Apple looks to hook with a $2.5 billion bid) because they’ve been overspending on big-screen movies (Red Notice) and arthouse movie campaigns (Power of the Dog) for the sake of viewership algorithms and churn, releasing a movie through a theatrical window system is better off for a piece of movie IP than not. The brilliance of the windows system is that Hollywood created a business formula whereby a consumer buys the same piece of content two to three times. Ain’t that smart? Outside of a buzzed, binge series on a streamer, the consumer retention, and the future revenue of your average movie on an OTT service, is quite short.

So if it’s hard to wrap your head around the openings of Focus Features/New Regency’s net $70M production, The Northman, at $12M (940K admissions per EntTelligence), and Lionsgate’s Nicolas Cage satire The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent at an estimated $7.1M (580K admissions), their legacy in the consumer’s mind will last longer than if they took the straight-to-home, streaming route. Again, exhibition needs product, so having both of these movies on the marquee hits a non-family quadrant, and is filler leading into Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. After the success of Everything Everywhere All at Once, which looks to hit close to $27M by the end of the weekend, arthouses are likely savoring The Northman. 

The irony here between both The Northman, which received a lower audience scores of B CinemaScore, 3 1/2 stars and 75% positive/56% recommend on PostTrak, and Unbearable Weight, which was graded higher at a B+ and 82% positive/66% recommend, is that the latter is the more crowd-appealing movie. Both titles’ openings, no doubt, should be scrutinized. Not just at SXSW, but Unbearable Weight, when screened to audiences, played to a rapturous response.

So, why isn’t it winning against Robert Eggers’ bloody, auteurish 2 hour and 15 minute running epic? Is it because it looks like a title we’d see on a streaming menu? No. Back to moviegoing economics: both titles are aimed at guys 18-34 and Northman pulled in 61% of the age demo, 68% male (with PLFs driving 22% of ticket sales) and Unbearable Weight attracted 57% of the age group and 59% male. There’s a cannibalization of the demo going on here, and it’s best if one of these movies stayed away from the other.

Northman is coming in at the high-end of its projections, which is a good thing. The Eggers’ movie opening is even higher than 2011’s The Eagle ($8.6M), another Focus Features’ star-studded historical epic. As tracking always indicated, Focus was out-spending Lionsgate by two-to-three times in TV spots, hence the reason why the Vikings are squashing Nic Cage here.

However, many will wonder who spends $70M on an arthouse historical epic? There is a price-point at which every movie can be greenlit for P&L purposes. Even by pre-pandemic standards, which is when this Alexander Skarsgård, Nicole Kidman, Anya Taylor-Joy, Ethan Hawke movie came together, Northman‘s cost is still considered silly expensive. However, gambling on originality and auteur’s vision comes at a price, and if the dice isn’t rolled, then we will truly be living in a world that’s dominated by Marvel and DC fare. Risk was mitigated here 50/50, I hear, on the budget between Focus and New Regency, and it comes as no surprise that the latter is involved; that studio having bankrolled Alejandro Inarritu’s $135M western The Revenant, which went on to rack up Oscar wins.

You can at least see where the mindset is for New Regency investing in Northman, even though the movie isn’t in the Oscar corridor and lacks the star power of Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy. Given the cost here, Focus couldn’t platform, or release in a crowded Q4 marketplace, so they went wide, and fast (17-day window) so they could make as much money as possible.

Northman played in the West and the South, where seven of its top ten runs were. The pic’s best markets were LA, NYC, San Francisco, Dallas, Washington DC, Phoenix, Seattle, Denver, Salt Lake City, Austin, and San Diego. Diversity demos were 56% Caucasian, 21% Hispanic and Latino, 10% Black, and 13% Asian/other.

The 16th weekend of 2022 looks to be grossing around $93M per industry sources. While 2019 during this time at Avengers: Endgame, 2018 had the third weekend of a A Quiet Place leading the box office. This weekend next to 2018’s weekend 16 is off 26%, while versus 2017’s 16th weekend is off 14%.

Bad Guys Breaking Though

Despite tracking showing this original animated film at a $15M, we should have seen the success of this pic coming. It was promoted through NBCUniversal’s Symphony program, and only a handful of movies get that big marketing push throughout the conglom’s ancillary tentacles from a co-branded Xfinity campaign which included several TV and digital ad spots to support across Uni’s theme global theme parks.

All of this amounted to a turnout by moms, with 56% of Bad Guys‘ audience being females. On PostTrak, 62% were surveyed as moms. Overall, 4 stars on PostTrak with females over 25 repping 27% of the crowd, under 25 also 27% and guys over 25 at 22% and under 25 at 23%, who gave the movie its best grade at 90%. Diversity demos were 40% Caucasian, 25% Latino and Hispanic, 20% African American and 9% Asian.

Bad Guys played fairly evenly across North America with the family-friendly Mountain region of Salt Lake City significantly overperforming its 52-week norm (50% over). Also over-indexing in the Midwest, Northeast and most of Canada. Top ten markets were LA, NY, San Francisco, Dallas, Chicago, Salt Lake City, Houston, Boston, Phoenix and Toronto.

Bad Guys‘ campaign launched last December with a global trailer drop, accompanied by a first look photo, a cast table read, and theatrical placement of the trailer during Sing 2. In February, Bad Guy‘s second trailer racked up nearly a quarter of a billion global views to-date. RelishMix measured Bad Guys‘ social media reach at 220M before opening “approaching family animated norms”. In Bad Guys‘ tank was a Super Bowl pre-game spot, which clocked 8.5M on YouTube and a Facebook video view bump which culminated in 14 videos on YouTube pulling in 110.1M views. “The very robust child friendly Dreamworks/Peacock Kids YouTube channel has a subscriber count of 9.3M at 37% more than subscribers of Universal Pictures at 5.9M, demonstrating the value of YouTube for little kids.” By comparison, two weeks ago, with a wider/older family videogamer target, Sonic 2’s social media universe was at 445M before opening.

Bad Guys had a March Madness in-show and online integration with the NCAA tournament with a virtual bracket for the film’s characters on the NCAA website and ad slots in both pre and post games coverage on TNT and TBS.

Some of the stunts on social to hook younger viewers included the character Mr. Wolf debuting a Snapchat AR lens on Valentine’s Day, and TikTok, users posting videos showcasing themselves as part of the Bad Guys crew, all while using branded effects and audio set to Billie Eilish’s “bad guy” with the #TheBadGuysChallenge.

Uni capitalized on April Fool’s Day, which was when tickets went on sale. Activations included a Snap AR lens that showcased The Bad Guys safe cracking a number of global landmarks including LA’s Chinese Theater, Paris’ Arc de Triomphe, Germany’s Brandenburg Gate and London’s Natural History Museum among others. Top influencers joined in with Mr Beast and Michael Le having their videos stolen by The Bad Guys (see below). The stunt yielded over 21.5 million views and over 1.8 million likes on TikTok.

Specialty highlights:

–Pantelion had the Mexican comedy Y Come Es El? at 325 theaters in 65 markets. The Ariel Winograd directed movie follows Tomás, who is a meek man on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Despite his situation he decides to fake a work trip to go to Vallarta to confront Jero, a taxi driver who is sleeping with his wife. Overall a $630K opening with OK numbers in LA, Dallas, San Francisco, Sacramento and Las Vegas. 

–Yash Raj’s Hindi language Jersey from director Gowtam Tinnanuri posted an estimated $233K at 373 theaters, fueled by Toronto. The movie follows a cricketer who quits cricket and decides to revive his career at the age of 36 for his sons dream and prove his ability.

–NEON had the Céline Sciamma movie, Petite Maman, booked at LA’s the Landmark and AMC Grove and NYC’s Angelika, & Lincoln Center and saw an estimated $45,8K opening for an OK $11,4K per theater. The French movie, which reps NEON’s reteam with the award-winning Portrait of a Lady on Fire filmmaker, notched 97% certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. got a 97% RT rating. The drama stars sisters Joséphine Sanz and Gabrielle Sanz, with Nina Meurisse, Stéphane Varupenne and Margot Abascal.  In Pete Maman, 8-year-old Nelly has just lost her beloved grandmother and is helping her parents clean out her mother’s childhood home. She explores the house and the surrounding woods where her mom, Marion, used to play and built the treehouse she’s heard so much about. One day her mother abruptly leaves. That’s when Nelly meets a girl her own age in the woods building a treehouse. Her name is Marion.

 –Sony Pictures Classics’ The Duke starring Helen Mirren and Jim Broadbent, and directed by the late Roger Michell grossed $28,7K from three locations in NY (Cinema 1, Lincoln Square and the Angelika) and the Landmark in LA. Per theater was $7,1K for the 96% certified fresh title on Rotten Tomatoes. As we observe the uptick at arthouses with Indian titles, Everything Everywhere All at Once, and The Northman, the continued quandary is when we see the older 55+ demo back in full force at the the cinema.

Top 10 this weekend, we’re updating the chart….:

1.) The Bad Guys (Uni) 4,009 Theaters, Fri $8M, Sat $9.3M, Sun $6.6M, 3-day $24M/Wk 1

2.) Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Par) 3,809 (-449) theaters, Fri $4M (-63%), Sat $6.8M, Sun $4.4M, 3-day $15.2M (-48%)/Total $145.8M/Wk 3

3.) Fantastic Beasts…Dumbledore(WB), 4,245 (+37) theaters, Fri $4.1M (-79%), Sat $6M, Sun $3.9M, 3-day $14M (-67%)/Total $67.1M/Wk 2
Yes, families spent over $42M to see it last weekend, but nobody likes it, and that’s showing in the severe drop. While that’s the worst second weekend drop for a Fantastic Beasts movie, it’s also the second-worst for a J.K. Rowling pic after Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 which dropped 72% off a massive $169M+ opening.

4.) The Northman (Foc) 3,234 theaters, Fri $5M, Sat $4.2M, Sun $2.7M, 3-day $12M/Wk 1

5.) Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (LG) 3,036 theaters, Fri $2.9M, Sat $2.5M, Sun $1.76M, 3-day $7.1M/Wk 1

6.) Everything Everywhere All at Once (A24) 2,133 (-87) theaters, Fri $1.55M (-18%)/Sat $2.1M/Sun $1.7M/ 3-day $5.4M (-11%)/Total $26.9M/Wk 5

7.) The Lost City (Par) 2,828 (-602) theaters Fri. $1.3M (-35%), Sat $1.9M, Sun $1.17M, 3-day $4.375M (-30%)/Total $85.4M/ Wk 5

8.) Father Stu (Sony) 2,705 theaters, Fri $1M (-40%), Sat $1.3M, Sun $960K, 3-day $3.3M (-39%), Total $13.9M/Wk 2

9.) Morbius (Sony) 2,306 (-1,156) theaters, Fri $635K, Sat $1M, Sun $615K, 3-day $2.25M (-53%), Total $69.1M/Wk 4

10.) Ambulance (Uni) 1,966 (-1,446) theaters, Fri $530K (-59%), Sat $770K, Sun $500K, 3-day $1.8M (-55%), Total $19.2M/Wk 3

via Deadline

‘Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore’ Opens to a Franchise-Low $43 Million at the BO!!

If there’s still a five-picture plan in place for Fantastic Beasts, clearly after this weekend’s $43M opening for The Secrets of Dumbledore, it’s time to pivot the Harry Potter franchise. That’s the lowest opening ever stateside for a J.K. Rowling Wizarding World movie, and it’s probably not prudent for the studio to go for another low opening record on the next project from the franchise. It was evident Potter fans didn’t like the last movie, Crimes of Grindelwald, even if there was a cliffhanger, and they didn’t want to come back for Dumbledore. 

With the Warner Bros.-Discovery merger made official on Wall Street earlier this week, this is unfortunately not the best optics for the studio. However, as CEO David Zaslav gets to know Hollywood, he should realize that sometimes greenlight decisions pre-date the studio’s current regime. Who would greenlight a $200M net production on a franchise that wasn’t working? The Fantastic Beasts movies were put into play by former Warner Bros. Entertainment CEO Kevin Tsujihara.

The continued production of these off-beat Potter canon movies are all about the studio’s commitment to their own George Lucas, meaning Rowling, and the further build-out of the Wizarding World which spans theme parks, stage shows, the set tours, etc.

The threequel’s production was pushed in 2019 so that the script could be developed more. However, as is the nature of bruised franchises at the box office, no matter how great a third installment could be conjured up, it’s hard to restore business after fans turn their backs on the previous movie.

Former Warner Bros London-based Warner Bros. exec Josh Berger, who gets an EP credit here on Dumbledore, ran the Wizarding World franchise until roughly a year-and-a-half ago. WarnerMedia Studios and Network exec Ann Sarnoff took on that oversight. I understand she had no fingerprints on this threequel, nor could she put the brakes on it; again the threequel’s production monies were committed by a previous administration.

There are no immediate, concrete plans for the Harry Potter franchise. It was buzzed back in early 2021 that a Harry Potter spinoff series was being kicked around for HBO Max, but no writers were attached at the time. There isn’t a script in for a fourth Fantastic Beasts. If reality didn’t set in for Rowling on Grindelwald, or even the first Fantastic Beasts movie, it should set in now: The majority of your Potter fans do not want to see Fantastic Beasts. 

If there’s any positive takeaways from Dumbledore, they include that Warner Bros. distribution picked a holiday to launch the movie to get the biggest audience they could and its the biggest opening for a female-skewing property during the pandemic. Comscore/Screen Engine exits show 38% women over 25–the biggest demo for the pic, which is amazing for the pandemic, followed by 33% men over 25, 16% women under 25 and 13% men under 25. Women over 25 gave the threequel the best grades at 86% positive, followed by women under 25 at 83%.

Also worthy, Warners didn’t dilute grosses down here with a day-and-date HBO Max model; many believe this film can still clear $100M-plus domestic, and that’s great for the exhibition ecosphere.

And as far as HBO Max goes, the company likely looks forward to a possible uptick in subs when the film hits the service sometime around Memorial Day weekend. Of those who watched Dumbledore, 24% told PostTrak they’d watch the movie again in cinemas, 14% would see again for free at home, 13% would purchase it digitally at home, while a combined 21% would buy it on DVD or Blu-Ray.

Before The Batman hits HBO Max tomorrow, that pic in its first seven weekends has reaped $365M, and that’s something to shout about as studios shorten their windows coming out of the pandemic. The Matt Reeves-directed movie hits $750M worldwide this weekend.

Dumbledore‘s global is at $193M, and should settle around $400M. This is after a $71.7M international/$150.4M global opening weekend. Crimping global grosses for Dumbledore is the fact that the China market isn’t at its full power; you can blame closed theaters during Covid, or the country’s POV toward U.S. movies. China delivered the best grosses for the first Fantastic Beasts outside the U.S. with $85M, and the second best after Japan on Grindelwald with $57.3M.

iSpot shows that Warners did spend to open Dumbledore with close to $21M committed to U.S. TV Spots, versus Sony’s $8M on Father Stu. TV ad impressions for Dumbledore were 958M, with spots airing across NBC, ABC, CBS, TBS and Syfy network, during events like Men’s college basketball, Winter Olympics, NBA games and on shows like Good Morning America and Survivor.

Imax drove $4.275M of Dumbledore’s ticket sales this weekend or 10% of the box office. The Top 5 Domestic IMAX locations this weekend were AMC Lincoln Square NY, AMC Citywalk Stadium LA, AMC Metreon San Francisco, AMC Empire NY, and Cineplex Scotiabank Toronto. Around 32% of the threequel’s business came from Imax, PLF, Dolby and motion seating, again indicative that when people go to the movies, they want to see it in the best format.

The top 10 locations for Dumbledore were: 1. AMC Lincoln Square NY, 2. AMC Burbank, 3. AMC Disney Springs Orlando, 4. AMC Empire NY, 5. AMC Citywalk Stadium LA, 6. Cineplex Odeon Brossard Montreal, 7. AMC Century City LA, 8. Santikos Palladium San Antonio, 9. Larry Miller Jordan Commons Megaplex Salt Lake City, and 10. Regal Warren Oklahoma City. The pic’s top 10 markets were 1. Los Angeles, 2. New York, 3. Dallas, 4. San Francisco, 5. Salt Lake City, 6. Chicago, 7. Houston, 8. Seattle, 9. Phoenix, and 10. Washington DC.

We’re building the weekend box office chart:

1.) Fantastic Beasts…Dumbledore (WB), 4,208 theaters, Fri $20M, Sat $13.9M, Sun $9.1M, 3-day $43M/Wk 1

2.) Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Par) 4,258 theaters (+24), Fri $10.85M (-59%), Sat $11.6M, Sun $7.55M, 3-day $30M (-58%)/Total $119.6M/Wk 2

3.) The Lost City (Par) 3,430 (-367) theaters Fri. $2.07M (-20%), Sat $2.55M, Sun $1.9M, 3-day $6.5M (-28%)/Total $78.5M/ Wk 4

4.) Everything Everywhere All at Once (A24) 2,220 (+970) theaters, Fri $1.9M, Sat $2.4M, Sun $1.85M, 3-day $6.1M (+1%)/Total $17.7M/Wk 4
A fantastic hold here by the Daniels/AGBO movie. People are finding it, and I hear $20M is in store. May the riches reign upon the arthouses.

5.) Father Stu (Sony) 2,705 theaters, Fri $1.68M/Sat $2.2M, Sun $1.8M, 3-day $5.68M/Total $8M/Wk 1

6.) Morbius (Sony) 3,462 (-806) theaters, Fri $1.57M (-46%), Sat $1.98M, Sun $1.1M, 3-day $4.7M (-54%)/Total $65.1M/Wk 3

7.) Ambulance (Uni) 3,412 theaters, Fri $1.3M (-59%), Sat $1.6M, Sun $1.08M, 3-day $4.04M (-54%)/Total $15.6M/Wk 2

8.) The Batman(WB) 2,535 (-719) theaters Fri $1.3M (-28%), Sat $1.56M, Sun $940K,  3-day: $3.8M (-41%) Total $365M/Wk 7

9.) K.F.G. Chapter 2 (Sia) 510 theaters, Fri $527K Sat $573K, Sun $386K, 3-day $1.486M/Total $2.9M/Wk 1

10.) K.F.G. Chapter 2 (Viva, Hindi) 300 theaters $497K, Sat $518K, Sun $373K, 3-day $1.38M/Total $1.7M/Wk 1

 

via Deadline

‘Sonic the Hedgehog 2’ Breaks Video Game Adaptations Record with $71 Million Debut at the BO!!

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is outstripping the three-day opening results of its 2020 original movie — which, keep in mind, was over a holiday weekend — with $71M. For Jim Carrey, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is his biggest domestic opener on a three-day basis, beating the $68M start of Bruce Almighty in 2003.

Sonic 2‘s updated gross is after an estimated $26M Saturday, which was up 1% against Friday plus previews of $26.8M. Technically speaking, the Jeff Fowler-directed sequel was up 30% on Saturday over Friday if you back out previews.

Paramount Theatrical Distribution Boss Chris Aronson beamed, “Sonic 2‘s record opening is a victory for Paramount and for the industry at large. The filmmakers did an amazing job of crafting a film that is both in service of Sonic’s legions of fans as well as the general and family audience. Growing a franchise is no small feat and having an opening +22% over the first film is a remarkable achievement. Kudos to the filmmakers and to the marketing and distributions teams at Paramount for doing a fantastic job in bringing the film into the global marketplace!”

Knock on wood, it’s going to be fun to see the legs on this one and how vibrant a Sonic movie can truly be in the market, especially for a sector that has been starving for movies. The first movie’s momentum was stalled by Covid and the closing of movie theaters, the pic making close to 50% of its $148.9M final domestic in its first four days.

Critics at 68% Rotten didn’t curtail business for the Hedgehog as he received an A CinemaScore, the same grade as the first film, with an 87% positive and 74% recommend on Comscore/Screen Engine’s PostTrak with kids under 12 jumping up and down at 95% positive and a 79% definite recommend.

Demos were 61% guys, 39% women with 32% under 17, and 46% between 18-34 years old. Diversity demos showed a strong turnout among Latino and Hispanic audiences of 38%, Caucasian at 29%, 20% Black and 13% Asian/other. Sonic was great everywhere, but showed power on the coasts and in the South. PLFs by Saturday AM drove 22% of ticket sales.

The audience was made up of 27% parents, 31% kids and 42% general.

EntTelligence says 6M admissions were closed for Sonic 2. Matinee attendance was strong on Saturday with almost 56% of the audience attending before 5PM.  Thirty-one percent came between 5PM to 8PM, and 13% after 8PM. On Friday, approximately 31% of the audience came before 5PM, 46% came during the 5PM to 8PM dayparts, and 23% of patrons showed up after 8PM.  By comparison, Encanto had over 83% of their audience see the film before 8PM on opening day. Average ticket price for Sonic 2 was $11.69.

iSpot monitored that Paramount spent just under $18M on U.S. TV spots that yielded 717M impressions with the campaign running on NBC, Nick, CBS, USA and Univision on such shows as the Winter Olympics, SpongeBob, men’s college basketball, and of course the Super Bowl LVI pregame and NBA games.

Social awareness for Sonic 2 per RelishMix before the weekend stood at 468.6M and 29% above the social media universe of family-live-action movies across Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. And, it also runs in-line with the first installment of Sonic which opened two years ago, just before the pandemic, and exceeded predictions for that opening weekend at $58M. Included, is the 11.7M social/digital kick from the Super Bowl pre-game spot and social pages for the movie at 568K which is strong. The franchise based on the 31 year old video game, has social cross-promotional integration from the Sega game platform (4.3M) and the Sonic The Hedgehog social media (13.1M). RelishMix noticed that the word of mouth was positive for Sonic 2 and that “expectations and love for Jim Carrey as Dr. Eggman, and concerns as to whether this this will be his ‘last film’ are building interest even more.”

The weekend’s other wide opener, Michael Bay’s Ambulance from Universal, saw $3.3M on Saturday, the same as yesterday for $8.7M in 4th place (this is as of Saturday night). Those who bought tickets love the movie with an A- CinemaScore. However, there was a disparity with PostTrak exits which were much lower at 77% positive, and 61% recommend. Older guy heavy as expected at 62%, 77% over 25 with 49% over 35 years old. Diversity demos were 38% Caucasian, 29% Latino and Hispanic, 22% Black and 11% Asian/other. West and Southwest were the best areas of play for the action pic with Imax accounting for 14% of ticket sales, and nine of the top ten runs coming from the large format exhibitor and another 7% from PLFs. According to EntTelligence, Ambulance pulled in 675K admissions this weekend, with over 35% of the audience coming after 8PM on Friday and 27% attending after 8PM on Saturday.

iSpot shows that Uni spent an enormous amount of cash on TV spots at $33M. This includes NBCUniversal owned networks, which generated 819M impressions. Spots aired across NFL games, men’s college basketball, the Winter Olympics, NBA games and The Big Bang Theory re-runs.

A24 this AM reported that their wide expansion of Everything Everywhere All at Once is in 6th place with $6M, the best weekend of the year for a platform release (Yes, they still work; not all indie movies are 17 days). A24 will continue to expand the movie in the next few weeks. The Daniels directed movie wasn’t just beloved by critics at 97% Certified Fresh after two weekends of limited play, however, PostTrak measured 89% positive, and a great 77% recommend. Guys bought tickets at 64%, with 61% over 25, and 69% between 18-34. Diversity demos were 45% Caucasian, 19% Asian, 19% Latino and Hispanic, 13% Black and 4% other. Coasts saw the best business with nine of the top ten runs; which isn’t unusual for an A24 release. Best markets were LA, NY, San Francisco, Dallas, Washington DC, Seattle, Denver, Toronto, San Diego, and Austin. Data from Tubular Labs showed trailers from A24 garnered 29.1 million views across Twitter, YouTube and Facebook.

Comscore reports that all movies this weekend grossed $118.6M, +7% when compared to the 2nd weekend of April 2019, which grossed $111.1M.

Top 6 Movies; we’ll have more updates for you later this morning:

1.) Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Par) 4,234 theaters, Fri $26.5M, Sat $26.8M, Sun $17.7M, 3-day $71M/Wk 1

2.) Morbius (Sony) 4,268 theaters, Fri $2.9M, Sat $4.4M, Sun $2.8M, 3-day $10.2M (-74%)/Total $57M/Wk 2

3.) The Lost City (Par) 3,797 (-486) theaters Fri. $2.56M, Sat $4M, Sun $2.55M,, 3-day $9.1M (-38%)/Total $68.8M/ Wk 3

4.) Ambulance (Uni) 3,412 theaters, Fri $3.2M, Sat, $3.3M, Sun $2.2M, 3-day $8.7M/Wk 1

5.) The Batman(WB) 3,254 (-478) theaters Fri $1.75M, Sat $2.9M, Sun $1.9M, 3-day: $6.5M (-41%) Total $358.8M/Wk 6

6.) Everything Everywhere All at Once (A24) 1,250 (+1,212) theaters, Fri $2.1M, Sat $2.1M, Sun $1.7M, 3-day $6.05M (+505%)/Total $8.4M/Wk 3

7.) Uncharted (Sony) 2,318 (-746) theaters, Fri  $735K Sat $1.2M Sun $710K, 3-day $2.65M (-28%), Total $142.9M/Wk 8

8.) Jujutsu Kaisen (Crunch) 850 (-1,220) theaters, Fri $230K, Sat $345K, Sun $250K, 3-day $825K (-58%), Total $33.1M/Wk 4

9.) Spider-Man: No Way Home (Sony) 1,009 (-696) theaters, Fri $170k, Sat $288K, Sun $167K, 3-day $625K, -57%, Total $803.8M/Wk 17

10.) RRR (Sarigama Cinemas) 350 (-515) theaters, Fri $151K, Sat $248K, Sun $171K, 3-day $570K (65%), Total $13.66M/Wk 3

via Deadline

‘Morbius’ Tops Weekend with Solid $39 Million Opening at the BO!!

Sony’s Morbius is playing more like a horror movie: All the fans came out on Thursday night and Friday, with Saturday taking a 25% hit for a now $39.1M result. The pic’s worldwide start stands at $84M.

This is a glass half-full scenario right now at the box office. Considering their hardships during the pandemic, exhibition can’t be upset with this opening. Not only is it on an exclusive theatrical window from Sony, Morbius‘ start here is higher than last weekend’s The Lost City ($30.4M), and part of April’s back-to-back tentpole machine leading into May 6’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. 

At the same time, we’ve seen better from Sony’s own handling of Marvel. Look, no one was expecting this movie to be Ant-Man in regards to its caliber. It was buzzed all throughout the pandemic by distribution and exhibition sources that Morbius wasn’t exactly up to snuff, and clearly the C+ CinemaScore and 2 1/2 star word of mouth of it all seeped in over the weekend.

Heading into Friday, tracking had been wild about this movie, projecting $40M-$50M stateside. Morbius‘ results this weekend will at least reset some box office diagnostic firms to not shoot for the moon. While the 18-34 bunch have shown a rabid appetite to return to cinemas as the pandemic eases, particularly to comic book movies, at the end of the day, box office market forces haven’t changed: Unfortunately, you can’t overperform on a poorly reviewed and audience-received movie (that was something in the ’90s and the early aughts, which was very feasible to do). Twenty-three percent told PostTrak the movie was below their expectations, while 18% said that it exceeded their expectations, and 60% said it met their expectations.

In all fairness to Sony, they saw Morbius at $38M Saturday morning; everyone else had it higher. Sony’s own estimate heading into the weekend was a low $33M.

In regards to franchise building, I think Sony’s intent is to simply exploit the Marvel characters in its arsenal (they apparently have access to 900), many of them supporting characters or villains in the Spider-Man universe. Can’t fault any studio sitting on a prized asset with those business maneuvers, and credit to Sony Pictures Entertainment Chairperson Tom Rothman and Sony Motion Picture Group President Sanford Panitch for rolling the dice on a deeper universe Marvel anti-hero. It’s likely we’ll see Morbius costarring in another Sony Marvel movie, versus a sequel. It would be hard to make a sequel to Morbius: Even if the reviews on part 2 are through the roof, it’s very hard, business-wise, to convince the audience of that, and bring them back.

On the upside for Sony, they’ll have the benefit of steering Morbius through a theatrical window/ancillary model. Sony also kept the budget low here at a reported $75M net (some have even told me $83M); not the standard $100M-$200M+ associated with other Marvel movies. The pay deals with Netflix and Disney+, plus International territory deals, are poised to make Morbius profitable, according to one film finance source this morning. Remember, even the worst-received theatrical titles find a home audience; and being on a cinema marquee is the best and biggest form of advertisement for any movie, versus getting lost on a streaming queue.

Imax accounted for $3M of Morbius‘ business from 400 auditoriums in the US/Canada. Men over 25 were the most dominant at 35% (59% grade), followed by men under 25 at 27% (59%), women over 25 at 23% (best grade for the Leto movie at 72%), and women under 25 at 15% (65%). EntTelligence reports that 3M people watched Morbius this weekend, with 26% of the audience arrive after 8 PM on Saturday, which is very similar to The Batman, which grabbed 27% of it’s first Saturday’s attendance during the night-time hours.

1.) Morbius (Sony) 4,268 theaters, Fri $17.3M, Sat $13.2M, Sun $8.6M, 3-day $39.1M/Wk 1

2.) The Lost City (Par) 4,253 theater Fri. $4.3M (-63%), Sat $6.3M, Sun $4.1M, 3-day $14.8M (-51%)/Total $54.5M/ Wk 2

3.) The Batman(WB) 3,732 (-235) theaters Fri $3.1M (-44%), Sat $4.8M, Sun $2.9M, 3-day: $10.8M (-47%) Total $349M/Wk 5
The Matt Reeves is clicking past $700M today. Theatrical is alive.

4.) Uncharted (Sony) 3,064 (-352) theaters, Fri $1M (-23%), Sat $1.6M, Sun $950K, 3-day $3.6M (-27%)/Total $138.9M/Wk 7

5.) Jujutsu Kaisen 0 (Crunchy) 2,070 (-401) theaters, Fri $564K (-57%), Sat $824K, Sun $582K, 3-day $1.97M (-57%) /Total $31.3M/ Wk 3

6.) RRR (Sarigama Cinemas) 1,200 theaters, Fri $442K (-92%), Sat $710K, Sun $461K, 3-day $1.6M (-83%)/Total $12.3M/Wk 2

7) Spider-Man: No Way Home (Sony) 1,705 (-298) theaters, Fri $375K, Sat $650K, Sun $375K, 3-day $1.4M (-29%)/Total $802.7M/Wk 16

8.) Dog (UAR) 2,053 (-786) theaters, Fri $360K (-38%), Sat $599K, Sun $360K, 3-day $1.31M (-38%)/Total $60.1M/Wk 7

9.) X (A24) 1,799 (-1,121) theaters, Fri $331,55K (-54%), Sat $418,3K, Sun $271,9K,  3-day $1.02M (-52%)/Total $10.39M/ Wk 3

10.) Everything Everywhere All at Once (A24) 38 (+28) theaters, Fri $354,9K (+74%), Sat $375,4K, Sun $281,5K,  3-day $1.01M (+102%), Total $1.75M/Wk 2
The Daniels’ directed fantasy martial arts family movie has a per theater of $26,6K, which is spectacular for a second weekend in a row per screen. The movie goes wide next weekend at 1,200 theaters.

11.) Sing 2 (Uni/Ill) 2,095 (-528) theaters, Fri $190K (-36%), Sat $390K, Sun $250K, 3-day $830K (-40%)/Total: $161.7M/Wk 15

12.) The Contractor (Par) 489 locations, Fri $195K, Sat $213K, Sun $127K, 3-day: $535K/Wk 1

 

via Deadline

‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Crosses $800 Million Milestone; Becomes Third Film Ever to Domestically!!

As if it hadn’t broken enough records already, Sony‘s Spider-Man: No Way Home will become the third film in history to cross the $800 million mark domestically this weekend. The superhero extravaganza is poised to make $1.85 million in its 15th weekend, for a running domestic total of $800.4 million.

The two other films that have made more than $800 million domestically (unadjusted for inflation, of course) are Star Wars: The Force Awakens ($936 million) and Avengers: Endgame ($858 million). No Way Home has outperformed hits such as Avatar, Black Panther, and The Avengers. Internationally, the film has made nearly $1.9 billion after opening to record-breaking numbers in December.

It’s safe to say that No Way Home performed about as well as it would have in non-pandemic times. It boggles the mind to speculate just how much better it would have done under normal circumstances. But despite everything, No Way Home still has numerous records to its name. It is the highest-grossing film of 2021, the highest-grossing Spider-Man film, and the highest-grossing film released by Sony. It also registered the second-biggest domestic opening weekend of all time ($260 million), behind Endgame, delivered the biggest December debut of all time, and became the first film since 2019’s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker to make more than $1 billion at the worldwide box office.

Starring Tom Holland as the titular superhero, the film was notable for bringing back cast members from two previous Spider-Man film series. Tobey Maguire, who played the character in a trilogy of hits directed by Sam Raimi, and Andrew Garfield, who took over the role in two films directed by Marc Webb, appeared in supporting roles in No Way Home. This was made possible by a plot device involving the splitting open of the multiverse.

This was Holland‘s sixth appearance as the character. He first played Peter Parker/Spider-Man in 2016’s Captain America: Civil War. He reprised the role in two Avengers films — Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame — as well as two solo Spider-Man movies, Spider-Man: Homecoming and Spider-Man: Far From Home. Each of his three Spidey films has been directed by Jon Watts.

The actor is expected to return as Spider-Man in more films, according to reassurances made by Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige, although no official announcements about this have been made yet. Both Garfield and Maguire have also spoken about their willingness to return for more adventures. No Way Home became available on digital earlier this month. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates!

via Collider

‘The Lost City’ Dethrones ‘The Batman’ with $31 Million Debut at the BO!!

In what is a record opening during the pandemic for a female-driven feature, Paramount’s Sandra Bullock-Channing Tatum romantic comedy adventure The Lost City is opening to $31M after a $11.55M Friday and $11.8M Saturday.

While the older female demographic has been known to be cautious about moviegoing during the pandemic, they indeed showed up at 61% overall, with those over 35 repping close to half the crowd. Previously, over Valentine’s Day weekend, two-glossy female targeted movies tried to deliver, but did not in their openings: Death on the Nile ($12.8M) and Marry Me ($7.9M).

Moreover, give it up for an original piece of content opening at the box office off of sheer star power, and not brand IP.

“It’s kind of a throwback,” says Paramount Domestic Distribution Boss Chris Aronson this morning. “But it shows that movies still matter.”

“This is very much a crowd-pleasing movie, and it points toward people want to laugh and they want to be entertained after the last two years we’ve been through,” added Aronson about feature comedy’s return at the B.O.

Lost City‘s debut ranks second for Paramount during the pandemic, behind A Quiet Place Part II ($47.5M). It’s the studio’s third movie to open at No 1 this year, after Scream and Jackass Forever.

In the switch-off from Jim Gianopulos to Brian Robbins as Paramount Studios boss, the latter was immediately painted by the media as a guy who was primed to embrace theatrical day-and-date, as Paramount Global board chair Shari Redstone looked to mushroom the studio’s fledgling streaming service Paramount+. Not true: This guy isn’t going to burn down a great theatrical slate to keep warm. His talent and experience is in building franchises, and that’s on the streaming and the theatrical side.

As the box office bounces back, industry executives are reminded about the riches inherent in the ancillary model, especially in the streaming age. Even though Marvel departed Paramount for Disney a while ago, the former studio is still franchise-rich in its Nickelodeon, Hasbro, etc. IP, and that’s currency which will go a long way for a long time. Even the younger-skewing stuff, when made at the right price, is a box office cash cow.

Talking to Deadline at SXSW, Bullock said that she had read Lost City a few years ago, “But I said ‘No’, this is outdated, it had been on the shelf for seven years.”

“Then it was brought back to me by Elizabeth Raposo, who was at Paramount at that time, and she said, ‘You can do what you want with it.,” adds the Oscar winning actress, who is also a producer there.

“As soon as you’re given that allowance, you can see things that you couldn’t see before, because there weren’t a bunch of attachments to it,” adds Bullock.

She called producer Liza Chasin to develop the project, and they found their hook in Couples Retreat and Cruella scribe Dana Fox.

“You know how hard it is to find a writer with this tone of action, comedy, drama, it’s not easy, and Dana Fox is one of the top writers for that very reason,” says Bullock. The Nee Brothers, who were hot around town with their VFX pitch of Bumblebee, won Chasin and Bullock over, with the film ultimately shooting down in the Dominican Republic during Covid for a reported net budget of $68M.

“Sandy set out to make a movie to entertain people, and boy, did people respond,” adds Aronson.

Bullock didn’t speculate on a sequel at interview time. However, if she’s making something that’s greater than Lost City, it’s with Fox.

Lost City‘s weekend number is in the range from other Bullock pre-pandemic openers, such as the comedy The Heat ($39M) and The Proposal ($34M). It’s a number many in distribution circles were expecting, and continues to prove that theatrical isn’t broken, especially for comedies and female-driven fare, which have largely been jettisoned to streamers. Comedies still work on the big screen, and Lost City played like a rock concert during its world premiere at SXSW at the Paramount Theatre on March 12.

Box office analytics corp EntTelligence clocked 935K admissions for Lost City‘s opening day, and 2.6M admissions for the weekend. The average ticket price for the pic was $11.66. The major circuits didn’t upcharge on Lost City like they did for Batman. Saturday matinees were strong for Lost City, with over 46% of the audience coming before 5PM. Approximately 36% of the audience came between 5PM and 8PM, and 18% came after 8PM.

The Lost City overperformed west of the Mississippi, and was at norm in the Southeast. Canada repped 7.54% market share on 8% of total locations. Top markets that overperformed included Salt Lake City, Phoenix, Denver, Tampa, Minneapolis, Portland OR, Kansas City, Indianapolis, Albuquerque, Honolulu, and Oklahoma City, while the top markets that under-indexed include NY, Chicago, Houston, Atlanta, Philadelphia, and Boston. Top grossing theaters hailed from LA, Orlando, Salt Lake City, Albuquerque, NYC, San Antonio, Phoenix, Pharr TX, OKC, El Paso, Denver, Nashville, Dallas, Canton OH, Colorado Springs, and Toronto.

Premium large format screens, we hear, are driving 21% of ticket sales. Diversity demos were 61% Caucasian, 21% Latino and Hispanic, 6% Black, and 7% Asian. Cinemascore here is a B+, with 81% on PostTrak and a 61% recommend, which is very good for this type of movie right now. Rotten Tomatoes’ audience meter is a bit higher at 86%.

Ahead of opening, social media monitor RelishMix spotted positive conversation for Lost City, with those online “making unending comparisons to Romancing the Stone and The Jewel Of The Nile — with enthusiasm for the playful onscreen chemistry of Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum, and boiling screams of joy for Brad Pitt.” Total reach across Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok combined is 125.3M social media followers, “exceeding genre norms for action-adventure-comedy,” says RelishMix, with Tatum posts spiking with a super Instagram post at 3.1M views, plus a solid stack of YouTube materials driving 56.6M views.

Tatum is the social media champ here for the pic, engaging 45.6M fans, and driving cast activation on the film at 96%, while also repping 36% of the pic’s entire SMU reach. Other cast members Bullock, Daniel Radcliffe, and Brad Pitt are hot topics in social chatter, but are socially off-the-grid.

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A post shared by Channing Tatum (@channingtatum)

The Lost City campaign launched with a trailer in December with a custom intro by Bullock, Tatum, and Radcliffe, which ultimately yielded over 170M views to date. Ad spots ran during the Winter Olympics and Super Bowl LVI. iSpot estimates that Paramount spent $27M on TV ads stateside across NBC (27.8%), ESPN (6.6%), CBS (4.9%), ABC (4.8%) and Food Network (4.3%), with ads also running on Survivor, Sports Center and Today.

While we have some depth in the box office chart, with The Batman seeing a fourth weekend of $20.5M,  RRR now seeing the second-best opening for an Indian movie at $9.5M stateside, and Spider-Man: No Way Home clicking past $800M, we’re still used to seeing more depth at the weekend box office. All ticket sales look to be coming in at $81.5M, which is 45% off of weekend 12 in 2019. That’s when Universal’s Us drove all movies to a $148.8M weekend. Looking under the hood of that weekend, Jordan Peele’s Us rang up a $71.1M opening, while Disney’s third weekend of Captain Marvel did $34.2M.

The ticket prices for the three-hour action movie RRR, which includes an intermission, are being charged at specialty event prices at $22.54 per seat, according to EntTelligence. The pic is booked at 1,200 theaters and notched a $4.5M Thursday preview, the highest ever recorded for an Indian title in US/Canada.

Unfortunately, Saturday ticket sales fell apart, according to industry estimates, with $2.5M, making S.S. Ramajouli’s RRR the second best opening for an Indian movie stateside after his own stateside record with 2017’s Baahubali 2: The Conclusion, which opened to $10.4M and finaled at $20.8M, per Comscore. RRR played best in the East and the South, with the top 10 theater delivering over $50K, and 46 bookings seeing over $25K. Specialty cinema is very much alive, and it’s with Indian epics.

With the major studios not sopping up all the theaters just yet, Bleecker Street took its Naomi Watts thriller Infinite Storm much wider than intended with 1,525 theaters in 187 markets. The survival mountain climber blizzard movie didn’t wow critics at 59% rotten, and froze out PostTrak audiences at 55%. Any money came from the coasts, with NYC Lincoln Square doing $2K to date. Friday looks to be $262K, and the weekend a not-very-powerful $751,2K, for a $492 theater average for a No. 10 slot.

Also in another big plus sign for arthouses during the pandemic is the Daniels’ martial arts fantasy Everything Everywhere All at Once which racked up a $203,9K Friday at ten theaters for a $20K average and very strong numbers across the board in NYC, LA, and respectable results in San Francisco, where the pic is booked at the New Mission, Metreon, & Kabuki. The opening for the AGBO produced movie per A24 is $509,6K. That’s a $50,965 theater average which is the second-best opening theater average during the pandemic for a platform release after MGM/UAR’s Licorice Pizza ($86K) — and the best opening theater average of 2022 to date. The Daniels’ previous A24 movie, Swiss Army Man, opened to $105,4K in three theaters back in June 2016 for a $35,1K theater average. Bravo, A24.

A24 is looking to make this a platform arthouse event, similar to its 2014 spring hit Ex Machina, but even bigger with an Imax screening event across top markets on Wednesday ahead of a nationwide launch on April 8. Already there were sold-out Imax engagements, with exit polls in the 90s. As we told you prior, A24 fired Everything Everywhere All at Once off at SXSW’s opening night to a rapturous response. 

On the other end of the arthouse spectrum, there’s Sony Pictures Classics’ Mothering Sunday, a very naughty R-rated, Merchant-Ivory type of film by filmmaker Eva Husson about a maid living in post-World War I England who secretly plans to meet with the man she loves before he leaves to marry another woman. The pic, which launched at Cannes last summer, got a 76% from critics on Rotten Tomatoes. That score needs to be higher to draw this cautious over 50 crowd back. Five runs in NY and LA are seeing an estimated $10,7K for a low $2,1K per theater.

In regards to the Oscar’s halo effect for Best Picture nominees, it’s sad — there really wasn’t that much, nor did these films really wow on streaming, as we previously reported. Should Coda take home Best Picture tonight, the boom will be in subscriptions.

Final Sunday reported studio figures:

1.) The Lost City (Par) 4,253 theater Fri. $11.55M, Sat $11.8M, Sun $7.65M, 3-day $31M/Wk 1

2.) The Batman(WB) 3,967 (-335) theaters Fri $5.5M (-49%), Sat $9.1M, Sun $5.9M, 3-day: $20.5M (-44%) Total $332M/Wk 4

3.) RRR (Sarigama Cinemas) 1,200 theaters, Fri $5.4M, Sat $2.5M, Sun $1.6M, 3-day $9.5M/Wk 1

4.) Uncharted (Sony) 3,416 (-284) theaters, Fri $1.3M (-42%), Sat $2.2M, Sun $1.3M, 3-day $5M (-36%)/Total $133.5M/Wk 6

5.) Jujutsu Kaisen 0 (Crunchy) 2,400 (+103) theaters, Fri $1.3M (-85%), Sat $1.88M, Sun $1.39M, 3-day $4.58M (-69%)/Total $27.6M/ Wk 2

6.) X (A24) 2,920 (+55) theaters, Fri $715,5K (-60%) 3-day $2.2M (-48%)/Total $8.3M/ Wk 2

7.) Dog (UAR) 2,839 (-468) theaters, Fri $578K (-51%), Sat $987K, Sun $543K, 3-day $2.1M (-47%)/Total $57.8M/Wk 6

8) Spider-Man: No Way Home (Sony) 2,003 (-582) theaters, Fri $505K, Sat $915K, Sun $580K/3-day $2M (-35%)/Total $800.5M/Wk 15

9.) Sing 2 (Uni/Ill) 2,626 (+788) theaters, Fri $290K (-28%), Sat $620K, Sun $370K, 3-day $1.28M (-12%)/Total: $160.2M/Wk 14

10.) Infinite Storm (BST) 1,525 theaters, Fri $269K, Sat $299K, Sun $182,5K, 3-day $751,2K, Wk 1

 

via Deadline

‘The Batman’ Crosses $300 Million Domestically as ‘Jujutsu Kaisen 0’ Opens Strong at the BO!!

In a weekend without major studio wide releases, Crunchyroll’s anime prequel Jujutsu Kaisen 0 is providing cash to exhibition. On Friday, including previews, the pic did $8.7M I’m informed, another $5.4M on Saturday for a solid $17.7M weekend in 2nd; which is 17% under the $21.2M opening of Funimation’s Demon Slayer last April. Box office analytics firm EntTelligence reports that 1.3M bought tickets to Jujutsu Kaisen 0 vs. Demon Slayer‘s first weekend which drew 1.6M. Not bad.

Of course, Warner Bros.’ The Batman is No. 1 with a third weekend of $36.8M, down a very good 45%, and sending its running total to $300.1M by EOD. Among third weekends at the box office for Warner Bros, The Batman‘s is the third-best, after Dark Knight ($42.6M) and Wonder Woman ($41.2M). People love this movie. Just another $31M and The Batman will have surpassed 2015’s Batman v. Superman‘s domestic B.O. ($330.3M); another $35M until it clocks past Aquaman ($335.1M). Friday for The Batman came in at 10.6M, -43% from a week ago.

Worldwide, The Batman is $1.9M shy of $600M. Of that global haul, $47.6M was generated at Imax hubs. Breaking that further down, $28.5M is the running total for The Batman in U.S./Canada Imax auditoriums. Imax is celebrating that its lifetime global box office has just clicked $10 billion.

EntTelligence reports that The Batman has the second best number of admissions during the pandemic to date with 23M through 17 days, just behind the 50M racked up by Sony’s Spider-Man: No Way Home over the same frame. Shang-Chi during its first 17 days pulled in 14.2M while Venom: Let There Be Carnage clocked 13.7M admissions.

A24’s horror movie X did $1.77M on Friday and takes fourth place with $4.4M at 2,865 theaters, fueled by venues in the Southwest, where nine of the top ten theaters came from. In standard fashion, it’s the type of A24 release that divides critics and audiences, with a 95% certified fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and 68% on Comscore’s PostTrak audience exits, along with a low 45% recommend. The Ti West-directed and written movie skewed 55% male, 73% between 18-34, with diversity demos of 50% Caucasian, 22% Latino and Hispanic, 12% Black, and 16% Asian/other. Among A24’s wide releases during the pandemic, X is lower than The Green Knight‘s $6.7M start (which got to a final domestic of $17.1M, a 2.6x multiple) and ahead of Zola‘s $1.2M. But that was only on roughly half the number of theaters that X is playing at.

Jujutsu Kaisen 0 wins on both fronts with critics (100%) and audiences (93% positive, 81% recommend on updated PostTrak through last night). Kids under 12 were also excellent in exits, at 95% and a 88% recommend. Men showed up at 61% and 75% between 18-34. Diversity demos were a heavy 32% Latino and Hispanic, 25% Caucasian, 20% Asian, and 17% Black. Jujutsu played to great numbers everywhere, with close to 170 runs over $10K and just over 500 theaters doing $5k on Friday alone.

Very strong numbers on the coasts in Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Seattle. The pic is boosted by plays in 4DX, Dbox, and PLFs. Prints are subtitled in Japanese and English-dubbed. Jujutsu Kaisen 0 is the first movie to be released under the newly-unified Crunchyroll. Earlier this month, it was announced that all Funimation global group brands were brought under the Crunchyroll banner by Sony Pictures Entertainment.

All of this amounts to a total estimated weekend for all movies of $86M per industry calculations, which is 38% off the same weekend 11 in 2019 ($139.8M). Realize that Disney had the second weekend of Captain Marvel during that frame three years ago ($67.9M), and there were three new wide releases. Arguably, it’s not demand that the box office is lacking now, but product. According to Comscore, rolling spring breaks began this weekend with 22% K-12 schools out on Friday and 8% colleges. This seems like a missed opportunity for the majors by sitting out. However, everyone was so concerned about Omicron that they delayed their releases and marketing spends. Next weekend, Paramount finally delivers the Sandra Bullock-Channing Tatum movie The Lost City, which I hear is eyeing a $20M-$30M opening.

Separately, after Paramount debuted The Lost City to a fun-filled, rowdy premiere at SXSW a week ago, the studio with Fandango held early access paid previews last night. We hear that two thirds of the screenings were sold out and near 83% capacity across all showtimes. Top grossing theaters came from Boise, Salt Lake City, Nashville, Los Angeles, Columbus OH, Paramus NJ, Dallas, San Francisco, Washington DC, Seattle, Dayton, Minneapolis, Boston, Denver, and San Diego.

Focus Features has the Mark Rylance movie The Outfit cracking the top 10, with $530K on Friday at 1,324 theaters, for what is a $1.5M opening, with most of that money from the coasts. The Graham Moore-directed and cowritten title follows an expert tailor who must outwit a dangerous group of mobsters in order to survive a fateful night. Critics liked the movie more than audiences, 90% certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes to 74% positive on PostTrak and 55% recommend. Guy leaning here at 56% with close to 60% over 35 and 40% over 45. Diversity demos were 60% Caucasian, 15% Latino and Hispanic, 10% Black and 15% Asian/other.

The Vivek Agnihotri-directed title The Kashmir Files from Zee Studios did $413K on Friday at 230 theaters, on its way to a $1.485M opening for a near $7K theater average. If you want to know where the specialty box office is alive during the pandemic, it’s here, with this Hindi-language movie. The pic is based on video interviews of the first generation victims of the Genocide of Kashmiri Pandit Community in 1990. Booked in 81 markets, The Kashmir Files is seeing strong numbers in New York, Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco, Seattle, Austin, and Toronto.

Sony/Stage 6’s Sandra Oh horror movie Umma at 805 theaters is seeing a $915K opening off of bad reviews at 21% Rotten and awful audience scores of 52% on PostTrak. Women bought tickets at 57%, with 61% between 18-34. Diversity demos were 42% Caucasian, 19% Latino and Hispanic, 18% Black, 17% Asian and 4% other.

Weekend Top 10 chart updated as of Sunday AM:

1.) The Batman (WB) 4,302 (-115) theaters Fri $10.6M (-43%)/Sat $15.9M/Sun $10.3M/3-day: $36.8M (-45%) Total $300.1M/Wk 3

2.) Jujutsu Kaisen 0 (Crunchy) 2,297 theaters, Fri $8.7M/Sat $5.47M/Sunday $3.5M/3-day $17.7M/Wk 1

3.) Uncharted (Sony) 3,700 (-25) theaters, Fri $2.25M (-6%)/Sat $3.47M/Sun $2.26M/3-day $8M (-13%)/Total $125.8M/Wk 5

4.) X (A24) 2,865 theaters, Fri $1.77M, Sat $1.5M, Sun $1.11M, 3-day $4.4M/Wk 1

5.) Dog (UAR) 3,307 (-100) theaters, Fri $1.1M (-15%), Sat $1.8M, Sun $1.1M, 3-day $4.09M (-21%)/Total $54.2M/Wk 5

6.) Spider-Man: No Way Home (Sony) 2,585 (-117) theaters, Fri $875K (-10%) /Sat $1.42M/Sun $900K/ 3-day $3.2M (-21%)/Total $797.5M/Wk 14

7.) Death on the Nile (Dis) 2,050 (-380) theaters, Fri $498K (-25%)/Sat $761K/Sun $441k/3-day $1.7M (-29%)/Total $43.5M/Wk 6

8.) The Outfit (Foc) 1,325 theaters Fri $530K, Sat $590K, Sun $390K, 3-day $1.5M/Wk 1

9.) The Kashmir Files (Zee) 230 theaters, Fri $413K, Sat $613K, Sun $459K, 3-day $1.485M/Wk 1

10.) Sing 2 (Uni/Ill) 1,838 (-150) theaters, Fri $390K (+15%)/Sat $630K /Sun  $450K/3-day $1.48M (-8%)/Total: $158.4M/Wk 13

11.) Umma (Sony/Stage 6) 805 locations Fri $338K/Sat $352K/Sun $225K/ 3-day $915K/Wk 1

via Deadline

‘The Batman’ Continues Strong Hold with $66 Million at the BO!!

Even with AMC, Regal, and Cinemark reducing their ticket prices for the second weekend of Warner Bros.’ The Batman, the DC film had a phenomenal hold of -51% in weekend 2 with $66M. If you back out the $21.6M previews form last weekend’s $134M opening, the second weekend hold for the Matt Reeves movie is even better at -41%.

Batman‘s second weekend beats the second weekend hold of a Disney Marvel movie, which can post an average second weekend decline of -63%, and it’s ahead of previous DC movies’ second weekend eases, such as Batman v. Superman (-69%), and Dark Knight Rises (-61%), Justice League (-56%) and The Dark Knight (-53%).

Overall, excellent for a three-hour movie. Batman‘s running domestic cume through its second weekend will stand at $238.5M today. The pic clocked past $400M WW yesterday. It will soon pass a half-billion this week.

Imax and PLF drove 26% of Batman‘s second frame. However, we’re hearing that ticket sales are broadening out to non-format auditoriums.

Look around you: Moviegoing is returning; the only thing missing is arguably more product. Down here in SXSW, the back-to-back world premieres of Paramount’s Sandra Bullock-Channing Tatum movie The Lost City, and Lionsgate’s Nicolas Cage action satire The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, played like gangbusters at Austin TX’s Paramount Theatre. If those were test screenings last night, judging from the shared non-stop laughs between both films, it’s easy to project that the sky is the limit on both films. If you forgot what the experience was like to laugh and cheer with a crowded theater (Deadpool?), those movies were a screaming reminder.

RelishMix noticed the post-social chatter on the DC movie, reporting that it “runs positive as doubts are extinguished, with cast choices applauded for Robert Pattinson’s performance as an all-time best Batman performance, while fans continue to adore Nirvana’s music in the film, which was inspiration for Matt Reeves as he was writing the film.” YouTube videos popped most on social digital, adding 20.6M views for studio-owned and earned materials over the week. Official social pages for the film added 282K new fans, notably on Instagram, with Twitter and Facebook pages now totaling 1.3M for The Batman.

Zoe Kravitz’s super Instagram has surged up to 7.4M fans, adding 617K over the week, with images from the spicy new Ellen Von Unwerth photo Wonderland magazine, with portraits of the actress and Pattinson. In a further promo boost for the pic in theaters, Kravitz hosted SNL last night.

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A post shared by Zoë Kravitz (@zoeisabellakravitz)

Despite the pandemic calming down and the mask mandate easing in Los Angeles and New York, the middle of the box office is filled largely with holdovers. However, Trafalgar Releasing’s Saturday night stunt, BTS Permission to Dance on Stage – Seoul Live Viewing did great business, with $6.8M at 803 theaters in 170 markets, with an $8,5K theater average. The concert film even beat The Batman in 55 locations, and was a No. 2 in all the rest. Fantastic ticket sales here in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dallas, Houston, Chicago, Toronto, Vancouver, Sacramento, and Sat Lake City. Exhibition loves this type of one-night-only stuff, and there will only be more alternative programming in the future (it was already happening via Fathom, pre-pandemic).

Sony’s Spider-Man: No Way Home is still gunning toward $800M, but will stand at $792.2M by Sunday after a 13th weekend take of $4M, -11%, and a theatrical booking of 2,702 locations. That’s a theatrical hold that any rival distributor would envy three months after a pic’s release.

Had Disney kept Pixar’s Turning Red in theaters this weekend nationwide, that could have possibly delivered $20M-$30M+, at least providing a depth of dollars for exhibitors this weekend. True, you can argue that the studio didn’t know how long omicron would linger. But we got Sing 2 still hanging around in the top 10 of the box office 12 weekends after its release, with $1.55M. C’mon, Disney, you know families are heading out to the theater. I received an email about the Pixar movie playing the AMC Empire 25 in NYC. This is true, and it’s also playing the El Capitan in Hollywood. These are awards qualifying runs for the 2022-23 season.

Note that when Netflix launches a show or movie (outside their major awards season fare), they spend a very thrifty amount of money, relying squarely on their subscriber menu to launch a title.

But in the case of Disney with Turning Red, they’ve shelled out for the pic like it was a major theatrical release. Why? Likely the marketing money was already there and accounted for, but also they’re eager for the Disney+ subscribers. The bombardment of Turning Red ads on social media is arguably on par with what Lionsgate was pushing for Moonfall (and that studio did, in fact, push that movie).

iSpot shows that Disney spent $23M for US TV spots. That’s as much as they spent for Black Widow, and more than Jungle Cruise ($19.5M), Cruella ($12.6M), and what Netflix spent on Red Notice ads ($3.3M), that streamer’s most-watched movie ever.

Disney ran spots during the Winter Olympics, Big City Greens, Miraculous -Tale of Ladybug & Cat Noir, The Bachelor and Good Morning America. iSpot reports that Turning Red‘s trailer was the 16th-most-seen spot on all of TV since Feb. 21. Why didn’t Disney keep this movie in theaters? Again, they need the subscribers over at Disney+, given the billions they’re spending on streaming programming, which isn’t coming down the pipeline as fast as it needs to be. 

All-in, total weekend tickets sales stand at an estimated $106M with the Batman hold and BTS Saturday, -50% from the same weekend in 2019, which was when Disney had Captain Marvel, which boomed all tickets sales for that weekend to north of $210M.

Weekend Top 10, chart:

1.) The Batman (WB) 4,417 theaters Fri $18.8M (-66%)/Sat $28.6M/Sun $18.6M/3-day: $66M (-51%) Total $238.5M/Wk 2

2.) Uncharted (Sony) 3,725 (-150) theaters, Fri $2.4M (-19%)/Sat $4.1M/Sun $2.7M/3-day $9.25M (-17%)/Total $113.3M/Wk 4

3.) BTS Permission to Dance (Trag) 803 theaters, Sat $6.8M/Wk 1

4.) Dog (UAR) 3,407 (-100) theaters, Fri $1.38M (-13%)/Sat $2.4M/Sun $1.56M/3-day $5.3M (-13%)/Total $47.8M/Wk 4

5.) Spider-Man: No Way Home (Sony) 2,702 (-7) theaters, Fri $970K (-10%) /Sat $1.85M/Sun $1.25M/ 3-day $4M (-11%)/Total $792.2M/Wk 13

6.) Death on the Nile (Dis) 2,450 (-115) theaters, Fri $680K (-12%)/Sat $1.1M/Sun $692k/3-day $2.5M (-7%)/Total $40.8M/Wk 5

7.) Radhe Shyam (Alerion) 800 theaters, Fri $1.25M/Sat $350K/Sun $260K/ 3-day $1.86M/Wk 1

8.) Sing 2 (Uni/Ill) 1,988 (-38) theaters, Fri $340K /Sat $730K/Sun $510K /3-day $1.58M (-3%)/Total: $155.8M/Wk 12

9.) Jackass Forever(Par) 1,627 (-354) theaters, Fri $320K (-25%)/Sat $465K/Sun $315K/3-day $1.1M (-23%)/Total: $56.2M/Wk 6

10.)  Scream (Par) 664 (-189) theaters Fri $120K (-25%)/Sat $210K/Sun $115K/3-day $445M (-23%) /Total: $80.9M/Wk 9

 

via Deadline

‘The Batman’ Enacts His Vengeance with $128.5 Million Opening at the BO!!

In another clear sign that moviegoing is alive and well despite ceasing during the pandemic, Warner Bros.’ The Batman is delivering the second-best opening since 2019. That’s after Spider-Man: No Way Home with $128.5M after a $43.2M Saturday, which was -24% against the pic’s opening Friday+previews. Around the globe, Batman made $248.5M. There’s a very good chance by tomorrow AM that Batman could rise beyond $130M.

With an overseas take of $120M, Batman is the biggest international Industry opening this year to date, and the biggest WB opening weekend since Joker, and the studio’s best pandemic era foreign debut, sans China.

Batman is easily the best opening for Warner Bros. during the pandemic, the best opening for filmmaker Matt Reeves ahead of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes ($73M domestic, $104.3M WW), and, as of right now, the best domestic opening for 2022. Batman‘s opening further underscores the value in a big theatrical opening, and  that there is no upside in going theatrical day-and-date, which is a recipe for eroding revenues, and certainly doesn’t do any favors for propping any hardworking filmmaker or talent’s career. Where is the glory in hiding streaming figures?!

As Discovery Communications is set to merge with WarnerMedia as early as next month, the success here of Batman should serve as a reminder to CEO David Zaslav as to how theatrical continues to work vibrantly for the studio, and how executives like Chairman Motion Picture Group Boss Toby Emmerich and DC President Walter Hamada are instrumental for the momentum of the studio’s success as the pandemic eases and moviegoing re-surges.

There’s been word around town that Zaslav is bound to make staff cuts at the new merger; even talk of some new overall conglom head. However, Zaslav should be cognizant that when it ain’t broke, you don’t fix it. Let’s keep the Warner Bros.’ theatrical machine going, as it sets the table for other spinoffs, such as Reeves’ upcoming Penguin series, to make waves on streaming service HBO Max.

When Emmerich became President and Chief Content Office of Warner Bros. Pictures Group in 2017, for both Hamada and him, Reeves was their first choice to take the reigns of the next iteration of the The Dark Knight franchise. Reeves was initially reluctant, as a high bar had been set on Batman with films by Tim Burton and Christopher Nolan. However, the Let Me In filmmaker came around with a passionate pitch.

“When he pitched the first draft of the script, it harkened back to Batman as the world’s greatest detective,” Emmerich tells us this morning, “He talked about the Warner Bros. gangster movies of old and capturing that gangster DNA.”

Emmerich mentions that when he first sat down with Reeves, “I had his remake of the Scandinavian film, Let Me In, in my head.”

Batman was one of Emmerich’s first priorities in his promotion at Warner Bros, in addition to getting Joker greenlit. At the time of Emmerich taking over the Motion Picture Group, Patty Jenkins was in post on Wonder Woman, Zach Snyder was in post on Justice League, James Wan was shooting Aquaman, and Todd Phillips was writing The Joker. 

In regards to the gripping near three-hour runtime of Batman, Emmerich shared the NYC premiere’s audience atmosphere earlier this week, “The last time I went to a premiere in Alice Tully Hall was Seven, and on Tuesday night, Batman reminded me of that: The audience was rapt.”

A shorter version of Batman was tested. However, that cut didn’t test as well as the 2-hour, 55-minute version.

In regards to Emmerich’s vision for DC at Warner Bros, he responds, “The secret of the movie business is quality. It’s the best business strategy for both theatrical motion pictures and superhero movies. The movies don’t have to all have the same tone, or interlock with other DC movies, or have an Easter egg that sets up another film. Quality is the most important factor for a studio, and the biggest thing you can do to influence quality is the filmmaker that you hire.”

And for Warners, that guy is Reeves, who fits in the triumphant group of superhero filmmakers before him, including Burton, Nolan, and Richard Donner.

Presales for The Batman remained strong throughout the weekend, meaning they weren’t front-loaded. It indicates that those moviegoers who came out to see a near 3-hour movie literally made an appointment to go to the cinema. That speaks volumes about the U.S./Canada moviegoing appetite right now.

Overall ticket sales look to be around $162M for the weekend for all movies, +166% from last weekend, and +40% ahead of weekend 9 in 2019 (using industry and Box Office Mojo stats). Bravo. There are no major studio releases opening next weekend after Disney decided to move Pixar’s Turning Red exclusively to Disney+ (are ya sure ya wanted to do that, Disney?). That means next weekend is Batman‘s to own. Competition doesn’t enter the marketplace until March 25, with Paramount’s The Lost City. 

1.) The Batman (WB) 4,417 theaters Fri $57.1M/Sat $43.2M/Sun $28.2M/3-day $128.5M/Wk 1

2.) Uncharted (Sony) 3,875 (-400) theaters, Fri $3M (-49%)/Sat $4.9M/Sun $3.05M/3-day $11M (-52%)/Total $100.2M/Wk 3

3.) Dog (UAR) 3,507 (-320) theaters, Fri $1.6M (-35%)/Sat $2.7M/Sun $1.65M/ 3-day $6M (-41%)/Total $40M/Wk 3

4.) Spider-Man: No Way Home (Sony) 2,709 (-293) theaters, Fri $1.08M /Sat $2M/Sun $1.28M/ 3-day $4.4M (-24%)/Total $786.4M/Wk 12

5.) Death on the Nile (Dis) 2,565 (-855) theaters, Fri $772K (-36%)/Sat $1.22M/$728K/3-day $2.7M (-40%)/Total $37M/Wk 4

6.) Sing 2 (Uni/Ill) 2,026 (-356) theaters, Fri $330K (-21%)/Sat $720K/Sun $470K/3-day $1.52M (-32%)/Total: $153.5M/Wk 11

7.) Jackass Forever(Par) 1,981 theaters (-932), Fri $425K (-51%)/Sat $585K/Sun $350K/3-day $1.36M (-57%)/Total: $54.4M/Wk 5

8.) Cyrano (UAR) 797 theaters Fri $191K (-59%)/Sat $298K/Sun $194K/ 3-day $683K (-51%)/Total $2.57M/Wk 2

9.) Gangubai Kathiawadi (Hamsin) 280 (-205) theaters, Fri $160K/Sat $243K/Sun $189K/ 3-day $592k (-41%)/Total $1.7M/Wk 2

10.)  Scream (Par) 853 (-713) theaters Fri $160K (-54%)/Sat $265K/Sun $145K/ 3-day $570M (-57%) /Total: $80.2M/Wk 8

11.) Marry Me (Uni) 1,246 (-1,864) theaters Fri $160K (-70%)/Sat $240K/Sun $130K/ 3-day $530K (-72%)/Total $21.4M/Wk 4

 

via Deadline

‘Uncharted’ Sticks to Top Spot as the World Prepares for ‘The Batman’ to Rule at the BO!!

Before a big tentpole comes into the marketplace, there’s typically a lull at the box office. But it’s an even bigger lull when the major studios don’t have any new wide entries. Everyone is waiting for Warner Bros. The Batman next weekend, and many sources tell me it’s bound easily for a $100M+ opening, in fact $115M+, and the advance ticket sales are there to prove that.

This despite the 3-hour running time, and from what I hear (I haven’t seen it yet) is a more noir, detective story by director Matt Reeves than Christopher Nolan’s previous Dark Knight action-infused movies. iSpot shows Warner Bros. having already spent $28M+ in US TV spots (that’s even a big number from that data agency’s POV) across such shows as the Winter Olympics, NFL, Good Morning America, NBA games and Big Brother: Celebrity Edition. 

Note, Warners’ hasn’t weighed in on these industry projections at the time of writing. But also note, they’ll safely lowball. That said, no one sees it below $100M.

Until then, Sony’s Tom Holland-Mark Wahlberg movie, Uncharted, is maintaining a great hold in its second weekend with $23.2M, -47%, after a second Friday of $6M, -61% from last Friday and previews and $10.6M yesterday. By EOD, the Ruben Fleischer-directed take on the Sony PlayStation videogame looks to stand at $83.3M. Imax drove another $2M for Uncharted this weekend putting the large format exhib’s total at $7M domestic. All in Imax, so far, has made $15.7M around the world from Uncharted. 

United Artists Releasing/MGM’s second weekend of Channing Tatum’s Dogalso had a nice hold, -32%, with a second weekend of $10.1M, better than the $8.5M we saw yesterday, taking its ten-day cume to $30.8M.

So if everything is holding so well, why does the weekend box office still suck, with an anticipated weekend of $64M for all films? This weekend alone is -32% from last weekend.

The eighth weekend of the year in pre-pandemic 2020, post Presidents Day weekend, grossed $102.6M, per Box Office Mojo (led by second weekend of Sonic the Hedgehog at $26.1M), while the weekend at the same point in time in 2019 pulled in $128M, led by How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World with a $55M debut).

Again, we need more major studio-supported and driven product, more meat to fill the gap between the events films and specialty box office. This weekend’s wide release of Dave Grohl horror comedy Studio 666 from Open Road Films in 2,306 theaters won’t cut it, with an estimated $1.58M after a $725K Friday. Unfortunately, a niche movie like this doesn’t have the major studio spend.

At this point in time two years ago, Disney had 20th Century Studios’ upscale family movie Call of the Wild further bolstering the box office with a $24.7M opening, even though that title was a hollow victory, given its $135M production cost.

Studio 666 wasn’t for critics at 56% Rotten, and audiences weren’t excited at 66% positive and a 46% recommend. The numbers speak for themselves. Guys at 58% bought tickets, with 53% being 25-44, 73% between 18-44 and diversity demos standing at 69% Caucasian, 18% Latino and Hispanic, 3% Black and 10% Asian/other. Pic did 47% of its business on the coasts versus the 40% average. A majority of runs didn’t do a lot of business, I hear.

AMC Woodland Hills and Regal Sherman Oaks saw grosses boosted with personal appearances by Foo Fighters and Director BJ McDonnell on Friday. They landed among the top theaters alongside AMC Burbank, AMC Century City, AMC Alderwood – Seattle, AMC Westminster – Denver, Marcus Ronnie’s 20 Cinema, St. Louis; Regal Opry Mills Stadium 20, Nashville; AMC Empire 25, NYC and AMC River East, Chicago.

Social Media analytics firm RelishMix spotted a 97.9M social media universe for Studio 666 “in line with horror genre norms” and fueled by Foo Fighters’ SMU of 22.6M on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok, which “did the heavy lifting for all videos, plus the social for the band members at 4.1M.” Studio 666 videos were fed into The Foo Fighters’ YouTube channel with 3.3M subscribers, and were well-boosted, plus Sony UK in the mix for international. “Reposting runs moderate, but building across movie channels and fan channels at a total of 27.2M views for the six owned posts including additional earned videos — 1.1M from Instagram video views and 123K on TikTok” adds RelishMix.

Ahead of opening, says RelishMix, “convo for Studio 666 ran snarky mixed-positive, with fans of Foo Fighters ready for a fun experimental film event, while some wonder if this is shot as a Spinal Tap-style mockumentary, a Tenacious D film, or a spoof of band movies like Hard Day’s Night and Help, with Dave Grohl’s inspiration being The Beatles. Plus, there was discussion on the level of filmmaking commitment to crafting a functional story cast with the members of the band and amusing cameos like Lionel Ritchie and Whitney Cummings as the neighbor.”

Ritchie’s cameo:

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A post shared by Lionel Richie (@lionelrichie)

UAR has finally released the feature take of original musical, Cyrano, from Joe Wright, which is looking at $1.4M in 10th from 797 theaters in 160 markets. UAR sought to protect this movie, and wait for the right time to release it, given older audiences’ funk over heading to the movies during omicron. This AM’s weekend estimate is an improvement on yesterday’s projection of $1.25M.

Overall, the specialty marketplace is still greatly challenged. All of this gives you an idea of the ground we need to make up: Wright’s Anna Karenina over the 3-day portion of Thanksgiving weekend in 2012 grossed $896K at 66 theaters, while Atonement in its second weekend at only 117 theaters in early December 2007 pulled in $1.8M. Cyrano counted 86% certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, with those RT audiences who saw it giving it a 86% rating. UAR saw best markets from NY, LA, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, Phoenix, DC, San Diego, Dallas, Seattle, Austin, Sacramento, and more.

In addition, the movie didn’t take off at the Oscar noms, with only one nomination for Best Costume Design. That’s not to say that UAR didn’t campaign extensively for this, screening the movie very early during awards season following a world premiere at Telluride. Even this weekend, you can’t stumble upon a website or a social media feed where there isn’t a Cyrano advertisement.

Star Haley Bennett championed this movie extensively on her social media handles, well before release during Q4 of last year. Of the 25M+ social media pull across YouTube views, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, RelishMix observes that star Peter Dinklage at 4.6M and Bennett at 365K “drive the Cyrano train”. Bennett and Dinklage starred the workshop musical at Goodspeed in Connecticut, the former being a catalyst in getting Wright attached to direct. The production was shot during the fall of 2020 during Covid in Sicily.

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A post shared by Haley Bennett (@halolorraine)

The 1997 re-release of Francis Ford Coppola’s 1972 blockbuster, The Godfather, made $1.2M in its entire limited run, and this weekend at 156 runs in 46 markets, the 50th anniversary cut is on its way to earning $900K, for a $5,8K theater average after a $425K Friday and $298K Saturday, which is pretty good. Strong numbers here in NYC, LA, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, Orlando, San Diego, Nashville and Las Vegas. Box Office Mojo has the lifetime domestic gross for The Godfather at $134.96M, and this weekend would take it to $136.3M.

Other highlights:

Prime Media Pictures’s Saagar K. Chandra directed movie Bheemia Nayak opened in 400 runs in 121 markets (Telugu) with, what I hear, are very good numbers from NY, LA, Dallas, San Francisco, DC, Atlanta, Detroit putting its weekend at $1.24M. Logline: Things change when the egos of an upright police officer and a retired army havildar clash.

Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Gangubai Kathiawadi from Hamsini pulled in an estimated $1M from 485 locations for a $2K theater average. Starring Alia Bhatt, pic is based on the true-crime bestseller Mafia Queens of Mumbai by Hussain Zaidi and follows Gangubai Kathiawadi, who, in the 1960s, was tricked into prostitution in Mumbai’s Kamathipura red-light district. Through her political connections, she rose to become an underworld drug kingpin. She also campaigned for sex workers’ rights and reportedly met with India’s first prime minister, Nehru.

Among Oscar highlights, Paul Thomas Anderson’s Licorice Pizza with $16.1M through weekend 14 is $200K from overtaking his 2012 Oscar nominated feature, The Master ($16.3M domestic). Pic, booked at 607 sites, made $356K, -45% this weekend. NEON’s The Worst Person in the World, up for Original Screenplay and International Film, drew a fourth weekend of $421,6K, -14%, for a running total of $1.8M at 554 theaters.

Hey, Disney, you’re confident in your decision to send Pixar’s Turning Red straight to Disney+? Because the family marketplace sure looks healthy enough, and could use another family hit. Behold, Universal/Illumination’s Sing 2: In its 10th weekend, the movie, which is available for in-home consumption after a theatrical window, pulled in $2.1M, sending its cume to $151.2M. Worldwide is at $351.4M. Sure, discount houses are likely in play now for the sequel. However, that 10th weekend cash is more than the first Sing‘s take at the same point in time ($488K) and even more than the uber-Illumination hit Minions ($1.5M). Yes, yes, blah, blah, Turning Red is another subscription stunt: Let’s just make sure we’re not burning down the house to keep warm, agree? Warner Bros. sure had the confidence in the pandemic marketplace to keep Batman where it is.

1.) Uncharted (Sony) 4,275 theaters, Fri $6M (-61%)/Sat $10.6M/Sun $6.7M/3-day $23.2M (-47%)/Total $83.3M/Wk 2

2.) Dog (UAR) 3,827 (+150) theaters, Fri $2.4M (-51%)/Sat $4.78M/Sun $2.8M/3-day $10.1M (-32%)/Total $30.8M/Wk 2

3.) Spider-Man: No Way Home (Sony) 3,002 (+46) theaters, Fri $1.3M (-24%)/Sat $2.7M/Sun $1.7M/3-day $5.75M (-23%)/Total $779.88M/Wk 11

4.) Death on the Nile (Dis) 3,420 (+140) theaters, Fri $1.2M (-32%)/Sat $2.08M/Sun $1.2M/, 3-day $4.5M (-31%)/Total $32.7M/Wk 3

5.) Jackass Forever(Par) 2,913 theaters (-158), Fri $870K (-41%)/Sat $1.4M/Sun $865K/3-day $3.175M (-39%)/Total: $52.07M/Wk 4

6.) Sing 2 (Uni/Ill) 2,382 (-94) theaters, Fri $420K (-31%)/Sat $1.09M/Sun $600K/3-day $2.1M (-26%)/Total: $151.2M/Wk 10

7.) Marry Me (Uni) 3,110 (-533), Fri $530K (-51%)/Sat $850K/Sun $470K/3-day $1.85M (-50%)/Total $20.2M/Wk 3

8.) Studio 666 (OR) 2,306 theaters, Fri $725K/Sat $515K/Sun $340K/ 3-day $1.58M/Wk 1

9.)  Cyrano (UAR) 797 theaters Fri $473/Sat $562K/Sun $365K/ 3-day $1.4M/Wk 1

10.) Scream (Par) 1,566 (-341) theaters Fri $345K (-34%)/Sat $646K/Sun $354K/ 3-day $1.345M (-31%) /Total: $79.2M/Wk 7

 

via Deadline

‘Uncharted’ and ‘Dog’ Climb to an Unexpected $51M and $18M Opening at the BO!!

There’s plenty to be happy about at the Presidents Day weekend box office with many truths proven as Sony’s Uncharted overperforms to $51M over 4-days, and MGM/UAR’s female skewing Dog rises to $18M.

Among them, a frosh videogame IP proved to work, again, in February. Sony deserves a lot of applause in backing a videogame feature adaptation, which are often risky projects, and casting it up with Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg. Next, Holland is an actual star who can put people in seats. And as we’ve all known, it’s not stars so much which were driving the box office in pre-pandemic times and today, rather prolific IP and brands.

And in regards to the thrifty priced $15M Dog: Yes, we made a big to-do about older women not showing up at the box office last weekend for Death on the Nile and Marry Me as Covid continued to linger, however, this Channing Tatum movie, wound up pulling in a consistent amount of that demo, if not more, at least when compared to Death on the Nile. Dog skewed 54% women, 73% over 25, 53% over 35 and 37% over 45 vs. Death on the Nile‘s 49% females, 77% over 25, 47% over 35 and 28% over 45. Marry Me brought in 67% women, but a low $7.9M start, 46% were over 35, and 26% over 45.

“It’s the first time two movies have overperformed in the same weekend in a long time,” beamed UAR Distribution Boss Erik Lomis, “This speaks to the health of the market and shouldn’t be overlooked. The marketplace can sustain more than one overperformer.” Lomis also praised Gerry Rich and the UAR marketing team as well as Dog filmmaker Reid Carolin and Tatum for propelling the movie’s success.

Said Josh Greenstein, President, Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, about Uncharted, “This result is yet another extraordinary testament to the appetite for the theatrical experience that Sony Pictures bet on. Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg are brilliant together. Thank you to our sister company, PlayStation, for their incredible partnership, and all the many people who worked so hard to bring this film to life in a big, theatrical way.”

With over $100M WW, the possibility of a franchise starter for Uncharted looks promising. The movie’s Saturday business clocked $16.3M up 6% over Friday+Thursday previews’ $15.4M. With movie theaters reopened in Ontario, Canada rushed back to the B.O. delivering 8% of Uncharted‘s ticket sales. PLFs and Imax drove 32% of the pic’s weekend to date. Top venues were AMC Burbank, AMC Disney Springs, Harkins Estrella Falls in Goodyear, AZ, The Warren OKC in Moore, OK, and the AMC Thoroughbred in Franklin, TN.

To raise this movie’s profile, Sony eventized the launch of ticketing with custom talent videos timed to the final Uncharted trailer which dropped over NFL Championship weekend. They surrounded the Winter Olympics with campaigns on TV, online and featured “The Race To Uncharted,” an online treasure hunt. There was a 360-marketing campaign surrounding Super Bowl LVI with pre-game stunting, digital extensions, signage around SoFi Stadium, fan screenings around the globe, all culminating in a global influencers activation, “Uncharted Waters,” which was a skydiving experience.

https://twitter.com/unchartedmovie/status/1495126041706307585?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1495126041706307585%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fdeadline.com%2F2022%2F02%2Fbox-office-uncharted-dog-tom-holland-channing-tatum-1234956548%2F

Overall, iSpot measured that Sony spent close to $20M in TV spots, that generated 1.12 billion. This compared to the near $26M that Warner Bros. has already spent on The Batman. Top networks Uncharted advertised on were NBC, CBS, ESPN, ABC and Fox across shows such as NFL football, Super Bowl LVI Pregame, SportsCenter and the Winter Olympics and the NBA.

Social media firm RelishMix spotted online promo power from Holland with 68.4M across his social media handles, and that doesn’t even include Facebook. Wahlberg engaged his 45.9M fans as well as Antonio Banderas who counts 9.1M fans. Holland’s Instagram views for Uncharted posts ranged from 6M all the way up to 15M, this being his highest:

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A post shared by Tom Holland (@tomholland2013)

Of course, Sony also leveraged PlayStation which had a console reach across 24 countries and 26 languages, including several ‘firsts’ being shown on the PS5/PS4 from the pic, exclusive content drops, and a Fortnite/PlayStation Themed Event.

Among Uncharted‘s promo partners, Hyundai Motors touted a global push, promoting the TUCSON in an add that starred Holland and was directed by the film’s director Ruben Fleischer. The spot ran on last week’s pre-game Super Bowl, while another unique and specially created co-branded spot was seen dominating the largest digital billboard in Piccadilly Circus, London.

RelishMix notes that online frenzy 24 hours after the Big Game reached 522.3M for Uncharted across Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Twitter, far exceeding the awareness for an action-adventure movie social reach by 4X. Cross-promotions from the Sony PlayStation social channels were at 104.5M before weekend opening, while the film’s social channels at 407K built strong momentum from 42 Facebook videos at 40.9M and 24 YouTube videos at 104.6M . The campaign also reaped 12.5M off of its two Super Bowl spots.

G Fuel was also a promo partner, creating a new flavor Fortune Blend inspired by the pic. Customers could buy a standalone 40-serving tub and a Collector’s Box, which included one 40-serving tub and one 16 oz Shaker Cup. The first 2,500 Fortune Blend Collector’s Boxes contained a secret treasure: a replica of Nathan Drake’s ring from the pic. ASUS computers served as a global partner on the Fleischer directed movie, and even made a cameo in the film.

Tatum worked it in promoting Dog. He launched the trailer exclusively on the The Kelly Clarkson Show. Did a USO tour with Carolin and Brett Rodriguez, visiting military bases in San Antonio, TX and Columbus, GA and participated in demonstrations and discussions with active military members and vets. There was a 100 Thieves Esports partnership Tatum participated in, appearing in a special video with Carolin sharing their experience working with a trained military dog, who in turn attacks the gamers as they wore bite suits. The experience was shared across the 100 Thieves and influencer social channels and DOG accounts reaching over 200M.

DraftKings, one of the pic’s promo partners, hosted a free-to-play game on their site, where consumers bet on a pre-recorded race between Tatum and the canine from the pic. 

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A post shared by Channing Tatum (@channingtatum)

iSpot clocked that UAR shelled out $16.3M in TV ads for Dog yielding 1.17 billion impressions across Fox News, CBS, TLC, NBC and ABC, and on such shows as the Winter Olympics, NFL, Friends re-runs, and Hannity. UAR also aired Dog spots during the NFC Divisional and Championship games, the Puppy Bowl, Nascar Daytona 500, and Busch Clash, over 15 national NBA matchups.

RelishMix reports that Dog‘s social digital awareness hit 81.9M across Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram before opening. Tatum reps 91% of the cast awareness with 45.6M fans and 55% of the entire film. The digital efforts honed in on moviegoers, fans of Tatum and dog movies, along with military and faith audiences while broadening out to high impact takeovers across social including TikTok TopView Video and a Snapchat Lens.

Other promo partners for Dog included 5.11 Tactical, which produced a video showing Tatum delivering a video to a chosen veteran. They promoted the video on social media with paid media and produced a backpack to be sold at all their stores with all proceeds benefiting K9 for Warriors. Red Roof Inn was another partner along with Nylabone, USAA and GSTV, the latter touted a greeting from Tatum at over 15K gas stations which reached over 100M impressions.

There was also an extensive outdoor campaign in Los Angeles, Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, and San Diego for the film. 

In theaters, Dog trailered on movies such as Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Licorice Pizza, Spider-Man: No Way Home, Matrix Resurrections, Sing 2, The King’s Man, Scream, Jackass Forever among others. There was a custom silence your cell phone PSA with Tatum and Lulu on screen at select circuits.

UAR screened Dog extensively, not just at military bases, but promo screenings in 30 markets as well as previews for digital creators and dog influencers including Bandit the Husky, Chewie the Pomeranian, artist & veteran Samantha Juan, Twitch streamer & veteran Nathan Thomas, and off-roader & veteran Brad Kowitz (Trail Recon).

LD Entertainment’s updated re-telling of the werewolf legend, The Cursed, released via Decal, NEON and Bleecker Street’s joint home entertainment distribution venture in a service deal, is seeing a $1.7M 3-day and $1.9M 4-day.

EntTelligence reports that Uncharted pulled in 3.5M people over the weekend, and repped 44% of the moviegoing public on Saturday. Dog drew 1.4M moviegoers over three days with 65% of attendees coming out before 7PM. The box office analytics firm also observed that “moviegoing was nicely spread out over Saturday with 30% of the moviegoing public attending a cinema before 4PM, 50% of the audience attending between 4PM-8PM and 20% of the audience coming after 8PM.”

1.) Uncharted (Sony) 4,275 theaters, Fri $15.4M/Sat $16.3M/Sun $12.5M /Mon $6.8M/3-day $44.1M/4-day $51M/Wk 1

2.) Dog (UAR) 3,677 theaters, Fri $5M/Sat $5.6M/Sun $4.4M/Mon $2.9M/3-day $15.1M/4-day $18.05M/Wk 1

3.) Spider-Man: No Way Home (Sony) 2,956 (-344) theaters, Fri $1.7M (-11%)/Sat $3.1M/Sun $2.4M/Mon $1.6M/3-day $7.2M (-4%)/4-day $8.8M/Total $771.7M/Wk 10

4.) Death on the Nile (Dis) 3,280 theaters, Fri $1.76M (-65%)/Sat $2.76M/Sun $1.72M/Mon $934K/ 3-day $6.25M (-51%)/ 4-day $7.18M/ Total $25.9M/Wk 2

5.) Jackass Forever(Par) 3,071 theaters (-582), Fri $1.47M (-49%)/Sat $2.1M/Sun $1.6M/Mon $960K/3-day $5.2M (-35%)/4-day $6.2M//Total: $47.7M/Wk 3

6.) Marry Me (Uni) 3,643 (+1), Fri $1.08M (-64%)/Sat $1.5M/Sun $1.07M/Mon $590K/3-day $3.68M (-54%)/4-day $4.27M/Total $17.4M/Wk 2

7.) Sing 2 (Uni/Ill) 2,476 (-355) theaters, Fri $600K (-12%)/Sat $1.22M/Sun $1.02M/Mon $970K/3-day $2.84M (-8%)/4-day: $3.8M/Total: $148.3M/Wk 9

8.) Scream (Par) 1,907 (-712) theaters Fri $515K (-37%)/Sat $845K/Sun $595K/Mon $320K/ 3-day $1.96M (-34%) /4-day $2.2M/Total: $77.3M/Wk 6

9.)  Blacklight (Briar) 2,772 theaters Fri $470K (-62%)/ Sat $750K/Sun $550K/Mon $290K/3-day $1.77M (-49%)/4-day $2.06M/Total $7.36M /Wk 2

10.) The Cursed (LD) 1,687 theaters Fri $600K/Sat $667K/Sun $453k/Mon $226K/ 3-day $1.7M/4-day $1.9M/Wk 1

 

via Deadline

‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Tops ‘Avatar’ to Become Third-Biggest Domestic Grosser of All Time!!

Someone just popped a champagne bottle at Sony, because Spider-Man: No Way Home just took Avatar’s place as the third-biggest domestic box office in history. The result is even more impressive when we consider that movie theaters are still suffering from the effects of the pandemic and that No Way Home’s box office is three times bigger than the second highest-grossing movie of the pandemic era, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.

James Cameron’s Avatar held the top spot of the domestic box office with $760.5 million from 2009 till 2015, when Disney’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens got $936 million and pushed it to second place. Avatar would drop another position in 2019, when Disney’s Avengers: Endgame amassed $858 million. No Way Home is technically a Sony production, but since it’s part of Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe, that’s another win to the House of the Mouse.

No Way Home hauled the final $1 million it needed to grab the third position this Monday, taking its domestic box office to $760.5 million. When we look at the global box office, No Way Home is the sixth-highest grossing movie of all time with $1.8 billion. While it’s unlikely the movie will grab another $100 million to surpass Endgame’s domestic record, No Way Home’s impressive box office will undoubtedly ensure both the MCU and Sony’s Universe of Marvel Characters to aggressively expand in the near future. The superhero hype train is still on track, and even with the pandemics, it does not seem to be slowing down.

In Spider-Man: No Way Home, Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) is enlisted to erase Spider-Man’s real identity from public memory. Unfortunately, the spell doesn’t work as planned, and instead brings visitors from other realities into the MCU. Spider-Man: No Way Home features appearances from Alfred Molina’s Doctor Octopus, Jamie Foxx’s Electro, Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin, Thomas Haden Church‘s Sandman, and Rhys Ifans‘ Lizard. All these villains come from previous iterations of the Web Crawler, exactly one bad guy for each pre-MCU film — three starring Tobey Maguire as the titular hero, and the other two led by Andrew Garfield.

No Way Home also sees the return of Zendaya as MJ, Jacob Batalon as Ned Leeds, Marisa Tomei as May Parker, Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan, Benedict Wong as Wong, Tony Revolori as Flash Thompson, and Angourie Rice as Betty Brant. Jon Watts returns to direct the third Spidey installment, with a script written by Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers, who both penned the previous two MCU Spider-Man films.

Spider-Man: No Way Home is breaking box office records in theaters right now.

 

via Collider

‘Death On The Nile’ Drowns Competition With a Quiet $12.8M at the BO!!

Again, both are hoping for more love from the Valentine’s Day box office, and that’s unpredictable how big a boom or bust the holiday will be. Odds are there is an uptick in the daily box office between Super Bowl Sunday and Monday. But I believe we won’t know if older women are truly ready to come out to the movies again until it happens. It will take some sort of Sex and the City or Bridesmaids phenomenon to put us back there, and I don’t think we’ll be able to see it coming, It will take sheer guts and will on behalf of a major studio in terms of greenlighting a movie toward females, as studios try to make sense of what works at cinemas in an era where streaming is appetizing. Many content creators continue to worry if the same types of movies they used to make are ripe for theatrical in a truly have-and-have not marketplace, or if such genres have completely been absorbed by streaming — a place where movies live forever.

Not from a P&L perspective, but from sheer pandemic box office optics, Death on the Nile‘s opening here isn’t that far below House of Gucci‘s 3-day start of $14.4M, just -13%, which says something about the number of adults who’ll brave the cinema now with a glitzy package like this. Branagh’s previous Christie ensemble, Murder on the Orient Express, did truly surprise, crushing its projections and soaring to a $28.6M opening and legging to a $102.8M by the end of the holidays.

Murder was casted up quite a bit with Penelope Cruz, Judi Dench, Daisy Ridley, Johnny Depp, Josh Gad, Leslie Odom Jr and Michelle Pfeiffer. There was a star for everyone in that movie, whereas, with Death on the Nile, the marketing campaign seems to be anchored on a socially media quiet Gadot, who was more active during Red Notice. The movie was developed and Gadot and Hammer attached in the fall of 2018, before Disney and Fox officially came together in the spring of 2019. But the movie rolled cameras in October that year after the merger.

Disney didn’t abandon the movie: They truly spent to promote it. iSpot shows that Disney was outspending last weekend’s movies, Moonfall and Jackass Forever, before they even opened, now with a current TV spot expense just under $18M (vs. Uni’s near $15M spend on TV spots for Marry Me). ISpot shows Disney shelled out for spots during the NFL (15%), Winter Olympics (8%), Good Morning America (4%), 1,000 Lb Sisters (2%), Today (2%), This Is Us (2%) and Jeopardy! National College Championship (1.4%), and on networks such as NBC, ABC, CBS, Fox, and Discovery. RelishMix shows a social media reach of 217.9M, “at social norms for a campaign that began 18 months ago in August 2020 and wrestled with Covid re-dates and other headline news, such as Armie Hammer.” Gadot has a social media reach of 95.1M, but she hasn’t been tub-thumping the film.

Death on the Nile gets a B CinemaScore, the same grade as Murder on the Orient Express. Comscore/Screen Engine PostTrak audience exits show 77% positive, 57% definite recommend. Disney reports male leading at 51%, 49% females. Overall audiences that 77% over 25, 47% over 35 and 28% over 45. I’m told that this is a similar make-up to the older skewing Murder on the Orient Express. Diversity demos were 57% Caucasian, 15% Hispanic and Latino, 13% Black, and 15% Asian and other. Imax, PLFs and some 70MM drove 35% of the business. Death on the Nile played best in the West and Southeast with all top 10 runs coming out of those sectors (Eight of the top ten being Imax).

With Peacock paid subscribers so low at 9M, it remains to be seen whether the service is truly siphoning moviegoers from Marry Me. I’ve heard anecdotally that subscriptions have spiked greatly from the Olympics being on a paid tier, and Marry Me is in a position to possibly be watched. Comcast is about synergy, and there’s a big confluence of marketing forces at play here for Peacock between Super Bowl, Winter Olympics and JLo this weekend.

RelishMix observed that social media momentum ran strong for Marry Me with a huge reach of 546.5M before the weekend, pumped by Lopez’s fanbase of 313.3M. “The film was clearly promoted on the day/date multi-platform release on a very crowded Olympics, Super Bowl, Peacock channel and in theaters as a Valentine’s weekend counter program to Super Bowl, with all stars aligned for NBCU,” observed RelishMix, “The content stack was well fed into Universal channels with 45 Facebook videos at 9.2M views and 11 YouTube videos at 68.4M views into the Jennifer Lopez Vevo YouTube channel with 15.1M subs.”

“Even without the JLo social factor, which is 233M, Marry Me tracks in-line with other social musicals, including West Side Story at 211.8M, The Greatest Showman at 313.2M, and Bohemian Rhapsody at 242.1M,” adds the social media analytics firm in their latest report.

CinemaScore moviegoers didn’t turn their backs on Marry Me with a B+. PostTrak exits are slightly better than Death on the Nile at 80% positive, 66% recommend. Female draw here is at 67%. Core moviegoers of 18-34 repped 47% of ticket buyers, with 46% over 35. Over 25 came in at 72%, with 26% over 45. Diversity demos were 53% Caucasian, 30% Latino and Hispanic, 8% Black, and 5% Asian. Hispanic and Latino markets in the West and the Southwest overindexed; that’s where nine of the top ten theaters were.

Unlike Hustlers, which was a welcomed genre departure for Lopez, Marry Me marks a return to the romantic comedies that have populated her resume, i.e. Shall We Dance, Maid in Manhattan, The Wedding Planner, etc. Her last romantic comedy, Second Act, which opened over the 2018 year-end holidays, debuted to $6.4M and had a 6x leg-out factor to $39M stateside.

Again, it was released over the holidays, so it’s questionable if we’ll see that same-type of trajectory here. To Universal’s benefit, the movie was made at a very low cost and isn’t in any financial peril, especially as they augment the way they account for a movie’s profitability moving forward with Peacock in the mix. Success for the studio will be determined in a bifurcated manner. Meanwhile, Lopez’s Nuyorican Productions has a multi-year first-look deal at Netflix spanning feature films, TV series, and unscripted content, with an emphasis on projects that support diverse female actors, writers, and filmmakers.

Even though a majority of movies which were delayed because of the pandemic won’t profit as audiences return inconsistently, some financiers argue to me that some movies were expensive even by pre-pandemic standards and should never have been greenlighted, even at their productions costs. The point being that every type of movie can be made, it just needs to be at a reasonable cost. It’s arguable that Death on the Nile is far more expensive than it should be, even by pre-pandemic models. But a movie like Marry Me at $23M is not.

In regards to our dinging Lionsgate/Centropolis’ Moonfall last weekend (which wound up opening to $9.8M, not $10M, and is seeing a 71% drop in weekend 2 with an estimated $2.85M, steeper than -57% weather by Dean Devlin’s Geostorm), know that the disaster movie was excruciatingly more pricey than pre-pandemic costs and audience tastes at $140M (Universal, I heard, even thumbed their noses at making the movie at a $200M price). But again, it was made for a pre-Covid overseas crowd.  Nonetheless, moving forward, everyone needs content.

Paramount’s Jackass Forever saw a second Friday of $2.8M and a second Saturday of $3.97M, translating into a 3-day of $8M, -65%, for a running total of $37.6M. Jackass 3D back in 2010 saw a steep fall during its second weekend with -58%. It’s just that type of film, like a horror movie, where the fans all show up on opening weekend, and then they’re largely done.

Briarcliff Entertainment’s Liam Neeson action movie Blacklight saw $1.2M on Friday, $1.6M on Saturday $3.6M opening at 2,772 locations. That’s not that far from what previous Neeson pandemic titles, Honest Thief ($4.1M) and The Marksman ($3.1M), opened to — and that’s when a majority of movie theaters, including NY and LA, were closed down. Critics have had enough of the actor with a gun at 6% on Rotten Tomatoes, while PostTrak was dismal at 58% and a 39% recommend. Guys at 64% attended with 83% over 25, 58% over 35, and 35% over 45. Diversity demos were 53% Caucasian, 14% Latino and Hispanic, 15% Black, and 18% Asian/other. Best markets were in the Midwest and the South, with four of the top ten runs coming out of those areas.

And Sony’s Spider-Man: No Way Home is destined to pass up Avatar‘s $760.5M in the next week, becoming the third-highest-grossing movie ever at the domestic box office, with just $1.5M left to go. The movie, in its 9th weekend, will raise its stateside tally to $759M by Sunday after what is expected to be a $7.15M 3-day. We’ve said there’s no middle meat to the pandemic box office. But Spider-Man is truly it. The endgame here for Spider-Man: No Way Home is looking at around $785M.

Chart is updating with full weekend numbers

1.) Death on the Nile (Dis/20th) 3,280 theaters, Fri $5.1M/Sat $5.8M/Sun $1.9M/3-day $12.8M/Wk 1

2.)Jackass Forever(Par) 3,653 theaters (+8), Fri $2.87M (-70%)/Sat $3.97M/Sun $1.2M/3-day $8.05M (-65%)/Total: $37.4M/Wk 2

3.) Marry Me (Uni) 3,642, Fri $3M/Sat $3.6M/Sun $1.4M/3-day $8M/Wk 1

4.) Spider-Man: No Way Home (Sony) 3,300 (-300) theaters, Fri $1.9M (-11%)/Sat $3.8M/Sun $1.38M/3-day $7.15M (-25%)/Total $759M/Wk 9

5.) Blacklight (Briar) 2,772 theaters Fri $1.22M/Sat $1.63M/Sun $745K/ 3-day $3.6M/Wk 1

6.) Sing 2 (Uni/Ill) 2,831 (-435) theaters, Fri $670K (-18%)/Sat $1.6M/Sun $650K/ 3-day $2.95M (-30%)/Total: $143.3M/Wk 8

7.) Moonfall (LG) 3,446 theaters Fri $824K /Sat $1.55M/Sun $476K/3-day $2.85M (-71%)/Total: $15.1M/Wk 2

8.) Scream (Par) 2,619 (-651) theaters Fri $820K (-32%)/Sat $1.55M/Sun $465K/3-day $2.835M (-40%), Total: $73.1M/Wk 5

9.)  Licorice Pizza (UAR) 1,977 (+1,191) theaters, Fri $298K (+79%)/Sat $463K/ Sun $162K/3-day $923K (+43%), Total $13.99M/Wk 12

10.) The King’s Man (Dis/20th) 900 (-1010) theaters Fri $123K/Sat $224K/Sun $86K/3-day $433K (-65%)/Total $36.7M/Wk 8

11.) Beatles Get Back: Rooftop Concert (Dis) 181 theaters Fri $157K/Sat $173K/Sun $82K/3-day $412K, Total $853K/Wk 3

Best Picture Nominees:

Licorice Pizza (UAR) 1,977 (+1,191) theaters, Fri $298K (+79%)/Sat $463K/ Sun $162K/3-day $923K (+43%), Total $13.99/Wk 12

Belfast (Foc) 928 (+538) theaters, Fri $87K (+99%)/Sat $140K/Sun $58K/ 3-day $285K (+42%), Total $7.9M/Wk 14

West Side Story (Dis/20th) 450 (-350) theaters, Fri $71K (-24%)/Sat $121K/Sun $43K/ 3-day $235K (-44%)/Total $37.2M//Wk 10
That big expansion we wrote about for the Steven Spielberg Oscar nominated movie is happening on Feb. 25. The pic goes to Disney+ and HBO Max on March 2.

Drive My Car (Janus) 127 (+40 theaters) Fri $52K, Sat $88K/Sun $53K/ 3-day $192,9K (+92%)/Total $1.22M/Wk 12

Dune (WB/Legendary) 678 (+592) theaters, Fri $42K (+419%), 3-day $144K (+377%), Total $107.8M/Wk 17

Nightmare Alley (Sea) 405 (-300) theaters Fri $30K (-44%)/Sat $40K/Sun $15K/3 day $85K (-60%)/Total $11M/Wk 9

 

via Deadline

‘Jackass Forever’ Sledges ‘Moonfall’ with a $23.5 Million Debut at the BO!!

In a fight between a 22 year old reality brand and a over-the-hill disaster genre at the box office, Paramount’s Jackass Forever wins, punking its mid-teen pre-weekend estimates for a $23.5M opening to Lionsgate’s Moonfall which fell to Earth with $10M.

To its benefit, the Jackass brand was never beaten as hard over the course of its 22 years like the disaster movie genre has been at the box office. That’s a contributing factor here in its weekend win. At the same time, it’s a movie in its stunt satire which plays to the heart of the TikTok generation. Amazing to note that the over 35 crowd repped 25% of business while 67% were 18-34. Translation: the Jackass brand got younger, and that’s a winning hand for any studio savoring franchises. At 4.5 out of 5 stars on Comscore/Screen Engine’s PostTrak, it’s a joyous crowd pleaser at the box office.

Paramount pushed Jackass Forever on TikTok reaching an audience north of 150M. Live coverage from the LA premiere garnered nearly 7M+ views alone. On TikTok, the focus was all around how the Jackass crew was the first and the best at this type of content. The influencers/content creators Paramount worked with always referred to Jackass as “the OG” or “the best”. The studio also screened the movie to all influencers.

Another key to Jackass Forever‘s success: It’s the first pure comedy in a long time at the box office.

“When was the last time you grabbed your friends and had a great time,” Paramount Domestic Distribution Chief Chris Aronson tells Deadline this morning, “That was the whole thrust of what Johnny Knoxville and team wanted to do in making this movie, and working with us on the marketing after everything the world has been through.”

The Jeff Tremaine-directed movie over-indexed in the West and Midwest and was at norm in the Northeast and South Central, while under-indexing in the Southeast.  Top markets that over-performed included LA, Phoenix, Sacramento, Denver, San Diego, Las Vegas, Portland OR, Fresno, Albuquerque, El Paso, Pittsburgh, and Milwaukee. Top grossing theaters hailed from LA (9 out of the top 10, 18 of the top 20, and 27 out of the top 40 theaters), Albuquerque, El Paso, Phoenix, Pharr TX, Denver, San Diego, Sacramento, Oklahoma City, Salt Lake City, Fresno, and San Antonio.

Paramount marketed this movie straight to the bro-sports crowd with the Jackass cast showing up at UFC 270: Ngannou vs. Gane in Anaheim and constant promotions throughout the match and at the stadium. Knoxville also put time in at WWE Royal Rumble. Steve-O also had his Bucket List tour.

Says RelishMix about Paramount’s promotion for Jackass Forever, “Johnny Knoxville has focused his social activity on his 3.6M Instagram and paused his Facebook of 5.3M and Twitter of 1.6M. WWE cross-promo events are popping engagement very well as Steve-O leads the charge with 20.1M total fans along with Chris Pontius at 2.3M and Dave England at 667K for a total of 36.5M activated and un-activated.”

Jackass Forever‘s TV campaign per iSpot aired on such networks as CBS, ESPN, Comedy Central, MTV and FXX across such shows as NFL, The Office re-runs, SportsCenter, NBA games and Family Guy. 

With cinemas just re-opening in the province of Ontario and Quebec scheduled to re-open on Monday, Canada repped a solid 4.5% market share on 6% of total locations for Jackass Forever. Overall, Canada’s market share was 2.35% for the movie.

While the Roland Emmerich-type of disaster movies were already a tired genre before the pandemic —Geostorm lost money on the same type of production cost here, $140M—  it’s important to remember that this massive package came together in pre-pandemic times, and was strictly built for foreign audiences, not U.S. moviegoers. Moonfall‘s opening here is under Geostorm‘s $13.3M stateside start.

For all the talk of cinema capacity restrictions and territory closures, moviegoers abroad have shown to come back with a movie like Spider-Man: No Way Home which has vacuumed up $1.03 billion abroad (and that’s without China), however, this movie’s success which hit Brazil, Russia and a handful of territories this weekend remains to be seen.

After a big budget disaster like Universal/Film Nation’s The 355 (currently around $24M WW) which cost $75M, is Moonfall more poison for the foreign sales ecosystem, which is continually challenged by streamers’ aggressive feature acquisitions? The answer, many sources tell me, is simply ‘No’. First, we live in a world where there is a desperate need for product around the world, not just in streaming.

And even though Moonfall didn’t deliver at the box office, exhibitors were starving for new product especially after two weekends without any new major studio wide release titles. EntTelligence reports that there were 800K admissions to Moonfall to Jackass Forever‘s 2M.

In Korea, for example, there are four major theatrical distributors, three large theater chains, four big cable/pay television companies, three major TV networks, and three large streaming services: all require content and compete for the same from the US major studios.  This results in multiyear output deals at premium prices.  Similarly, the demand for product will continue to rise under the combined forces of increased access to multiplexes, the spread of internet through mobile networks, increased demand from more numerous content providers and the emergence of middle classes across the globe.

As one foreign sales insider told me “foreign buyers can’t help themselves, they’ll always gamble on themselves.” Meaning, if they don’t buy into a big-budget project like Moonfall as they hit the marketplace, they’ll never see any potential for upside. The smart ones are keen not to go all in, rather grab what they can in a slate of films.

In the wake of Geostorm reaping a $72M loss, few, if any major studio would go all in on a disaster movie like Moonfall, not to mention the astronaut subgenre has been beaten to death with Gravity, Ad Astra, The Martian, and First Man. In addition, Emmerich built it for movie theaters, not for streamers. The most risk averse means for making this movie was through foreign sales: China kicked in $40M, Lionsgate was on the hook for around $15M we’re told on good authority, Germany around $15M+; in total about 65% of the pic’s $146M budget, with shooting tax credits from Montreal kicked in (which by the way, Canada isn’t seeing Moonfall this week as the local distributor there pulled the movie due to Omicron). AGC Studios, which handled foreign sales on Emmerich’s Midway, and CAA Media Finance handled sales here on Moonfall. 

Surely, all those buyers who bought into Moonfall will see some sort of hit to their P&Ls; Lionsgate is on the hook for $35M P&A (iSpot measures that Lionsgate spent $12.2M in TV ads to Paramount’s $5.2M for Jackass Forever and Disney’s current $12.1M spend for Death on the Nile which opens this Friday). It’s not to say that Lionsgate abandoned the movie, they surely supported the second film from their Midway filmmaker. However, it’s truly hard to see any kind of profit here through some wonky slide rule with box office optics such as this.

Imax auditoriums drew $1.4M of Moonfall‘s weekend with another $900K overseas. Imax and PLF accounted together for 36% of the gross.

Some will say that Moonfall‘s misfire was on account to skewing toward an older audience with 75% over 25, and  31% over 45 years old, however, there’s enough VFX here to appeal to an 18-34 crowd. They can just sniff a bad movie, and in the TikTok age, bad word spreads like wildfire.

1.) Jackass Forever (Par) 3,604 theaters, Fri $9.6M/Sat $8.4M/Sun $5.5M/3-day $23.5M/Wk 1

2.) Moonfall (LG) 3,446 theaters Fri $3.4M/Sat $4M/Sun $2.5M/3-day $10M/Wk 1

3.) Spider-Man: No Way Home (Sony) 3,600 (-75) theaters, Fri $2.08M (-24%)/Sat $4.65M/Sun $2.87M/ 3-day $9.6M (-13%)/Total $748.95M/Wk 8

Spidey is now $11.55M from becoming the No. 3 highest grossing movie at the domestic box office, beating Avatar.

4.) Scream (Par) 3,227 (-360) theaters Fri $1.2M (-42%)/Sat $2.28M/Sun $1.22M/3-day $4.7M (-35%), Total: $68.9M/Wk 4

5.) Sing 2 (Uni/Ill) 3,266  (-184) theaters, Fri $810K (-22%)/Sat $2.1M/Sun $1.26M/3-day $4.17M (-11%)/Total: $139.6M/Wk 7

6.) The King’s Man (20th/Dis) 1,910 (-505) theaters Fri $305K (-33%)/3-day $1.1M (-33%)/Total $35.7M/Wk 7

7.) Redeeming Love (Uni) 1,797 (-166) theaters, Fri $270K (-53%)/Sat $460K/Sun $280K/ 3-day $1M (-43%)/Total: $8M/Wk 3

8.) American Underdog (LG) 1,470 (-643) theaters, Fri $212K (-39%)/Sat $379K/Sun $209K/ 3-day: $800K (-31%)/Total: $25.9M/Wk 7

9.) The 355 (Uni/FilmNation) 1,710 (-803) theaters, Fri $170K (-55%)/ Sat $340K/Sun $190K/ 3-day $700K (-52%)/Total $14.1M/Wk 5

10.) The Wolf and the Lion (Blue Fox Entertainment)1,005 theaters, Fri $163K/Sat $309K/ Sun $207K/3-day $679K/Wk 1

11.) Licorice Pizza (UAR) 786 (+14) theaters, Fri $167K (-10%)/Sat $289K/Sun $159K/ 3-day: $615K (-2%)Total $12.7M/Wk 11

 

via Deadline

‘The Batman’ Projected to Gross $135-185 million in First 3 Days of Release!!

We are officially one month away from The Batman’s release, and it is never too early to predict its box office performance. It’s a fan-favorite pastime and according to Box Office Pro, the Robert Pattinson-starring superhero epic looks to have one of the most successful opening weekends in the franchise’s history. As of right now, The Batman is projected to make $135-185 million in its first three days of release.

When you compare that range to past Batman films, on the low end at $135 million it would be ranked fourth all time and on the high end of $185 million it would be ranked first all time in terms of The Caped Crusader’s opening weekends. In comparison, The Dark Knight made $158.4 million, The Dark Knight Rises made $160.8 million, and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice made $166 million in their respective opening weekends. However, even on the low end of The Batman’s current projection it will easily pass Batman Begins’ $48.7 million and Batman’s $40.4 million opening weekends. These two classic superhero films currently sit at the forth and fifth position on the all-time Batman film list.

Box Office Pro also currently projects The Batman to make anywhere from $340-540 million in its entire domestic run which would give the new film a shot to be the most successful film in the franchise domestically. It would have a lot of work to do to pass The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises’ domestic totals of $533.3 million and $448.1 million, but the low end of The Batman’s current domestic projection would have the film third all time on the character’s domestic film list. This would have it passing Batman v Superman’s $330.3 million domestic run.

So what does this all mean? Well ,it means Warner Brothers and director Matt Reeves may have a major box office hit on their hands. There are a lot of things working against this new film like the ever-evolving state of the pandemic, this being the 4th reboot of the character on the big screen, and the almost three hour runtime, but this is Batman. This iconic superhero is arguably the most popular pop culture icon in the world right now and the trailers have done nothing but showcase what appears to be a visually stunning film that takes the character in a completely new direction for longtime moviegoers.

This is being touted as a realistic neo-noir detective story with both thriller and horror elements. The marketing has been absolutely killer so far with incredibly immersive trailers, beautiful posters, and chilling musical pieces from the film’s composer Michael Giacchino. While it is still up in the air if this can be the next pandemic film to break $1 billion worldwide, and it will be interesting to see what kind of legs the film is going to have, this report is a good sign of things to come. The Batman finally stocks the streets of Gotham and hits theaters on March 4th.

via Collider

‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Stays on Top with $11 Million at the BO!!

Despite movie theaters in the Northeast being closed due to Winter Storm Kenan, Sony’s Spider-Man: No Way Home is coming in above the studio’s estimates yesterday morning with $11M in its seventh weekend. How is that? Essentially, the Jon Watts directed MCU title is seeing 24% of its business from the West with 23% from the Southeast and 15% from South Central outside the snow zone.

Interestingly enough, Spider-Man: No Way Home, despite movie theaters continuing to be shuttered today in the Northeast, is over-indexing in the region at 13.1% versus all other titles at 12.3%. In NYC, big cinemas such as the E-Walk, Lincoln Square and Union Square remain in operation despite Central Park seeing over seven inches of snow.

This puts No Way Home at $735.9M stateside with $24.6M left to go before it beats James Cameron’s Avatar. Meanwhile, Spider-Man: No Way Home has crossed a billion overseas putting its global take a $1.74 billion.Industry sources informed us that No Way Home triggers a $610M profit after all ancillaries after hitting $1.75 billion (still the movie is definitely in the black).

Spider-Man: No Way Home has notched No. 1 for six weekends out of its seven weekend run, putting the movie in a group of such titles achieving that feat as Terms of Endearment (1983), Return of the Jedi (1983), The Fugitive (1993), Rain Man (1988), and Rocky IV (1985). By comparison, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial holds the record for the longest run at No. 1 with 16 weekends. For the millennium, Avatar holds the record for the most weekends at No. 1 at seven weekends. Spider-Man: No Way Home, among Marvel movies, bests Black Panther‘s streak of five weekends at No. 1.

Many of the movie theaters AMC and Regal which closed yesterday will continue to be closed today throughout New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut. The total weekend box office for most movies is looking to come in at an estimated $37.2M, the lowest three days since late September 2020. According to news reports, thousands are without power, with Atlantic City seeing snowfall records of 33.2 inches, Boston clocking 23.6 inches, and Philly seeing 5.8 inches.

In good news, Ontario movie theaters reopen tomorrow at 50% capacity after being closed due to the Omicron surge in that part of Canada. Also, the province is lifting their concession ban which had been in effect for quite some time. Full capacity is expected to occur on Feb. 21. Quebec is reopening movie theaters on Feb. 7 after being closed for two months.

1.) Spider-Man: No Way Home (Sony) 3,675 (-30) theaters, Fri $2.75M (-19%)/Sat $5.37M/Sun $2.87M/3-day $11M (-21%)/Total $735.9M/Wk 7

2.) Scream (Par) 3,518 (-148) theaters Fri $2.06M (-45%)/Sat $3.4M/Sun $1.86M/3-day $7.35M (-40%), Total: $62.1M/Wk 3

3.) Sing 2 (Uni/Ill) 3,434  (-147) theaters, Fri $1.03M (-18%)/Sat $2.3M/Sun $1.46M/3-day $4.8M (-17%)/Total: $134.5M/Wk 6

4.) Redeeming Love (Uni) 1,963 (+60) theaters, Fri $560K (-62%)/Sat $790K/Sun $500K/3-day $1.85M (-48%)/Total: $6.5M/Wk 2

5.) The King’s Man (20th/Dis) 2,440 (+125) theaters Fri $463K (-10%)/Sat $830K/Sun $461k/3-day $1.75M (-2%)/Total $34M/Wk 6

6.) The 355 (Uni/FilmNation) 2,513 (-96) theaters, Fri $370K (-20%)/ Sat $660K/Sun $370K/3-day $1.4M (-12%)/Total $13.09M/Wk 4
The 355 is now available on PVOD.

7.) American Underdog (LG) 2,113 (-51) theaters, Fri $354K (-10%)/Sat $630K/Sun $241K/3-day: $1.22M (+4%)/Total: $24.78M/Wk 6

8.) Ghostbusters: Afterlife (Sony) 1,170 (+109) theatres, Fri $180K (+17%)/Sat $400K/Sun $190K/3-day $770K (+18%)/Total $128.06M/Wk 11

9.) Licorice Pizza (UAR) 772 theaters, Fri $185K (-10%)/Sat $316k/Sun $190K/3-day: $691K (+5%)Total $11.8M/Wk 10

10.)  West Side Story (20th/Dis) 1,335 (+55) theaters, Fri $165K (-15%)/Sat $270K/Sun $179K/3-day $614K (-14%)/Total $36M/Wk 8

11.) Nightmare Alley (Sea) 1,103 (+713) theaters Fri $155k (+142%)/Sat $245K/ Sun $134K/3-day $534K (+134%)/Total: $10.35M/Wk 7

Notables:

Game Stop: Rise of the Players (NEON) 267 theaters, Fri $35K/Sat $24K/Sun $20K/3-day $80K/Wk 1

Belfast (Foc) 196 (+133) theaters Fri $30K/ Sat $55K/ Sun $35K/ 3-day $120K (+252%)/Total $7.19M/Wk 12

Sundown (BST) 6 theatres, 3-day $24K/Wk 1

Compartment No. 6 (SPC) 3 theaters, 3-day $9,3K/Total $15,1K/Wk 1

via Deadline

‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Reclaims Top Spot from ‘SCREAM’ with $14.1 Million at the BO!!

Some studio distribution bosses used to say that moviegoing is a 52-week business. Well, that’s not the philosophy this weekend, and it’s even grimmer next weekend, as most majors figured in the wake of MLK weekend, and a traditional box office dead zone like January with omicron flying around, that it’s not worth the P&A spend to release any movies.

Back in the good ole days, and we’re talking five years ago, post-MLK was the time when Universal turned M. Night Shyamalan’s Blumhouse horror movie Split into an event with a $40M start, and Paramount settled for second on their Vin Diesel sequel, xXx: Return of Xander Cage, for $20.1M.

And so, we settle for Sony’s Spider-Man: No Way Home rising to No. 1 in its 6th weekend with $14.1M, putting its massive domestic total at $721.5M, and Paramount/Spyglass Media’s Scream in second with a better-than-anticipated drop of -59%, with $12.4M and a $51.3M ten-day total. That second weekend ease is a bit better than Scream 4 (-61%) and richer than the previous installment, which did $7M in weekend 2. Among the franchise’s second weekends, Scream 2022 ranks third behind Scream 3 ($16.3M) and Scream 2 ($13.9M).

Spider-Man‘s cume by Sunday keeps the blockbuster title in 4th place among all movies at the domestic box office. If the webslinger is going to beat Avatar and become the third-highest grossing movie of all-time in the US and Canada, Spider-Man: No Way Home has to do another $40.1M+ in business.

Can it get there? It’s possible.

Through six weekends, No Way Home is 31% ahead of Avatar at the same point in time (which was at $551.7M by the end of the weekend, following the MLK frame). However, the difference between the movies is that Spidey is more front-loaded, while Avatar continued to do meaty numbers into Presidents Day weekend (i.e. weekend 6 was $34.9M, weekend 7 was $31.2M, weekend 8 was $22.85M, while the 4-day Presidents Day holiday pulled in $28.7M).

If No Way Home is going to beat Avatar, than it needs to emulate a box office gross pattern that’s similar to 2015’s Star Wars: Force Awakens between this weekend and the end of President’s Day weekend, which is where Spider-Man can see another boost. Here’s where there is hope: Spider-Man: No Way Home made a similar amount of cash as Force Awakens in its post MLK weekend 6 ($14M). In weekend 7, Episode 7 fell 21% to $11M; all in-between weekend 6 and Presidents Day Monday, the Star Wars title did $37.1M. No Way Home needs to do a little more than that. By Presidents Day weekend, Force Awakens was booked in 1,800 theaters.

On a global basis, Spider-Man: No Way Home is now the No. 6 highest-grossing movie worldwide, passing Jurassic World ($1.67 billion) and The Lion King ($1.66 billion) with a worldwide haul of $1.69 billion, including $970.1M from offshore territories.

Major studio moviegoing isn’t expected to come back until Feb. 4, with Lionsgate’s sci-fi Roland Emmerich title Moonfall and Paramount’s Jackass Forever. One wonders if there was a missed opportunity here by studios sitting on the sidelines this weekend. I get it, best to spend your marketing money during a pandemic on the holiday frames, when there’s more of the audience available.

However, with the 18-34 demographic being the most confident to head to the movies, it’s interesting to note that there were more colleges out on Friday at 15%, and K-12 at 3%, then there will be on Feb. 4, which is respectively 2% and 1%.

Go figure, but in the wake of Sony moving Morbius, the assumption was that Omicron would be worse by this point in time. The surge is flattening, according to the Los Angeles Times, even though California is averaging 100K new cases a day, more than twice as high as last winter’s high of 46K. Los Angeles County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer advised many to delay nonessential activities, such as unmasked parties and dinners, given the plateau.

There will come a time when studios return to a big event movie a week this year. Essentially, that begins on March 25, with Paramount’s The Lost City, and continues into summer. Until then, there are dead zones on the calendar, i.e. next weekend there aren’t any wide releases, ditto for Feb. 25-27; and the weekend after Warner Bros. The Batman opens (March 4), and from March 11-13, there aren’t any wide releases programmed. That said, analysts seem to debate whether the Matt Reeves DC title will be another $100M+ opener; news of the pic’s 2 hour and 55 minute running time casting a bit of doubt.

You may have noticed that Universal did open the faith-based period movie Redeeming Love, based on the Francine Rivers novel, in 1,903 theaters to $1.49M on Friday, set for a $3.7M weekend. But it’s not the studio’s movie. They’re just doing a distribution deal, and I understand that they’re not even on the hook for marketing. The movie, from Eagle Eye and Disturbia director D.J. Caruso, was produced by Nthibah Pictures, Pinnacle Peak Pictures, and Mission Pictures International. Roma Downey is listed as an executive producer. Unlike other faith-based movies, which typically win over their audiences with an A+, Redeeming Love received a B+. Comscore/Screen Engine PostTrak exits were at 85% positive and 72% recommend. Has anyone seen any ads for this film? I sure have not.

I hear there weren’t any NYC or LA cinemas in the top 100 runs for the movie over the weekend, with the South reaping close to 60% of the pic’s gross versus the business average of 35% for a regular wide release. Females led at 79%, with 80% over 25, with 51% over 35. The 25-34 year olds repped close to a third of ticket-buyers. Diversity demos were 64% Caucasian, 17% Latino or Hispanic, 12% Asian/other, and 7% Black.

Shot in South Africa, Redeeming Love is set against the 1850 California Gold Rush, and follows Angel (Abigail Cowen), who was sold into prostitution as a child. She has survived through hatred and self-loathing, until she meets Michael Hosea (Tom Lewis) and discovers there is no brokenness that love can’t heal. Critics turned their backs on this one at 11% on Rotten Tomatoes.

With the lack of competition on marquees, Gravitas Ventures decided to make the Pierce Brosnan-William Hurt-Kaya Scodelario movie The King’s Daughter their widest release ever at 2,170 locations. The movie’s weekend results made Redeeming Love‘s ticket sales look like a blockbuster with an estimated $750K.

The PG movie follows Brosnan as The Sun King, Louis XIV. Obsessed with his own mortality and the future of France, Louis turns to his spiritual advisor, Père La Chaise (Hurt), and the royal physician to help him obtain the key to immortality. Believing a mermaid (Fan Bingbing) contains a force that grants everlasting life, Louis commissions a young sea captain to search the seas and capture the mystical creature. Further complicating his plans is his orphaned daughter, Marie-Josèphe (Scodelario), who returns to court with an abundance of elegance and an inherent defiance of authority.

Critics enjoyed The King’s Daughter just a little bit more than Redeeming Love at 26%. Really soft ticket sales here, mostly in the West, with PostTrak at 66% and a low 31% recommend. Those few who decided to see it were women at 54%, 84% over 25, 63% over 35 and 44% over 45 years old. Diversity demos were 62% Caucasian, 19% Latino and Hispanic, 11% Asian/other and 4% Black.

Weekend box office as of Sunday AM:

1.) Spider-Man: No Way Home(Sony) 3,705 (-220) theaters, Fri $3.5M (-33%)/Sat $6.5M/Sun $4.1M/3-day $14.1M (-30%)/Total: $721M/Wk 6

2.) Scream (Par) 3,666 (+2) theaters Fri $3.7M (-72%)/Sat $5.4M/Sun $3.3M/3-day $12.4M (-59%), Total: $51.3M/Wk 2

3.) Sing 2 (Uni/Ill) 3,434  (-147) theaters, Fri $1.26M (-30%)/Sat $2.78M/Sun $1.67M/3-day $5.7M (-28%)/Total: $128.4M/Wk 5

4.) Redeeming Love (Uni) 1,903 theaters, Fri $1.49M/Sat $1.25M/Sun $970k/3-day $3.7M/Wk 1

5.) The King’s Man (20th/Dis) 2,510 (-530) theaters Fri $515K (-19%)/Sat $791K/Sun $473K/3-day $1.779M (-20%)/Total $31.5M/Wk 5

6.) The 355 (Uni/FilmNation) 3,145 theaters, Fri $470K (-30%)/Sat $730K/Sun $400K/ 3-day $1.6M (-30%)/Total $11.08M/Wk 3

7.) American Underdog (LG) 2,512 (-335) theaters, Fri $390K (-20%)/Sat $544K/Sun $291K/ 3-day: $1.225M (-22%)/Total: $23.1M/Wk 5

8.) King’s Daughter (Grav) 2,170 theatres, Fri $257K/Sat $298K/Sun $195K/3-day $750K/Wk 1

9.)  West Side Story (20th/Dis) 1,290 (-170) theaters, Fri $193K (-19%)/Sat $324K/Sun $181K/3-day $698K (-25%)/Total $35.05M/Wk 7

10.) Licorice Pizza (UAR) 772 theaters, Fri $207K (-18%)/Sat $289K/Sun $188K/3-day $683K (-22%)/Total $10.78M/Wk 9

 

via Deadline

‘Scream’ Dethrones ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ with Strong $36M 4-Day Debut at the BO!!

We can complain about omicron. But I wouldn’t necessarily complain that the variant is spoiling the top films at the box office, as Paramount/Spyglass Media/Project X’s Scream had a robust first day of $13.3M (including $3.5M Thursday previews), and it eased accordingly on Saturday, just like horror movies do, with $10.1M, on its way to a $31.5M 3-day and $36M 4-day at 3,664 theaters.

“This opening has reinvigorated the franchise for fans, while simultaneously introducing it to a whole new generation of new Scream fans,” beamed Paramount’s Domestic Theatrical Distribution Boss Chris Aronson.

That 4-day beats Mama ($32.1M), the previous high opening for a horror movie over MLK, and overall, Scream‘s 3-day isn’t far from its previous sequel opening highs, Scream 2, which did $32.9M back in 1997, and Scream 3, which made $34.7M back in 2000. A great start to 2022 for Paramount on the big screen. EntTelligence box office analytics firm reports that 2.4M people are watching Scream over 3 days, with 1M on opening day and 250K from Thursday night previews.

Chalk up the success here to the alchemy of paying homage to what’s old with the new: The fresh blood boarding Scream, i.e. scribes James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick and filmmakers Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, didn’t operate in a vacuum when approaching a reboot/sequel of Scream. They brought in the consigliere services of the IP’s architect, Kevin Williamson, who serves as EP here. Paramount believed that the film would play best to a crowd, and kept it relegated to the big screen, versus a day-and-date hybrid approach with its streamer Paramount+.

Some of the intriguing components of Paramount’s marketing campaign for the fifthquel included a partnership with Airbnb, where fans were given the opportunity to stay in the original Scream house, hosted by David Arquette’s Sheriff Dewey Riley, and an online experience hosted by Williamson. “The Stay” sold out in 60 seconds, and the online experience sold out in 90 seconds. Visible, part of the Verizon Wireless family, was also a partner on the film, as well as Urban Outfitters which hosted…Screamings.

Spotify held the “Streamed To Death” program which allowed users to receive a sinister message from Ghostface about their most streamed songs from 2021, while delivering a sharable custom playlist. A first-to-market Twitter Light/Dark Mode branded like emoji gave users different experiences each time they pressed the “heart” button in either mode. On Reddit, fans got to speculate with Scream character “whodunnit” in the first partner-supported predictions tournament, and on TikTok, Paramount launched a First-of-its-Kind Text-To-Speech functionality in the voice of Ghostface.

Soft drink brand Fanta had “Halloween in January” across Latin America, including 2 million limited edition Ghostface cans and a first takeover at convenience stores OXXO, reaching over 26M shoppers in Mexico alone. Fans in the UK and around the globe were able to snatch up a limited edition “Strawberry and Scream” cereal (featuring a screaming box) offered by the British retailer Cereal Killer Café.

Social Media corp RelishMix beams about the advance weekend buzz for Scream, “With a date that was set in stone, unchanged and locked from one year ago, Scream opens solo with positive leaning convo to a potential Covid-proof audience. Fans are shouting on social for Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Ghost Face and David Arquette’s character Dewey as fans are ready for a wild and entertaining distraction into the New Year of cinematic madness. Negative and Covid related chatter runs thin.”

The pic’s campaign across Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram counted nine video drops in a week, with YouTube materials clocking close to 60M views. From the last installment 11 years ago, the social media universe for Scream is now at 126.4M, which is 27% above the horror genre norm. By comparison, Halloween Kills had a SMU of 145.1M (opened at $49.4M) and The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It counted a SMU at 131.1M (opened at $24.1M). “In other words, social stats are in the ballpark of recent horror films,” reports RelishMix.

Scream‘s actors are well-activated on social media, with Cox at 15.6M followers, Dylan Minnette at 7.9M, Jenna Ortega at 6.8M, Melissa Barrera with over 1M, David Arquette at 468K, and Neve Campbell at 418K. “All are indexing exceptionally well, as fans can see how much fun the cast is having in promotion as well as making the film,” assesses RelishMix.

Barrera gets a call from Cox, this video earning over 2.5M views on the Friends alum’s Instagram:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Courteney Cox (@courteneycoxofficial)

The hashtag #12Screamsfortheholidays became a push prior to the pic’s launch.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Marley Shelton (@marleyshelton)

Scream received a B+ CinemaScore, which ties with its highest grade from 1997’s Scream 2. Scream 3 and 4 respectively earned a B and B-, while the first wasn’t monitored by PostTrak as it was a platform release. Comscore/Screen Engine PostTrak audiences giving the movie a 79% positive and a 61% recommend. The pic played best in the West, Southcentral, and the Northeast with the Midwest and Southeast slightly under-indexing. On Friday, we heard that 20 locations grossed $25K+ each in the pic’s first day, which is very good. Top markets that over-performed included LA, NY, Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia, Detroit, San Antonio, Las Vegas, Cleveland, Baltimore, Fresno, and Indianapolis while the few top markets that under-indexed include Seattle, SLC, and Minneapolis. Top grossing theaters came from LA, NY, San Antonio, Phoenix, El Paso, Orlando, Pharr TX, Baltimore, Albuquerque, Dallas, Fresno, Corpus Christi, and Houston.

Updated exits show guys leading at 53%, 67% between 18-34, and 58% over 25. On Friday morning, exits showed 80% under 34 years old, indicating that the movie is appealing toward a younger generation. Diversity draw was 46% Caucasian, 33% Latino and Hispanic, 11% Black and 5% Asian. Scream is still being released in Canada theatrically (repped 1.5% of the sequel’s business), even though cinemas are shuttered in the Quebec and Ontario provinces.

EntTellgence reports that Scream played well during the prime shows of 6pm to 9pm with over 40% of the pic’s tickets during this block while 21% came after 9PM. Halloween Kills pulled in a bit more admissions in the late hours with 27% of the tickets being sold after 9PM.

Typically, horror movies are front-loaded, and hopefully there’s enough momentum here for Scream to hit its current opening projections or go higher.

Sony/Marvel’s Spider-Man: No Way Home will click close to $704M by the end of the holiday weekend, which would make it the fourth-highest movie of all-time at the domestic box office, besting Black Panther‘s $700M. Sony reports a $5.1M Friday for the Jon Watts-directed title at 3,925 sites for a $20.8M 3-day, $26M 4-day.

GKIDs’ Belle posted $727K on Friday at 1,326 theaters and $486K on Saturday. The outlook for the Mamoru Hosoda directed and Studio Chizu animated movie is $1.64M over 3-days and $2.04M over 4-days. Belle played best in the West and Mountain regions and notched an 86% audience score on PostTrak with a 63% recommend. Men were dominant at 55%, with 83% under 34-years-old and the biggest demo being 25-34 at 39%. Critics loved Belle at 95% Certified Fresh with the diversity draw being 39% Caucasian, 30% Asian/other, 19% Latino and Hispanic and 12% Black.

Overall, we continue to see a situation of “Haves” and “Have-Nots” at the domestic box office, with adult-skewing titles still leaner than event films. Total ticket receipts over four days are only expected to be $92.3M over 4-days, which is 55% off from MLK weekend 2020’s $205.3M before the exhibition shutdown. That’s also when Bad Boys for Life delivered the 4-day holiday’s second-best opening with a $73M start.

Updated weekend estimates as of Sunday AM:

Title/theaters/Fri-Sat-Sun/3-day (% chg)/Total/Weekend no.

1.) Scream (Par) 3,664 theaters Fri $13.3M/Sat $10.1M/ Sun $8.1M/Mon $4.5M/3-day $31.5M, 4-day $36M/Wk 1

2.) Spider-Man: No Way Home(Sony) 3,925 (-87) theaters, Fri $5.2M (-38%) /Sat $8.675M/Sun $6.9M/Mon $5.2M/3-day $20.8M (-36%)/4-day $26M/Total: $703.9M/Wk 4

3.) Sing 2 (Uni/Ill) 3,581 (-132) theaters, Fri $1.79M (-33%)/Sat $3.57M/Sun $2.89M/Mon $2.75M/3-day $8.27M (-29%)/4-day $11M/Total: $122.1M/Wk 4

By the way, a great hold here with Sing 2 — and the movie is on PVOD now. I don’t know what the media is talking about with the fallout of kids films at the box office. This is the only movie in the shadow of Spider-Man: No Way Home to do business over the holidays, a very similar situation to 2015’s Daddy’s Home being the only family film to cross $100M when Star Wars Force Awakens ruled. Once again, Disney’s decision to send Seeing Red to Disney+ has everything to do with spurring subscriber numbers before the end of its quarterly earnings.

4.) The King’s Man (20th/Dis) 2,510 (-530) theaters Fri $639K (-29%)/Sat $937K /Sun $743K/Mon $654K/ 3-day $2.3M (-28%)/4-day $2.9M /Total $29.3M/Wk 4

5.) The 355 (Uni/FilmNation) 3,145 theaters, Fri $670K (-61%)/Sat $950K/Sun $720K/Mon $470K/3-day $2.34M (-49%)/4-day $2.8M /Total $8.9M/Wk 2

6.) American Underdog (LG) 2,512 (-335) theaters, Fri $500K (-30%)/3-day: $1.6M (-21%)/4 day $2.26M/Total: $21.067M/Wk 4

7.) Belle (GKIDS) 1,326 theaters Fri $727K/Sat $486K/Sun $432K/Mon $395K/3-day $1.64M/4-day $2.04M/Wk 1

8.) West Side Story (20th/Dis) 1,460 (-830) theaters, Fri $238K (-38%)/Sat $386K/Sun $324K/Mon 3-day $948K (-31%)/4-day $1.15M/Total $33.9M/Wk 6

9.) Licorice Pizza (UAR) 772 theaters, Fri $252K (-11%)/Sat $360K/Sun $270K/Mon $203k/3-day $883K (-10%)/4-day $1.086M/Total $9.8M/Wk 8

10.) Matrix Resurrections (WB) 1,725 (-1,150) theaters, Fri $220K (-55%) /Sat $340K/Sun $255K/Mon3-day $815K (-56%)/4 day $1M/Total: $36M/Wk 4

via Deadline

‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Continues to Break Records While ‘The 355’ Flops at the BO!!

Despite Omicron sending many back to the comfort of their households for January, people are still going to the movies. Specifically, Sony/Marvel’s Spider-Man: No Way Home, which is snatching a fourth weekend of $33M at 4,012 locations, a -41% ease from weekend 3.

Proof that Spidey is immune to Omicron: He’s coming in higher than the $30M everyone was expecting yesterday. His fourth session take here also bests that of previous big Christmas Star Wars titles, including Last Jedi ($23.7M), Rogue One ($22M) and Rise of Skywalker ($15.1M). However, he’s behind Force Awakens’ $42.3M.

Spider-Man took in $8.3M on Friday, and by end of today will raise its cume to $668.7M, which will make it the sixth-highest grossing movie at the domestic box office, ahead of James Cameron’s Titanic ($659.3M). The Tom Holland–Zendaya-Benedict Cumberbatch ensemble is around $10M away from overtaking Avengers: Infinity War ($678.8M) as the fifth-highest grossing movie ever stateside. Box Office firm EntTelligence says that 54.4M tickets have been sold for the Jon Watts-directed MCU sequel to date in US and Canada.

Worldwide, No Way Home stands at $1.53B, the eighth-highest movie around the globe of all-time.

An insider keeps mentioning to me that Spider-Man isn’t the norm. It’s an anomaly at the pandemic box office. I highly disagree with that: It’s an event that plays to all quads and sub-quads, and underscores how you can still draw audiences away from their sofas with the right mass-appealing product, even if we’re freaked out over the variant.

For those movie theaters rolling in dough over popcorn money, Spider-Man is not an anomaly, but a reminder of Christmas pasts. Deep down, no matter if you’re blue or red state, everyone wants to get out and live their lives and manage safety in a Covid-19 environment.

It just boils down to the type of movie you’re going to make extra time for outside your house, and if it looks similar to anything in a Netflix queue, you’re not going to sacrifice time. A period prequel (King’s Man), a flat-flooded franchise sequel available in homes (Matrix Resurrections), and a 2 1/2 hour remake of a 61-year old Best Picture Oscar winner (West Side Story), aren’t pulling in moviegoers like Little Women, Knives Out did two years ago at this time, or Hateful Eight and Big Short did six years ago, when Force Awakens was still ruling January.

Unfortunately, it’s that middling adult fare which continues to swoon, sure to be hurt by Covid. But it is also about product (duh). Spider-Man reps 51% of this weekend’s total estimated $64M ticket sales for all titles. This puts the frame -52% off the same January weekend in 2020, which grossed $132M. The top 10 movies for Jan. 10-12, 2020 made at least $5.1M+; this weekend, the 10th-ranking title’s baseline is at $632K. Also on that weekend, the wide expansion of Universal/Amblin/New Republic’s 1917 led the box office with $37M, while Rise of Skywalker ranked 2nd with $15.1M, and Jumanji: The Next Level in weekend 5 doing $14M in third.

The Simon Kinberg-directed-produced and cowritten all- femme action movie The 355 seemed like a perfect title for Universal, to acquire domestic on at $20M, the movie fitting in its theatrical slate, which is about diversity and representation.

However critics and moviegoers have detected a by-the-numbers action film, and that bad word-of-mouth is deep-sixing The 355, with a $4.8M result in 3rd place. It’s not just omicron, but, yes, word-of-mouth does have something to do with it.  Critics at 26% Rotten are saying to avoid, while CinemaScore is better at B+. But Comscore/Screen Engine’s PostTrak is worse at 76%. According to EntTelligence, The 355‘s weekend B.O. translates to 360k admissions.

RelishMix says about the social media chatter, “Convo for The 355 swings mixed-negative, as fans feel like they’re being served a bit of a cliché cookie-cutter action package in the spirit of Charlie’s Angels or ‘James Bond’s daughters’ with a diverse mix of kick-ass, super-charged women. Fans of Jessica Chastain, Lupita Nyong’o, and Penelopé Cruz are super-supportively cheering for success. But amidst the Covid-resurge, moviegoers are tapping their finger for Peacock or another streaming service drop date.”

The title was the code name of the first female spy in the American Revolution, and became jargon for a female intelligence agent. As Kinberg told us on Crew Call recently, star Chastain, who worked with him on his X-Men: Dark Phoenix and The Martian production, approached the scribe/filmmaker with the idea of an all-female spy ensemble.

They reached out to Cruz, Nyong’o, Diane Kruger and Bingbing Fan with the pitch to make the movie outside the Hollywood system, so that they could retain fiscal ownership and authorship of the $75M production and share in the pic’s upside in various percentages.

FilmNation sold foreign at Cannes, with CAA Media Finance selling domestic and China, as Deadline first reported in the news about the massive stateside sale. Universal held this title throughout the pandemic. I’m under the impression that tight deals didn’t allow this movie to be sold to a streamer. However, we’ve seen other foreign sales titles become unwound and head to streamers or PVOD on account of the pandemic.

Of course, older adults aren’t storming movie theaters. The results here aren’t that far off from 2020 pre-pandemic spy bomb The Rhythm Section, which opened to $2.7M. Traditionally, we’d rake The 355 over the coals on how it’s poised to be unprofitable. However, with studios practicing streaming, they’re trying to adapt the streamers’ volume sense of accounting to their ledgers, in that they spend so many multimillion dollars on content and hope to offset that cost with subscriptions and other ancillary revenues and global film rentals.

What happens now with The 355? Well, it’s on a 17-day theatrical window and heads to PVOD very soon. In its 45th day of release, The 355, like the rest of Uni’s theatrical slate moving forward, will appear on the pay-tier of Peacock. The 355 will live on Peacock for four months, then head to Amazon Prime, available free to members, for another ten months, before moving back to the NBCUni streamer service. Somehow, some way, Universal will squeeze blood from this rock.

The 355 in updated demos leaned 56% female, 73% over 25 and 40% between 25-44, but also 33% over 45 (still not a lot of money here). Diversity demos came in at 50% Caucasian, 21% Latino and Hispanic, 17% Black, 9% Asian, 3% other. Most of The 355‘s dough came from the West and the South.

RelishMix says that due to 355‘s re-date after a year-long pause, there’s “scattered activity for digital materials,” but a “strong reach by the all-star cast.” The social media universe across YouTube views, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter was close to 120M before opening, with the cast’s social media handles repping 38% of that push, with Nyong’o at 14.5M fans, Chastain at 6.5M, Sebastian Stan with a strong Instagram at 8.4M, Edgar Ramirez at 5.3M, Bingbing Fan at 4.1M.

Speaking of Universal’s short windows and titles appearing on PVOD after 17 days, Illumination’s Sing 2 became available in homes to be rented on Friday. That’s not stopping the Garth Jennings-written and directed animation title from scoring a near $12M third weekend, -41% and hitting $109M. That officially makes Sing 2 the highest-grossing animation movie of the pandemic at the domestic B.O. (since mid-March 2020) and demonstrates that families will go out to animated movies now. (Do you hear that, Disney?).

In addition, original animated titles are a challenge to launch at the box office, and it’s conceivable that the studio wanted a healthier marketplace to capitalize on that. The Pixar movie wasn’t booked in the summer, rather the off-season (like Pixar’s Onward before the pandemic) and odds are the audience diagnostics on the movie weren’t good. Otherwise, why send Turning Red into homes? Again, at this moment, with experts predicting omicron to peak this week, no one is expecting the pandemic to get worse by the spring; Warner Bros. currently sticking to its is March 4 release date of The Batman. Says one mid-sized exhibitor to Deadline this morning, “Turning Red would easily do $100 million at the box office. It is not like it’s going to push the needle on subscribers. Send it to Disney +, but give it to me too.”

Other big deals this weekend: UAR/MGM’s The House of Gucci crosses $50M, still the highest-grossing older-skewing drama out there in the pandemic.

Sarigama Cinemas’ RRR, directed by S.S. Rajamouli, we hear did not open this weekend. And the money being reported with $30K on Friday are unresolved grosses in Comscore.

Sony Classics’ awards contender Parallel Mothers added Chicago, San Francisco, DC, Phoenix, and Miami to their mix, taking their theater count in weekend 3 from 5 to 18 runs. We hear the existing runs held at low levels. However, The Landmark on Pico Blvd in LA did $5K, up substantially from a week ago. Among the new bookings, Tower & Gateway in Miami and Fort Lauderdale fared quite well, I hear. Friday looks like $21K. SPC is calling the 3-day at $76,5K, which puts the pic’s running total at an estimated $216,5K.

Title/theaters/Fri-Sat-Sun/3-day (% chg)/Total/Weekend no.

1.) Spider-Man: No Way Home (Sony) 4,012 (-194) theaters, Fri $8.3M (-46%) /Sat $14.75M/Sun $9.96M/ 3-day $33M (-41%)/ Total: $668.7M/Wk 4

2.) Sing 2 (Uni/Ill) 3,713 (-179) theaters, Fri $2.67M (-59%)/Sat $5.4M/Sun $3.8M/3-day $11.95M (-41%)/Total: $109M/Wk 3

3.) The 355 (Uni/FilmNation) 3,145 theaters, Fri $1.72M/Sat $1.87M/Sun $1.2M/3-day $4.8M/Wk 1

4.) The King’s Man (20th/Dis) 3,040 (-140) theaters Fri $900K (-28%)/Sat $1.4M/Sun $949K/3-day $3.27M (-28%)/Total $25.1M/Wk 3

5.) American Underdog (LG) 2,729 (-84) theaters, Fri $723K/Sat $1.08M/Sun $610K/3-day: $2.4M (-38%)/Total: $18.8M/Wk 3

6.) Matrix Resurrections (WB) 2,875 (-677) theaters, Fri $500K (-52%) /3-day $1.86M (-51%)/Total: $34.3M/Wk 3

7.) West Side Story (20th/Dis) 2,290 (-400) theaters, Fri $383K (-45%)/Sat $618K/Sun $412K/3-day $1.4M (-33%)/Total $32.1M/Wk 5

8.) Ghostbusters: Afterlife (Sony) 1,501 (-144) theaters Fri $267K (-39%)/Sat $545K/ Sun $328K/ 3-day $1.14M (-22%)/Total: $125M/ Wk 8

9.) Licorice Pizza (UAR) 772 (-14) theaters, Fri $286K (-20%)/Sat $437K/Sun $306K/3-day $1.03M (-21%)/Total $8.2M/Wk 7

10.) House of Gucci  (UAR) 607 (-100) theaters, Fri $176K (-9%)/Sat $277K/Sun $180K/3-day $632K (-21%)/Total $50.1M/Wk 8

11.) A Journal for Jordan (Sony) 1,850 (-650) theaters Fri $163K/Sat $283K/Sun $159K/3-day $605K (-50%)/Total $5.9M/Wk 3

12.) Nightmare Alley (Sea) 1,200 (-710) theaters Fri $172K/Sat $262K/Sun $158K/3-day $592K (-39%)/Total: $8.7M/Wk 4

Other indie notables:

Parallel Mothers (SPC) 18 (+13) theaters, 3-day: $76,5K (+146%)/Total $216,5K/Wk 3

Red Rocket (A24) 144 (-241) theaters Fri $18,7K/Sat $24,7K/Sun $19,7K/3-day $63,3K (-81%)/Total: $894,6K/wk 4

Belfast (Foc) 67 (-10) theaters Fri $9K/Sat $13K/Sun $8K/3-day $30K (-7%)/Total $6.95M/Wk 9

The French Dispatch (Sea) 45 (-10) theaters Fri $7K/Sat $12K/Sun $8k/3-day $27K (-15%)/Total $16M/Wk 12

C’mon C’mon (A24) 26 (0) theaters Fri $3,6K/Sat $4,9K/Sun $4k/3-day $12,5K/Total $1.87M/Wk 8

 

via Deadline

‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Becomes 10th Highest-Grosser of All Time at the Domestic BO!!

Comscore has estimated the 2021 domestic box office at $4.55B, which is +100% from last year’s $2.28 billion and off 60% from 2019’s $11.4 billion. While it would be impossible to think we’d come raging back to 2019 norms, it is arguable that the domestic box office recovery isn’t as robust as many expected.

No 1 Exhibitor Boss Adam Aron of AMC forecasted 2021 ending at $5.2 billion. But in all fairness to his outlook, which was made back in August, that was when Paramount’s Top Gun Maverick was still on the calendar, and rosier projections were anticipated for Disney/Marvel’s Eternals and MGM/UAR’s Daniel Craig 007 swan song No Time to Die. 

“The pace of the recovering is occurring at a slower than anticipated pace,” MKM Partners Managing Director, Senior Research Analyst told Deadline, “but the recovery will continue. Part of the problem is there’s just fewer films; the whole middle market is gone, but tentpoles will continue to improve.”

One of those big movies to rally us into 2022 was Sony/Marvel’s Spider-Man: No Way Home, which through its third weekend can scream a US/Canada running total of $609.89M, the 10th-highest grossing movie ever at the domestic box office, overtaking Disney/Pixar’s Incredibles 2 and $8M away from beating the 2017 Christmas hit Star Wars: The Last Jedi (which stands in the No 9 domestic B.O. all-time spot at $620.1M).

To date, B.O. numbers firm EntTelligence estimates that 50M people have seen No Way Home, while 9M have watched Sing 2, West Side Story – 2.9M people, Matrix Resurrections – 2.6M, The King’s Man – 1.9M, and American Underdog – 1.5M.

Box office data corp Gower Analytics, off a theatrical slate that include Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Thor: Love and Thunder, Top Gun Maverick, The Batman, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and so much more, predicts 2022 will soar to $9.2 billion.

All movies saw a spike in business on New Year’s Day, with wide releases (titles at 1,000+ theaters) seeing a near 42% climb over Friday. Spider-Man: No Way Home collected $52.7M, -38% from Christmas weekend.

Title/theaters/Fri-Sat-Sun/3-day (% chg)/Total/Weekend no.

1.) Spider-Man: No Way Home (Sony) 4,206 (-130) theaters, Fri $15.4M /Sat $23M/ Sun $14.3M/3-day $52.7M (-38%)/ Total: $610M/Wk 3

2.) Sing 2 (Uni/Ill) 3,892 theaters, Fri $6.4M/Sat $7.75M/Sun $5.4M/3-day $19.6M (-12%)/Total: $89.68M/Wk 2

3.) The King’s Man (20th/Dis) 3,180 theaters Fri $1.25M/Sat $1.95M/Sun $1.3M/3-day $4.5M (-24%)/Total $19.5M/Wk 2

4.) American Underdog (LG) 2,813 theaters, Fri $1.35M/Sat $1.6M/Sun $1.08M/3-day: $4.075M (-31%)/Total: $15M/Wk 2

5.) Matrix Resurrections (WB) 3,552 theaters, Fri $1.05M /Sat $1.635M/Sun $1.14M/3-day $3.825M (-64%)/Total: $30.9M/Wk 2

6.) West Side Story (20th/Dis) 2,690 (-130) theaters, Fri $700K/Sat $850K/Sun $550K/3-day $2.1M (-25%)/Total $29.56M/Wk 4

7.) Ghostbusters: Afterlife (Sony) 1,645 (-83) theaters Fri $435K/Sat $620K/Sun $380K/3-day $1.435M (+17%)/Total: $123.4M/ Wk 7

8.) Licorice Pizza (UAR) 786 (+781) theaters, Fri $356K (+5k%)/Sat $541K/Sun $352K/3-day $1.249M (-35%)/Total $6.3M/Wk 6

9.) A Journal for Jordan (Sony) 2,500 theaters, Fri $335K/Sat $525K/Sun $380K/3-day: $1.175M (-47%)/Total: $4.74M/Wk 2

10.) Encanto (Dis) 2,425 (-375) theaters, Fri $340K/Sat $425K/Sun $285K/3-day $1.05M (-42%)/Total $91.3M/Wk 6

11.) Nightmare Alley (Sea) 1,910 (-225)Fri $275K /Sat $425K/Sun $272K/3-day: $972K (-17%)/Total $7.6M/Wk 3

via Deadline