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Here we go.
The first two movies under the newly combined Paramount Warner Bros merger — Legendary’s Street Fighter via the Melrose lot and Clockwork’s limited 4K re-release of Ken Russell’s 1971 The Devils — hit theaters this weekend in what is a future of titles dated on top of each other, appealing to myriad demos.
Skydance co-CEO David Ellison yearned to merge the two historic studios in order to scale up and compete in a hyper-changing entertainment business. And scale up, Ellison is achieving.
For the period of January 1-October 11, the combined domestic box office for Paramount and Warner Bros stands at $941.6M, ranking fourth behind Universal ($1.86B), Disney ($1.6B) and Sony ($1.37B). The billion threshold stateside is feasibly within reach for the new Skydance with six Paramount/Warner Bros movies left to release this year including next weekend’s R-rated DC genre title Clayface, family animated WB title The Cat in the Hat (November 6), Paramount’s Johnny Deep edgy Ebenezer (November 13), Legendary’s sci-fi tentpole Dune: Part 3 (December 18), family title The Angry Birds 3 (December 23) and Mr. Irrelevant (December 25).
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A No. 1 global and domestic rank is expected this weekend in the feature take of legacy Capcom fisticuffs video game Street Fighter with a high-$30Ms domestic and mid-$30M international start resulting in a near-$70M global opening or more. There’s often comps between the 1987-born arcade game to its rival 1992-conceived Midway martial arts video game Mortal Kombat. However, when it comes to box office comps, there’s a desire to steer clear of coming Street Fighter to the recent New Line Mortal Kombat movies, which opened at $23.3M in 2021 (a Covid-era day-and-date release on HBO Max) and this past summer’s sequel, which debuted to $38.5M in North America. Reason being that Mortal Kombat was rated R, and Street Fighter is PG-13, hence there’s an opportunity around the world to bring in families and younger men under 18. Also, Street Fighter is less violent. Mortal Kombat II under-delivered overseas next to domestic, $49.8M to $79.8M. The hope and the plan is for Street Fighter to play to a much broader age group.
First choice is best with men over and under 25 on the Legendary-co-financed movie, which was made for a net $82M with Capcom. Street Fighter is the first theatrical release under Legendary’s new global distribution deal with Paramount. No Rotten Tomatoes critical scores yet on the Kitao Sakurai-directed pic, which is booked at 3,500 theaters and has a heavy Imax and PLF footprint. Previews start at 2 p.m. Thursday in U.S./Canada, with a 7 p.m. fan event that has bonus footage and giveaways.
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Street Fighter steps out everywhere overseas sans China, where Paramount doesn’t have rights. In like-for-likes comps, last year’s Predator: Badlands looks to be the right comparison; it debuted to $31.2M overseas. Street Fighter should rally in Latin America — particularly Mexico and Brazil — the UK, Australia as well as Asia, where the game is popular. No headwinds expected from local fare in Korea or Japan.
‘Ken Russell’s The Devils’
Warner Bros. Clockwork
Meanwhile, we’re hearing that Warner Bros Clockwork’s unearthed naughty Catholic movie, The Devils, is going in 350 playdates this weekend in key U.S./Canada cities. The Devils is the first theatrical release for the frosh genre auteur label led by Christian Parkes.
Austin Abrams, left, and Josh Brolin in ‘Whalefall‘
20th Century Studios
Also bowing is 20th Century Studios’ feature take on Daniel Kraus survival thriller novel Whalefall, with $11M-$12m domestic in 3,000 theaters, and about the same overseas for a $24M WW start on the high end. Whalefall stars Austin Abrams, who is hot off Resident Evil, as well as Josh Brolin and Elizabeth Shue. The net $60M production was shot here in the Golden State. Like-for-like overseas comps are the 20th Century movies The Amateur ($14.8M offshore start last year) and Send Help ($19M early this year). The domestic launch counts 500 PLF screens including Dolby, 4D and D-Box. The Brian Duffield-directed movie is going everywhere overseas except Denmark, where it will open on October 22. Previews start at 2 p.m. Thursday. The PG-13 movie is best with women under 25 and men over 25 in first choice.
Esmé Creed-Miles as Marianne, left, and Daisy Edgar-Jones as Elinor in ‘Sense and Sensibility‘
Focus Features
In more diversified bookings, Focus Features has the remake of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility starring Daisy Edgar-Jones and Caitríona Balfe, which is hitting 2,436 theaters with an eye on $8M domestic for the mid-$20M Universal Working Title-financed feature. This is a wider opening for Sense and Sensibility versus Working Title and Focus’ pre-Covid Austen movie Emma, which was platformed and at its widest point of 1,565 theaters posted a $4.8M weekend in early March 2020, just before all cinemas shut down. First choice is best with women over 25, followed by women under 25. The PG-rated movie starts previews in U.S./Canada at 2 p.m. Thursday. Sense and Sensibility already has swooned the UK, Norway and France, with a combined running overseas cume of $8M. The Georgia Oakley-directed movie is courting Germany and Australia on Thursday. Reviews stand at 76% fresh. The Oscar-winning 1995 version starring Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet and directed by Ang Lee was 97% certified fresh on RT.
A24
With a very good shot to over perform is the A24 Lance Oppenheim and Nathan Fielder directed doc You Can See Everything which follows the latter’s interaction with fallen Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes before her federal prison stint. High single digits is what it’s looking like now for North America, but if the Gen Z crowd shows up, this could crack $10M+ at 800 theaters, which would be amazing. The most recent doc comp, Melania, opened to $7M on 1,700 theaters, which repped the best start for a documentary in a decade. You Can See Everything is on almost half of that theater count with hundreds of sellouts already. Shot over four years in secret, You Can See Everything cost under $10M and had a marketing campaign spend under $10M. Forty four reviews on RT are at 100%.
Also opening wide this weekend at 1,200 is Roadside Attractions’ Ángel Gómez Hernández-directed Crawlers. The second weekend of Other Mommy, Universal and Blumhouse Atomic Monster’s D+ CinemaScore horror movie, is expected to decline by 60%-70% in North America in its second frame after a No. 1. opening of $27.8M. Other Mommy through counts $33.5M at the domestic box office through Tuesday.