Movies

Deadline’s Most Valuable Blockbuster tournament took a hiatus during the pandemic as movie theatres closed for the majority of 2020-2021 and theatrical day-and-date titles on both the big screen and studio’s respective streaming platforms became more prevalent. Coming back from that pandemical brink, the motion picture studies have largely returned to their theatrical release models

AMC Entertainment has taken a big step forward on a few key fronts, announcing a settlement in a shareholder lawsuit that would allow it to issue stock, raise capital, convert its APE units and go ahead with a ten-for-one reverse stock split – basically a lifeline if it needs one. Shareholders had approved the much-needed

Who says people don’t go to the movies? That stale cynicism coming out of the pandemic is about to get squashed this weekend as Illumination/Universal’s The Super Mario Bros Movie is about to run up a serious box office score. With a Wednesday opening before Easter around the world, inclusive of 70 offshore markets, the

John Vanco, longtime SVP and GM of arthouse IFC Center in NYC has joined Netflix as film programmer for the streamer’s cinemas. “I’m thrilled to share the news that after 18 years of presenting the world’s best films at IFC Center, I will be moving to Netflix on April 10 to help lead their efforts

Regal owner Cineworld has entered into a restructuring support agreement and a backstop commitment agreement with lenders that will, if approved, see it emerge from bankruptcy. The exhibition giant also noted today that it has received non-binding proposals for some or all of the group’s assets but determined that absent an all-cash bid significantly in

Refresh for latest…: Coming in higher than expected, Paramount/eOne’s Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves took a $71.5M global bow this weekend; that includes $33M from 60 offshore markets which is nicely above the $25M+ projected ahead of the frame. Standout markets included the UK (where eOne distributes) at No. 1 with $4.3M; Mexico and

Arianna Bocco, IFC Films President, is out at the distributor, Deadline has confirmed. Bocco is a 17 year vet at the indie label. She was named President in December 2020 after being the only distributor to give those few theaters bravely scrapping by during Covid, product including Dave Franco’s directorial, The Rental. Bocco will be

In the latest episode of Crew Call, we talk to Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves directors, scribes and EPs John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein about the vision they sold to Paramount to make the dark and dingy world of the role playing game, not just fun, but funnier. And even more so, a

Saturday AM: Refresh for more updates and chart Though Friday was $15.3M, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is still looking at a $40M opening. This is the high end of tracking, and that is to be commended for the Paramount/eOne $150M production which the former studio was careful to lay off risk on. Though

Paramount and eOne’s Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves has made $5.6M in previews. That’s not all from Thursday showtimes (which began at 3PM), but includes advance Amazon sneaks among other pre-screenings. Before Thursday, we’re told Dungeons & Dragons made $1.5M. While the feature take of the popular role-playing game has been hot in word

National CineMedia said today it’s negotiated a second extension of the grace period on interest payments originally due Feb. 15. A one-month grace period for a payment said to be about $6.6 million ended March 15, when the company announced lenders had agreed to another 17 days. Big ratings agencies Moody’s and S&P Global declared

As the new crop of 2023 festival favorites roll out, Focus Features presents A Thousand And One in over 900 carefully curated theaters, testing the appetite for specialty fare at a challenging moment. Short film and video director A.V. Rockwell’s feature-length debut stars Teyana Taylor as free-spirited Inez, who kidnaps her six-year-old son Terry from

Paramount and Hasbro eOne with the greatest of intentions have created an extremely fun, broad-audience appealing feature take on the classic roleplaying game, entitled Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, which already is 90% certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes –not an easy feat with a genre movie of this caliber– and 94% with moviegoers. Paramount

Broadway’s The Phantom of the Opera had yet another smashing, down-to-the-wire week at the Majestic, grossing more than $3 million for the second consecutive week as the countdown to its April 16 closing continues. Meanwhile, another villainous character – the bloodthirsty killer of the ecstatically reviewed Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street –

An attorney for bankrupt movie theater chain Cineworld said today it has “several” interested parties eyeing its business in “rest of world” — meaning Europe outside the UK, and Israel — but nothing pending for the entire company, or, it seems for Regal in the U.S. Final bids are due April 10, said Joshua Sussberg

Disney’s live-action take on The Little Mermaid has been cleared for theatrical release in China, as has Fast X — the penultimate installment in Universal’s long-running Fast & Furious action franchise. Dates are still to be set for both films in the market which has increasingly been handing out day-and-date releases for Hollywood titles even

EXCLUSIVE: Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in late February 2022, Hollywood swore off the booming and lucrative box office territory, with the first studios, Disney and Warner Bros, respectively pulling their big movies out of the country, Turning Red and The Batman. However, this past weekend, Lionsgate’s John Wick: Chapter 4 made it through

Lionsgate Motion Picture Group Chair Joe Drake had much to celebrate this morning. The studio reaped a record global and domestic box office debut for the John Wick franchise, with John Wick: Chapter 4 making $137.5M WW and $73.5M. The fourthquel was the best-received John Wick of all-time with audiences (A CinemaScore) and critics (95%

Refresh for latest…: It was a bow-wow-wow! start for Lionsgate/Thunder Road Films/87 Eleven’s John Wick: Chapter 4 with $137.5M global this session. Of that, $64M is estimated from 71 international box office markets. All were No. 1 starts and cumulatively are 73% above John Wick 3 – Parabellum’s 2019 launch. This is a fantastic debut

The pace of arthouse /smart-house releases accelerated this weekend as wide-for-specialty openings like A Good Person and The Lost King joined a handful of solid single-theater openings from distributors Greenwich Entertainment, Sideshow/Janus Films, Mubi, Abramorama and Cinema Guild – all set for some expansion. MGM released Killer Films and Elevation Pictures’ A Good Person on

Lea Michele will miss upcoming performances of Funny Girl because of an unspecified “scary health issue” affecting her 2-year-old son, Ever Leo Reich. The news was announced by the former Glee star on her Instagram account, and show producers confirmed there as well. “I’m so sorry but unfortunately I will be out of @FunnyGirlBwy today,”

Giant theater chain Cineworld will convene a meeting of its shareholders on April 20 related to the Chapter 11 process currently underway in a Texas bankruptcy court. The meeting, which is in-person only, is required by UK securities law, Cineworld said today, “in circumstances where the value of the company’s net assets is less than half

After snapping up the critically acclaimed Jonathan Majors movie Magazine Dreams out of Sundance, Searchlight has set a Dec. 8 theatrical release for the Elijah Bynum directed title; a date that’s right in line with the classics’ label previous awards season launches. Searchlight beat out Neon, Sony Pictures Classics and HBO for this fierce drama

EXCLUSIVE: The most critically acclaimed John Wick of all-time, Lionsgate’s John Wick: Chapter 4, is seeing the franchise’s best Thursday previews of all-time at around $8M per industry estimates tonight. Previews began at 3PM today for the R-rated pic. Tracking had the Chad Stahelski-directed sequel heading for a $65M-$70M opening weekend, which would rep a

Much maligned Richard III finally gets the royal treatment in Stephen Frears’ The Lost King as amateur historian Philippa Langley unearths the monarch’s five century-old remains in a parking lot in Leicester, England in 2012. Two books and a documentary later, IFC Films presents the feature film version in 750+ theaters. “It took eight years

With overseas rollout having begun Wednesday, Lionsgate/Thunder Road Films/87 Eleven’s John Wick: Chapter 4 is off to a strong start at the international box office. Across just a handful of markets, figures we’re hearing put the early estimated cume at roughly $3.9M through Wednesday and including Australia and New Zealand’s Thursday launches. As Anthony reported,

The media news cycle is in a frenzy today over a Bloomberg piece that Apple will shell out a $1 billion to produce big screen features annually. That’s great news for exhibition, yes. But, in reality, doing the math, the streamer was already bound to spend in the billions on a feature slate. Apple’s deep

EXCLUSIVE: The John Wick franchise has flourished in its post theatrical market, and strong the Keanu Reeves action series will remain in that sector. Ahead of John Wick: Chapter 4‘s opening tomorrow, Lionsgate has unveiled its largest consumer products program to date for the film. Together with the studio’s global consumer products representative, licensing giant

The death of MGM distribution chief Erik Lomis on Wednesday has shocked many around Hollywood. More than just being a sage to filmmakers and executives about the motion picture business, Lomis was known for his generosity fundraising with the Will Rogers Institute, cultivating others’ careers, and even being a mentor to many in their personal

Extremely devastating news: MGM and United Artists Releasing distribution boss Erik Lomis died suddenly Wednesday at his home in Santa Monica, we have learned from sources. No details were provided in regards to his death. He was 64. Lomis was a towering figure behind many filmmakers’ hits including those from Quentin Tarantino, Paul Thomas Anderson,