Movies

AMC Entertainment CEO Adam Aron said the new Sightline ticket pricing regime the chain’s trying out in three markets has the potential to expand the moviegoing market and prevent future price hikes. “We are in inflationary times, and inflationary times cause costs to rise,” he said. “Under the pre-Sightline structure of the industry, if we

Some recent Broadway arrivals added both star power and box office receipts to the weekly grosses reports, with both Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and Parade selling out (the latter despite some loudmouthed neo-Nazi protesters), and A Doll’s House starring Jessica Chastain and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Bad Cinderella coming close. The musical

“‘Nobody likes to watch people getting eaten by lions.” Apparently this was the response by the late Sumner Redstone during his National Amusement exhibition days after he saw a screening of the 1981 Tom Skerritt lion movie, Savage Harvest, relayed to me by an exhibition source who overheard him. As funny as Redstone’s reaction was, it’s

Universal/Illumination/Nintendo’s The Super Mario Bros Movie has become the latest Hollywood title to secure a release date in China. The big-screen spin on the iconic videogame franchise will hit Chinese cinemas on April 5, in time for Ching Ming Festival and in step with some other international markets as well as two days before the

The Quiet Girl, an Oscar contender for Best International Feature, opened to a robust $60k on six screens this weekend for a per-theater average of $10k. The film by Colm Bairead presented by SUPER LTD is based on the short story by Claire Keegan of a shy nine-year-old girl in rural Ireland. It led debuts

Refresh for latest…: Coming out of its second weekend, Disney/Marvel’s Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania has grossed $363.6M globally. Of that, $167.3M is from domestic and $196.3M from the international box office. The sophomore overseas frame was $46.4M in 52 markets with a slighter drop than in North America, coming in 57% behind last weekend’s

Warner Bros/New Line/DC’s sequel Shazam! Fury of the Gods hit early tracking Thursday and surprised many with a low projection of $35 million, which is under the first installment’s $53.5M opening in 2019. Realize it’s still early, and Warner Bros hasn’t fully fire-breathed its marketing campaign yet. The odd thing is that tracking was comping

Amazon’s upcoming wide release of Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s Nike movie Air exclusively in theaters in April “could represent the start of a substantive move into theatrical exhibition by streaming companies,” said Sean Gamble, chief executive of nation’s third-largest movie chain. Amazon last month releaves plans to give Air a wide theatrical release April

Super LTD presents Best International Feature Oscar nominee The Quiet Girl and, as the Academy Awards approach, RRR ramps up again and Navalny returns to theaters for one-week run. Also opening, Aaron Eckhart in Ambush, Charlotte Rampling in Juniper and comedian Jim Gaffigan as the host of a failing children’s science TV show in Linoleum.

Universal’s campy R-rated genre pic Cocaine Bear from Elizabeth Banks lifted $2M last night from previews at 3,000 theaters that began at 5 p.m. The $30M-budgeted movie, in a weekend that easily will be dominated by Disney/Marvel Studios’ Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania with an estimated $40M (-62%), is set to do in the high

NATO will present Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas with its Spirit of the Industry Award at CinemaCon in April for the event’s closing night Big Screen Achievement Awards. It comes as the Nolan written-directed Oppenheimer is set for theatrical release July 21 from Universal Pictures. Produced by Thomas, Atlas Entertainment’s Charles Roven and Nolan.  “I am

Here’s a movie Focus Features is excited about for next awards season, and it wouldn’t be shocking to see it world premiering at a big film festival some time this year: Alexander Payne’s New England prep school comedy The Holdovers. The Universal label just dated the pic for November 10 with a wider break on

Broadway in Hollywood has tuned up the slate of musicals for its 2023-24 season. Headed to the Pantages Theatre stage starting late this year are the touring productions of MJ The Musical, The Wiz, Chicago The Musical, Girl from the North Country, Mrs. Doubtfire, Peter Pan and Company. “We’re gonna be startin’ somethin’ exciting,” Broadway

Imax chief executive Rich Gelfond said blockbuster titles will probably be back on Imax screens later this year, as per Top Gun: Maverick last year and, more recently, Titanic’s 25th anniversary re-release. “Yes, I think they do. Especially seeing what happens at the Academy Awards, and what wins,” said Gelfond when asked on a conference

Imax said today it expects return to pre-pandemic gross box office level of $1.1 billion in 2023. It reported slightly higher than anticipated revenue of $98 million for the fourth quarter, down 10% from the year before. But the company said 2023 is off to a strong start with the rapid re-opening of the Chinese box office,

Bankrupt Regal parent Cineworld said it had multiple bids for all or some of its assets in initial expressions of interest due last week. Its business includes Regal in the U.S.; Cineworld and Picturehouse in the UK and Ireland; and “rest of world” cinemas in Central and Eastern Europe, and Israel. Cineworld attorney Joshua Sussberg

The 3x Oscar-nominated Damien Chazelle-directed early Hollywood epic Babylon will hit Paramount+ on Feb. 21 in U.S and Canada, which is 61 days after its theatrical window. The Paramount/C2 movie which stars Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Diego Calva and Lukas Haas will also debut in U.K., Australia, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Latin America, Brazil and

Focus Features has set a September 8 global release date for My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3. That will give some breadth to the post-Labor Day box office and an option for older female moviegoers, that weekend already having New Line’s The Nun 2 on the schedule. Part 3 was written and directed by the

Despite Disney/Marvel Studios’ Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania soaking up the global box office with $225M start, the studio’s sister 20th Century Studios/Lightstorm James Cameron sequel Avatar: The Way of Water refuses to stop, despite the fact that the former title has all the premium tickets. Avatar: The Way of Water‘s running worldwide total now

EO, the Sideshow/Janus films release told from the point of view of a donkey, is set to pass the $1 million mark in week 14. The Cannes-premiering film by Jerzy Skolimowski, Academy Award nominated for Best International Feature, will gross an estimated $27.6k for the four-day weekend on 37 screens for a cume of just over

SATURDAY UPDATE, Refresh for latest…: Disney/Marvel’s Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania flew into another eight overseas markets on Friday, taking the international box office cume through yesterday to $52.6M. Globally, it’s just kissing $100M at $98.6M. The full global weekend is eyed at about $225M+, lower than where we saw it coming into the launch,

Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical has grossed over $33M in UK cinemas since its release on November 25 last year, picking up two BAFTA nominations along the way. In a unique deal, Sony/TriStar retained UK rights to the movie while Netflix financed the pic and took the rest of the world, debuting it on the

This just in: Disney/Marvel Studios’ sequel The Marvels will no longer be opening on July 28, rather Nov. 10, which is where Black Panther: Wakanda Forever opened last year over the Veterans Day long holiday weekend to a November record of $181.3M. November has also been a prime place for other MCU titles like Thor:

The title that saw Riz Ahmed stifle laughter, the press room crack up and Allison Williams murmur “no comment” at Oscar nominations last month hits theaters today as ShortsTV presents Oscar Nominated Short Films at circa 380 locations in 75 markets. The program, three feature-length presentations of the five nominees for Live Action, Animated and

FRIDAY AFTERNOON: Disney/Marvel Studios’ Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is headed to being the third highest opening for Presidents Day weekend as well as February. While 4-day estimates are wild between $115M-$125M, today is shaping up to be around $44M (that includes last night’s $17.5M) for a 3-day at $100M at 4,345 theaters. These are

Universal/DreamWorks Animation’s How to Trian Your Dragon will return to the big screen, but as a live-action feature adaptation with the franchise’s 3x Oscar nominated and Golden Globe winning filmmaker Dean DeBlois returning to write, direct and produce the newest entry. How to Train Your Dragon is based on the book series by Cressida Cowell.

EXCLUSIVE: Paramount and Spyglass Media’s Scream VI hit tracking today with what looks to be a franchise opening record of $37M stateside. The previous highest opening for a Scream movie was Scream 3 back in 2000 which debuted to $34.7M stateside. Lots of factors contributing to the heat: You can’t deny the star power of

Sony Pictures Classics said it’s planning to release Sean Mullin’s documentary on baseball superstar Yogi Berra, It Ain’t Over, in theaters in New York and Los Angeles on May 12, expanding over following weeks. The film is produced by Natalie Metzger, Matt Miller, Peter Sobiloff and Mike Sobiloff with Vanishing Angle and Off Media, and

Universal/DreamWorks Animation’s Puss in Boots: The Last Wish had a happy Valentine’s Day, swashbuckling to a new global milestone. The spinoff sequel crossed $400M with Tuesday’s numbers bringing the worldwide kitty to $401.5M. The split is $160.1M domestic and $241.4M at the international box office.  The Oscar nominated pic from directors Joel Crawford and Januel

EXCLUSIVE: For the first times since pre-pandemic times, a Super Bowl trailer broke the 100M view threshold on social media in the 24 hour period following the Big Game. That was Disney/Marvel Studios’ Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 which clocked 134.1M views across TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook as measured by social media