Refresh for more analysis and Top 10 chart: If you’re looking for any exciting financial action to come out of the movie business, it’s not at the box office, but the stock exchange. The continued closure of movie theaters during Covid, with only 45% of all 5,8K U.S. and Canada movie theaters opened, yielded Warner
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AMC Entertainment said Silver Lake Group is converting $600 million worth of the theater chain’s debt that it holds into stock at a conversion price of $13.51 a share, a surprise all around considering the exhibitor’s shares were languishing below two bucks earlier this month. The giant investment firm partnered with AMC back in 2018
The movie adaptation of Tony-winning Broadway musical Dear Evan Hansen will hit theaters on September 24, Universal Pictures said Friday. Ben Platt is reprising his Tony-winning title role alongside Amy Adams, Julianne Moore, Kaitlyn Dever, Amandla Stenberg, Colton Ryan, Nik Dodani, DeMarius Copes and Danny Pino. The story follows Evan Hansen (Platt), a high schooler
Harry Macqueen’s drama Supernova is one of many films this weekend that will open in theaters before hitting a digital platform — this seems to be a new trend. Written and directed by Macqueen, The Bleecker Street pic that follows Sam (Colin Firth) and Tusker (Stanley Tucci), a couple of 20 years. They are more in love
EXCLUSIVE: In what’s to be expected given how virtual the Sundance Film Festival is this year, sources tell us that there won’t be a surprise screening. While the pandemic has forced the festival to go online and branch out to those surviving arthouses during Covid to play its lineup, nothing beats the energy that comes from
Baz Luhrmann’s untitled Elvis Presley movie, currently in production in Australia, is moving from its Nov. 5, 2021 date to June 3, 2022. The movie will explore the life and music of Elvis Presley (portrayed by Austin Butler), seen through the prism of his complicated relationship with his enigmatic manager, Colonel Tom Parker, played by
Paramount is moving its animated feature Rumble from May 14 this year to Feb. 18, 2022. The movie directed by Hamish Grieve is set in the world of monster wrestling where monsters are superstar athletes. Teenage Winnie seeks to follow in her father’s footsteps by coaching a loveable underdog monster into a champion. Matt Lieberman and Etan
Focus Features will release Participant’s documentary Final Account which is directed and produced by the late Luke Holland, setting a date of May 21. Focus has global rights outside of Israel. Universal International will distribute the feature abroad. The announcement comes today on International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Filmed over ten years, Final Account is a portrait of the
Despite the industry dust-up over WarnerMedia’s controversial 2021 theatrical-HBO Max release strategy, according to AT&T CEO John Stankey, the move was “the right call,” essentially “using the unfortunate set of circumstances around the pandemic for an opportunity to make lemonade out of lemons.” When asked this morning on the Q4 earnings call about the long
As exhibitors get set to report results from the last quarter of their annus horribilis, 2020, one Wall Street bull is predicting record box office in 2023. Eric Wold, a veteran analyst with B. Riley Securities, acknowledged in a note to clients that exhibitors’ efforts to emerge from the abyss of Covid-19 have been hampered
This just in: James Wan’s upcoming horror movie Malignant is opening on Sept. 10 this year per Warner Bros. Again, this is part of their theatrical and HBO Max release plan. The movie, scheduled in the hot post Labor Day corridor that Warners created at the box office, fills the place for an untitled horror movie they
Refresh for updates and top 10 chart: It didn’t take long for history to repeat itself. We’re not just talking about the second 2nd weekend No. 1 hold for a Liam Neeson Open Road release during the pandemic, i.e. The Marksman which earned $2.03M, -35% for a running total of $6.09M. But how the major studios
Sony/Screen Gems Escape Room 2 will now open on Jan. 7, 2022. The sequel to the $155M-plus horror film was recently taken off the theatrical release calendar. Previously Sony had the movie set to open on Dec. 30, 2020, then prior to that, Aug. 14, and then even before that date, April 17. The microbudget feature is
EXCLUSIVE: Solstice Studios is temporarily taking their Mark Wahlberg drama Joe Bell off the calendar in plans for a theatrical release later this year. The decision, I hear, comes due to the continued depressed state of the domestic box office during the pandemic; this despite this morning’s great news that No. 1 movie chain AMC is
Struggling AMC Entertainment said early Monday it has raised or signed commitments for $917 million including additional financing since December, calling it “enough cash to “make it through this dark, coronavirus-impacted winter.” “This means that any talk of an imminent bankruptcy for AMC is completely off the table,” said CEO Adam Aron in a statement.
Refresh for latest…: Disney/Pixar’s Soul got off to a jazzy start in Korea this weekend, debuting at No. 1 and seeing the second best bow for a non-local title since the Covid pandemic began. The Pete Docter-directed original also launched in Russia, at No. 1, and came in ahead of several pre-Covid animation openings. In
The specialty box office found some shine this weekend with four new titles starting with the Gravitas Ventures pic Our Friend starring Jason Segel, Casey Affleck and Dakota Johnson. The Gabriela Cowperthwaite-directed drama based on Matthew Teague’s book The Friend: Love Is Not a Big Enough Word debuted at 543 locations and grossed an estimated $250K on
Sony has sold worldwide rights to the Phil Lord and Christopher Miller animated feature The Mitchells vs. the Machines to Netflix. The pic was previously known as Connected. The pic jumped around the release calendar during the pandemic, with an opening date of Oct. 23 then ultimately March 12 before Netflix acquired. I understand that Netflix pursued the
Searchlight Pictures, ever the believer in theatrical, has dated four releases for 2021. Their Sundance horror pickup The Night House will turn its lights on July 16. The David Bruckner directed titles which Searchlight shelled out a reported $12M for last January follows a widow (Rebecca Hall) who begins to uncover her recently deceased husband’s disturbing secrets.
If you are looking to stir emotions and grab some tissues this weekend Our Friend has got you covered. Based on Matthew Teague’s book The Friend: Love Is Not a Big Enough Word, Gabriela Cowperthwaite directs this heartfelt drama adapted by Brad Ingelsby that follows journalist Matt (Casey Affleck), his wife Nicole (Dakota Johnson) and their two
In the wake of MGM, Universal and Sony making major Q1 release date changes to their theatrical schedule yesterday, Disney is pushing a few of its 20th Century Studios releases to deeper in the calendar. It’s much delayed Matthew Vaughn directed period action feature The King’s Man is no longer going on March 12, rather Aug. 20
As we told you earlier, MGM was moving 007 film No Time to Die to the fall and away from Easter weekend. Right now it’s going on Oct. 8. MGM just made news official. Universal has overseas on 007, but they refuse to go hunger over the Easter weekend. Remember, they released Trolls World Tour on PVOD last
The major studios waited until Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th U.S. president to make their release-date changes official. Here’s what Sony is doing. The Kay Cannon-directed musical Cinderella, starring Camila Cabello in the title role, will open on July 16 instead of Feb. 5 as expected. The studio wants to keep the
As expected, here’s more shifting of the Q1 theatrical release schedule: Universal Amblin Entertainment’s Bios, which stars Tom Hanks, will open now on Aug. 13, taking the place of an untitled Blumhouse movie that Uni had there. The pic, directed by Miguel Sapochnik, was dated for April 16. Written by Craig Luck, who is making his feature
It’s a streaming world, and we’re just living in it. With a majority of the globe’s movie theaters closed due to Covid, and Hollywood studios scrambling to figure out new distribution models, Netflix has already been experiencing the roaring ’20s with close to 204 million subscribers taking in the service worldwide and the company’s market
Warner Bros will be releasing Wonka on March 17, 2023, a prequel to Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory which focuses on the candy architect Willy Wonka’s younger days before having his confection empire. The movie has been in development for roughly four years. David Heyman was always attached as producer, and Paddington director Paul King is helming.
Refresh for updates and box office chart: In a continued pandemic marketplace such as this with close to 60% of all movie theaters still closed, whether you’re a distributor or an exhibitor, you have to be thankful for any amount of money you can get your hands on. Open Road has released the second Liam
If there are any milestones worth noting this week, it’s that the Focus Features thriller Promising Young Woman crossed the $3 million in its fourth week in theaters. This weekend the Emerald Fennell-directed pic starring Carey Mulligan played in 1,333 theaters and added an estimated $430K to its box office till this weekend and is on
Refresh for latest…: Fans of Kollywood cinema got a treat this weekend as Tamil action thriller Master debuted in India and a handful of other markets across the harvest festival period. While we do not have confirmed figures for the Vijay-starrer in India, estimates had it at around $11M from Wednesday-Friday with the film believed
Master, the highly-anticipated Tamil action thriller from director Lokesh Kanagaraj, has gotten off to a strong start at India’s box office and in other markets where it’s playing worldwide. Meanwhile, a Hindi remake of the Vijay and Vijay Sethupathi-starrer has today been set by Endemol Shine India, CINE1 Studios and 7 Screens. Hopes have been