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
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No, there won’t be any finger-pointing at the box office this weekend over a franchise film failing to open. For, Lionsgate/Thunder Road Films/87 Eleven’s John Wick: Chapter 4 looks to not only reinvigorate a tentpole-heavy spring, but also debut to a franchise record of $115M worldwide. Broken out that’s $65M-$70M in the U.S./Canada and another
EXCLUSIVE: Lionsgate’s John Wick: Chapter 4 arrived on tracking today with a robust projection between $60M-$70M in what would rep the highest opening stateside for the Keanu Reeves R-rated franchise. It’s another solid opening in what is a back-to-back tentpole programmed spring. That anticipated opening for Chapter 4 would also rep the biggest opening for
SATURDAY WRITETHRU after Friday PM post, refresh for chart and more analysis: A Marvel movie is losing gravity in its second weekend atop the box office, with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania clocking the worst second frame drop ever for an MCU title at -70% to -72%. That’s while two lower-budgeted releases outstrip their projections.
James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water will reign supreme in its fifth weekend over the four-day MLK holiday frame with an estimated take around $35M. The Disney/20th Century Studios/Lightstorm title through yesterday raised its running total to $525.66M after a $4.5M Tuesday. The sequel will feasibly overtake the domestic total of its comp, Rogue
The motion picture industry remains in a state of rehabilitation. Just look at the majors’ domestic box office alone. Back in 2019, four studios grossed over a billion apiece, with Disney-Fox reaping $4.28 billion alone. This year, only three studios grossed $1 billion or more. And while we do get down to the nitty gritty,
Lionsgate, Sony, Newen Join “Biggest” London Screenings The 2023 London Screenings is shaping up to be the biggest yet as the likes of Lionsgate, Sony Pictures Television and Newen Connect join the lineup to bring the number of distributors up to 26. The third annual event now has the most distributors taking part in its
The Blackening, the MRC horror comedy that Lionsgate picked up out of TIFF’s Midnight Madness, is getting a June 16, 2023 release, which is Juneteenth weekend. The Blackening centers around a group of Black friends who reunite for a Juneteenth weekend getaway only to find themselves trapped in a remote cabin with a twisted killer. Forced to play
EXCLUSIVE: Lionsgate is giving an Oscar-qualifying run to the psychological thriller Alice, Darling on December 30 before the pic’s nationwide release in 2023. The film, which made its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival where it notched a near 90% on Rotten Tomatoes, stars Oscar nominee Anna Kendrick as a woman woman pushed to
Anne-Marie Ross (née Boysen), whose career in international film distribution at Lionsgate and Pantelion spanned more than two decades, died September 9 after a near-two-year battle with advanced-stage cancer caused by a rare gene mutation. She was 49. Ross began her career at Lionsgate in 2001, reporting to Nick Meyer, now the President of Film
“I do think the studies will get paid, like they usually do, whatever they are owed. Because we are the suppliers and that’s usually what happens,” Lionsgate vice chair Michael Burns said Wednesday of the Chapter 11 filing earlier in the day by Regal Cinemas’ parent Cineworld. “Those things seem to go through the same
Lionsgate thriller Fall will make an estimated $2.5+ million this weekend at 1,548 locations for a PSA of about $1,618. The audience (54% male and 61% over 25, according to PostTrak) was broader than it might have been after a company founded by director Scott Mann swapped dozens of f-words, moving Fall from an R
Lionsgate will be the key tenant with naming rights to a major new studio project in Newark, New Jersey being built being by Robert Halmi and Fehmi Zeko’s Great Point Studios. The $125 million+ project on 12 acres follows a collaboration by the partners on recently opened Lionsgate Studios in Yonkers as demand for production
The Jennifer Lopez-Josh Duhamel Lionsgate romantic comedy Shotgun Wedding is heading straight to streaming as Prime Video has snatched up all U.S. rights for the pic from Lionsgate. No release date has been set on the streamer, but similar to other Prime Video features, it’s expected that Shotgun Wedding will also receive a day-and-date limited theatrical release.
EXCLUSIVE: Canadian comedy Son of a Critch is returning for a second season. CBC has renewed the series for its sophomore run after its debut in January. The public broadcaster noted that the half-hour series scored its highest rating for a comedy premiere since Kim’s Convenience debuted in October 2016. The series comes from Schitt’s Creek producer Andrew
After two weekends without any major-studio wide releases amid Omicron fears, Paramount and Lionsgate will try to lure moviegoers back with Jackass Forever and AGC Studios’ Moonfall, respectively Exhibition hopefully will see more traffic after the Northeast experienced cabin fever from winter storm Kenan last weekend. Rolling winter-into-spring breaks don’t go into effect until February 18,
Leonine And Lionsgate Strike Germany/Austria Film Deal Leonine Studios has extended its relationship with Lionsgate by securing the rights to a premium feature film slate for Germany and Austria. The blockbuster deal incorporates high-profile titles for the region such as Keanu Reeves’ John Wick: Chapter 4, the Ana De Armas-starring Ballerina, Sebastian Maniscalco’s About My
“Are you really doing a domestic box office marketshare piece?” Such is the whine from several studio insiders and corp comms folk. Of course, we are. Why wouldn’t we? In the best and worst of times, in the published horserace of box office dollars, we still need to know where the studios stand when all
It stands to reason that Lionsgate’s tentpole John Wick: Chapter 4 would move off Memorial Day weekend 2022 after Paramount plopped Tom Cruise’s long-awaited sequel Top Gun: Maverick on May 27. The Chad Stahelski fourthquel will now debut on March 24, 2023 as revealed in a teaser that just dropped. I hear that principal photography just wrapped on
EXCLUSIVE: Here’s the exclusive trailer for Schitt’s Creek producer Andrew Barnsley’s latest project Son of a Critch. Based on comedian-actor-writer Mark Critch’s best-selling memoir, the 13 x 30-minute series will drop on Canadian broadcaster CBC and CBC Gem next month while Lionsgate has taken U.S. and international distribution rights. Created by Critch and The Office producer Tim
Starz is to close its Santa Monica office for a couple of days as a result of a Covid-19 outbreak – becoming the latest Hollywood business to have to deal with rising numbers. The Outlander and BFM broadcaster will close its office on 1647 Stewart Street in LA after “several” employees recently tested positive for
Heading into Lionsgate’s CinemaCon presentation this afternoon, the studio’s Motion Picture Group Chairman, Joe Drake, was trying to figure out what he wanted to say to the room of exhibitors. He regaled those at Caesars Palace Colosseum with a story about how he met up with Cineworld and Regal Boss Mooky Greidinger at the confab
Today at Cinemacon, Lionsgate announced that they’re opening their Erwin Brothers-directed movie American Underdog a Christmas Day release. The pic was previously set to open on Dec. 10. Lionsgate timed the release of American Underdog to the climax of the NFL season. “This movie perfectly aligns with the emotions of the holiday season: The power of faith. A
Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer saw his total compensation rise by 73% to $19.2 million for the company’s fiscal year ended in March on a bigger bonus and higher option awards. The executive earned $11.1 million the year before, according to a proxy statement filed Thursday with the SEC that lists salaries of a company’s top
The stars are not aligning Brazil. A judge there has ruled that Disney cannot use its Stars+ brand for now because it is too easily confused with Starz, the service owned by Lionsgate that brought the original complaint. The court Friday granted a Starz request on appeal for a preliminary injunction — or temporary restraining
ViacomCBS Chair Shari Redstone was doing the rounds at Sun Valley but contrary to reports, she did not have a meeting with Comcast CEO Brian Roberts at the Allen & Co. mogul mountain retreat, according to a person familiar with the situation. The Philly-based conglom has been the subject of constant deal speculation since two
Lionsgate’s English-language remake of Francis Veber’s French feature hit The Valet has been acquired by Disney’s direct-to-consumer platforms for a summer 2022 release as a Hulu Original in the U.S. and a Disney+ Star Original abroad. Directed by Richard Wong and starring Eugenio Derbez and Samara Weaving, The Valet follows Olivia (Weaving), a movie star who enlists
Lionsgate’s Nicolas Cage self parody feature The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent will open on April 22, 2022. The title was previously unset. In the action comedy, Nicolas Cage stars as… Nicolas Cage. Creatively unfulfilled and facing financial ruin, the fictionalized version of Cage must accept a $1 million offer to attend the birthday of a dangerous
It’s thrilling to watch Lionsgate make a run at the box office top spot with The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard, a grown-up comedy. Not a kiddie fantasy, like Peter Rabbit 2 or Cruella. Not a Covid-era placeholder, like The War With Grandpa, or a streaming event, like Borat Subsequent Moviefilm. But a rough, raucous, R-rated action
Lionsgate got out early with the Millennium Ryan Reynolds-Samuel L. Jackson action comedy sequel The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard with an official Wednesday debut plus last weekend paid sneaks; all totaled they’ve accumulated $3.9M at 2,940 locations. The whole reason why Lionsgate went early is to collect as much cash as possible before Universal’s F9 comes in next weekend,