Deadline’s Most Valuable Blockbuster tournament is back. While studios during Covid wildly embraced the theatrical day-and-date model when cinemas were closed, they soon realized there’s nothing more profitable than a theatrical release and the downstreams that come with it. If anything, theatrical is the advertisement for a movie’s longevity in subsequent home entertainment windows. Entering
Timothée Chalamet
FRIDAY UPDATE: Dune: Part Two added 42 international box office markets on Thursday, taking the offshore cume on the Denis Villeneuve-directed sequel to $20.8M in a total 55. This includes two full-days of play and previews in those markets. The Warner Bros/Legendary Entertainment sci-fi spectacular is the No. 1 U.S. title in all markets and
When movies come out, we grade them with reviews, define them by box office returns or eyeballs on streaming services, and maybe trophies down the line. But every successful, ambitious film starts with a dream, followed by compromise and adversity. Deadline offers the occasional peek into the creative aspirations, and the sweat and blood that
FRIDAY AFTERNOON: Warner Bros.’ Wonka is looking at a $12M-$13M Friday, including those $3.5M previews from last night, on its way to a $35M+ start at 4,203 locations. That’s a respectable opening for this time of year when moviegoers are still sidelined by holiday activities, and it’s a solid start for a feature musical, currently
Warner Bros/Village Roadshow/Heyday Films’ Wonka begins early release in 37 international box office markets this session, ahead of the domestic bow on December 15. Next week will also see the addition of all other overseas markets, save Korea which is going at the end of January. Current estimates for this frame’s offshore bow — which
A woman plagued with strange visions of a dancing Troye Sivan gave host Timothée Chalamet a chance to show off his smooth moves and “tiny red undies” on Saturday Night Live tonight. The skit opened with Bowen Yang trying to treat a distressed Sarah Sherman in a sleep study. Sherman talked about seeing “some sort
Welcome back, Alec Baldwin! The longtime SNL presence returned for an oh-so-brief cameo at the end of a skit involving the taping of a sleep story. In a bit featuring Punkie Johnson and Andrew Dismukes, Timothée Chalamet is tasked with recording a tale that’s supposed to put folks into a deep slumber — except it devolves
Warner Bros/Heyday Films’ Wonka has been granted a December 8 release in China, a week ahead of the domestic start and as part of an early overseas rollout for the Timothée Chalamet-starrer. Wonka will be going the same day as Universal/Illumination’s Migration in China. These are just two of a raft of Hollywood movies to recently
EXCLUSIVE: Warner Bros‘ highly anticipated Paul King-directed feature musical Wonka has hit early tracking six weeks before its release on Dec. 15 with box office analytics corp The Quorum predicting a $20M-$23M opening. Note it’s still early in the campaign, so there’s potential for upside. Unlike other tracking services which project three weeks before a
Warner Bros’ CineEurope show here in Barcelona was a starry, jam-packed affair featuring Zendaya and Timothée Chalamet who talked up Dune: Part Two, as well as their respective upcoming titles Challengers and Wonka. The proceedings kicked off with a pre-taped intro video featuring President of International Theatrical Distribution Andrew Cripps zipping along the 405 in
A new crop of prestige titles plant a flag at the arthouse in limited release this weekend from Luca Guadagnino’s Bones and All to Jerzy Skolimowski’s EO, to Elegance Bratton’s The Inspection. Greenwich Entertainment opens doc Love, Charlie: The Rise And Fall Of Charlie Trotter IFC Films presents Bad Axe and Cohen Media Group is
Luca Guadagnino’s Timothée Chalamet-starring, edgy cannibal road trip romance Bones And All pulled in young demos (79% in the 18-34 rage) and women (54%-46% female) for an opening weekend gross of $120k, or $23.9k per screen average in five theaters. That’s respectable and in line with distributor UAR expectations although below recent debuts including Banshees
On this week’s edition of Saturday Night Live, Weekend Update anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che covered a wide array of topics, ranging from the Jon Gruden scandal to the announcement of a bisexual Superman and beyond. Jost noted that Raiders head coach Gruden resigned “after the discovery of homophobic, misogynistic and racist emails he
Warner Bros/Legendary Pictures’ sci-fi epic Dune is starting early rollout this weekend, looking to capitalize on momentum coming off of its star-packed world premiere at the Venice Film Festival, which was followed by an event at Paris’ Grand Rex cinema and screenings in Deauville and Toronto — all in just the past two weeks. The