BoxOffice

AMC CEO Adam Aron channeled Winston Churchill Monday, comparing the exhibition industry’s last stand against COVID-19 (and Chapter 11) to the U.K.’s fight for survival during World War II. Wall Street analysts on a conference call were too polite to bring up the word bankruptcy directly, nor did Aron. He said again that the chain
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The nation’s fourth-biggest cinema chain Marcus Theatres saw revenue plunge and swing to the red in its most recent third-quarter earnings released Tuesday. It beat Wall Street forecasts, however, and emphasized its solid financials underpinned by the fact it owns most of its theatres. Family-owned Marcus, based in Milwaukee, owns or operates 1,110 screens at
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European cinema trade body UNIC has today renewed its call to national governments for further public funding support of the exhibition industry during the COVID-19 crisis. UNIC says the current situation is “undeniably the most challenging period faced by European cinemas in their long history,” and adds that the coronavirus pandemic “has dealt the sector
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Not to send everyone screaming for the exits, but it wouldn’t be out of the question if Warner Bros. moves Wonder Woman 1984 off its Christmas Day global theatrical release. Facts are facts whether former Vice President Joe Biden takes the U.S. Presidency tomorrow night or if President Donald Trump continues: New York City and Los
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SUNDAY AM, Refresh for updates and chart: Focus Features/Amblin’s PG-13 horror movie Come Play came in much better than expected, seeing a boost on Halloween night (as opposed to expected drop) with $1.3M, +18% over Friday+preview’s $1.1M. This puts the pic’s opening weekend at $3.15M in No. 1 spot. One industry insider tells me about the boost,
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Focus Features has the widest entry at the pandemic weekend box office with Jacob Chase’s PG-13 Amblin horror film Come Play, and therefore the No. 1 movie at the box office, earning $1M yesterday at 2,183 theaters. $150K of that figure came from Thursday previews. Come Play, which now has a 52% rating on Rotten
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Paramount has shifted the release date of its animated feature Rumble to May 14, 2021, pushing it further back from its previous January 19, 2021 date. Paramount Animation and WWE Studios are teaming on the pic, which is directed by Hamish Grieve and originally was slated for a summer 2020 bow before the exhibition business
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Focus Features has set a June 25, 2021 theatrical release for Justin Chon’s drama Blue Bayou which the label picked up global rights to last spring during the Cannes virtual market. The pic, which also stars Chon, tells the timely story of a uniquely American family fighting for their future. Antonio LeBlanc (Chon), a Korean
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This weekend is Halloween and Focus Features is delivering some scares with the Jacob Chase-directed horror Come Play, which opens in theaters starting today. Come Play is based on Chase’s 2017 short film Larry. The feature version which is dubbed as “a terrifying new vision in horror” follows Oliver (newcomer Azhy Robertson), a lonely young boy
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Shares in IMAX were down in pre-market trading this morning after the company announced its Q3 results, which included a loss of $47.2M on revenues of $37.3M. As of 10AM ET, they were down 4.92%. CEO Rich Gelfond, however, remains bullish on the theatrical business and the company’s future health. “Our financial position gives us
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Exhibitors got another setbacks today as MGM has delayed the release of its Aretha Franklin biopic Respect, starring Jennifer Hudson, from January 15 to August 13. The studio also has pulled its Tomb Raider sequel starring Alicia Vikander and Kristin Scott Thomas from its March 19 premiere date; that film now is unset. Respect, MGM/United Artists
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Studio Movie Grill, the in-theater dining chain with seven California locations has filed for bankruptcy, one of the first leading exhibitors to officially buckle under pandemic-related financial stress. The Dallas-based company filed for Chapter 11 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas. It will continue to operate but reorganize with the protections
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Refresh for latest…: To commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Chinese People’s Volunteers Army entering the Korean War, the Middle Kingdom released epic The Sacrifice this weekend. The locally-titled Jin Gang Chuan grossed an estimated $53M in its three-day bow. While not a record start for the year in the market, the actioner could hold
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Of the titles debuting in the specialty box office space this weekend, Well Go USA’s Synchronic had a decent showing, opening in 326 theaters to the tune of an estimated $225,070, averaging $690 per theater for its opening weekend. Set in New Orleans, Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead’s sci-fi pic follows two best friends Steve
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SUNDAY AM Refresh for more analysis and B.O. chart…The domestic box office remains in purgatory again at the weekend box office, this despite the fact that New York State reopened some cinemas in certain counties. We still need the full engine of Los Angeles, which is still closed, and New York City. I hear that
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The specialty streaming space will be On the Rocks this weekend — so to speak. Sofia Coppola’s father-daughter dramedy is set to drop on Apple TV+ on Friday and it seems like light-hearted movie-watching fare from the Oscar-winning filmmaker. Deadline’s resident critic Pete Hammond seems to sign off on the sentiment that this will bring a
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A government-mandated curfew that was set in place in France last week has been widely extended across the country, and will come into effect from Friday night. An estimated 46M people (69% of the population) will be impacted by the new measures announced by Prime Minister Jean Castex this evening. Residents of the 54 total
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John Stankey, CEO of WarnerMedia parent AT&T, said productions – with about 130 underway since last week – are up and running but “the question is, what does exhibition look like?” “That’s still one of the things we don’t have great visibility on,” Stankey said on an investor conference call after the telco, cable and
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Two weeks after Cineworld announced the closing of its U.S. 536 Regal Cinemas chain, the circuit is reopening 11 locations in New York this Friday, Oct. 23 following Governor Andrew Cuomo’s recent approval to reopen movie theaters in the Empire State. The 11 Regal sites join the chain’s seven California multiplexes which continue to stay
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Sony Pictures said Wednesday that it has moved the release date of Ghostbusters: Afterlife from March to June 11, 2021, which will be the same weekend as the first Ghostbusters film was released in 1984. It becomes the latest tentpole shift in the theatrical calendar given the ongoing restrictions of movie theaters amid the pandemic.
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Refresh for latest…: Big news this weekend out of Japan where anime adaptation Demon Slayer The Movie: Mugen Train shattered all-time opening records. The film, which opened on Friday October 16, as opposed to the usual Saturday/Sunday weekend, is estimated to have grossed upwards of $30M for the three-day. This number could rise above $40M,
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The Right Girl, a new musical based on (and co-written by) the real-life story of former screenwriter Louisette Geiss and the sexual harassment by Harvey Weinstein she says ended her film career, will be presented in a film version to a live audience for the first time next month. The production features music by 11-time
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