BoxOffice

Studios look set to gain the upper hand in skirmishes with exhibition over windowing as trends during the COVID-19 pandemic extend into the future with mid-range films generating the $50-$100 million range the most at risk of dwindling theatrical runs, according to a leading Wall Street analyst. Exhibitors have until now been able to stand
0 Comments
EXCLUSIVE: Despite the Polish government giving exhibitors the green light to resume operations this week, the country’s major exhibitors say they are planning to take a slow and steady approach to re-opening. Last week, Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki announced that cinemas in the country would be allowed to re-open from June 6 following the coronavirus
0 Comments
The Focus Features musical dramedy The High Note is looking to hit exactly that as it lands on-demand starting today. Directed by Late Night‘s Nisha Ganatra from a script by Flora Greeson, the film was originally set to hit theaters on May 8 but, like many films, the film adapted and shifted to a digital. However, with theaters slowly
0 Comments
Netflix officially closed their deal to acquire the Egyptian Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard and will team with the venue’s nonprofit American Cinematheque. Deadline first broke the news last August of the streamer’s interest in the Sid Grauman built venue. The American Cinematheque organization, established in 1984 will remain a non-profit, with the organization’s curation team
0 Comments
Shares of giant U.K. exhibitor Cineworld soared 23% Thursday as it confirmed plans to open theaters in July when it currently anticipates restrictions on cinemas will be lifted in each of its territories, and said that it antcipates a cash infusion from government COVID-19 relief programs in the U.K. and U.S. along with new loans.
0 Comments
France’s movie theaters will be allowed to re-open from June 22, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe announced this evening. This is earlier than expected, as French Culture Minister Franck Riester said this week that cinemas were eyeing a July 1 re-start. The decision was made in concert with the industry, Philippe said in a televised address,
0 Comments
Miranda July’s Sundance premiere from this year, Kajillionaire, which was originally set to open on June 19, will now go on Sept. 18 in limited release. Focus Features bought the Annapurna/Plan B movie in early February for domestic release while big Universal will handle overseas. Written and directed by July, Kajillionaire follows con artists Theresa and Robert,
0 Comments
Few artists can say they’ve surmounted social-distancing obstacles as magically as Portuguese illusionist Helder Guimarães. The impact of social distancing on the performing arts needn’t be re-stated here: In one way or another, most installments of Deadline’s Coping With COVID-19 Crisis series have dealt with just that topic, as performers – or those aspiring to
0 Comments
EXCLUSIVE: It’s all very quiet on the international box office front, but this past weekend saw some decent increases in various markets. Cinemas are still just sputtering back to operations around the world, notably in parts of Europe and Asia. Germany remains the key major driving admissions — and largely from drive-ins, though Vue International’s
0 Comments
IPIC Theaters announced today that they’ll start reopening their luxury dine-in chain in its Texas locations, starting with their Fairview and Houston sites on June 4 followed by Austin on June 11. IPIC will play catalog movies upon reopening “at a special ticket price.” No dates listed yet for IPIC California locations in Pasadena and
0 Comments
As France awaits official updates that are expected to come later this week with regard to the re-opening of restaurants and perhaps fewer restrictions on travel, Culture Minister Franck Riester reiterated today that cinemas are eyeing a July 1 re-start. Speaking to France Info, Riester said the government is mulling dates to re-open cultural venues
0 Comments
A musical stage adaptation of NBC’s Smash is in development for Broadway, with Steven Spielberg, Robert Greenblatt and Neil Meron on board as lead producers. Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, who wrote more than 20 songs for the 2012-13 TV series, will write the musical’s score, with a book co-written by Bob Martin (The Prom,
0 Comments
Director and cinematographer Benjamin Ree injected his deep interest with art theft in his latest feature The Painter and the Thief, which drops in virtual cinemas as well as VOD platforms starting Friday. The documentary debuted at Sundance earlier this year and went on to win the World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Creative
0 Comments
Here’s another notable theatrical release to hit PVOD due to COVID-19: Focus Features’ Jon Stewart-directed political comedy Irresistible. Originally scheduled for a May 29 theatrical release, the Steve Carell-Rose Byrne-Chris Cooper movie now will play in homes starting Friday, June 26. Irresistible will be available for the 48-hour rental price of $19.99 on such platforms as Amazon,
0 Comments
Some good news for exhibition which will hopefully prime business before this summer’s big event films open, i.e. Mulan and Wonder Woman 1984, and that’s Fathom Events along with Screen Media will be premiering Millennium Media and Rod Lurie’s feature The Outpost in theaters on July 2 on roughly 500 screens. The pic is based on Jake Tapper’s best-selling non-fiction
0 Comments
EXCLUSIVE: New York’s Irish Repertory Theatre has announced an upcoming online run of four plays, becoming what could be Off Broadway’s first summer season created specifically for virtual viewing. Included in the line-up is the world premiere of Darren Murphy’s short play The Gifts You Gave to the Dark, with characters affected by the COVID-19
0 Comments
Lionsgate Motion Picture Group Chairman Joe Drake continued to emphasize the studio’s commitment to theatrical today, telling analysts on today’s 4Q earnings call that “we believe that people are anxious to get out of the house and do things” following the nationwide sheltering-in from COVID-19. Drake also emphasized about the future of moviegoing, “We’re bullish
0 Comments
This morning Vertical Entertainment reports a company VOD record for the release of Bron Studios Josh Trank Tom Hardy gangster pic Capone with a 10-day gross of $2.5M-plus. Capone was released on May 12 via on-demand platforms including, but not limited to, iTunes, where it soared to #1 on the charts within its first 3
0 Comments
Focus Features’ Jacob Chase directed and written horror movie Come Play is moving from its July 24 spot on the calendar, where Disney’s Mulan exists, to Oct. 30 against Lionsgate’s Deon Taylor-directed thriller Fatale.  Newcomer Azhy Robertson stars as Oliver, a lonely young boy who feels different from everyone else.  Desperate for a friend, he seeks solace and refuge in
0 Comments
EXCLUSIVE: We hear that Vertical Entertainment has snapped up the domestic and UK distribution rights to The Big Ugly, an action thriller starring Snatch‘s Vinnie Jones, Ron Perlman and Malcolm McDowell. The Big Ugly will first hit UK theaters and VOD on July 24, and then U.S. theaters and VOD a week later on July 31.
0 Comments
Warner Bros has keyed up a re-release of Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy in Hong Kong and Taiwan, ahead of the mid-July launch of the director’s latest epic, Tenet. The three films — Batman Begins, The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises — will release over several weeks. The first rollout is in Taiwan
0 Comments
Italy’s cinemas will get back to business from June 15, the government announced Saturday as it outlined an overall easing of lockdown protocols in what was the initial epicenter of the European continent’s coronavirus outbreak. As with other markets that are beginning to lift restrictions on moviegoing, there will be social distancing measures in place
0 Comments
Some Like It Hot, a planned stage musical based on the great 1959 Billy Wilder comedy, has set its sights on a Fall 2021 Broadway opening, producers announced today. The staging would mark the musical’s world premiere: A previously announced pre-Broadway engagement in Chicago has been canceled. With a book by Matthew Lopez (The Inheritance),
0 Comments
Screen Media will release the indie kill-or-be-killed crime drama Blood and Money starring Tom Berenger on VOD this weekend to give you a jolt of thrills. Directed by long-time cinematographer John Barr, the pic stars Oscar-nominated and Emmy-winning actor Tom Berenger (Platoon, Hatfields & McCoys) as a retired veteran who, while is hunting in the Allagash
0 Comments