France’s movie theaters may be able to re-open at the beginning of July, the country’s Culture Minister Franck Riester said today. A further update is expected at the end of this month, however, Riester told local radio this morning that the government believes a certain number of cinemas may be able to get back to
International Box Office
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
Germany’s Constantin Film has been awarded the Federal Film Board’s Branchentiger prize for the top local producer and distributor of 2019. This is the 13th consecutive year that the Resident Evil and Perfect Strangers maker has won the award. With it comes 3.1M euros in funding for seven new in-house productions as well as 600K
After initially delaying this year’s CineEurope exhibition convention from June to August in Barcelona, organizers have now decided to scrap the 2020 event altogether. In a note today, Film Expo Group said, “With concern for the health and safety of our attendees as our absolute priority, we regret to inform you that we have decided
Chinese authorities will allow further leisure venues, including cinemas, to gradually re-open now that the coronavirus pandemic has largely been controlled in the country, the top administrative body said on Friday. This comes after movie theaters were shuttered nationwide in January, ultimately dealing a $2.5B+ loss to the box office in just the first quarter.
After German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday outlined plans for the easing of restrictions caused by the coronavirus crisis, the country’s most populous state has said cinemas will now be able to open from May 30. North Rhine-Westphalia, which is home to such major cities as Dusseldorf and Cologne, set guidelines on Wednesday, but noted
As exhibitors in major European markets begin eyeing potential openings at the end of June and through mid-July, some smaller hubs are returning to operation this week, albeit under strict social distancing guidelines and at reduced capacities. Overall, a somewhat clearer picture is beginning to emerge with regard to restarting the business in Europe —
Korea, the world’s fifth largest box office market, is re-opening a portion of its major cinemas this week after a soft-ish shutdown last month. One of the first new titles in the mix will be Universal/DreamWorks Animation’s Trolls World Tour which will play exclusively at the Megabox circuit, the market’s 3rd largest. The animated sequel
China’s Dalian Wanda Group has issued a statement regarding its AMC Entertainment, calling speculation about the chain filing for bankruptcy “pure rumors.” This comes after an S&P Global report last week forecasted AMC’s depletion of cash by mid-summer and its potential inability to re-open by June, and as chatter has swirled about a possible Chapter
A group of 51 European film and audiovisual organizations and individual companies has released a call for action by EU and member state decision makers to safeguard the future of the sector in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. The statement, see it in full below, says the industry requires “urgent financial support now and
France’s National Film Center, the CNC, has taken measures to relax the country’s notoriously strict windows policy during the coronavirus pandemic. A reduction from the traditional four-month delay between theatrical release and DVD or TVOD was earlier granted for all titles that were already in cinemas on March 14, while movies whose release was set
Support measures for exhibitors in Korea were unveiled this week which include seeing them exempted from paying into the national movie development fund, as one of the world’s biggest markets suffers cinema closures and all-time box office lows amid the coronavirus crisis. Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki announced the moves on Wednesday,
Last week, Illumination/Universal’s Minions: The Rise Of Gru stepped off of its global release which was previously set for late June in some offshore markets and for July 3 domestically. It has now been scheduled for July 2, 2021, taking the slot that belonged to Sing 2, which in turn is now headed to Christmas
Editors’ Note: With full acknowledgment of the big-picture implications of a pandemic that has already claimed thousands of lives, cratered global economies and closed international borders, Deadline’s Coping With COVID-19 Crisis series is a forum for those in the entertainment space grappling with myriad consequences of seeing a great industry screech to a halt. The
Some of the last holdouts in Asia are joining the raft of global markets to see cinema closures, even as the picture in China was beginning to look brighter, before taking a turn today. At this point, all major international box office markets (along with domestic) are essentially closed. Even in places where turnstiles are
From Saturday, a first batch of 205 cinemas will re-open for business in Shanghai. This follows last weekend’s opening of 500+ theaters in other China provinces, though Shanghai becomes the first tier one city to turn the lights back on as the coronavirus reportedly abates in the Middle Kingdom. The Shanghai municipal government made the
As the coronavirus reportedly continues to abate in China, film authorities are taking an everything old is new again approach. As of last count there were about 500 movie theaters open in the world’s second biggest box office hub. And as this expands, some of them may soon be playing such favorites as the Avengers
After last week setting a May 4 deadline to decide if CineEurope would go ahead as planned this June, organizers at Film Expo Group have now said they are postponing the major exhibition convention to August. Originally scheduled for June 22-25 in Barcelona, Spain, the annual event has been moved to August 3-6. Keeping safety
As the number of new cases of the coronavirus shows signs of abating in China, a smattering of cinemas re-opened in a handful of provinces across the country this weekend. On Friday, there were 486 movie theaters back at work, while Saturday the total was upped to 507, local reports say. This reps just 4.5%
As China looks to re-open its cinemas, possibly by the end of this month, Warner Bros today announced on its official Weibo account that Harry Potter And The Sorcerer’s Stone is to return to the market, though no date has been set. This follows our report yesterday that Hollywood studios have been approached to bring
Organizers of CineEurope, the major exhibition conference that takes place in Barcelona each June, have updated on their plans in light of the coronavirus crisis. The team has set a deadline of May 4 for a final decision on whether it will forge ahead. Run by Film Expo Group, and the official convention of the
French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe has announced new measures to control the spread of the coronavirus with gatherings of more than 100 people forbidden for the foreseeable future. This is down from the previous 1,000 person limit and follows President Emmanuel Macron’s speech last night which stipulated that all schools and universities in the country
Amid the coronavirus epidemic, organizers of the Beijing International Film Festival have indefinitely postponed the event which was set to take place from April 19-26 this year. The move was expected as China has now recorded 80,735 cases of Covid-19 and 3,119 deaths. However, the National Health Commission said there were only 40 new cases
Refresh for latest…: Disney/Pixar’s Onward topped the global and international box office chart this weekend, but came in vastly below projections. A $68M worldwide start includes just $28M from 47 material offshore markets. That’s well under the $40M-$55M range the industry was seeing ahead of the weekend. The spread of the coronavirus, and the fears
As the coronavirus (aka Covid-19) spreads into Europe, cinemas in some parts of France have been closed for the next two weeks. This concerns the northern Oise area, which is located in the Hauts de France region, as well as the northwest department Le Morbihan located in Brittany. The Louvre museum also saw its second
Refresh for latest…: Universal/Blumhouse’s The Invisible Man made its first appearance at the international box office this weekend, scaring up $20.2M in 47 markets. Combined with the strong domestic start, the Leigh Whannell-directed pic debuted to $49.2M globally. In like-for-like offshore openings, the Elisabeth Moss-starrer is tracking in line with Lights Out, A Quiet Place
EXCLUSIVE: Seventeen years after the release of Bad Boys II, Sony’s Bad Boys For Life dominated domestic, overseas and global turnstiles in its mid-January debut. On Saturday, it will cross $400 million globally, with current cumes through Thursday at $193.1M domestic and $204.1M from the international box office. Bad Boys 4 is in the works.
“The impact in 2020 from Corvid-19 (coronavirus) on the motion picture business cannot be overstated,” a finance source recently told us. That’s as the closure of cinemas in China alone is approaching a loss of $2B to the global box office, while the disease has now seen spikes in Korea and Italy. What looked in
Refresh for latest…: Paramount’s Sonic The Hedgehog continues to be top critter of the litter at the global and international box office this weekend with an added $38.3M from 56 overseas markets. That brings the offshore cume to $96.5M and worldwide to $203.1M. Sonic raced into an additional 16 hubs this frame, with several No.
Refresh for latest…: Paramount’s Sonic The Hedgehog raced to a $100M worldwide opening this weekend, including $43M from the international box office, and a domestic record for a videogame pic. The adaptation of Sega’s globally popular property is playing in 40 offshore markets, repping 60% of the overseas footprint. Directed by Jeff Fowler, Sonic had