FRIDAY AM Update: Refresh for updates Universal’s Old grossed $1.5M on Thursday night from 2,750 theaters that began showtimes at 7PM. This topped the Thursday night results for Paramount’s Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins which did $1.4M, also starting at 7PM at 2,662 theaters. Both titles are respecting a theatrical window. As far as who wins at the
Universal
Two wide releases, Paramount’s Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins and Universal’s M. Night Shyamalan thriller Old, both respecting a theatrical window, will face off this coming weekend with results which are still too early to call as each are eyeing a mid-teens opening result. Previews for both titles begin Thursday at 7PM. In the meantime,
Universal has dated two DreamWorks movies, Distant and Easter Sunday, as well as Amblin Entertainment’s The Last Voyage of the Demeter. Distant, directed by Josh Gordon and Will Speck, will open on March 11, 2022. The sci-fi comedy stars Anthony Ramos as a low-level mining engineer whose spaceship gets struck by an asteroid sending him to an unknown alien planet.
After raising the bar on what a movie can open to during the pandemic with F9‘s $70M weekend, Universal is adding a one-two wide release punch to the weekend with the debut of two titles geared at two different demos: DreamWorks Animation’s The Boss Baby: Family Business which is set to do $15M+ and Blumhouse’s The Forever
Even with close to 40% of the Canadian box office offline as Ontario remains closed until late July, and the Arclight/Pacific Theatres closed in L.A., the total weekend domestic box office came in at $98.08M per Comscore’s early Sunday AM estimate. Some distributors even have the weekend higher at $99.1M. It’s a great indication that
Universal’s F9 is off to a great start as expected having grossed $7.1M from 3,100 theaters that began showtimes at 7PM. The pic expands to 4,179 theaters today, the widest ever for a film being released during the pandemic. In more great news: F9 did more business last night than Hobbs & Shaw did in its Thursday previews which were $5.8M
EXCLUSIVE: Here’s more specific details as to how the advance tickets sales are for Universal’s F9 heading into the weekend: The Justin Lin-directed sequel is bound to be the biggest pre-seller of 2021 to date for Fandango. Already, F9 is outpacing the opening weekend pre-sales of Paramount’s A Quiet Place Part II which continued on to post a 4-day debut
After 17 months of one-and-off promotion, including two Super Bowl spots, Universal’s F9 finally arrives at U.S. and Canadian theaters with high hopes of turbo-charging what has been a rudderless summer box office post Memorial Day weekend as the pandemic calms. F9 will be the widest theatrical release during the pandemic at 4K theaters, which still
Universal is going old school in its push of Jurassic World: Dominion, and for those interested in seeing a snippet of the latest installment, they’ll have to head to an Imax theater, starting on the domestic opening weekend of F9, June 25, in more than 40 countries. This is how big movies were teased in
Universal’s F9 put the pedal to the metal in its Korea bow with $3.4M (3.9M won) on day one today. That’s the best opening day ever for the Fast & Furious franchise in the market, as well as the top opening of all films in Korea since the pandemic began — even coming in ahead
The Toretto family will be back in action this week as Universal’s F9 speeds into early offshore release beginning in Korea and Hong Kong on Wednesday, followed by Russia and the Middle East on Thursday and China on Friday. In those markets combined, F9 is looking to drive off with an opening weekend in the
Universal will be releasing the Baltasar Kormákur directed thriller Beast starring Idris Elba on Aug. 19, 2022. There are no other major studio wide releases currently scheduled for that date. Elba plays widowed husband and father, Dr Nate Samuels, who with his two teenage daughters find themselves hunted by a massive rogue lion intent on proving that
Big movie chain Cinemark announced Friday it’s now reached agreements to theatrically showcase films from all five major studio partners across its U.S. theaters, although it didn’t provide terms or many details. On a conference call with analysts to discuss the exhibitor’s just released first-quarter financials, CEO Mark Zoradi called each of the five deals
Update: Simon Kinberg’s femme action feature The 355 is no longer being released over MLK 2022, rather a week earlier, on Jan. 7. The only title slotted there on Jan. 7 is an untitled 20th Century Studios feature according to Comscore’s latest release calendar. If Disney decides not to fill that slot, that makes The 355 the only wide
Universal Pictures and Blumhouse Productions have selected Jan. 28, 2022 for the release of Scott Derrickson’s next movie The Black Phone. Uni already had the date on hold for a Blumhouse title, and this is the one. The Black Phone is currently the only wide release on that date, coming in the wake of Sony/Marvel’s Morbius on Jan. 21.
Fuel-injecting some mega-muscle into the international box office landscape, Universal’s F9 has been set for a May 21 release date in China, a full five weeks before it is due to speed out domestically on June 25. But China won’t be the only overseas market to release early, as I hear several other key hubs
EXCLUSIVE: Universal executive Xavier Albert, who has been Managing Director for France since 2016, is taking on a dual-market role with the studio and will also become Managing Director for Italy. Albert will take over the MD Italy post from Richard Borg who is retiring in July after 30 years with the Universal Pictures International
In a snap, Universal was ready to backfill July 2 today with its long-awaited Blumhouse sequel The Forever Purge with the news of Paramount/Skydance’s Top Gun: Maverick leaving the Fourth of July weekend for Nov. 19. The last two Purge movies, 2018’s The First Purge and 2016’s Purge: Election Year played the July 4th corridor. The Forever Purge moves up from July 9. The
Universal Pictures has scheduled George Clooney and Julia Roberts’ next movie together, Ticket to Paradise, for Sept. 30, 2022. Uni already had the release date reserved for an event film on the theatrical release calendar. Ticket to Paradise currently follows the weekend after Universal/DreamWorks Animation’s Puss in Boots: The Last Wish sequel on Sept. 23 and ahead of
Refresh for top 10 chart and more analysis: Universal’s action genre defying feature Nobody starring Bob Odenkirk took the top box office spot with $6.7M in a theatrical marketplace which is in the throes of trying to come back. The good news is that Los Angeles is maintaining its stamina as the No. 1 box office
There’s a great axiom when it comes to success in Hollywood; a saying which remains true through good times and bad, even at a moment when streaming is stepping on theatrical’s feet, and that is “Talent rules.” Such talent is Russian filmmaker Ilya Naishuller whose Universal action movie Nobody literally turns the genre on its head.
Cineworld CEO Mooky Greidinger said today that the No. 2 global exhibitor is “actively negotiating terms and structures of evolving theatrical windows with our studio partners.” He made the comment on an earnings call after Cineworld reported 2020 results which included its first-ever annual operating loss ($2.26B) as the industry has been greatly impacted by
Here’s more fallout from Disney’s release date changes moves on Tuesday: With the studio dropping their 20th Century Studios’ Ryan Reynolds action comedy Free Guy on Aug. 13, Universal is now moving their Amblin Tom Hanks sci-fi film Bios, which was on that weekend, to Aug. 20 instead. That leaves the calendar looking as follows: August 13Don’t Breathe
Edgar Wright announced today on his social media handles that his 2010 cult feature Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World will be getting a re-release on April 30 with a new Dolby Cinema cut. The movie will be reimagined in Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos and will play exclusively at Dolby Cinema locations. The movie was based on
Universal has reserved two 2022 release dates for its upcoming DreamWorks Animation movies. The sequel to the 2011 Oscar nominated Puss in Boots, entitled Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, will open on Friday, September 23, 2022. Currently, Puss in Boots 2 is the only wide release on that date, and Universal had the weekend already reserved for
Universal Pictures action movie Nobody starring Bob Odenkirk will get ahead of Warner Bros.’ long-Easter-weekend release of Godzilla vs. Kong by going on March 26 instead. The movie directed by Ilya Naishuller had been scheduled for Good Friday, April 2. Recently, Warner Bros moved its HBO Max day-and-date release of Godzilla vs. Kong to Wednesday, March 31,
More bad news for exhibition, and this from the distributor which has been good about releasing movies during the pandemic: Universal is moving their Jennifer Lopez musical-driven romantic comedy Marry Me from May 14, 2021 to Feb. 11, 2022. Translation: The studio has enough confidence in the movie to postpone it and give it the full box
The movie adaptation of Tony-winning Broadway musical Dear Evan Hansen will hit theaters on September 24, Universal Pictures said Friday. Ben Platt is reprising his Tony-winning title role alongside Amy Adams, Julianne Moore, Kaitlyn Dever, Amandla Stenberg, Colton Ryan, Nik Dodani, DeMarius Copes and Danny Pino. The story follows Evan Hansen (Platt), a high schooler
As expected, here’s more shifting of the Q1 theatrical release schedule: Universal Amblin Entertainment’s Bios, which stars Tom Hanks, will open now on Aug. 13, taking the place of an untitled Blumhouse movie that Uni had there. The pic, directed by Miguel Sapochnik, was dated for April 16. Written by Craig Luck, who is making his feature
Updated writethru 9:17PM after 4:55pm post: As we told you earlier, MGM was moving 007 film No Time to Die to the fall and away from Easter weekend, April 2-4. Right now the Cary Joji Fukunaga-directed feature, which reps Daniel Craig’s swan song as Mr. Bond, is set to fire up on Oct. 8. MGM just made