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
Universal
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
Universal and DreamWorks Animation have tweaked their 2021 release schedule, moving the sequel The Boss Baby: Family Business from March to September. The shift to the new release date, September 17, had been the spot for DWA’s The Bad Guys, which is unset for now and will get a 2022 release. Universal made the announcement
As pollyannaish as it sounds, especially as the domestic 2020 box office crumbles to a historic all-time low of $2.27 billion due to the coronavirus pandemic, the global theatrical business is poised for a comeback in 2021. However, it might take a few months. How in God’s name can such a ridiculous projection be forecasted?
Refresh for more analysis, chart, etc. Even in a normal, healthy economy, the major studios are typically skittish about opening big movies before Christmas with many busy with holiday activities, so it comes as no surprise during a pandemic where just north of 40% of all 5,500 domestic movie theaters are open that there wouldn’t
Universal’s release of DreamWorks Animation’s The Croods: A New Age stayed on target from what we saw yesterday with an opening Wednesday of $1.85M in a very broken exhibition landscape where there’s only 2,650 theaters open right now out of national footprint of 5,5K. Croods 2 is booked at 2,211 theaters. Five-day projections are unpredictable as we
EXCLUSIVE: Despite the severe ratcheting down of movie theaters during the pandemic in recent weeks, Universal is standing strong with a robust global promotional campaign behind its DreamWorks Animation sequel The Croods: A New Age which opens today at 2,211 theaters. While the marketing spend on domestic wide releases has been in the single-digit range
SUNDAY AM UPDATE, refresh for chart and more analysis: The weekend before Thanksgiving is one of the most lucrative ones on the calendar, last year bringing in $204.9M off the opening of Disney’s Frozen II which posted November’s fifth best domestic opening of all-time at $130.3M. Who would ever think that the domestic box office would sink
Universal’s domestic release of Simon Kinberg’s directorial The 355 is jumping from its MLK 2021 weekend release to MLK weekend Jan. 14, 2022. While Universal has committed a number of fresh wide releases during the pandemic to exhibition during Q4, i.e. Focus Features’ Come Play, Let Him Go, Blumhouse’s Freaky, Dreamworks Animation’s The Croods: A New Age and Tom Hanks’ News of the
Universal has just inked another multi-year shortened theatrical window/Premium VOD share deal, this time with Canada’s biggest exhibitor Cineplex. The deal comes on the heels of Uni’s recent pact with No. 3 U.S. chain Cinemark. To date, Cineplex becomes the third exhibitor to agree to Uni’s truncated theatrical window terms since AMC first signed on
It should come as no surprise to hear that Cinemark and Universal have hammered out their own truncated theatrical window and PVOD share deal in the wake of the one which AMC inked with the Hollywood major studio at the end of July. Cinemark CEO Mark Zoradi, a former President at the Walt Disney Motion
SATURDAY AM UPDATE: Universal/Blumhouse’s genre body swap comedy Freaky starring Vince Vaughn took in $1.45M yesterday, including Thursday night previews ~$200K, on what looks to be a $4M opening at 2,472 theaters. Universal, the only major Hollywood studio putting out consistent fresh wide product during the pandemic, can claim a three-week streak at No. 1 between Focus’
EXCLUSIVE: Universal has set changes to its leadership teams for Germany/Austria and the Netherlands as Paul Steinschulte, Managing Director for Germany and Austria, has decided to retire at the end of the year. A 31-year veteran of the studio, he joined in 1989 as part of a joint venture between Universal and Paramount. Universal’s President
Universal, which already had July 22, 2022 already RSVP’ed on the theatrical release calendar, is designating that as the day to open Jordan Peele’s next horror event title. Between the Oscar-winning filmmaker’s Get Out and Us, his directed genre fare has minted a combined $510.5M WW for Universal.
Universal Pictures’ Jennifer Lopez music fueled romantic comedy Marry Me is moving from Presidents Day-Valentine’s Day weekend on the theatrical release calendar next year, Feb. 12 and going to May 14, 2021. Marry Me will take the place of DreamWorks Animation’s Untitled Spirit Riding Free movie which has now been title Spirit Untamed. That animated pic will now open on
Universal is protecting one of its biggest assets from the pandemic and moving Jurassic World: Dominion from June 11, 2021 to June 10, 2022. Uni had the latter date already on hold for an untitled event movie. I hear this has nothing to do with the production, which is about three weeks from wrapping in the U.K.,
MGM’s No Time to Die is officially heading to April 2, 2021, Easter weekend, and vacating its Nov. 20 release date. “MGM, Universal and Bond producers, Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, today announced the release of No Time To Die, the 25th film in the James Bond series, will be delayed until 2 April in order to be seen by a worldwide theatrical audience. We
Universal said Friday that F9 is moving to May 28, 2021, which is Memorial Day weekend. The move comes after MGM moved its James Bond pic No Time to Die to April 2, 2021 — which had been the release date of the latest installment of the Fast and the Furious franchise. Universal is handling