Film

FRIDAY AFTERNOON: It could be a weekend that’s too close to call between Universal’s 25+ skewing Knock at the Cabin and Paramount’s older female leaning 80 for Brady respectively looking at $15M and $14M. As one distribution source says, matinees are for 80 for Brady to dominate while evenings are for Knock at the Cabin.

Animated fairy tale The Amazing Maurice voiced by Emilia Clarke, Hugh Laurie, David Thewlish, Gemma Arterton and Himesh Patel, jumps from Sundance to 1,700 screens via Viva Pictures, the distributor’s widest release to date and a big one for any independently produced animated film. And Civil War drama Freedom’s Path starring Gerran Howell, RJ Cyler, and Ewen

AMC Entertainment said Saudi Entertainment Ventures (SEVEN) will buy out its investment in movie theater venture, Saudi Cinema Company, for $30 million. AMC said the agreement calls for it to transition from a management and investment role in SCC to “a pure licensing relationship.” Current AMC Cinemas and future locations operated by SCC will retain

As part of James Gunn and Peter Safran’s unveiling of their new DC Universe Chapter One, “Gods and Monsters”, the twosome announced theatrical release dates for the Gunn penned Superman Legacy, that being July 11, 2025 and Matt Reeves’ DC else-world Batman II which is Oct. 3, 2025. Gunn and Safran declared that 2025 will

With this year’s domestic box office expected to rise to $9 billion, of course the major Hollywood studios are taking Super Bowl LVII ad spots seriously. The big game, which last year attracted 112 million viewers, remains an enormous bullhorn when it comes to drawing attention to your tentpole movies — and this year, starting

UPDATE: The Sony Adam Driver sci-fi movie 65 will now open a week ahead of Shazam: Fury of the Gods on March 10. Meanwhile, the studio’s AFFIRM George Foreman biopic has now titled Big George Foreman: The Miraculous Story of the Once and Future Heavyweight Champion of the World. It is still set for April

After reigning over the box office for the past seven weekends, 20th Century Studios/Disney/Lightstorm’s four-time Oscar-nominated Avatar: The Way of Water will cede No. 1 to Universal’s M. Night Shyamalan thriller Knock at the Cabin, which is set to do $15 million-$17 million per tracking sources at 3,600 theaters. Reviews haven’t hit yet on the

The long-running The Phantom of the Opera was once again Broadway’s highest grossing show last week, taking in a mighty $2,483,532 for the week ending Jan. 29, outpacing runners-up Funny Girl ($1,872,862) and Hamilton ($1,871,921) by a noticeable margin. The Andrew Lloyd Webber musical at the Majestic has experienced a remarkable resurgence in interest (and

While studios took advantage of expanding their Oscar nominated Best Pictures this weekend — it’s truly a post-apocalyptic, err, post-pandemic marketplace when it comes to reaping any huge box office afterglow from this year’s crop. And the irony is that there’s only one streaming title among the top 10 Best Picture bunch, that being Netflix’s

EXCLUSIVE: When a tentpole works at the global box office, there’s a ripple effect with exhibition partners, not just the studio, bathing in riches. Such is the case for CJ 4DPlex’s Screen X and 4DX auditoriums which can brag that Avatar: The Way of Water, as it clocks $2.1 billion worldwide, is the exhibitor’s highest

Even on a specialty level, horror just works post-pandemic with the latest pop from a strong showing by a trio of films, Fear and Infinity Pool, released this weekend, and Skinamarink in week three. Fear hails from Deon and Roxanne Avent Taylor’s Hidden Empire Film Group, the all-Black production company behind cult hit Meet The

SATURDAY AM UPDATE: Coming out of this weekend, by mid-week, Disney/20th Century Studios/Lightstorm’s Avatar: The Way of Water will easily surpass The Avengers as the No. 10 highest-grossing movie ever in U.S./Canada with $623.3M. The James Cameron-directed pic is expected to gross between $14M-$16M for a seventh straight No. 1 weekend streak. Avatar 2‘s seven-weekend

Earlier this week, James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water became the No. 5 highest-grossing movie ever worldwide, and, as expected, has now surfed to the No. 4 position on the all-time chart. In so doing, it leaves Star Wars: The Force Awakens in its wake with nearly $2.075B globally.  Through Friday, the worldwide gross

Neon and Topic Studios present writer/director Brandon Cronenberg’s Infinity Pool at 1,835 theaters in a lively specialty weekend sandwiched between a new crop of Sundance films and noteworthy expansions in the glow of Oscar nominations. Infinity Pool, staring Alexander Skarsgard, Mia Goth, Cleopatra Coleman and Jalil Lespert, had a splashy debut last weekend in the

EXCLUSIVE: Add another wide release to the 2023 theatrical calendar as Open Road has just dated the Gerard Butler action movie Kandahar for May 26, Memorial Day weekend. The Ric Roman Waugh-directed feature joins other big theatrical titles over the four-day holiday like Disney’s The Little Mermaid, Lionsgate’s Sebastian Maniscalco-Robert De Niro movie About My

Disney/Marvel Studios’ Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania arrived on tracking today with a projected 4-day $120M opening per industry sources. The threequel arrives in theaters on Feb. 17 and is the first in an avalanche of largely weekly tentpole fare which has been absent from the marketplace since the summer. That result for Quantumania will

With Wednesday’s worldwide box office grosses included, James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water has surpassed $2.054B globally, and jumped up a notch on the all-time worldwide chart.  Globally through yesterday, the epic sci-fi adventure passed Avengers: Infinity War ($2,052M) with $2,054.7M to become the No. 5 highest-grossing movie ever worldwide. As we wrote on

Regal parent Cineworld said it’s opted to pursue a sale of assets and the process “is well under way” with non-binding bids due February 16. The company said in a bankruptcy filing this week that it’s reached out to 30 “potential transaction parties” including many competitors. If the debtors (Cineworld and its affiliates) find one