Movies

EXCLUSIVE: There was a lot of noise surrounding the red state-beloved, $163M-grossing summer surprise hit, Sound of Freedom, this morning with Newsweek reporting that one of the pic’s 6,678 crowdfunders was arrested for child kidnapping by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police. Now just to be clear, we’re talking one person who contributed an unidentified amount

Paramount’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem cut through to second place on its opening day Wednesday with $10.2M at 3,513 theaters in what was another day led by Warner Bros.’ Barbie with $12.8M. Barbie with already $394.5M in the bank stateside will cross the $400M mark today on her 14th day in release (I

Pedro Almodóvar’s short film, Strange Way of Life, which had its world premiere at Cannes back in the spring, is hitting theaters in NYC and LA on Oct. 4 thanks to Sony Pictures Classics. There will be an expansion nationwide on Oct. 6. Pic stars Ethan Hawke and Pedro Pascal and will play in theaters

There’s no stopping Warner Bros. Barbie as sources tell us the Greta Gerwig movie has a shot at hitting the billion mark this Sunday worldwide, if not Monday. Stateside she’s eyeing a third weekend around $55M, -41%, give or take, and she’ll cross the $400M stateside mark by Thursday, her 15th day of release. That’s

Not streaming, nor strikes, nor shell shock from the pandemic kept this July’s domestic box office down with studio tentpoles and a faith-based surprise movie racking up the second-best record for the month with $1.37 billion per Comscore. Warner Bros’ Barbie and Universal’s Oppenheimer were the No. 1 and 2 movies with $366.4M and $181.4M

While the industry fears further theatrical date shake-ups for 2023 due to the strikes, next year is getting beefed up. Today, Lionsgate has dated another faith based music feature from Kingdom Story Company for April 26, that being Unsung Hero. The pic joins MGM’s Luca Guadagnino directed R-rated Zenday romance pic, Challengers, which is already

EXCLUSIVE: With such big 2023 movies such as Kraven the Hunter, the next Ghostbusters, the Zendaya romance Challengers and more moving into 2024 due to the SAG-AFTRA strike, exhibition is facing another possible recession should stars remain unable to promote. Movie theaters are currently relishing a box office boom in Barbie and Oppenheimer with the

Regal parent Cineworld has officially emerged from bankruptcy, unveiling five new board members and a strengthened balance sheet. The chain, which was flattened by Covid and high debt, filed for Chapter 11 in the Southern District of Texas last September. It exits today having reduced that debt by about $4.53 billion and raised $800 million

EXCLUSIVE: Moulin Rouge! The Musical, based on Baz Luhrmann’s 2001 luscious pop classic movie starring Nicole Kidman, Ewan McGregor and Jim Broadbent, has recouped its costs — not only the $28 million Broadway price tag, but it also recouped sizable sums in London’s West End and Australia. Luhrmann tells me that it’s “so gratifying that breaking

Major Sony release date changes here, a bulk of them due to the actors strike. Let’s start with the good news: The Culver City lot is dating Bad Boys 4, which recently wrapped production for Fathers’ Day weekend, June 14, 2024. It’s going up against Disney/Pixar’s Inside Out 2. Through three movies, the Will Smith

A24’s supernatural horror Talk To Me by first time filmmakers Danny and Michael Philippou blew past box office projections grossing over $10 million on 2,340 screens opening weekend. The breakout by the first-time filmmaker brothers and popular YouTubers from Australia was no. six at the domestic box office. The film was well reviewed as a

A4’s supernatural horror Talk To Me opens the debut film by Australian brothers and popular YouTubers Danny and Michael Philippou on 2,300 screens. Strong reviews (see Deadline’s here), A24 large built-in fan base and its elevated horror cred saw a Thursday gross of $1.25 million, looking to top a $4-5M weekend. The Sundance-premiering pic follows

As expected, Warner Bros’ Barbie has now officially crossed the six-century mark globally with Friday’s figures included. The global cume is $637.5M through yesterday with the international box office repping $350.5M after a $30.1M Friday in 69 offshore markets. The Greta Gerwig-directed phenom should high-heel it past $700M through Sunday worldwide. We’ll have much more

Very early figures here for Barbenheimer given their wonderous first week. So early we don’t have the figures for Disney’s Haunted Mansion previews yet, nor the official studio numbers. But it’s another sexy $20M+ day for Barbie with an estimated $21.4M on Thursday (-7% from Wednesday), ending its first week at $258.6M. The pic should

Just in time for Oscar season, 20th Century Studios has dated the Jeff Nichols written and directed, The Bikeriders, which follows the rise of a Midwestern motorcycle club through the lives of its members. The pic will open on Dec. 1 this year. The Bikeriders is based on the Danny Lyon novel, and it’s produced

The Barbenheimer phenomenon just keeps going. To wit: there is so much energy happening at international box office turnstiles that Tuesday’s grosses on Warner Bros’ Greta Gerwig-directed Barbie and Universal’s Christopher Nolan opus Oppenheimer were down just 1% from Monday. The offshore gross through Tuesday on Barbie is now $258.5M with global at $472.6M. As

Wednesday isn’t a day like Tuesday, where there are cheap tickets up for sale, but that didn’t stop Warner Bros.’ Barbie from continuing its daily weekday $20M+ streak. The Greta Gerwig-directed feature grossed $23M yesterday, -12% from Tuesday, sending its six-day running total to $237.1M. America’s No. 1 doll definitely is crossing $300M this weekend,

Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz said last weekend’s blockbuster release of Barbie – the toymaker’s first-ever major theatrical film – is a moment that “will be remembered as a key milestone in our company’s history.” His comments came amid second-quarter numbers in line with Wall Street forecasts. “The Barbie movie is a showcase for the cultural

We knew Warner Bros’ Barbie and Universal’s Oppenheimer were going to be big — but not this big. Paramount’s Tom Cruise sequel Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One learned that the hard way (65% Weekend 2 decline with $19.3M) by going one weekend before the dual tidal wave, trying to avoid the wake of

Amid all the noise about studios taking apart the fall and fourth-quarter release schedule over the SAG-AFTRA strike, here’s some good news: Amazon is taking its Emerald Fennell-directed movie Saltburn out on Black Friday, November 24, in New York and Los Angeles. Pic will expand December 1. In the wake of releasing Ben Affleck’s Air

Everyone didn’t stop going to the movies on Monday with Barbenheimer in full force: Warner Bros posted the best Monday at the domestic box office with Barbie grossing $26.1M while Universal’s Christopher Nolan pic Oppenheimer wasn’t shabby with $12.6M. For Warner Bros., Barbie beats their previous Monday high of Nolan’s Dark Knight which did $24.4M

The mysterious sanctuary hidden away in the Jemez mountains was known only as Box 1663 in the mid 1950s. The mission of its 13,000 residents was to create “the gadget.” Living there was a challenge. “It’s a prison camp for eggheads,” whispered one scientist. As a young newsman, I decided I had to find a

It was a magnificent movie weekend. Barbie, Oppenheimer, Sound of Freedom. All hits, a blow-out! So what else have you got? The question sounds obnoxious, like its near-cousin, the always infuriating: “What have you done for me lately?” But it’s an honest query, and an important one for a strike-bound, streaming-bent, pandemic-emergent industry that is

While the Hollywood Studios and WGA and SAG-AFTRA are at a standstill in labor talks –streaming residuals being a big bone of contention– the theatrical side of the business exploded with Barbenheimer together grossing over $511M worldwide, $235.5M of that being domestic. Never before in the history of Hollywood movies have two films opened respectively

Another 2023 theatrical release gets moved due to the SAG-AFTRA strike as MGM is pushing the Zendaya starring, Luca Guadagnino directed R-Rated tennis romance to April 26, 2024. The pic was scheduled to open stateside on Sept. 15, working off the heat of its Venice Film Festival opening night premiere. That world premiere is not

Christopher Nolan’s highly-anticipated and highly-reviewed Oppenheimer has begun overseas rollout with strong results versus some of the director’s previous titles. On Wednesday, the Universal film opened in 10 offshore markets, grossing $2.4M and led by France and Indonesia. These are early days as the critically-lauded Cillian Murphy-led biographical drama/political thriller will be playing a total

Return To Dust, an arthouse hit in China last summer before being pulled from release, opens Stateside this weekend with Film Movement presenting on two screens – NYC’s BAM Rose Cinema and the Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago, expanding to LA and Seattle next Friday. The distributor acquired the film directed by Li Ruijun

In a contorted legal case, a Delaware judge today struck down a settlement that would have helped AMC Entertainment move ahead with steps to raise cash and shore up its stock. “To cut to the chase, the settlement cannot be approved as submitted,” Judge Morgan Zurn of Delaware Chancery Court wrote in a 69-page opinion

EXCLUSIVE: The box office event of the year which has Warner Bros. mass female attraction, Barbie, and Universal’s Christopher Nolan directed, Oppenheimer, has officially fired off its confetti guns with the movies seeing respectively an estimated $20M and $9M+ from their previews. Again, these numbers could fluctuate by morning. Even if Barbie falls short of

Cillian Murphy and Christopher Nolan are marking their sixth collaboration with Oppenheimer, the biographical epic about the titular complicated and brilliant physicist tasked with leading the Manhattan Project, the secret effort to create the atom bomb, and the moral and political struggles that followed. This is the first time Murphy, who plays Oppenheimer, is essaying