Movies

New Line and Warner Bros’ Evil Dead Rise freaked out $2.5M last night from previews that began at 7PM at 3,000 locations. The Sam Raimi executive produced R-rated horror movie directed by Irish director Lee Cronin is eyeing a start between $15M-$20M+ as Illumination/Universal’s Super Mario Bros Movie swats any newcomers away from No. 1

James Cameron climbs the ladder to cut the net for winning Deadline’s 2022 Most Valuable Blockbuster Movie Tournament after Avatar: The Way of Water cleared over a half-billion dollars in profit after all ancillaries. Given the sleeper nature of this sequel, and given the overall boom expected from this year’s global box office to $32

EXCLUSIVE: Illumination/Universal/Nintendo’s The Super Mario Bros Movie just landed on tracking this morning ahead of its Easter weekend release, and the animated film is shaping up to make at least $85M-$90M+ over its Wednesday through Sunday launch — and that’s on the conservative side. Given the fervent response by fans to trailers, it would not

A raft of Broadway’s recent arrivals led by Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street helped push the industry’s total box office last week to $28,638,821, up 13.8% from the previous week. Total attendance was up commensurately to 229,771. Sweeney Todd, starring Josh Groban and Annaleigh Ashford, contributed a whopping $1.8 million to the

Sony has added one more release to the summer theatrical calendar, Stage 6 Films’ Knights of the Zodiac on May 12. Produced by Toei Animation and based on the international anime sensation, Knights of the Zodiac brings the Saint Seiya saga to the big screen in live-action for the first time. Seiya (Mackenyu), a headstrong street teen,

New Line’s Covid-delayed DC sequel Shazam! Fury of the Gods finally will hit theaters this weekend in 77 offshore territories and the U.S. with a global outlook between $80M-$85M — $35M of that coming from domestic. The David F. Sandberg-directed pic previously had been scheduled to open on December 21, but Warner Bros decided in

AMC stockholders today overwhelmingly approved a pair of provisions that would dramatically enhance the company’s ability raise fresh cash by issuing and selling shares and boost the price of the company’s shares in a ten-for-one-reverse stock split. The approval at a special meeting of shareholders help virtually would also trigger the immediate conversion of AMC

Refresh for latest…: Paramount/Spyglass Media’s Scream VI has slashed its way to a franchise-record opening at the global box office with $67.1M, topping Scream 3 for the best in the bunch of this long-running Kevin Williamson-created series. At the international box office, it also set a franchise-best start with $22.6M from 53 markets, a whopping

FRIDAY MIDDAY: Scream, if you wanna go to the movies. The horror franchise is definitely seeing a record opening in U.S./Canada with Scream VI set to make $42M which outstrips the previous domestic debut high of Scream 3 ($34.7M). Paramount is going to have a great weekend with the No. 1 movie, a big splashy

Shout! Studios presents The Magic Flute by Florian Zigl, executive produced by Roland Emmerich, at 325 theaters with expansion likely. A reimagining of the Mozart opera, it follows a present-day teen sent from London to the Austrian Alps on singing scholarship at the legendary Mozart boarding school. There, he discovers a century old forgotten passageway

Oscar-nomination afterglow for this year’s Best Picture contenders was largely felt more in the home than it was at the box office, with a majority of titles already available to be viewed on the couch except for 20th Century Studios/Disney’s 3D title Avatar: The Way of Water. Since noms were first announced on January 24

They’re back. RLJE Films presents the Stephen King reboot Children of the Corn by Kurt Wimmer on 500+ screens. It’s a redo of the classic 1984 slasher-horror film about kids possessed by a demonic spirit in a dying cornfield, with bloody, rampaging results. King’s iconic short story features a 12-year-old Nebraska girl who recruits the

SATURDAY UPDATE: MGM’s Creed III added another 19 overseas markets on Friday, taking the total to 75 now in release. Packing a punch, it grossed a further $10.1M yesterday, to lift the running cume to $17.1M through the first three days in offshore play. The Michael B Jordan-directed movie is now looking at a $35M+

SUNDAY AM: Amazon bought MGM –a motion picture studio–for $8.45 billion back in May 2021, and this weekend the streamer had their first taste of how wonderful a box office blockbuster is, as MGM/UAR’s Creed III opened to a franchise record of $58.6M. That’s also the highest debut ever for a sports movie. At this

UPDATE, writethru: MGM’s Creed III is enjoying a knockout opening weekend, punching up $100.4M globally. Of that, $41.8M is from 75 international box office markets. Domestically, the Michael B Jordan-directed movie opened to a franchise record and the best debut ever for a sports title. Internationally, this is also the biggest opening for the franchise.

The power of a wide theatrical release was realized this weekend by streamer Amazon in its pivot back to the big screen with MGM/United Artists Releasing’s Creed III. It easily minted the best opening ever for the Seattle-based parent, as well as for the Rocky franchise, with $58.6M domestic, $100.4M worldwide. While Amazon has snapped

Aniplex and Crunchyroll of America’s Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – To the Swordsmith Village grossed $10.1 million this weekend in 1,780 theaters. That’s a fourth place finish at the domestic box office but still half the opening of Demon Slayer:  Kimetsu No Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train which opened to a smash $21

UPDATED: Simon & Schuster has announced that it will cease distribution of The Book of Animal Secrets by Dr. David B. Agus amid allegations of plagiarism. The Los Angeles Times reports that it found at least 95 separate passages in Agus’ book that appeared almost word for word in other publications that can be found on

EXCLUSIVE: A24 has mapped out three films for summer release: the Nicole Holofcener-Julia Louis Dreyfus reteam You Hurt My Feelings, the Celine Song directed/written title Past Lives and the distributor’s hot Sundance horror pick-up Talk to Me. You Hurt My Feelings, which played to great laughs at the Eccles Theater, will go wide nationwide over

The revival of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, with Josh Groban and Annaleigh Ashford in previews at the Lunt-Fontanne, is firmly in Broadway’s $1 million club, with receipts for the week ending March 5 at a bloody good $1,526,254. And that’s just for six performances. The Stephen Sondheim-Hugh Wheeler musical filled every

Paramount/Spyglass Media’s Scream VI is headed to a franchise-record opening of $50M+ worldwide from roughly 50 offshore territories including domestic. The most recent Scream pic opened to $48M WW, $30M from U.S./Canada last year. The highest opening for the Kevin Williamson-conceived horror series was Scream 3, which opened to $34.7M domestic in 2000. Scream VI,

Super LTD presents Best International Feature Oscar nominee The Quiet Girl and, as the Academy Awards approach, RRR ramps up again and Navalny returns to theaters for one-week run. Also opening, Aaron Eckhart in Ambush, Charlotte Rampling in Juniper and comedian Jim Gaffigan as the host of a failing children’s science TV show in Linoleum.

Universal’s R-rated Elizabeth Banks campy genre pic Cocaine Bear lifted $2M last night from previews at 3,000 theaters that began at 5PM. The $30M-budgeted movie, in a weekend that will easily be dominated by Disney/Marvel Studios’ Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania with an estimated $40M (-62%), is set to do in the high teens pulling

Here’s a movie Focus Features is excited about for next awards season, and it wouldn’t be shocking to see it world premiering at a big film festival some time this year: Alexander Payne’s New England prep school comedy The Holdovers. The Universal label just dated the pic for November 10 with a wider break on

Imax said today it expects to return to its pre-pandemic gross box office level of $1.1 billion in 2023, even as it reported revenue of $98 million for last year’s fourth quarter, down 10% from the year before. Earnings per share fell to 19 cents from 31 cents. CEO Rich Gelfond attributed the dip to the Chinese

Imax chief executive Rich Gelfond said blockbuster titles will probably be back on Imax screens later this year, as per Top Gun: Maverick last year and, more recently, Titanic’s 25th anniversary re-release. “Yes, I think they do. Especially seeing what happens at the Academy Awards, and what wins,” said Gelfond when asked on a conference

Broadway in Hollywood has tuned up the slate of musicals for its 2023-24 season. Headed to the Pantages Theatre stage starting late this year are the touring productions of MJ The Musical, The Wiz, Chicago The Musical, Girl from the North Country, Mrs. Doubtfire, Peter Pan and Company. “We’re gonna be startin’ somethin’ exciting,” Broadway

Bankrupt Regal parent Cineworld said it had multiple bids for all or some of its assets in initial expressions of interest due last week. Its business includes Regal in the U.S.; Cineworld and Picturehouse in the UK and Ireland; and “rest of world” cinemas in Central and Eastern Europe, and Israel. Cineworld attorney Joshua Sussberg

Sony Pictures Classics said it’s planning to release Sean Mullin’s documentary on baseball superstar Yogi Berra, It Ain’t Over, in theaters in New York and Los Angeles on May 12, expanding over following weeks. The film is produced by Natalie Metzger, Matt Miller, Peter Sobiloff and Mike Sobiloff with Vanishing Angle and Off Media, and

The 3x Oscar-nominated Damien Chazelle-directed early Hollywood epic Babylon will hit Paramount+ on Feb. 21 in U.S and Canada, which is 61 days after its theatrical window. The Paramount/C2 movie which stars Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Diego Calva and Lukas Haas will also debut in U.K., Australia, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Latin America, Brazil and