Trailer Impact: Captain Marvel Posts Highest Recall at 24.0%; Avengers: Endgame Posts Most Interest in a Cinema View at 75.1%

March’s superhero origin story stays on top but with a decreased score, as April’s superhero sequel continues leading our other main metric this week, in our weekly Thursday feature Trailer Impact. Top Three Trailers with Highest Recall Score Among Moviegoing Audiences Moviegoers tell us the trailers they most recall seeing at their most recent visit to a cinema, among films opening in the next 10 weeks. Captain Marvel Disney Friday, March 8 24.0% of moviegoers (234 respondents) saw and recalled this trailer this week. That’s down from a 26.3% peak last week. It spends a third consecutive week at #1, and a seventh consecutive week in the recall metric’s top three. Brie Larson and Samuel L. Jackson star in this superhero origin story, Marvel’s first female lead after rival DC Comics struck box office gold with Wonder Woman. Dumbo Disney Friday, March 29 18.9%...

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Charles S. Cohen to be Honored with French Legion of Honor Award

PRESS RELEASE Businessman, leading patron of the cinematic arts, and dedicated advocate for French film in the United States, Charles S. Cohen will be awarded the insignia of Chevalier of the Legion of Honor by Gérard Araud, French Ambassador to the United States, on Monday, March 4, in a ceremony held at the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in New York. Already distinguished by France as a Chevalier of the National Order of Merit and a Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters, Cohen, whose service to cultural interchange has been a defining aspect of his career, is now recognized by the prestigious Legion of Honor. Cohen is owner, chairman and CEO of Cohen Media Group (CMG) and Cohen Brothers Realty Corporation (CBRC). An entrepreneurial film producer/distributor/exhibitor and real estate executive, Cohen has developed a media company with a strong focus on...

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Weekend Forecast: A Madea Family Funeral and How to Train Your Dragon 3 Poised to Lead Early March Frame

The first weekend of March has long appeared to be the final calm before next week’s Marvel storm approaches, but the two headlining films this weekend should generate positive results nonetheless. Tyler Perry’s A Madea Family FuneralOpening Weekend Range: $18 – 27 million PROS: Tyler Perry’s brand has proven remarkably consistent, and the Madea franchise is the shining tower of his box office achievements thus far. The promise of this film representing the end of the Madea series is expected to bring out Perry’s loyal fans, especially given the lack of direct competition in the market right now. With the exception of 2013’s A Madea Christmas ($16 million), no film in the series has opened below $21.2 million (2017’s Boo 2! A Madea Halloween). The average opening weekend across all previous eight movies dating back to 2005’s Diary of a Mad Black Woman...

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China’s Wanda Cinemas Opens World’s First All-LED Multiplex in Shanghai

PRESS RELEASE SHANGHAI—Wanda Cinemas, China’s largest film distributor and cinema operator, recently partnered with Samsung and HARMAN Professional Solutions to create the world’s first all-LED cinema multiplex. The first multiplex of its kind, the Shanghai ARCH Wanda Cinema features revolutionary Samsung ONYX LED screens in each of its six premium theater rooms. Since its recent introduction to the cinema industry in China and the rest of the world, the Samsung/HARMAN Onyx Cinema Solution has enhanced movie fans’ cinema experiences with unparalleled image and sound quality. By providing so many Onyx cinema screens in one location, Wanda Cinemas’ Shanghai ARCH location raises the bar for premium multi-function movie theaters. “HARMAN is proud to help Wanda Cinemas introduce Samsung Onyx LED cinema screens to the China market,” said Frank Xiao, General Manager, HARMAN...

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AMC’s Stubs A-List Subscription Service Crosses 700,000 Member Mark

PRESS RELEASE LEAWOOD, Kan.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Before AMC Theatres® (NYSE:AMC) heads into a spring and summer full of crowd-pleasing blockbusters, the Company is celebrating another milestone achievement as AMC Stubs A-List spent the film awards season of January and February adding another 100,000 new members, with the total AMC Stubs A-List membership now exceeding 700,000. Since the program launched, AMC Stubs A-List member theatre attendance has totaled 14 million, including the purchase of traditionally-priced tickets for family and friends. Adam Aron, AMC CEO and President, said, “The continued growth of AMC Stubs A-List to more than 700,000 members, and their dramatic increase in moviegoing, is exactly what we had in mind when we launched the program last June. Members are seeing many more movies than they did before A-List was created, are seeing movies more than...

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Kino Lorber and Film Forum Team Up for the Golden Age of the Exploitation Picture

Marijuana. Venereal disease. Child brides. Peeping toms. All this and more is the subject of Film Forum series Forbidden Fruit: The Golden Age of the Exploitation Picture, starting this Friday and running throughout March. This seven-film series (plus shorts) features new restorations from Kino Lorber, presented in association with Something Weird and the Library of Congress. For the film history-inclined, Forbidden Fruit provides fascinating insight into a little-examined corner of independent film history, a time when indie producers and exhibitors harnessed the power of titillation to pull moviegoers away from more traditional studio fare. And if film history isn’t so much your thing… well, there are the movies themselves, which have much more by way of sex, nudity, and hilariously outdated drug terminology than typical fare of the ‘30s and ‘40s. (“You tellin’ me I...

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Studio Weekend Estimates: How to Train Your Dragon 3 Soars to $55.5M; Fighting with My Family Expands to $8M

Thanks to a string of notable underperformers including Glass, The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part, and Happy Death Day 2U, 2019 got off to a bumpy start at the North American box office. Thankfully, fortunes reversed this weekend with the release of How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, which blasted past expectations to an estimated $ million in its opening frame (a total that doesn’t include $2.5 million from a special Fandango preview screening on February 2), besting the two previous entries in the franchise and injecting new life into a sluggish year at the multiplex. Elsewhere, the Dwayne Johnson wrestling comedy Fighting with My Family performed well in its wide expansion, while the faith-based football drama Run the Race managed to crack the Top 10 in its debut on 853 screens. Roaring onto 4,259 screens, How to Train Your Dragon 3 built on goodwill...

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Long Range Tracking: Breakthrough, Penguins, & The Curse of La Llorona

This week’s report takes a first look at a trio of releases slated to open in time for Easter weekend this April. BreakthroughOpening Weekend Range: $12 – 20 million (3-Day) PROS: Faith-based audiences that have driven recent successes in the genre — such as last year’s breakout I Can Only Imagine — are expected to turn out in healthy numbers. Star Chrissy Metz brings with her some of the fan base of This Is Us, which has become one of the most successful television dramas in recent years. Similarly, producer DeVon Franklin has plenty of experience delivering hit films for Christian audiences throughout his involvement with Miracles from Heaven and Heaven Is for Real. Opening on Wednesday ahead of Easter weekend should provide ample opportunity for the film to generate word of mouth among churchgoers leading into the holiday weekend. CONS: I Can...

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Thursday Night Report: How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World Flies High w/ $3 Million Start; Fighting With My Family Earns $450K

Friday Report: Universal’s How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World scored a strong $3 million start from Thursday night shows beginning at 6pm in approximately 3,200 theaters. That excludes $2.5 million earned from Fandango’s early screenings held on Saturday, February 2. Last night’s start by itself compares very favorably with similar titles, doubling that of The LEGO Movie 2 ($1.5 million, excluding $600K from pre-Thursday shows), 15 percent ahead of Hotel Transylvania 3 ($2.6 million), 36 percent ahead of The LEGO Batman Movie ($2.2 million), and 50 percent ahead of How to Train Your Dragon 2 ($2.0 million). The animated trilogy-capper’s international gross stands $185 million from 49 markets through Thursday. Nine new markets are slated to open this weekend. Meanwhile, Fighting With My Family began...

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Novo Cinemas opens Dubai’s Largest IMAX with Laser at IMG Worlds of Adventure

Novo Cinemas unveiled a state-of-the-art flagship location at IMG Worlds of Adventure in Dubai, including the largest IMAX with Laser cinema in the country. The 12-screen multiplex, which opened on Feb. 14, has a futuristic design using more than 5,000 meters of LED strip lighting in customized colors and mirror lighting from floor to ceiling. The venue features three VIP screens with Novo’s “7-Star” service; a private lounge with a dedicated fine-dining menu and personal butler service, plus fully reclining leather seats combined with pillow and blanket amenities. Measuring 24.4m wide and 13.8m high with a seating capacity for 360 guests, the IMAX with Laser cinema is the biggest in Dubai. The new Novo Cinemas location also offers multi-purpose cinema screens available with a presentation stage, ideal for corporate events and meetings. Debbie Stanford-Kristiansen, CEO...

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Trailer Impact: Captain Marvel Posts Highest Recall at 26.3%; Avengers: Endgame Posts Most Interest in a Cinema View at 75.6%

March’s superhero origin story stays on top with an increased score, as April’s superhero sequel continues leading our other main metric this week, in our weekly Thursday feature Trailer Impact. Top Three Trailers with Highest Recall Score Among Moviegoing Audiences Moviegoers tell us the trailers they most recall seeing at their most recent visit to a cinema, among films opening in the next 10 weeks. Captain Marvel Disney Friday, March 8 26.3% of moviegoers saw and recalled this trailer this week. That’s a new peak, up from a prior 23.4% peak last week. It spends a second consecutive week at #1, and a sixth consecutive week in the recall metric’s top three. Brie Larson and Samuel L. Jackson star in this superhero origin story, Marvel’s first female lead after rival DC Comics struck box office gold with Wonder Woman. How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World Universal this...

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Weekend Forecast: How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World & Fighting With My Family

Industry watchers are hoping the coming weekend will provide some modicum of good news in the midst of one of the most sluggish starts to a box office year in quite some time, thanks largely to a string of under-performances from high profile titles over the last two months. Through February 18, domestic box office was at $1.24 billion — down more than 22 percent from last year and at its lowest point since 2011 ($1.13 billion through the same date). As movie fans gear up for Oscar weekend, though, Universal will offer up an anticipated sequel — and trilogy-capper — to one of the most beloved animation franchises of all time. How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden WorldOpening Weekend Range: $40 – 55 million PROS: Both previous franchise entries were resoundingly successful among critics and audiences, earning $43.7 million and $49.5 million opening weekends in March 2010...

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National CineMedia and Marcus Theatres Announce Ad Partnership for Movie Tavern Locations

PRESS RELEASE CENTENNIAL, Colo.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Feb. 20, 2019– National CineMedia (NCM), America’s Movie Network, and Marcus Theatres®, a division of The Marcus Corporation(NYSE: MCS), today announced that they have entered into a long-term cinema advertising affiliate partnership agreement for Movie Tavern by Marcus Theatres, with 22 dine-in theatre locations and 208 screens in the nine states of Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Virginia. Movie Tavern, an industry leader known for its successful in-theatre dining concept featuring chef-driven menus, premium quality food and drink and luxury seating, will now be branded under the “Movie Tavern by Marcus” banner and will continue to exclusively present NCM’s Noovie pre-show, including Noovie...

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Atom Tickets Annual Oscar Poll Names A Star Is Born Best Picture, Lady Gaga Best Actress

PRESS RELEASE SANTA MONICA, Calif., Feb. 20, 2019 – Atom Tickets, the first-of-its-kind movie ticketing app, recently polled movie fans about which films, artists, and song should take top honors at this year’s Oscars. In the annual survey, A Star is Born came out on top but the runners-up were very close (No. 2 Bohemian Rhapsody was less than half a percentage point behind and No. 3 Black Panther was a little more than three percentage points behind). When it comes to snubs, movie fans cited Bradley Cooper’s omission from the “Best Director” category for A Star Is Born as the “Biggest Snub” of the Oscars nominations. Overall movie fan favorites are listed below by category: · Best Picture – A Star Is Born · Best Director – Alfonso Cuarón, Roma · Best Lead Actor – Rami Malek, Bohemian Rhapsody · Best Lead Actress – Lady Gaga, A Star Is Born · Best Supporting Actor –...

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CGV Yongsan Multiplex Outfitted with HARMAN Audio Systems

PRESS RELEASE SEOUL, South Korea—Kinoton Korea recently outfitted CGV Yongsan with an array of premium HARMAN Professional Solutions cinema audio solutions to ensure immersive sound quality across all of the multiplex’s theaters. As South Korea’s largest cinema chain operator, CJ CGV has a long history of introducing revolutionary innovations in the cinema industry in its home country and abroad. As of October 2018, CJ CGV boasts a total of 3,553 screens at 480 locations in seven countries across the globe and now CGV Yongsan I Park Mall is home to the largest IMAX Screen in the world, measuring 31 metres wide and 22.4 metres high. CGV Yongsan also houses the world’s first 4DX-Screen X combination theater. As part of recent renovations to keep the multiplex on the cutting edge, CGV Yongsan hired Kinoton Korea to replace the theaters’ aging sound systems with state-of-the-art...

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Royal Corporation’s Marianne Abiaad Wins NAC’s Krystal La Reese-Gaule Membership Award

PRESS RELEASE The National Association of Concessionaires (NAC) has announced that Marianne Abiaad, Executive Vice President at Royal Corporation, has captured the Krystal La Reese-Gaule Membership Award for the fiscal year 2018. The annual award is presented to the member who sponsors the most new NAC full memberships during the most recent fiscal year (2018). Abiaad recruited seven new members in 2018. By achieving this award, she continues to be an exemplary member of NAC. In addition to being a tireless advocate for the Association, Abiaad has served the Board of Directors as West Coast Regional Vice President since 2013. She has also served on the Education Committee. Her company, Royal Corporation, has been instrumental in getting the Regional Seminar Series off to a great start by hosting the biennial kick-off session and setting the bar high in terms...

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Christie Announces Installation of RealLaser Projectors at Huayi Brothers Cinemas in Shanghai

PRESS RELEASE SHANGHAI – (February 19, 2019) – Christie®, a leader in creating and sharing the world’s best visual and audio experiences, is pleased to announce that Huayi Brothers Cinemas has deployed Christie’s next-generation RealLaser cinema projectors at its flagship multiplex in Shanghai. Located on the fifth floor of Parkside Joy City shopping mall in Putuo District, it is the first cinema complex opened by Huayi Brothers Cinema Investment Co., Ltd in Shanghai to be powered by Christie’s state-of-the-art, direct-coupled RGB pure laser projection systems. Eight of its well-appointed halls are equipped with Christie RealLaser cinema projectors,...

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Fathom Events Goes Outside Cinemas with the Fathom Affinity Network

One of the core elements of event cinema is its ability to take advantage of the underutilized. With some creative programming, seats that would have been empty during off-peak screening times—afternoons, weekday nights—can go to moviegoers enthusiastic about opera, say, or stand-up comedy. It’s a principle that event cinema leader Fathom Events knows well, and one that ’it’s now applying not just to seats but to entire venues. Starting in 2019, Fathom is taking its programming outside the cinema and into the church. Specifically, this year sees Fathom team with the Faith Content Network, a joint venture between Collide Media Group and in:ciite Events, to launch the Fathom Affinity Network, bringing faith-based and inspirational titles to approximately 800 churches across the U.S. The idea, explains Fathom CEO Ray Nutt, is to get faith-based content to underserved areas—often...

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Studio Weekend Estimates: Alita: Battle Angel Fights Its Way to No. 1 w/ $27.8M 3-Day, $33M 4-Day; Isn’t It Romantic Swoons to $14.4M 3-Day, $16.6M 4-Day; Happy Death Day 2U Underperforms w/ $9.8M 3-Day, $11.4M 4-Day

Over a President’s Day weekend with three new wide releases on tap, Alita: Battle Angel handily stole the top spot from holdover The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, grossing an estimated $27.8 million over the three day weekend and a studio-projected $33 million over the four-day. Elsewhere, freshman rom-com Isn’t It Romantic boasted a healthy opening frame, while horror sequel Happy Death Day 2U suffered an unfortunate case of sequelitis as it grossed less than half what its predecessor did. Originally announced way back in 2003 as a directing vehicle for James Cameron, Alita: Battle Angel finally fought its way to the screen with Cameron on board as a producer and Robert Rodriguez taking over directing duties. Despite bowing to mixed reviews, Cameron’s name clearly helped bump up the interest level among general audiences unfamiliar with the Japanese manga on which the...

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UNIC Calls for Competition Films at Major Festivals to Receive Theatrical Releases

The International Union of Cinemas (UNIC) has called for films selected in competition at leading film festivals to receive a full theatrical release. Following the decision by the Berlin International Film Festival to include the Spanish original film Elisa y Marcela in its 2019 official selection, the association released the following statement: “UNIC supports German cinema exhibition colleagues and others in encouraging festival competitions only to consider for inclusion those films intended for a full theatrical release. Cinemas welcome anyone who brings strong film content to audiences in theatres. Thanks to their prestige, leading film festivals have both the honour and the responsibility of bringing quality and diversity to audiences around the world. We expect them to ensure that all selected films observe established industry norms—including a full and genuine...

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