Quentin Tarantino, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Brad Pitt will share insights into the making of their hit Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood when the three reunite for a free, live, moderated panel discussion to be livestreamed exclusively to theaters across the country this Saturday, November 2.
At 3:30 p.m. Eastern time and 12:30 p.m. Pacific time across the country (at most locations), moviegoers will gather for a screening of the film, followed by the Q&A streamed live from Tarantino’s New Beverly Cinema in Hollywood.
The event will be free but will require tickets. Tickets will be distributed only at the theaters showing the event on a first-come, first-served basis. Sony Pictures says the event will not be streamed over the internet.
Spoiler alert: Terminator: Dark Fate isn’t as good as Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Take it from Tim Miller.
“I don’t feel like it’s better than Terminator 2 or anything like that,” says Miller, director of the latest installment in the long-running sci-fi/action franchise. “But it was never going to be better than Terminator 2. You can’t go back in time and relive the nostalgia of that moment when you watch those movies for the first time.”
Indeed, reviews for the forthcoming sequel–a direct continuation of the first two films that eschews the plots of subsequent follow-ups Rise of the Machines, Salvation, and Genisys–have been mixed, or as Miller likes to put it, “polarizing,” with some praising Dark Fate as a welcome return to form and others criticizing it as an uninspired rehash.
Critics aside, Dark Fate does boast at least one undeniable pleasure: the return of original franchise badass Linda Hamilton, who reprises her role as Sarah Connor for the first time in nearly three decades alongside a cast that also includes a returning Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mackenzie Davis (as super-soldier Grace), Natalia Reyes (as future resistance leader Dani Ramos), and Gabriel Luna (as the formidable Terminator prototype Rev-9). Those who sparked to Hamilton’s portrayal in the first two films are in for a treat; her performance in Dark Fate is fierce and surprisingly funny, highlighting the drastic changes the character has gone through since the last time we saw her.
“I think the ‘Why now?’ of it is because enough time has passed that there’s something new to be said about the character,” said Miller of Hamilton’s return. “If you played it five years after T2, it wouldn’t be that interesting. She’d kind of be the same person. … I think the idea that she would be such a fucked-up person really appealed to her.”
For more from Miller, including his thoughts on James Cameron’s return to the franchise, Dark Fate’s unintended political subtext, and how Deadpool ultimately led to the film’s “R” rating, check out the full interview below.
Linda Hamilton is so funny in this, and you’d never seen that side of that character before. Can you talk about adding that humor to her character? Did you see that as a natural evolution of this woman who’s seen so much horror that she almost uses humor as a defense mechanism against what’s happening?
I’m kind of struck that you think that she’s very funny in this movie, because I feel like she—there’s certainly some dark humor, but I don’t know. Have you interviewed Linda?
I haven’t.
I was gonna say I wonder what she said to that.
The humor is very dry and dark.
Yeah, like, you know, [quoting a line from the movie] “a person who has her own episode of America’s Most Wanted.”
Yes, exactly.
There’s a few of those, but there are not many. This movie is a lot darker than the other Terminator movies, where if you look at T2, nobody really dies—I mean, maybe somebody in a car they ran over. But here we’ve got… let’s just say there’s a lot of death in the movie, and death is a hard thing to preface levity with, so it doesn’t feel right to crack a lot of jokes. We actually had more humor in the script. And then you go, “Okay, well we can’t make this joke because so and so just died five minutes before.” You can’t have the main character cracking wise.
But Linda does have a certain—she is funny, and her main goal in life as an actor is to do a comedy before she before she, quote, “hangs it up.” She really wants to do comedy. But yeah, I think there are some darkly humorous lines. Usually people are so happy when Arnold shows up later in the movie because they know it’s going to be a little lighter and fluffier, oddly enough. You can feel it in the audience when Arnold shows up. They’re like, “Okay, wow, this has been heavy. Now we’re going to get a little bit of relief from that.”
And he was really funny in it, too actually.
Also very dry.
Very dry, very dark humor. I guess maybe that’s my preferred humor. I like dark humor. To me it’s hilarious. But maybe not to everyone.
No, you can feel the audience is pretty desperate to laugh. I went to a couple screenings where I felt like, even stuff that I felt was marginally funny or just a humorous line was getting a laugh. Which I wrote down to the audience being so eager for some relief from the overall heaviness of the movie. Which is not a bad thing. It’s just a thing. Mackenzie [Davis]’s character smiles once in the entire movie. There’s not a lot of jokes there.
Going back to Linda, though, I feel like it probably took her some convincing to return to this role, right? Because she hasn’t acted much in the last couple of decades. And the last time she played this character was over 25 years ago. So can you talk about, first of all, how you helped coax her back into this role, and also, was there an alternative plan if she decided not to sign on? Could there have been another actor that played Sarah Connor?
Yeah, well, that would never have happened. I’ll just say that if you knew Linda, you would say that nobody convinces Linda to do anything that Linda doesn’t want to do. Jim [Cameron] early on, like right at the beginning of the process of like—”What are we going to do? Is it going to be a blank slate? Is it going to be whatever?”—I and everyone else wanted Linda to come back. And so we said, “Jim, do you think she would?” He goes, “I don’t know. I’ll call her and ask. Who knows?” Because they were married, but they don’t talk that much anymore. She lives across the country. So he called her, and she was interested.
I think the “Why now?” of it is because enough time has passed that there’s something new to be said about the character. If you played it five years after T2 it wouldn’t be that interesting. She’d kind of be the same person. And by the time we talked to her, we had a general idea of the direction of the story. I think the idea that she would be such a fucked-up person really appealed to her, that her character would be so damaged. That really was interesting for her, in the same way that the distance in time made Arnold’s version of the T-800 really interesting. You know, Pinocchio needs time to become a real boy. And the structure of the storyline allowed us that time to have passed for both of them. So I feel like it’s a story you could only tell now, in a good way.
So James was involved in this one, obviously, and he wasn’t involved in the last few. Was his involvement part of the appeal in you coming on board and directing this?
Well, I was already on board. But one of the things maybe [that] would have changed my mind [is] if he hadn’t come back. Because one of the first things I said was, the first thing we need to do to make the fans feel like it’s not just going to be another of those sh–[pauses]–I’m not gonna say that. There’s not going to be another in the vein of the [last few] movies. Jim being there means a couple of things. It means that we can get his input on what’s the continuation of that story after T2, but it also is some sort of guarantee of verisimilitude, of accuracy, whatever you want to call it. Some sort of seal of quality that the franchise was going to be handled at least in a way that the original filmmaker would want.
So I thought that was really important, because people had, I think, lost hope. They still have. I mean, you see the reviews coming in are really mixed. I mean, I wouldn’t say mixed, maybe that’s not the right word. Polarized would be a better word. And I think that the people that hate it seem to be people that hate it for reasons that are beyond my control. They hate it because it’s the sixth movie, and Hollywood should be making original movies and not repeating franchises or beating a dead horse blah, blah, blah. It seems that they were, in many ways, pre-decided–
Predisposed to not like the film.
Yeah. and I can’t do anything about that.
So reading those bad reviews, it doesn’t bother you?
I expect–in fact, the ones that are great kind of make you feel good, because I feel that is a more accurate representation. All the cast and all the crew–even I don’t feel like it’s better than Terminator 2 or anything like that, but it was never going to be better than Terminator 2. You can’t go back in time and relive the nostalgia of that moment when you watch those movies for the first time. Even someone as young as yourself, you still probably watched the movie when you were young. And it had an effect on you.
So I knew I couldn’t compete with those movies, I just wanted to make a good movie and I wanted to continue Sarah’s story with Linda doing it, and those are all things that we did. I don’t feel like I left anything on the field. We all put our heart and soul into it. And if people are going to hate it, I feel like it’d be nice if they judged it for what it is instead of heaping their past disappointments onto it. But you know, I didn’t expect that not to happen. You know, I don’t give a fuck.
You go into it with a pretty healthy attitude, it sounds like.
Yeah. I mean look, you want people to like it, but there’s only so much you can control of people’s perception. I can’t change their past bitterness. But I knew it was there.
So this is set partially in Mexico, and in the American Southwest as well. I think inevitably people will take away a political subtext even if there’s none intended with all that stuff at the border, and then especially in the detainment center. What was your thinking going into this? Were you expecting that people were going to read more into that than maybe you even intended, and how do you feel about people doing that?
Well, it’s hard not to look at the news, and it’s such a polarizing topic, that to not feel like people are going to feel one way or another about it. I’m about as far left as you can get politically, but I wasn’t trying to make a political statement. It’s an environment which the characters must move through, and if you’re going to tell a story that starts in Mexico and ends in the U.S., to not have a scene like the detention center, when it revolves around an illegal alien coming across the border would be, I think, cheating in some ways.
But by the same token, it’s not a political movie. We’re making entertainment here. So what I tried to do was walk this path where I feel it’s an accurate representation of the terrible tragedy that is people in cages for whatever fucking reason. Putting people in cages is not a happy event. I also didn’t want to vilify the Border Patrol people, because they are many fine people doing a job the best they can. They’re not necessarily evil. What’s not great is the system and the problem that that is. But we’re not addressing those in the movie, so it really becomes a setting for the larger journey [of] Dani north, and I hope I walk that line where I’m not trying to vilify anybody in the immediate movie. I think we can all agree that it’s not an ideal situation. So I’m sure everybody thinks that and they don’t need me to tell them about it.
[SPOILERS BELOW]
I wonder if you consider this to be a feminist movie, because there’s the reveal that Dani is not giving birth to the savior of the human race, she is the savior of the human race. Is that something that you–
Well, I wouldn’t say–I think if you talk to Mackenzie, she would say–I’m not allowed to say it, but I feel the truth of what she’s saying, is that I hope that we soon get to a point where we don’t have to make the distinction. That it’s not a movie about strong female characters. It’s just a movie with female characters. And I don’t feel, like the immigration issue, I don’t feel qualified to make a statement about feminism. Nor did we set out to do that. It was always a story that had strong female protagonists in it with Linda.
The decision to make Dani the savior was really just because John had been done, and we wanted to start the story in such a way that you want to give your character the hardest hill to climb. It’s certainly not justified, but women certainly have a harder time being treated fairly in society, so that just makes the hill that much harder for her to climb.
So that was the decision [for] Dani, and then Grace could have gone either way, except for Joe Abercrombie, one of the writers, a novelist who invented Grace, the first words out of his mouth [are] like, “What if the protector came back, and she was really fucked up, and she had all these scars and she had to take these drugs because she’d been enhanced, but her body didn’t sit well with the enhancements and so she’s got to take these drugs and jack up her immune system?” He used the “she” pronoun, and it was always that. I think it’s more interesting to see a woman pick up a gun if for no other reason than it’s usually dudes.
I did want to ask you about the rating, because I think the last two maybe were PG-13. This one’s R, and the original two were R. I’d heard something about you guys initially starting to shoot scenes both ways, a PG-13 version and an R. Is that accurate?
Well, it was always PG-13 while we were shooting it, but it was undecided. At least maybe we’d do an R release later. It hadn’t been completely decided. Or maybe we’d just do an R-rated cut later. And then there was this idea of doing the first-ever PG-13 and R simultaneous release.
But the good thing about that is it allowed us to work at a PG-13 budget while the decision was pending. I feel partly responsible [for] it in a good way, but I think Logan was really the thing that [made] them [decide] ultimately that if you look at how much money Logan made as an R rated movie versus the PG 13 previous versions, it really says something that that character’s DNA is R-rated. Terminator‘s DNA is R-rated. And fans will punish you if you’re not true to the DNA of the franchise or the character or what have you.
Just like Deadpool. If we’d made that PG-13, I don’t think it would have been a hit. It was only by unleashing Ryan [Reynolds] that it was successful, and fans would have punished us for being a bunch of wussies if we had made a PG-13. So I’m so glad that we did it, but you know, Deadpool gave Fox the confidence to do Logan as an R. And Logan gave Scott Hansen at Paramount and Fox the confidence to say, “Yeah, [Terminator: Dark Fate] feels like an R rated movie.”
Costa Mesa, Calif. (October 31, 2019) – QSC announces the appointment of Ian Freer as Field Sales Engineer (Cinema), APAC. In his new role, Ian will be primarily responsible for product support in the Asia Pacific region.
Freer brings with him over twenty years of experience in the cinema industry. “I am excited to have Ian Freer join the Cinema team,” says Barry Ferrell, Vice President, Cinema Product Development. “With his extensive technical experience, Ian brings hands-on expertise with a demonstrated history of customer success. He will be essential in providing around-the-clock support on a global scale.”
Freer spent the last few years as an audio-video technician at Connect NZ, providing technical support, writing instructional technical documentation, and assisting with project management. Prior to that, Freer acted as a Digital Cinema Technical Specialist at NEC New Zealand and was managing director of his own cinema engineering company, CineServ Limited. Additionally, Freer has served as a technical consultant and representative for multiple international film festivals, including the Toronto International Film Festival, New Zealand International Film Festival, and the Abu Dhabi Film Festival.
Ian will report to Andy Pearce, senior sales director, Southeast Asia and Pacific, and is based in New Zealand.
Fleabag may be gone from your television screens, barring a first, second, or fifth rewatch of Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Emmy-winning comedy. But it’s still to be found in theaters, thanks to twin efforts from event cinema providers Fathom Events and BY Experience.
The BBC series Fleabag, distributed in the United States on Amazon Prime, stars creator/writer Waller-Bridge as the show’s unnamed main character: a confused, angry, honest—and very, very funny—woman living in London. The show had its origins in a one-woman show presented by Waller-Bridge at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2013. Following the success of the television show, the play was brought to London’s West End and New York City…. but by that point Fleabag was so popular that getting tickets required an act of God. (Or maybe a Hot Priest.)
“I got shut out of the New York staging earlier in the year,” recalls John Vanco, senior vice president and general manager of New York City’s IFC Center. “And I thought, ‘Wow.‘ I’m just thinking of my own neck of the woods, in New York City, of all the people who got shut out or didn’t even know that the New York run of the play was happening. People are discovering Fleabag all the time. Nobody knew about it in the beginning, and then it kept building and building and building.”
The IFC Center was one of the theaters to jump on NT Live’s broadcast of Fleabag. The show is being distributed in the United States by two companies. The first, BY Experience, represents NT Live globally, excluding the U.K.; they have a presence in around 75 countries (depending on the show) and are bringing Fleabag to countries across North America, Europe, and Eastern Europe, as well as Russia, India, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand. In the United States, their network largely consists of consists of smaller theaters and performing arts spaces, among them the IFC Center. With screenings taking place through the beginning of 2020, it’s hard to pin exact numbers down, but co-founder Borchard-Young estimates they’re bringing Fleabag to around 1,000 screens worldwide throughout the show’s theatrical life.
BY Experience first screened Fleabag on September 12, which was after Emmy nominations were announced but before the show steamrolled the comedy competition to win six awards, three of them (Writing, Lead Actress, and Outstanding Comedy Series) to Waller-Bridge herself. Since that initial screening of the NT Live show, BY Experience has had “huge, overwhelming demand from all of our exhibitor partners to screen it,” says Borchard-Young. “Many are doing multiple screenings, so it’s almost like a little mini film run. Obviously this dovetails very well with Phoebe Waller-Bridge and her success with the Emmys and her presence on late night TV, hosting ‘SNL.’ She’s been very present here in the U.S.. So it’s been great to take what was otherwise a very limited theatrical experience that happened in London and Edinburgh and New York and really eventize it through cinema.”
“Fleabag is a zeitgeist moment,” adds Borchard-Young. “It’s so rare. You can’t plan it, the fact that Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s star has ascended concurrent with the availability of this play.” When an NT Live show reaches a high level of consumer demand—whether through an aligning of the stars as with Fleabag or the presence of an already-big name, like Helen Mirren in The Audience or Benedict Cumberbatch in Danny Boyle’s Frankenstein—in steps Fathom Events with its extensive theatrical network. BY Experience’s distribution of Fleabag is ongoing, whereas with Fathom, it’s a one-night event, taking place on November 18. (As with other Fathom titles, there is a potential for encore screenings.)
“When we have a big commercial hit that we think is going to travel, that’s when Fathom comes on board, because they can reach many more markets across the country in a very national campaign,” explains Borchard-Young. “The truth is when we got notice that Fleabag was going to happen for cinema, it was very short notice. We scrambled, put together a great platform to begin [with], and then Fathom saw what had happened with the initial launch and said, ‘Even though we couldn’t participate because of the timing, now we’d like to.’ It’s great that they’ve come on board. It’ll give customers across the country who otherwise wouldn’t have the chance to see this an opportunity to do so.”
“We program primarily for broad appeal content. [Borchard-Young will] bring us content, and we’ll make a decision based on what that audience is,” agrees Fathom vice president of programming, business affairs, and strategy Daren Miller. “We’d had conversations with Julie early on. Our challenge really has been that, at this time of year, we are super challenged [from] a scheduling perspective. It’s a very, very busy time of year between tentpoles and working around studio releases and our own releases. It was really all about finding the right date that we could optimize for the content.”
Fathom and BY Experience’s releases of Fleabag—as with previous NT Live productions, like The Audience, Frankenstein, and Benedict Cumberbatch in Hamlet—are done independently from one another; BY Experience licenses content to Fathom, and they each distribute to their own networks. Both companies, it goes without saying, benefited from Fleabag’s Emmys wins. Marketing can be tricky with event cinema, given you’re not working with studios that have millions of dollars to drop on P&A. Here, Fleabag got a substantial bump in name recognition without Fathom or BY Experience having to lift a finger.
“It’s definitely key in event cinema that we tap into preexisting franchises and the audience and fanbase,” explains Miller. Fleabag “clearly has all the right ingredients that we look for in any product that we distribute. It has a lot of good things working for it.”
As such, pre-sales “came out the gate strong,” says Fathom vice president of operations Lynne Schmidt. “I’m a little surprised, especially because [at the time pre-sales started] a lot of our marketing hadn’t even hit yet.” At the time of our discussion, Fathom had placed Fleabag in approximately 400 theaters. “We are adding theaters as they’re being requested,” added Schmidt. “We pay attention to our social media and fans coming in asking for these additional screenings.”
Pre-sales are massively important in the world of event cinema. It’s there there in the name—we’re looking at a event, something exclusive, so if you want to get in you’d better buy your ticket in advance. “When I go see a film, I mostly wait for the day-of, because I know if I’m going to get sold out for the five o’clock screening, big deal, I can go at 6:30,” says Borchard-Young. “Whereas with event cinema, people plan like they’re going to the arts. They buy tickets well in advance. So we’re seeing great pre-sales [for Fleabag], and that doesn’t surprise me.”
At the IFC Center, Fleabag smashed its own pre-sale records, with over 3,000 people buying tickets in advance. The IFC Center, however, did something unusual: giving Fleabag not just one or two screenings, as is typical with event cinema, but entire week’s run, nights and weekends included. “It did $100,000 for the first week, which put it at that point second only to Boyhood for the biggest opening week of a film that we’d had,” says Vanco. (Pre-sale and first week records were swiftly thereafter broken by Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite. It’s been a busy month.) A second week was added, and “we started patchworking shows after that.” (If you want to see Fleabag on Halloween night, you can, but you’ll have to fight through the annual parade crowd.)
Part of the success of Fleabag at the IFC Center, Vanco explains, is that “we leaned into the presentation.” The tickets are at a premium price point, but the experience is premium, too: “We didn’t show any trailers. There are very few times that we don’t show the IFC Center logo trailer. This was one of them. We didn’t put up any adds for popcorn or anything. And people felt like, ‘OK, well, this is different. I’ve gone to the IFC Center as a regular movie theater lots of times, and this is something that I don’t normally get.’”
The production quality, as well, contributes to NT Live as an exceptional experience, argues Vanco: “They go in and they set up all of their technology within some West End theater in London. They cut from camera to camera and they create this movie that is like you’re there, in the best seat in the house. You get close ups. It’s really quite a thing. There’s all this pre-show [content] that you makes you feel like you’re in the room. You have ambient noise from the people as they’re walking into the room, and there’s an introduction from a host.”
Many programmers, Vanco argues, “kind of use different parts of their brains” for event cinema versus more traditional content. “You don’t think of them as crossing over. You think, ‘OK, I’ve got my alternative content, and it fits in whatever week I’m playing it. They fit in around the periphery and have no impact on my regular, first-run stuff.’ It’s out of sight, out of mind. But, I’m sorry—when it’s Fleabag, you have to change the rules!”
The completely remodeled theatre will provide 16 auditoriums and brand-new amenities to the community
PLANO, Texas–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Cinemark Holdings, Inc., one of the world’s largest and most influential movie theatre companies, announced that the Cinemark Movies 16 theatre, located off of N.W. Loop 410, will officially reopen to the public as the Cinemark San Antonio 16 theatre today. The third Cinemark theatre in the area has been completely remodeled to bring San Antonians the best seat in town with enhanced moviegoing amenities and state-of-the-art upgrades.
“After 30 years in the San Antonio community, Cinemark is proud to reopen the former Cinemark Movies 16 as a brand-new, fully upgraded theatre offering a modern experience to our moviegoers,” said Cinemark CEO, Mark Zoradi. “Guests of the new Cinemark San Antonio 16 theatre will be able to enjoy ‘the best seat in town’ as they watch the latest blockbusters in their heated, luxury recliners.”
The remodeled theatre will include a variety of new amenities, including:
16 Cinemark auditoriums featuring state-of-the-art picture and sound quality;
Cinemark Luxury Loungers – electric-powered, plush, oversize recliners with footrests, cup holders and heat-controlled seats;
Reserved seating with online, kiosk and mobile app ticketing capabilities;
Increased availability of new films in a multitude of film genres;
A pleasing and inviting lobby that features a concession stand with a variety of food and beverage options including freshly popped popcorn, Coca-Cola fountain drinks and Pizza Hut pizza and;
Special discount pricing for Seniors, Students, Military and Discount Tuesdays.
The Cinemark San Antonio 16 theatre is located at 5063 N.W. Loop 410, San Antonio, TX 78229 and will be hosting a special event on Thursday, October 31, from 6 – 8 p.m. The event will feature Halloween-themed giveaways and live entertainment by 98.5 KBBT’s DJ, Brandi Garcia.
Stay connected with Cinemark at cinemark.com and through Cinemark’s social media channels at Facebook, Twitter and Instagram (@Cinemark or #Cinemark).
She’s a legendary figure in American history, such an icon that the U.S. Treasury has chosen her to be the first person of color to appear on the nation’s currency (in 2028). But how much do we really know about Harriet Tubman? Many know her as a major force in the mid-1800s Underground Railroad, guiding dozens of slaves to freedom after fleeing herself for the safety of Pennsylvania. But did you know that, during the Civil War, she was the first woman to lead an armed expedition, a raid that freed more than 700 slaves?
Focus Features’ Harriet, opening on November 1, is the long-overdue biopic of Tubman, brought to life in a magnetic performance by Tony winner Cynthia Erivo (The ColorPurple) in her first lead movie role. The film co-stars Hamilton Tony winner Leslie Odom Jr. as abolitionist William Still; Janelle Monáe as free-born ally Marie Buchanon; Joe Alwyn (The Favourite) as Harriet’s young master, and country-music star Jennifer Nettles as his mother; Clarke Peters (“The Wire”) and Vanessa Bell Calloway as Harriet’s parents; and Vondie Curtis-Hall as Samuel Green, a real-life Maryland pastor who helped slaves escape.
Writer Gregory Allen Howard (Remember the Titans) has been working on the project since the 1990s, and producers Debra Martin Chase and Daniela Taplin Lundberg ultimately turned to Kasi Lemmons to direct the film and work on the screenplay. Lemmons’s debut feature, Eve’s Bayou (1997), is a landmark in African American cinema for its depiction of black Southern culture; it won the Independent Spirit Award and was selected for the Library of Congress’s National Film Registry. A former actress, probably best known for her roles in The Silence of the Lambs and Candyman, Lemmons has also directed The Caveman’s Valentine, Talk to Me, and Black Nativity, and is a professor in the Graduate Film Program at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. Lemmons spoke with Boxoffice Pro by phone about her journey with Harriet.
I learned so much about Harriet Tubman watching this film. I knew about the Underground Railroad, but there were so many other dimensions that I didn’t know. What did you learn that you didn’t know before?
I thought I knew about Harriet Tubman, but I did about seven months of pure research and I learned so many things. In terms of things that went into the movie that mattered to me, definitely the spirituality. That was really interesting. Just the strangeness of praying that her master would die, and he died. The thing that affected me the most deeply was that it really was a family story, and that’s one of the things I tried to bring out: her as a woman, but also as a daughter and a sister. When you read about a hero, you can disengage a little bit from their courage, but everybody can understand wanting to go back to your family. I wanted to show what people had to go through to be free—the horrible decisions of leaving people behind. That really resonated for me—who’s willing to do that and who’s not willing to do that.
I saw Cynthia Erivo in The Color Purple on Broadway, and her performance gave me chills. I was surprised that you gave her the opportunity to sing in the film. Is that based on the real Harriet?
Oh yeah, absolutely. That’s how she communicated. That’s how she called the enslaved people, through song. It was like a coded message—because when the slave owners heard the slaves singing, they thought they were happy. They didn’t suspect that the music could signal an uprising or a call to freedom. It was the way enslaved people communicated—only certain people would understand the message.
Tell me about the rapport you had with Cynthia. She’s the key to the success of this film. What kind of a connection did you make?
It was and still is a very deep connection. We had to be that way. Our rapport was very important to us—it’s really how we got through it. We looked in each other’s eyes, we held each other’s hands, we really tried to invoke her together. We talked about it a lot, trying to channel her and access her so that other people could. It was actually the most profound experience I’ve ever had.
With Leslie Odom Jr. in the film, you’ve got two of the biggest recent Broadway stars in your movie. Did you find their stage discipline was an asset for you on this project?
I think of them as actors who just happen to also be able to star in Broadway shows and win Grammys. They’re just really talented people, but when they were on set, it was like directing any actor. All actors are a little bit different, depending on their training and their approach. To me, it’s all directing.
I have to believe that for both your black and white actors, it was uncomfortable in a lot of ways to be playing slaves and slave owners. How do you deal with that as a director?
Well, everybody understands why they’re there, and we rehearse so everyone is comfortable. You cast carefully—you choose people who are there for the right reasons and who are good people, And who are uncomfortable—they shouldn’t be too comfortable. So we just discuss it and try to give the characters as much backstory as possible, even the white slave owners, things that actors can relate to.
This is probably the biggest production you’ve ever done. What were the big challenges for you?
Just trying to get it all into our schedule and into our budget. And shooting outside, shooting in the woods at night, in the rain and dealing with the elements. The interesting thing about her journey is that she covered a lot of ground!
You have a great cinematographer on this project, John Toll [two-time Oscar winner for Braveheart and Legends of the Fall]. How did you land him for this film?
Well, it’s funny. We were at the Sundance Lab together. I’m a longtime Sundance adviser and John has done the Lab several times. I sat next to him and said, “So, John, what are you working on next?” And he said, “I don’t know.” “Do you think you want to do another big movie or a small movie?” He said, “You know, I think I might try a small movie.” And I said, “So, do you like Harriet Tubman?” The conversation kind of went like that. There was a screening of my movie Eve’s Bayou at Sundance and he watched it, and then he asked for a script.
Are you and Focus Features doing anything special to make sure this film reaches a young audience?
We certainly hope it does. I think that they are very actively trying to reach that audience. That’s very important to me. I made it for the audience and I made it to appeal to everyone, from 10-year-olds to their great-grandmothers.
Did you have that audience in mind as you were making it? Were there little touches you added to try to make sure it reached a young crowd?
The mission was to make something that could reach a wide audience. I wrote the role of Walter thinking of the younger audience. That character [a slave hunter turned liberator] is very important to me; he’s played by my son [Henry Hunter Hall]. One thing we were very conscious of was trying to make an adventure movie, trying to keep it exciting, Her life is inherently an adventure story, and we wanted to capture that.
I remember you in The Silence of the Lambs. Do you miss acting at all? Are you thinking of ever going back to it?
Not really. This is very fulfilling and keeps me absorbed. I spend most of my time as a writer and there’s something fulfilling about that, working from your imagination. It’s a different muscle. There’s something comforting about acting, and it would be a relaxing break from directing. But I like the gig that I have, which is being a professor and a writer and director.
It was nice to see your husband [Vondie Curtis-Hall] in the film. I’ve always liked his work. Is he kind of a good-luck charm for you?
Yeah, I enjoy him being in my movies. He’s dependably great, and he’s always good to have around. But I don’t try to put a square peg in a round hole—if there’s a part that’s right for him, then I’m interested and he’s interested. He read the script and did a lot of research about Reverend Green, and he decided he wanted to play that character.
I have to congratulate you on having Eve’s Bayou in the National Film Registry. What does that mean to you?
It meant so much—I have an absurd amount of excitement about it. It’s a film that’svery close to my heart. I was incredibly flattered and grateful for that honor.
How important to you is it that people see Harriet in theaters?
I very much believe in seeing films in theaters. There’s something so immersive about it; it really lets you go on an incredible journey with other people. We made this film for the audience and it plays wonderfully with a full audience. I very much hope people get to experience it that way.
As expected, last week’s big social media story was the new trailer for Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker. The trailer, the first for the film, crushed it online, especially on Twitter and Instagram. While it still had a strong Facebook showing, it was upstaged by the first trailer for the Valiant comic adaptation of Bloodshot,starring Vin Diesel. Bloodshot had over 150,000 shares—a stat made even more impressive when you consider that the post came from a newly minted social media account and had just a single post the whole week. The only other standout No Time To Die, which along with Star Wars was the only film to chart across all three tracked services. The news here was that the upcoming Bond film had wrapped its principal photography.
Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker repeated atop the Twitter leaderboards this past week with 455,507 likes and 158,705 shares. That was more than every single other tracked film combined. The runner-up spot went to No Time To Die, which had “only: 55,229 likes and 10,422 shares.
In a surprising development, Bloodshot secured a commanding Facebook win with 206,656 likes and 153,355 shares, almost double that of second place finisher Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker. Vin Diesel has extra currency on Facebook thanks to Fast & Furious being one of the most successful film pages of all time on the service. He clearly cashed in on that banked capital to easily surpass a new trailer from the red hot Star Wars.
There were to be no Bloodshot-style upsets on Instagram. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker walked away with the largest weekly like total in recent memory at over 3.2 million. Its 63,989 new followers also crushed it on the week in terms of awareness and buzz. With its record-breaking pre-sales—combined with the cachet of being a “final” film, like Avengers: Endgame or Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2—there is a very strong chance that The Rise of Skywalker will rewrite the December opening records.
LOS ANGELES, Oct. 30, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — Charles S. Cohen, Owner and Chairman ofLandmark Theatres, today announced the appointment of veteran exhibition executive Paul Serwitz as Landmark Theatres’ President and Chief Operating Officer.
Paul Serwitz brings his highly regarded reputation to Landmark after serving 17 years as Vice President of Film for Regal Entertainment Group, the national theatre circuit whose brands include Regal Cinemas, Edwards Theatres and United Artists Theatres. For the better part of a decade, his role included oversight of Regal’s national art and specialized program, growing that segment of the business to nearly $200M. Prior to Paul’s 25-year tenure at Regal, he was in Film with Toronto-based Cineplex Odeon in Washington D.C. and originally was in Operations and Film with Neighborhood Entertainment Group in Richmond, VA.
Landmark is the nation’s largest specialized theater chain dedicated to independent cinema with 51 theaters and 251 screens in 27 markets. Landmark is a recognized leader in the industry for providing its customers consistently diverse and entertaining film products in a sophisticated adult-oriented atmosphere. The chain’s theaters include The Landmark in Los Angeles and The Landmark at 57 West in New York City, both favored by filmmakers and studios to host award season events and screenings, as well as other iconic locations including the E Street Cinema and The Landmark Atlantic Plumbing Cinema in Washington, D.C., The Landmark at Merrick Park in Coral Gables, Florida, and The Landmark at Greenwood Village in Denver’s flourishing Tech Center.
Paul Serwitz said, “I have long admired the unique space Landmark occupies in the exhibition and theatrical landscape. They are a trailblazer in the cinema experience. I am thrilled to have this opportunity to join Landmark and help expand the company’s vision and reach.”
Charles S. Cohen said: “Paul Serwitz has vast experience in all aspects of film exhibition and acquisition, in both local markets and on the national front. He is highly respected and has cultivated solid relationships throughout the film industry – all of which make him the perfect choice to lead Landmark Theatres into the future.”
Holiday movie season is finally here, in industry terms, as November arrives this Friday and four studios get a jump on the lucrative two-month-plus corridor at year’s end.
Leading the pack of openers this weekend is Paramount’s latest resurrection of the Terminator franchise, this time featuring the return of Linda Hamilton alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger. Dark Fate has long been hyped as a return to the series’ roots with an R-rated action film that ignores the events of the previous three chapters — 2003’s Rise of the Machines, 2009’s Salvation, and 2015’s Genisys. With James Cameron in a visible producer’s role, fans have hoped for more positive results this time around.
Unfortunately, pre-release tracking hasn’t indicated that enthusiasm extends much beyond the target adult male fan base. Despite traditional tracking suggesting an opening weekend near $50 million could be possible, our own internal models have consistently pointed to a lower performance more akin to films like Alien: Covenant and Dark Phoenix — each of which opened south of $40 million stateside.
The franchise has shed a major share of its audience over the past three decades, since Cameron’s Judgement Day was one of the biggest blockbusters of its time. Genisys was the first in five entries to miss the $100 million domestic box office mark in summer 2015, despite an attempt to softly reboot the franchise with Arnold in a more prominent role.
Unfortunately, though, the (lack of) continuity and confusion around how this latest film and its own predecessors fit into the franchise’s overarching story are shaping up to be deterrents for the uninitiated not following the film’s production and efforts to separate it from the non-Cameron films.
Adding to the bearish expectations now are the film’s lukewarm reviews (currently 68 percent on Rotten Tomatoes) and an underwhelming overseas debut last weekend, particularly in the United Kingdom, Germany, and France. The international field has often been a saving grace for the franchise in the wake of domestic under-performances, but even when considering the shifting tides of inflation rates and other factors, last week’s results don’t bode well for Dark Fate‘s domestic reception.
If other territories mirror those of early international returns, and the domestic footprint meets our current expectations for a $70 – 90 million finish, a global total below $300 million could be in the cards — significantly down from Genisys‘ $440.6 million four years ago.
This Week’s Other Debuts
In more encouraging news, Harriet is shaping up to generate solid business as it releases in approximately 2,000 theaters from Focus Features. Pre-release trends are very positive, with models indicating it could out-perform last weekend’s Black and Blue and 2017’s Marshall.
Entertainment Studios will unleash Arctic Dogs in an effort to attract families who’ve already seen the Maleficent sequel and Addams Family, although those two titles should still combine for a significant audience this weekend as more recognizable IP and lingering Halloween spillover. That’s likely to hinder Arctic in some fashion, though it will have a few weeks to generate staying power before Frozen II drops.
Rounding out the wide releases will be Warner Bros.’ Motherless Brooklyn, another adult-aimed counter-programming option that has some star power on its side but hasn’t popped in many notable ways across pre-release tracking.
Ultimately, we expect Dark Fate to win the weekend by a fair margin, while Joker and Mistress of Evil will likely be in another close race — this time for the runner-up position.
Opening Weekend Ranges
Terminator: Dark Fate ($31 – 41 million)
Arctic Dogs ($5 – 10 million)
Harriet ($5 – 10 million)
Motherless Brooklyn ($3 – 8 million)
Top 10 v. Last Year
Boxoffice projects this weekend’s top ten films will decline approximately 19 to 24 percent from the same frame one year ago, which earned $129.4 million across its top ten. That was largely driven by the smashing success of Bohemian Rhapsody as it earned a stellar $51.1 million debut weekend.
Weekend Forecast
Film
Distributor
3-Day Weekend Forecast
Projected Domestic Total through Sunday, November 3
% Change from Last Wknd
Terminator: Dark Fate
Paramount
$34,000,000
$34,000,000
NEW
Joker
Warner Bros.
$12,500,000
$298,000,000
-35%
Maleficent: Mistress of Evil
Disney
$12,000,000
$84,200,000
-38%
Harriet
Focus Features
$9,000,000
$9,000,000
NEW
The Addams Family (2019)
United Artists Releasing
$8,200,000
$84,000,000
-32%
Zombieland 2: Double Tap
Sony / Columbia
$6,500,000
$58,200,000
-45%
Arctic Dogs
Entertainment Studios
$6,000,000
$6,000,000
NEW
Black and Blue
Sony / Screen Gems
$4,500,000
$15,800,000
-46%
Countdown
STX
$3,800,000
$14,900,000
-57%
Motherless Brooklyn
Warner Bros.
$3,600,000
$3,600,000
NEW
Forecasts subject to change as location counts are finalized before Friday
The chart above excludes releases and potential expansions from limited and platform films
Contact us for information about subscribing to Boxoffice’s suite of forecasting and data services
Water is wet. Fire is hot. Horror fans are crazy people who will turn up for—and drop cash on—the genre that they love. (Full disclosure: This Boxoffice Pro writer is speaking as a horror fan herself. Happy almost-Halloween.)
As event cinema expands, adding titles and seeing their grosses increase, horror has become one of the genres—along with e-sports, music, faith-based content, and more, in addition to the old standbys like opera, theater, and ballet—event cinema providers have begun to explore with more frequency.
One of those providers, myCinema, sunk their claws into horror throughout the month of October via a partnership with Epic Pictures. The partnership saw myCinema release five horror titles from independent distributor Dread Central, part of the Epic Pictures Group. While myCinema also released classic horror films during the month of October—like several films in the Amityville series and the evocatively named 1971 anthology The House that Dripped Blood—the Epic films are all new titles.
These films lack name recognition—either cast; director; or franchise, like the Blumhouse movies—outside of the niche horror festival circuit, which cuts down on their theatrical release prospects. But “for an event cinema type of thing, I think you can get away with experimenting,” says myCinema co-founder and general manager Glenn Morten. “If [a film is going to have] a full theatrical run… you usually want to have not just a genre hook, but you want to have that cast hook. So that’s probably why you don’t see a lot of Harpoons”—screening November 1—“out there.”
In terms of adding films to myCinema’s slate, Morten explains, “if it’s more cult-oriented and has a rabid fanbase, that’s a very important thing that we look for.” That doesn’t exactly apply to any of the Epic titles, new as they are. But it does apply to the horror genre in general. It also applies to the smaller, independent theaters that make up much of myCinema’s 1,100-cinema network. “The smaller arthouses do a really good job, because they tend to have a fanbase of their venue, and a fan base of a festival or a Tuesday night horror [series] or whatever. They’re putting the trailers out there far enough in advance. As long as they’re putting it on their websites and their email communications, that’s the most powerful thing any cinema can do for the smaller films that don’t have the multimillion dollar big studio budget behind it.”
Planning ahead is an essential component of a successful event cinema run, as explained by Morten in more depth at this year’s Geneva Convention. At the Geneva Convention, he recommended that theaters start their marketing push at least four months in advance of release. For myCinema’s current horror series, that was impossible; the partnership with Epic came together “fairly fast,” with discussions taking place last summer leading up to an announcement in August. “We quickly pulled together the deal and scrambled like crazy to get all the assets in place!” The short timeframe meant that “we don’t have necessarily the window that we would prefer. …But now that we have the groundwork laid, we can bring on new titles and get them up to the 90 day window.”
At the time of our interview, myCinema had screened Dread Central release Candy Corn, with Morten estimating “utilization… probably in the 50-plus percent range. And for something that really doesn’t have a big marketing push behind it, that works out pretty well.”
MyCinema is far from the only event cinema provider to cater to horror crowds. Fathom Event’s release of Jeepers Creepers 3 topped $1 million in 2017; they screened the film again last week. (This is a controversial subject in the horror community, given director Victor Salva’s status as a convicted sex offender.) Musician and filmmaker Rob Zombie went to Fathom for 31 (in 2016) and 3 from Hell (in 2019). The American Genre Film Archive (AGFA) today announced a partnership with Multicom to distribute “dozens of films” from the latter’s library in theaters. AGFA is a non-profit archive and distributor, not an event cinema provider, but their Multicom partnership is yet avenue through which horror films (both new and classic) that would typically languish on streaming services or not get any sort of release at all can find an audience on the big screen. Scary’s always better in a crowd.
Austin, TX | October 29, 2019 – The American Genre Film Archive, the largest non-profit genre film archive and distributor in the world, is excited to announce a theatrical partnership with Multicom Entertainment Group, Inc., a multi-platform media company with a catalog of films, specials, and series that include over 6,000 hours of broadcast-quality programming featuring countless stars, genres, and formats.
AGFA will distribute dozens of films from Multicom’s cult classic movie library to theaters. This is AGFA’s latest collaboration following their distribution partnerships with Arrow Films (Donnie Darko), Severin Films (Santa Sangre), Shout! Factory (Black Christmas), and Vinegar Syndrome (Dolemite).
“AGFA is proud to enter into this partnership,” said AGFA Head of Business Affairs Alicia Coombs. “Multicom Entertainment Group holds rights to a unique collection of titles, many of which have not been readily available for theatrical viewing. AGFA is thrilled to help get these titles onto cinema screens.”
AGFA has curated dozens of films from Multicom’s movie catalog to reissue in theaters. These movies include fan favorite cult hits such as Freeway (starring Reese Witherspoon and Kiefer Sutherland), crowd-pleasing horror blasts like Grizzly, made-for-TV mind-melters such as High School U.S.A., and action milestones like Kill or Be Killed.
Multicom movies are available on DCP–and in some cases, 35mm–for theatrical bookings from AGFA starting immediately.
Led by The Lion King and Spider-Man: Far From Home, it was a strong third quarter at the domestic box office: Theatrical movies earned $2.81 billion in July, August, and September. Here’s a breakdown of top performers, key insights, and what to expect through the year’s end.
Q3 2019 Increases from 2018
Q3 was up 2.8 percent over the same quarter last year, when Mission: Impossible – Fallout led with $219.1 million.
But in a sense, the quarter’s box office was saved by the bell, or more specifically by The Lion King and Spider-Man, as the slate outside those two smashes yielded fewer big hits than in previous years. This year’s Q3 only saw six films earn $100 million or more. That’s lower than the 10 such films for Q3 last year, the seven such films in 2017, or the eight such films in 2016.
Another way of looking at it: The Lion King and Spider-Man earned 33 percent of the quarter’s box office. That’s a significantly higher percentage than the top two films earned in previous third quarters, including 15.9 percent in 2018, 24.1 percent in 2017, and 22.9 percent in 2016.
And yet another way of looking at it: The Lion King earned 19.2 percent of the quarter’s box office all on its own. That’s the highest such Q3 figure for a single film since The Dark Knight earned 20 percent of the box office in Q3 2008.
Yet, even if Simba and Spidey did more than their fair share of heavy lifting, Q3 was still an encouraging one and boosted the year’s overall outlook. Year-to-date box office relative to last year was down 9.4 percent at the end of Q2, but had increased to a 5.6 percent deficit by the end of Q3.
Comparisons, Prices & Admissions
In dollars, this year’s Q3 was the fourth-highest ever, behind $2.97 billion in 2016, led by The Secret Life of Pets; $2.89 billion in 2011, led by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2; and $2.87 billion in 2013, led by Despicable Me 2.
That fourth-highest-ever standing, however, is largely a consequence of higher ticket prices. By total estimated tickets sold, the just-completed Q3 ranks No. 17 out of the 20 this century, or No. 7 out of the 10 this decade.
While that may be a reminder of the continued competition exhibition faces from an increasing number of entertainment options consumers have to choose from, NATO confirmed this Q3’s average ticket price registered at $8.93, a modest 1.13 percent increase from Q3 2018’s $8.83 average and slightly lower than earlier projections for this year’s Q3 average.
In admissions terms, NATO reports Q3 2019 sold nearly 316.1 million tickets during the period, an increase of 2.33 percent from 308.9 million during the same period last year.
Year to date, the average ticket price is $9.08, down from $9.11 through the end of Q3 one year ago. NATO notes that when adjusted for inflation, today’s current average price is down 11 percent from 1969’s $10.22 ($1.42 at the time).
Films & Demographics
Although The Lion King was the top earner with $540.5 million and claimed a 52.9 percent share of female audiences, the next four highest earners (excluding Q2 holdover films like Toy Story 4) attracted predominately male audiences. Those titles were Spider-Man: Far From Home (58.3 percent), IT Chapter Two ($196.3 million), Hobbs & Shaw (59 percent), and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (55 percent).
As already mentioned, Disney’s The Lion King was Q3’s top film by a wide margin, earning $540.2 million. The film debuted to the eighth-highest opening weekend ever ($191.8 million), then continued strong with 11 weekends in the top 10. (Disney’s Avengers: Endgame and Aladdin reached 10 and 11 weekends in the top 10, respectively, but both earned the majority of their income during Q2.)
Sony’s Spider-Man: Far From Home took the quarter’s runner-up slot, with $390.1 million. That was a 17.3 percent improvement over predecessor Spider-Man: Homecoming, which earned $332.5 million in Q3 2017 after opening in the same early July corridor.
Warner Bros.’ IT Chapter Two earned the quarter’s bronze medal, with $194.6 million. However, that was down 32.1 percent from predecessor It, which earned $286.6 million in Q3 2017 after opening the same post–Labor Day weekend. Even so, the film has proven to be another major financial success for the studio and horror genre.
Disney’s Toy Story 4, true to the number in its title, took fourth place in the quarter with $194.3 million. That’s especially impressive since it was the lone title among the quarter’s top 12 films to have been released in Q2, rather than Q3.
Universal’s Hobbs & Shaw rounded out the quarter’s top five with $172.3 million, and although it earned less than any of the three Fast & Furious installments from which it was spun off, it developed staying power, and its global haul could help lead to a sequel.
Meanwhile, Quentin Tarantino and Sony’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood impressed, especially for an original screenplay not based on an existing property, in sixth place with $139.1 million. By Q3’s end, the film had already surpassed Inglourious Basterds’ $120.5 million domestic haul to become the filmmaker’s second-highest box office earner, trailing only Django Unchained’s $162.8 million.
Other films that came in above expectations included STX’s Hustlers, Universal’s Good Boys, and Focus Features’ Downton Abbey.
Studio Performance
Among studios, Q3 was the first full quarter after Disney’s gargantuan takeover of Fox, which was formally completed in the middle of Q2. Disney led the box office by a noticeable pace with $800.1 million, or an even larger $887.1 million if including its newly acquired Fox titles.
Sony was the runner-up with $618.6 million, led by Spider-Man: Far From Home. They were followed by Universal with $359.1 million and Warner Bros. with $275.0 million.
Q4 and End-of-Year Outlook
Looking ahead to the fourth quarter, expect a likely year-over-year improvement as well, just as for the third quarter just completed. With that said, October and early November will represent challenging comparisons to the same corridor last year when films like Venom, A Star Is Born, Halloween, Bohemian Rhapsody, and Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch combined for benchmark earnings at various points.
The tide should begin to noticeably turn in mid-November, though, when Frozen II is expected to generate another massive Disney box office run.
A handful of adult-leaning counter-programmers like A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, Doctor Sleep, Ford v Ferrari, The Good Liar, Knives Out, Last Christmas, and Terminator: Dark Fate should also make for healthy performances leading into December, when Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and Jumanji: The Next Level are the runaway favorites to dominate the month. Other possible standouts include Cats, Little Women, Richard Jewell, and Spies in Disguise.
Last Q4, the highest-grossing film was Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch with $266.2 million. At least two films—Frozen II and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker—are virtually guaranteed to soar past that total by considerable margins this year.
While it will be a tall order for 2019 to finish at or above 2018’s record $11.89 billion domestic haul, barring any major surprises, this year is still on pace to significantly eclipse 2016’s all-time second-highest, $11.38 billion.
Sony reached $1B on Sunday, with a total now just over that mark at $1.001B. They become the fourth studio of the year to reach the billion-dollar mark. Disney reached it on Sunday, April 28; Universal reached it on Friday, August 16, and Warner Bros. on Sunday, September 8.
A Rare Reversal
For Sunday’s studio weekend estimates, Warner Bros.’ Joker led with $18.9M over Disney’s fantasy sequel Maleficent: Mistress of Evil with $18.5M.
But by the time Monday afternoon’s weekend actuals were revealed, those top two had reversed in order. Maleficent was now on top with $19.36M, slightly ahead of Joker with $19.24M.
A switch on top from Sunday estimates to weekend actuals is rare, but it does occasionally happen, on average about once or maybe twice a year.
With only 0.63% difference between the top two films, that’s the closest difference between the top two titles since only 0.20% separated Kingsman: The Golden Circle and It on September 29 – October 1, 2017.
New Releases
Several new films entered the marketplace this weekend. All finished about in line with pre-release expectations, though none were projected to contend for any of the top three slots at the box office.
STX’s horror thriller Countdown counted up to a fifth place start of $8.8M.
Sony’s action drama Black and Blue was not feeling blue in sixth place with $8.3M, in line with pre-release expectations. [Read our interview with Black and Blue director Deon Taylor here.]
101 Studios’ historical drama The Current War, starring Benedict Cumberbatch as Thomas Edison, failed to light up the box office with a ninth place start of $2.6M. However, it was only playing on 1,022 screens, which hurt its reach.
According to estimates from the studio, the Current audience was 55% male and 65% older than 35. It was also an educated audience, with 85% having a college degree or more.
The smaller films
In limited release, Fox Searchlight’s historical comedy Jojo Rabbit hopped to $1.04M on 55 screens in its second weekend, for an $18,983 average.
Neon’s thriller Parasite earned $1.81M on 129 screens, for a $14,100 average. That was good for 12th place.
Warner Bros.’ musical documentary starring Bruce Springsteen, Western Stars, took the thunder road to $560K on 537 screens, for a $1,043 average. When including preview grosses, the film has now earned just a hair over $1M.
How’d This Weekend Compare?
Total box office this weekend was $102.4M. That’s -25.7% below last weekend and -3.1% below this same weekend last year, when Halloween led for a second frame with $31.4.
The Year So Far
Year-to-date box office stands at $9.07B. That’s -6.0% behind this same date last year, down from -5.5% after last weekend.
Diversity and inclusivity emerged as one of the biggest themes at this year’s Geneva Convention. The event played host to the inauguration of a new industry group, Women in Exhibition, composed of female executives dedicated to promoting leadership and mentorship among women in the industry. In a panel session sponsored byBoxoffice Pro, the group’s representatives shared insights based on their experiences as female executives in theatrical exhibition.
”People have to acknowledge that gender diversity is important as opposed to just being the right thing to do,” said Darryl Schaffer, EVP of exhibitor relations and operations at Screenvision Media. “There’s a lot of research showing that gender diversity provides for a happier workforce, greater productivity, and more innovation. We need to acknowledge that and set targets in order to start working towards achieving this goal.”
The group was conceived as a way to support the next generation of women in the industry through mentorship and networking opportunities with today’s leading female executives. Kim Lueck, V.P. of technology and chief information officer at Marcus Theatres, expressed it best in the panel when addressing her own reasons to join this effort. “Why am I not helping more? I didn’t get here by myself. I had men and women that helped me get where I am today. How do I give that back?”
While there are multiple ways industry executives can “give back” to help promote more inclusivity within the industry, Melissa Boudreau, chief marketing officer at Emagine Entertainment, suggests that taking the time to meet with colleagues can be one of the most effective tools in this outreach. “Even if it’s just something like lunch or dinner, it doesn’t have to be anything formal or even within your organization; it can be as simple as reaching out to a person. Getting to know your colleagues better and understanding what their goals are can help get them an opportunity for a leadership role in the future.”
Most executives don’t have to look very far in order to be proactive in mentoring candidates. “I think it’s important for us to look at our theater staff,” said Boudreau. “Are there people in our staff that we could be mentoring to help bring up into more leadership roles? Doing internships and things like ‘shadow-ships’ can help people get a glimpse of what we’re doing.”
According to the panelists, one of the hardest challenges female executives face in today’s workforce is achieving a satisfying work-life balance. “In the movie theater industry, we work 365 days a year. We’re on all the time—especially over the weekends,” said Gina DiSanto, a veteran industry executive and founding board member of the Independent Cinema Alliance who was honored with the Larry D. Hanson Award at this year’s Geneva Convention. “I had the advantage of working for an independent theater, a family-owned business, so it was a little more flexible in that I could bring my children to work as they got a little older. They could come in and join us if there was an evening event. … It’s hard to say no, but sometimes you have to—you need that time for yourself and your family.”
The Geneva Convention’s John Scaletta (l) and George Rouman (r) presented Gina DiSanto and Julien Marcel with the Larry D Hanson Award and the Paul J Rogers Leadership Award, respectively.
Screenvision’s Schaffer agreed. “If someone were to ask, what’s been the hardest part about being a woman in your career? It would be being a mom and having that constant guilt of, Should I be at home helping with homework or should I stay late at the office?”
It’s an uncomfortable question for any executive, but more so for younger women executives—who are oftentimes balancing a rising career (and its time demands) with a young family at home. Employers can help by showing flexibility in scheduling: it’s not just about providing an opportunity, but providing it by keeping someone’s family in mind. Schaffer believes anyone can grow their career exponentially by taking part in as many professional-development experiences as their schedule permits. “One of the things I always say to people starting out in the industry is ‘Show up,’” she said. “Go to the meeting, accept the lunch or dinner invitation, participate in the panel, go on the business trip, volunteer to be the one to make the presentation. Showing up is a big part of success. And when you show up, make sure they know you’re present.”
Having that presence in meetings is crucial in order to stand out, and Kim Lueck suggests that women need to do a better job at promoting themselves in a professional setting. “Sometimes we forget to say, ‘Look at all that we’ve done’ and take the time to look at our accomplishments and be proud of ourselves.” she said. “I think women are used to juggling a lot of different things. We’re very humble about things like that … and although it might be old-fashioned, there’s always the concern that being an assertive woman can be interpreted in a different way.”
Inclusivity isn’t only limited to achieving a long-awaited gender balance. Ethnic minorities make up a large share of moviegoers and are equally as underrepresented in executive positions throughout the industry. That isn’t to say there haven’t been success stories. This year’s Ben Marcus Award honoree at the Geneva Convention was Royal Corporation, a single-source janitorial and food-service equipment company. Royal, founded in 1985 by George and Marianne Abiaad, has grown from a local operation on the West Coast to a trusted industry partner that services nearly 30,000 screens in the United States.
“Like us, Ben Marcus was an immigrant, and thanks to his vision and self-sacrifice he was able to achieve his own American dream,” said George Abiaad accepting the award in an emotional speech. “Everybody in this room is affected by the decisions Ben Marcus made. He had a love affair with America and was very proud to be an American; his emphasis was always on the human element of doing business. While we appreciate to receive the Ben Marcus Award, we don’t feel as we have filled the shoes of this amazing industry icon. We stand proudly and humbly in front of you to say it is an honor for us to continue his American dream.”
Ben Marcus Award winners George and Marianne Abiaad of the Royal Corporation with Marcus Theatres’ Rolando Rodriguez (r).
Marcus Theatres and the Marcus family were further represented by CEO and president Rolando Rodriguez, who spoke about the importance of diversity in programming in a closing-day panel discussion sponsored by Boxoffice Pro. A particular point of pride for Rodriguez—and an illustration of his point as to the necessity of tapping into a wide variety of demographics—is Milwaukee, Wisconsin’s CineLatino film festival, founded by Marcus Theatres in 2017.
“I can tell you that when I first brought this up, most people thought that I had lost my mind,” Rodriguez recalls. “I’m thinking about bringing a film festival, especially a Hispanic film festival, to Milwaukee? But what most people don’t realize is that the largest ethnic minority in the entire state of Wisconsin happens to be Hispanics. That there were about 200,000 Hispanics in the metropolitan area. And that, frankly, the marketplace had changed, and we had not yet adapted.”
CineLatino proved successful and has expanded since its inaugural year, with its 2019 edition adding more Marcus Theatres locations. Another illustration of the success to be found in diverse programming could be seen in the box office reports that were rolling in throughout the Geneva Convention: Hustlers, boasting a female director and a diverse cast, had just days before given a $33.1 million opening to STX Entertainment, the largest debut for the midrange studio.
Diversity in programming, as was made amply clear in the aforementioned panel and throughout the Geneva Convention’s three days, doesn’t just come down to demographic groups. It’s also about opening the door to small and midrange films that—while they may not give theaters the six-digit openings of a Star Wars or an Avengers—are a large and necessary component of the success of the theatrical industry. An acknowledgment of the importance of non-tentpole films was echoed in the announcement that the Boxoffice Blue Ribbon Award—usually given to the highest-grossing film of the year—will be given to the year’s highest-grossing non-franchise, non-sequel, original-IP film starting in 2020.
“Don’t get me wrong. I love tentpole films. I think they’re fantastic, and we certainly need them,” says Rodriguez. “But if every time you get up to bat, you’re hitting for the fences, eventually you’re going to strike out.” It’s up to the film community, exhibitors and studios alike, to figure out how to “support these smaller films that do a lot better within our theaters.”
Programming a slate of films with the potential to appeal to a wide range of audience members is only part of the battle: the other part is getting moviegoers to actually show up. This is a point of particular concern for small and midrange films, which don’t have the massive marketing spend of a major tentpole. It’s an issue panelist Glenn Morten, co-founder and general manager for event-cinema provider myCinema, deals with every day: “Independent filmmakers and distributors like ourselves don’t have the ability to spend tens of millions of dollars on a film in order to get the word out.”
Loyalty programs are “probably one of the most powerful” tools in spreading awareness, Morten notes, particularly for these smaller films. Another factor is the coming end to the VPF era. Here, Morten uses as an example the psychological thriller Murderous Trance, a November myCinema release that screened at the Geneva Convention. “If I have to pay $850 to put Murderous Trance in your theater, there’s a chance I won’t, because I don’t have a chance of recouping that. I have to be able to pay the bills, and then I have to pay the filmmaker. If I’m getting 35 [percent] from you and I had to pay $850, there aren’t very many films that I’m going to be able to book at your theater.” That’s why, Morten argues, “The best market for diverse films are the smaller indie theaters that didn’t buy into the VPF.”
Rodriguez agrees with the effect the expiration of VPFs will have on diversity of programming: “Eventually a lot of these smaller films will be able to find their way into theaters without the VPF charge that’s associated.”
There are things that can—and should—be done now to help connect audiences with non-tentpole films. Subscription services are often touted for their ability in this regard; people will take a chance on a movie they may not have heard a lot about, the argument goes, if they don’t have to pay for the ticket. Rodriguez isn’t necessarily convinced. “I’m a believer in the subscription program. I just don’t think that there is the right model that’s been developed yet. We want to encourage moviegoing, yet most of the models are built on breakage, which means that people don’t show up. I don’t know about you, but I actually want them to show up!”
Rodriguez is more bullish on discount pricing, practiced by Marcus through its $5 Tuesday program. With its ability to transition moviegoing into a habit instead of a few-times-a-year special event, discount pricing is “going to become more and more relevant as streaming services” spring into being and potentially cut their prices. “We found that a high percentage of those individuals that come on that $5 Tuesday all of a sudden started to come on Fridays. They would see the big movie on Friday or Saturday, and then they would come back on Tuesday to catch that secondary film. It’s about moviegoing all of a sudden. It’s showing up at the box office and saying, ‘You know what, why not? I’ll watch that movie because there’s a discount.’”
Innovations in pricing, whether through subscription programs or discounts, come down to “allowing curiosity and the right to be disappointed with a movie. To go to a movie without knowing whether I’m going to like it or not,” says Marcel. By encouraging a culture of moviegoing not centered around particular tentpoles, theaters can assume more control over their grosses during potentially fallow periods. [The Boxoffice Company is the parent company of Boxoffice Pro.]
But that takes effort on the part of the distributor—not just in developing pricing schemes, but in picking the right films and giving yourself enough time to get the word out to consumers. It does no one any favors, myCinema’s Morten argues, to “look at this diverse content and try to squeeze it in at the last minute, based on the fact that, ‘Oh, none of these big titles are working out, so I have some screen availability. These are ones you need to do about four months in advance, because they take special targeted marketing.”
Morten calls it going “from push to pull,” that is, actively researching available titles and building a curated lineup. “Think about the small films as far in advance as you can. Probably the best way that you’re going to advertise those films to your community is to have that trailer running four to six months beforehand. … There is definitely a future for the diverse film. What it takes is a little bit more planning and a little intentional strategy around making that happen.”
