Long Range Tracking: The Gentlemen and The Turning

This week’s report offers up an early read on two films currently slated for on Friday, January 24, 2020 as our first look into the new year continues. The Gentlemen Opening Weekend Range: $10 – 15 million PROS: Director Guy Ritchie’s fans could turn out in healthy fashion for his return to the crime/thriller/comedy genre if reviews prove positive for this project. The ensemble cast may add further appeal to casual adult moviegoers. Early social tracking is unsurprisingly tricky this far out, but leaning positive relative to similar films in the genre. CONS: Competing with NFL playoffs and opening one week after a holiday frame will be noteworthy challenges. The Turning Opening Weekend Range: $10 – 15 million PROS: Universal has a solid track record of delivering surprise performances from the horror genre, and the PG-13 rating here should further aid appeal to...

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Weekend Report: Frozen II Pacing for $115-125M 5-Day Holiday Record, Knives Out Targets $40M+ 5-Day Debut

Friday Report: Disney’s Frozen II is pacing for a Thanksgiving weekend record as it took in $23.78 million on Wednesday and $14.718 million on Thursday, bringing the total cume to $202.3 million domestically after seven days. Based on its current trajectory, the blockbuster sequel remains on track to meet our forecasts of beating Catching Fire‘s holiday record six years ago. We’re currently projecting $80 – 85 million for the three-day weekend, translating to a $115 – 125 million five-day haul. Meanwhile, Knives Out is breaking out beyond even our optimistic forecasts as it stands at $14.7 million after just two days. The pic earned $8.495 million on opening day Wednesday (including all sneak preview earnings from Tuesday night and last weekend), followed by another $6.2 million on Thanksgiving Day. Updated projections stand around $27 – 32 million for the three-day weekend...

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Disney+ Continues to Push Social Tracking for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

Social Media Snapshot – Monday November 18 to Sunday November 24 Buzz for Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker continues to pick up, registering s its most dominant week across the board on the year. It easily led all three services and is drawing huge interest for both the Rise Of Skywalker and Disney Plus sibling, The Mandalorian. It broke its own Instagram weekly record for most likes in a single week since we started monitoring the service closely six months ago. Twitter Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker led all four metrics on Twitter on the week with 310,362 post likes and 61,717 retweets. This was over three times its nearest competitor, Cats. In terms of the best single posts on the week, Skywalker had to share those honors with Jumanji: The Next Level as they both secured an 8.0 power rating. Jumanji got a huge boost from it’s a-list star Dwayne Johnson who posted...

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Cineplex Announces Plans for Junxion Entertainment Complexes

Cineplex announced plans for Junxion, a concept that is a movie theatre, dining destination, and entertainment complex all in one place. Offering shared experiences for movie lovers and entertainment seekers alike, Junxion will be a complete night out for guests of all ages, Cineplex says.  Junxion’s cinemas will offer a range of moviegoing experiences, including UltraAVX™ and recliners where guests can have food and drinks delivered to their seats. The complex will feature an open lobby for events and performances, a stage for live music, space for outdoor screenings, and an amusement games and attractions area. Along with new and classic video and redemption games, guests can enjoy the latest interactive experiences like virtual reality from VRstudios. An evening of fun is sure to work up an appetite, so guests can look forward to a range of dining experiences...

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Weekend Forecast: Frozen II Could Claim Thanksgiving Record as Knives Out Looks to Carve Up Sleeper Hit Debut

One of the most lucrative moviegoing corridors of the years is nigh as Thanksgiving arrives in the States. Two films will debut the day before Thursday’s holiday, but it will be Disney’s reigning animated blockbuster — Frozen II –that will win the weekend overall. Fresh off a $130.3 million domestic weekend debut, the best ever for an animated release in November, Frozen II remains positioned as the top family choice during the long holiday weekend. Parents and women both under and over 25, in particular, should help the pic achieve strong retention thanks to positive word of mouth and expected back-loading as parents plan their trip to theaters around travelling and Black Friday shopping. The current record for Thanksgiving weekend belongs to The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, which posted a $74.2 million three-day in its second frame exactly six years ago. That represented...

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NAC Appoints Rob Novak, Martin Hubbard to Board of Directors

PRESS RELEASE The National Association of Concessionaires (NAC) has announced two appointments to fill a recent vacancy on the Board of Directors. NAC President Adam Gottlieb, ACS, has appointed Rob Novak, Vice President of Concessions with Marcus Theatres Corporation, to fill a two-year term on the Board of Directors. Novak also currently serves as co-Chair of the NAC Charity Golf Outing which benefits Variety – the Children’s Charity, the Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation and The Variety Boys and Girls Club of Los Angeles. In a related move, Gottlieb named Martin Hubbard; CCM, Chief Operating Officer of Platinum Cinemas; as Regional Vice President Upper Midwest Region (Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, South Dakota). The post was previously held by Novak. The post NAC Appoints Rob Novak, Martin Hubbard to Board of Directors appeared...

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Date with Destiny: Two Strangers Become Defiant Folk Heroes in Melina Matsoukas’s Queen & Slim

She’s an attorney who’s decided to go on a Tinder date, mainly as a diversion from thinking about her failure to get a client off death row. He’s a Costco employee and devout churchgoer who’s hoping to get lucky with this beautiful stranger—but the chemistry isn’t there. Driving home, the pair’s ordinary night takes a momentous turn when they’re stopped by a policeman for a minor infraction. The cop is needlessly confrontational, the woman is shot in the leg when she pulls out her cell phone, a scuffle ensues, and the patrolman receives a fatal bullet wound. Those are the opening minutes of Queen & Slim, the highly topical debut feature for...

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Weekend Box Office Key Insights: Frozen 2 Heats Up w/ $130.2M Domestic, $358.4M Global Debut

Ice is Back with a Brand New Invention If the Disney animated musical sequel hadn’t topped the box office, it would have been as if hell “froze” over. But Frozen II opened with a hot $130.2M domestic weekend, in line with pre-release projections. Disney’s estimate kept going higher and higher. The studio’s Saturday weekend projection was $120M, then their Sunday revised estimate rose to $127M, and by Monday’s weekend actuals had slightly topped $130M. That’s +93.2% above the original film’s three-day Thanksgiving weekend opening, and even +39.1% above its five-day opening if including the original’s Wednesday and Thursday. Perhaps the better comparison is to other recent Disney animated sequels. It started +7.7% ahead of Toy Story 4, but -3.5% behind Finding Dory. The estimated audience demographics for Frozen II were 59% female and 31% under age 11. Factoring...

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ShowEast 2019 Recap: Tech and Support

Companies across the industry increase collaborative efforts in confronting the (digital) challenges ahead Digital cinema has brought a growing array of audiovisual formats and technologies—features like immersive audio, laser projection, panoramic screens, and motion seating—that has led to unique moviegoing experiences, oftentimes at higher ticket prices. As we approach the expiration of the virtual print fee (VPF) model, questions about the availability and sustainability of new advanced formats have been raised by the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) and other industry members. Their concerns include not only keeping tabs on digital cinema standards, but ensuring the affordability of new technology that can help grow the industry.  Paramount’s release of Ang Lee’s Gemini Man dominated the conversation in a cinema technology roundtable at ShowEast,...

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ShowEast 2019 Tackles Innovations and Challenges Ahead

Digital cinema has brought a growing array of audiovisual formats and technologies—features like immersive audio, laser projection, panoramic screens, and motion seating—that has led to unique moviegoing experiences, oftentimes at higher ticket prices. As we approach the expiration of the virtual print fee (VPF) model, questions about the availability and sustainability of new advanced formats have been raised by the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) and other industry members. Their concerns include not only keeping tabs on digital cinema standards, but ensuring the affordability of new technology that can help grow the industry.  Paramount’s release of Ang Lee’s Gemini Man dominated the conversation in a cinema technology roundtable at ShowEast, held October 14–17 at the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach. The film, which had just premiered the weekend...

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