Netflix Partners with American Cinematheque to Run Hollywood’s Egyptian Theatre

The Egyptian Theatre, a famed Hollywood movie palace that has been the site of many a film premiere since its opening in 1922 and is one of Los Angeles’ most recognizable bits of movie-themed real estate, has entered into a deal with Netflix. Specifics of the deal—whether it is an outright purchase or a four-wall lease situation—were not specified in Netflix’s announcement, though an email sent by the Egyptian to their patrons noted that Netflix “will own the theatre.” In operating the theater, the streaming service will work in collaboration with American Cinematheque, a nonprofit arts organization that purchased the Egyptian from the City of Los Angeles in 1996 as part of LA’s Hollywood Revitalization project. Funds were raised to renovate the then-closed theatre, which reopened its doors in 1998. The Egyptian, per Netflix’s official press release, “will remain the...

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Survey: 83 Percent Plan to Visit Cinema within 12 Weeks of Reopening

Australia and New Zealand’s largest cinema exhibition chain, Event Cinemas, released a survey Friday showing 83 percent of respondents plan to go to the movies within 12 weeks of reopening. 94 percent of respondents said they plan to attend the cinema either as often or more often than before. The survey also found cinema is the activity respondents were most likely to do once public spaces reopen, ahead of meeting friends, shopping, and restaurants. The survey interviewed more than 20,000 people members of Australian cinema loyalty program Cinebuzz, which may skew the results towards the self-selecting demographic of cinema attendees. Similar domestic surveys for the U.S. market have been conducted in recent weeks, including from National CineMedia (NCM) and from Atom Tickets, though these polls may also be skewed towards the self-selecting demographic of cinema...

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NATO Regional Conventions Postponed to 2021

This year’s four remaining regional conventions from the National Association of Theatre Owners have been postponed to 2021.  Leaders from the four NATO regional events originally scheduled for this late Summer and Fall released a joint statement announcing they would return to hosting the conventions in 2021, citing the uncertainty around hosting conventions as the United States continues to grapple with the Covid-19 crisis. The events impacted by the rescheduling are CineShow (originally scheduled for August 24-27 in Frisco, Texas), ShowSouth (September 1-3 in Braselton, Georgia), Rocky Mountain Theatre Convention (September 1-3 in Whitefish, Montana) and the NATO Geneva Convention (September 15-17 in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin). “The first priority is the well-being of our industry,” explained George Rouman, Co-Chairman of Geneva Convention in Wisconsin. “After consultation...

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French Cinemas to Return on June 22, Reopening Dates Set for European Markets

French cinemas will be permitted to reopen beginning on June 22, capping over three months of nationwide closures that began on March 14. “After more than three months of cinema closures, the French will be able to rediscover the joy of the cinema experience on the big screen, and cinemas will have the pleasure of welcoming them again,” said Richard Patry, president of the FNCF, the country’s national trade association of exhibitors, in a press release. The decision came as a surprise to several members of the country’s exhibition community, who had been expecting the official reopening period to commence in July. The shorter time frame gives the exhibition community less than four weeks to prepare, program, retrain staff, and market a return to cinemas with a limited number of titles available to them. While the date of June 22 permits cinemas to resume operations...

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How Private Rentals Are Helping Cinemas Transition Into Reopening

Imagine holding your own private movie screening on a huge cinema screen, with just a few family or friends. As movie theaters slowly start to return with strict social distancing measures still enforced, some cinemas have started offering exactly this option. “With Texas allowing us to open at 25% capacity, the idea allowed us to slowly bring our guests back into a safe and controlled environment,” says Annelise Holyoak, national director of marketing and communications for Cinépolis Luxury Cinemas. “Within about 12 hours almost all the spots were sold out. We currently have a waiting list for additional weekends in the future.” Who’s been coming? “Almost all of the upcoming bookings are families,” Holyoak says. “We are giving them a chance to celebrate (primarily) graduations and birthdays in a private and safe space, with most graduation ceremonies being virtual or...

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The Good, The Bad and The ‘Batfleck’: A Timeline of Batman Movies at the Box Office

Though director Tim Burton’s 1989 blockbuster Batman, starring Michael Keaton, is generally regarded as the first theatrical outing for the Caped Crusader, the DC Comics superhero first appeared on the big screen in the 1940s in a pair of 15-chapter serials: Batman (1943) and Batman and Robin (1949). That was followed nearly two decades later by 1966’s Batman, a feature-length continuation of the campy TV series starring Adam West and Burt Ward. By all accounts, those previous theatrical iterations of the Caped Crusader were commercial successes. But with box office data being spotty during those earlier decades, we’ll be kicking off this history with Burton’s game-changing mega-hit, which was supercharged by a tidal wave of fanfare in the months leading up to its release—a phenomenon that became known as “Batmania”—and preceded by a merchandising blitz that encompassed...

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#MoviesTogether: Our Favorite Scenes Set in Cinemas

If the staff of Boxoffice Pro can’t go to the movies right now, well, at least we can watch other people go to the movies. From Buster Keaton’s Sherlock Jr. to La La Land, film has always had a fancy for turning its eye inward—most clearly seen in moments where characters, themselves, go out to a theater to catch a film. Here are some of Boxoffice Pro’s favorite scenes. Whiplash In Damien Chazelle’s modern classic Whiplash, our protagonist Andrew (Miles Teller) and his father Jim (Paul Reiser) go to the cinema together. Jim pours an entire box of Raisinettes into the popcorn he’s sharing with his son, who replies dismissively, “I don’t want the Raisinettes.” Jim: “Why didn’t you say that?” Andrew: “I just eat around them.” The dialogue’s intentional banality contrasts brilliantly with the filmmaking mastery on display throughout the entire rest of the film,...

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This Weekend in Box Office History: Wonder Woman, Disney and Pixar Blockbusters, an X-Men Reboot, & More

This week, we’re taking a look back at the biggest opening weekends to make a splash immediately after Memorial Day, typically the 22nd frame of the year (although not always). The holiday is well known as a secondary launching point for the start of summer movie season (in fact, it used to be considered the main one), but a number of films have leveraged the post-holiday corridor and beginning of work and school vacations into major box office success. Wonder Woman June 2 – 4, 2017 There’s no bigger example of how lucrative the post-Memorial Day frame can be than DC’s origin story for Diana Prince. Opening to $103.3 million on this weekend three years ago, the film was a massive cultural milestone as it became the first directed by a woman (Patty Jenkins) to open over $100 million. For Warner Bros. and DC, the film was instrumental in winning overdue positive sentiment...

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Showcase Cinemas Opens Drive-In Location

Showcase Cinemas, a division of National Amusements and the tenth largest exhibitor in North America, is launching a pop-up drive-in theater outside their Showcase Cinema de Lux Patriot Place location in Foxboro, Massachusetts. The drive-in, created in partnership with the Patriot Place shopping center in which the Cinema de Lux theater is located, opens this Saturday, May 30, with an already sold-out screening of Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark. Proceeds from ticket sales to that event will benefit the Foxboro Foot Pantry. Announced titles fall into the category, for the most part, of recent films whose theatrical runs were abbreviated by North America’s theatrical shutdown. Two of the announced titles are Pixar’s Onward and Sonic the Hedgehog; the third is Trolls World Tour. Showcase has laid out the drive-in cinema’s safety and operational procedures on its...

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#MoviesTogether: Best Scenes Set in Cinemas

If the staff of Boxoffice Pro can’t go to the movies right now, well, at least we can watch other people go to the movies. From Buster Keaton’s Sherlock Jr. to La La Land, film has always had a fancy for turning its eye inward—most clearly seen in moments where characters, themselves, go out to a theater to catch a film. Here are some of Boxoffice Pro‘s favorite scenes. Whiplash In Damien Chazelle’s modern classic Whiplash, our protagonist Andrew (Miles Teller) and his father Jim (Paul Reiser) go to the cinema together. Jim pours an entire box of Raisinettes into the popcorn he’s sharing with his son, who replies dismissively, “I don’t want the Raisinettes.” Jim: “Why didn’t you say that?” Andrew: “I just eat around them.” The dialogue’s intentional banality contrasts brilliantly with the filmmaking mastery on display throughout the entire rest of the film,...

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Independent Cinema Alliance Partners with DLS

PRESS RELEASE — Cinema products company Digital Light Sources announced a partnership Wednesday for their disinfection program, to be used by members of the Independent Cinema Alliance (ICA) and the Cinema Buying Alliance (CBA) as movie theaters reopen their doors. The ICA is a nonprofit coalition of independent cinemas in the U.S. and Canada, totalling 160 companies and more than 2,500 screens. The CBA is a group buying program entirely owned and managed by the ICA. “This collaboration can only emphasize our company’s resolve and commitment to help the members of Independent Cinema Alliance win customers back as they re-open doors for business,” Digital Light Sources President Sami Haddad said in a press release. A few weeks ago on April 28, Digital Light Sources announced a distribution agreement with the company American Ultraviolet for their disinfecting products. The...

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#MoviesTogether: Boxoffice Pro Shares Their Favorite Scenes Set in Cinemas

If the staff of Boxoffice Pro can’t go to the movies right now, well, at least we can watch other people go to the movies. From Buster Keaton’s Sherlock Jr. to La La Land, film has always had a fancy for turning its eye inward—most clearly seen in moments where characters, themselves, go out to a theater to catch a film. Here are some of Boxoffice Pro‘s favorite scenes. Whiplash In Damien Chazelle’s modern classic Whiplash, our protagonist Andrew (Miles Teller) and his father Jim (Paul Reiser) go to the cinema together. Jim pours an entire box of Raisinettes into the popcorn he’s sharing with his son, who replies dismissively, “I don’t want the Raisinettes.” Jim: “Why didn’t you say that?” Andrew: “I just eat around them.” The dialogue’s intentional banality contrasts brilliantly with the filmmaking mastery on display throughout the entire rest of the film,...

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This Week on The Boxoffice Podcast: Covid-19 and the Production Pipeline

Los Angeles Times entertainment reporter Anousha Sakoui joins The Boxoffice Podcast to discuss how global work stoppages due to Covid-19 have impacted Hollywood’s production pipeline. With major releases rescheduled well into 2021, this week’s episode details what different states and countries are doing to resume production safely. Available on Spotify, Apple, and wherever you get your podcasts. The post This Week on The Boxoffice Podcast: Covid-19 and the Production Pipeline appeared first on Boxoffice. from Boxoffi...

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Atom Tickets Survey Delivers Insight On Most-Wanted Movie Theater Safety Precautions

PRESS RELEASE Digital movie ticketing platform Atom Tickets released survey results today that reveal positive news for the movie industry in the wake of the pandemic disruption. With over 1,500 digital moviegoer respondents, 88 percent said they are ready to return to theaters within a few months; 25 percent are willing to return immediately. On the flipside, only 1 percent said they never plan to return to theaters. Since March 2020, movie theaters in the U.S. have been adjusting to mandated temporary closure due to federal and state government orders that were put in place to slow the spread of COVID-19. In turn, movie studios have rearranged their 2020 and 2021 movie slates to give their films the best shot at box office success. When asked to identify the most important safety measure to make them feel confident about going back to a movie theater, having spaced...

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Which Movies Have Spent the Longest in the Box Office Top Ten?

It may be “back to the future” at the box office. In the ’70s, ’80s, and into the ’90s, films used to debut with much lower grosses, but spending far longer in theaters. In 1977, the original Star Wars debuted in only 32 theaters before gradually expanding nationwide, a phenomenon unthinkable for a blockbuster today. In the ’90s and 21st century, the takeover of the multiplex meant films could debut nationwide starting on day one. The rise of the gargantuan opening weekend meant films’ box office became far more front-loaded. The first $100 million opening weekend belonged to Spider-Man in 2002. The feat now occurs regularly, including six times last year alone. Those ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s titles traded lower debuts for lengthier theatrical runs, at a level that would be unfathomable today. E.T. spent 44 weekends in the box office top 10. Other unstoppable films of that...

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Fathom Events Announces War Thriller The Outpost on July 2, First Release as Cinemas Return

As cinemas begin reopening, with months of lighter release schedules for major studio fare, event cinema seems poised to emerge as a reliable content distributor. Today, the largest event cinema distributor Fathom Events announced its first major release. Military action thriller The Outpost will debut on roughly 500 screens Thursday, July 2, followed by a weeklong limited theatrical run beginning Friday, July 3. Based on a nonfiction book by CNN The Lead anchor Jake Tapper, the R-rated film tells the true story of October 2009’s Battle of Kandesh in Afghanistan. The battle claimed eight American lives but about 150 Taliban lives.  The theatrical screenings will feature exclusive behind-the-scenes footage and a special introduction from cast members. A list of participating cinemas and ticket information is available here. The screenplay was co-written by...

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From Super Mario Bros. to Sonic the Hedgehog: A Box Office History of Video Game Adaptations

One of the last major box office hits to arrive in theaters prior to the coronavirus-fueled shutdown was Paramount’s Sonic the Hedgehog, which grossed more than $146 million in the U.S. and over $300 million worldwide before its momentum was slowed by the growing outbreak. By the end of its abbreviated theatrical run, the Paramount release had managed to become the highest-grossing video game adaptation of all time in the U.S. (not adjusting for inflation), marking a new high point in a cinematic sub-genre that—while rarely garnering critical praise—has supplied its fair share of box office success stories. Like every sub-genre, of course, there have also been a number of misfires. Case in point: Disney’s Super Mario Bros., hailed as the first major video game adaptation when it debuted over Memorial Day weekend 1993. Though it was heavily hyped by the studio and given...

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Trailer for Christopher Nolan’s Tenet Premieres on Fortnite, Reaffirms Commitment to Theatrical Release

Contributions by Rebecca Pahle and Russ Fischer The new trailer for Christopher Nolan’s highly anticipated Tenet has debuted online via the video game Fortnite and on YouTube. The launch makes an important statement on multiple fronts, none more notable than Warner Bros. and the filmmaker’s commitment to release the film in cinemas worldwide. It’s a message that comes at a time when streaming and PVOD have dominated media conversation in the era of COVID-19, although often that discourse has often lacked complete perspective that includes the importance of — and eagerness to resume — theatrical exhibition. “Coming to Theaters“ Notably absent from the new trailer is the film’s originally planned release date of July 17 this summer. Presumably, this is the studio’s way of hedging its bets: the film isn’t officially delayed, and they may have a few more weeks to make...

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