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 home of the American Cinematheque with the organization’s celebrated curation team continuing to autonomously program Friday, Saturday and Sunday.” Netflix will “invest in the theater’s renovation”—in what way has not yet been announced—and will use the theater to host events, screenings, and premieres during the week.
The Egyptian Theatre gives Netflix an L.A. home for screening their content at a time when the company has struggled to come to an agreement with major exhibition circuits, largely due to the streamer’s proposed timeframe for a theatrical exclusivity window. In the past, Netflix has carved out a space in the traditional exhibition landscape by, for example, signing a long-term lease on New York City’s single-screen Paris Theatre, which they used to promote their awards contender Marriage Story in 2019. Netflix has also worked with individual theaters and smaller chains to find theater space for films such as Roma, El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie, and The Irishman.
Says Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti in response to the Netflix-Egyptian news, “Love for film is inseparable from L.A.’s history and identity. We are working toward the day when audiences can return to theaters––and this extraordinary partnership will preserve an important piece of our cultural heritage that can be shared for years to come.”
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 attendees.
“Our research tells us that there is an overwhelming, pent up demand for people to return to cinemas,” Event Cinemas’ Director of Entertainment Australia Luke Mackey said in a press release.
“While we are yet to confirm a date, we will reopen our doors in conjunction with government directions and when new films are available. This research shows movie-goers will be returning in full force to immerse in entertainment and relish in the longstanding thrill of watching a movie on the big screen with world-class sound – an experience that cannot be replicated.”
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 with our attendees, trade show exhibitors, sponsors, and studio partners, we’ve made the difficult decision to suspend our 2020 conventions.”
Geneva Convention Co-Chairman John Scaletta added, “As it became clear to theater owners that we would experience an extended period of closure, the primary focus has now shifted to reopening our facilities in a safe and responsible manner.”
With U.S. movie theaters currently implementing additional safety protocols for an eventual return of cinemas in the country, leaders of the four NATO regional events emphasized they will be focused on assisting individual cinemas resume operations within the timeframes provided by local officials.
Diane Eve, Director of the Rocky Mountain Theatre Convention stated, “We’re cautiously optimistic that by Labor Day weekend theaters across the country will be fully operational and building momentum towards a strong period of moviegoing throughout the Fall and Winter months.”
Todd Halstead, Executive Director of CineShow in Texas agreed while declaring, “This effort will require ‘all hands on deck’ from theater owners and managers. It’s highly unlikely that they will be keen to travel anywhere away from their business operations as the industry is starting to hit its stride again.”
“These are unprecedented times,” according to Robin Miller, Executive Director of ShowSouth in Georgia. “Our industry partners have a long history of supporting us and our charitable causes, but this year we need to pause and give each other a chance to regroup. We’ll be back in 2021!”
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 under specific guidelines, it is unyet clear how many will choose to do so by that date. As of press time, French exhibitors have yet to receive official guidelines to comply with the national reopening policies.
Several of the country’s specialty distributors have scrambled to redate films to coincide with the reopening date, with titles originally scheduled for release in mid-to-late March being part of that initial push of new content. French exhibitors are still awaiting a list of sanitary measures and best practices to comply with national reopening policies.
The majority of cinemas across Europe have been closed since mid-March in an industry-wide effort to curb the spread of Covid-19. As France moves to reopen its theaters, it follows other countries that have already begun resuming operations: Austria (May 29), Bosnia & Herzegovina (May 14), Bulgaria (May 11), Croatia (May 18), Czech Republic (May 11), Denmark (May 21), Latvia (May 12), Norway (May 7), Slovakia (May 20), and Slovenia (May 18).
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 cancelled.”
Utah-based Megaplex Theatres is similarly offering $375 private screenings of either recent or classic films, for up to 20 patrons. That price also includes large popcorn and drinks for all attendees.
“We’re starting with four locations to gauge guest response and work through any operational issues,” says Megaplex vice president of marketing and advertising Jeff Whipple. “We included large popcorn and drinks to provide enough for everyone while suggesting that guests not share food or drink, as an added safety measure.”
Atlanta’s Plaza Theatre is also hosting private screenings for first responders and other essential workers—capped at 10 attendees—in their 485-seat auditorium.
Overseas
The concept has taken hold in foreign markets as well, including at Svenska Bio, one of Sweden’s largest chains. They set a minimum of eight tickets and a maximum 50 for a screening.
As of mid-May, when interviewed, “We have had north of 600 events, but the interest is mounting every day,” says CEO Peter Fornstam. “Basically everything that was playing mid-March and is on our servers, from Onward to [2019 French drama] An Officer and a Spy.”
Yet their content isn’t just limited to films. Playing videogames on that giant screen, for a minimum of two hours at $50 U.S. per hour, has become more and more popular. “Videogames have been around 10 percent of the bookings, but [it] is increasing,” Fornstam says. A billion dollar industry worldwide, e-sports has been hovering on the edge of the exhibition landscape even before the COVID crisis. MediaMation, with their immersive seating concept MX4D, has been active in the space; in 2019, they partnered with Hollywood Esports for an auditorium in San Diego’s Theater Box that can shift from “cinema mode” to “esports mode,” allowing for the screening of films as well as video game tournaments and events. Though much smaller in scale than the MediaMation venture, Svenska Bio’s experimentation with videogames speaks to the worldwide exhibition industry’s desire to diversify by seeking out new forms of content—and the opportunity presented by current circumstances to explore new avenues of exhibition.
Novo Cinemas, one of the largest exhibitors in the Middle East, has also begun offering private cinema rentals for 2,999 United Arab Emirates dirham, equivalent to about $816 U.S. dollars.
“My family and I miss going to the movies, and we believe this is an amazing opportunity to book your screen in anticipation of our opening soon,” CEO Debbie Stanford-Kristiansen said in a press release. “What better way to enjoy a film than to hire a private screening, sit back and be blown away by the full cinema experience.”
Pre-COVID
The concept of private rentals predates the COVID crisis. It was part of Megaplex’s normal mode of operations, for example, to rent out their auditoria to companies for meetings, seminars, and screenings. Families anxious for a safe night out are now taking the place of businesses looking for a fun location for their latest quarterly meeting.
A pioneer in the space of private rentals from the vendor side of things is GDC Technology, which introduced GoGoCinema at CinemaCon convention, billing it as “Netflix for cinema.” The website and app would allow consumers to book their own private movie theater auditorium at an available date and time of their choosing, with a library of titles to watch on the big screen. The company launched in a few select locations in Singapore and Shanghai last October.
“We see a trend around festivities and social events: for example, consumers booking romantic movies around Valentine’s Day or animation movies during school holidays,” says GDC Tech’s Prasad Khedkar, who runs GoGoCinema from Hong Kong. “In addition, [the product] provides an opportunity to book movie marathons for fan groups of a movie, genre, or a series of movies, such The Fast and the Furious franchise.”
Challenges
The micro-cinema concept may be growing, but is it economically viable in the long term? Even the current practitioners acknowledge that the answer might be no.
“The intent isn’t to make money. The intent is to reconnect with our guests and offer them something special they might not normally be able to experience,” Holyoak says. “Having guests in our theaters also allows our teams to implement our enhanced cleaning and disinfecting protocols. You may even see our CEO helping out if you book an event!”
“We only cover our staffing costs, but this is a way to keep interest in going to the movie theaters alive during this period,” Fornstam says. “It keeps systems going, motivates staff, and will make the reopening less difficult.”
That mission of keeping interest in movie theaters alive seems to be working.
“One person from Gothenburg—were we have no cinemas and everything is closed—has rented a screen in Borås three Saturdays in row,” Fornstam tells. “On one of those occasions she paid for eight tickets, although they were only two [people in attendance], because she loved going to the movies.”
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 everything from Batman watches to Batman action figures to Batman bicycle shorts. As director Kevin Smith once put it, “That summer was huge. You couldn’t turn around without seeing the Bat-Signal somewhere. People were cutting it into their fucking heads. It was just the summer of Batman and if you were a comic book fan it was pretty hot.”
When it finally debuted on June 23, Batman crushed the opening weekend record set by Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade only a month earlier, grossing a whopping $40.4 million from 2,194 theaters over the three-day frame. By the end of its run, the film (whose budget reportedly swelled from $35 to $48 million) had brought in a gargantuan $251.1 million in North America and $411.3 million worldwide, minting a hugely lucrative new franchise for Warner Bros.
Burton would return to the series with the 1992 follow-up Batman Returns, which—while certainly no failure—failed to match the box office returns of its predecessor. Though it debuted to a then-record $45.6 million opening weekend that June, there was criticism in some quarters over the film’s darker, more sexualized tone. The $80 million title dropped more precipitously than the first entry on subsequent weekends and ultimately landed with just $162.8 million in North America and $266.8 million worldwide—nearly $150 million less than its predecessor.
In between live-action adaptations, the Batman series received its first animated entry on the big screen with Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, which debuted over Christmas 1993 to positive reviews but poor box office, bringing in just $1.1 million on around 1,500 screens in its opening weekend and only $5.6 million in North America by the end of its run. Notably, Mask of the Phantasm has achieved cult status in the years since its release, with many critics and fans deeming it one of the best (if not the best) big-screen adaptations of the comic.
In response to the perception that Burton’s increasingly dark vision had led to Batman Returns’ underperformance, Warner Bros. pivoted in a more family-friendly direction with the film’s 1995 follow-up, Batman Forever. Bringing on director Joel Schumacher and replacing Michael Keaton with Val Kilmer, the third film in the series brought a campier, more colorful tone to the franchise that was closer in spirit to the 1960s TV series than Burton’s two theatrical installments. The approach paid off; just like the previous two entries, Batman Forever set an opening weekend record with $52.7 million and went on to improve upon Returns’ overall box office with $184 million in North America and $336.5 million worldwide off a $100 budget. Though its performance ultimately fell far short of Burton’s original movie, it at least appeared to make up some of the ground that Returns had lost.
Hopes were high for Schumacher’s 1997 follow-up Batman & Robin, which swapped out Kilmer for George Clooney and took the camp quotient even higher. But the film opened to scathing reviews and was widely mocked by audiences. After opening to a disappointing $42.8 million that June (about $10 million less than Batman Forever), the film dropped precipitously in subsequent weekends and finished its run with a franchise-low $107.3 million domestically and $238.2 million worldwide off a reported $125 million budget, making it the first bona fide flop in the series.
Following Batman & Robin’s underperformance, the franchise went on an extended hiatus. Schumacher’s proposed follow-up, Batman Unchained, was put on the shelf, and the series wouldn’t return until the 2005 reboot Batman Begins, directed by Christopher Nolan. Bringing a darker, grittier and more psychologically complex tone to the big-screen franchise, the film was praised by critics and earned an “A” Cinemascore with audiences. After debuting to $48.7 million, the film legged its way to a strong $205.3 million in North America and $371.8 million worldwide off a $150 million reported budget. While not the kind of mammoth superhero movie numbers we’re used to seeing in the post-MCU world, it was a major improvement over the performance of Batman & Robin and a corrective to the increasingly toy-centric prior installments.
Batman Begins was a hit, but Nolan’s 2008 sequel The Dark Knight rocketed the franchise into the stratosphere. Powered by an avalanche of hype—much of it centered around Heath Ledger’s gritty performance as The Joker—the film debuted to a then-record $158.4 million in July 2008, a performance that still ranks in the Top 20 opening weekends of all time. Buffeted by critical raves and strong word of mouth, the $185 million film kept up its momentum and ultimately took in $535.2 million in North America and over $1 billion globally, far surpassing the performance of any other Batman movie up to that point and even netting eight Oscar nominations (it took home two, including a posthumous win for Ledger in the Best Supporting Actor category).
Nolan followed up that career-defining triumph with The Dark Knight Rises, another overwhelming success that debuted to $160.8 million in July 2012. Though not as leggy as its predecessor—perhaps owing to the lack of Ledger’s instantly-iconic Joker – the $250 million budgeted film finished its domestic run with $448.1 million and brought in $1.08 billion globally, making it the highest-grossing film of the series worldwide.
Once Nolan exited the franchise, Batman wouldn’t make another big-screen appearance until the hugely anticipated Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Starring Ben Affleck as the Caped Crusader, the $250 million title—the second installment in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU)—set yet another opening weekend record for the superhero when it debuted to a massive $166 million over Easter weekend 2016, which also ranked as the highest March opening of all time (a total surpassed by Disney’s live-action Beauty and the Beast just one year later). Aside from Mask of the Phantasm, it was also the first big-screen Batman adaptation to debut outside the traditional summer corridor and, judging from its debut numbers, the approach paid off. But the film was beset by scathing reviews and a poor reception by fans, and it plummeted 69% in its second weekend and dropped precipitously from there, failing to even double its opening weekend total when it landed with a final domestic gross of $330.3 million. While it made up some of that shortfall overseas, where it grossed an additional $543.2 million (for a worldwide total of $873.6 million), Batman v Superman was widely viewed as falling short of its commercial potential.
Affleck’s Batman would make two further appearances in DCEU installments, with a cameo in Suicide Squad in August 2016 and a full-fledged role in the team-up film Justice League in November 2017, though neither of those films were traditional Batman vehicles. The most recent standalone Batman film, The LEGO Batman Movie, debuted to $53 million in February 2017 and finished with $175.7 million domestic and $311.9 million worldwide off a reported $80 million budget, marking the first successful animated outing for the superhero on the big screen.
Though the Batman franchise has seen its share of ups and downs over the last three decades, it is, in the end, far more notable for its successes than its failures. After Superman, the Dark Knight was the first superhero to enjoy a commercially successful, live-action theatrical franchise in the modern era and helped set the template for future entries in the genre. Perhaps more than any other superhero movie franchise, it has also engaged in a near-constant process of reinvention. Indeed, despite a largely disappointing reception for the so-called “Batfleck” series of films, the franchise will soon reboot with Matt Reeves’ The Batman starring Robert Pattinson, which is currently slated for release on October 1, 2021.
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, helping to subtly ground even the most cinematic moments against a backdrop of realism.—Jesse Rifkin, Box Office Analyst
Variety
A bit of a cheat here, since this top-tier “movies at the movies” scene isn’t a scene so much as is a large chunk of the film—specifically Bette Gordon’s Variety, about a young woman who takes a job selling tickets at at a Times Square porn theater. Trapped in a tiny box office booth observing a parade of seedy characters, Christine (Sandy McLeod) develops an obsession with one of the theater’s patrons (Will Patton), leading to a sexual awakening that—rare in the world of erotic thrillers—positions the woman as the subject, not the object, of desire. Variety was a blind watch for me—a screening popped up at the Museum of Modern Art shortly before the shutdown, and the two-sentence synopsis seemed interesting, so I checked it out. It’s not something I had heard of before or likely would have seen otherwise—and thus it stands, for me, as a prime example of the ability of repertory programmers to expand viewers’ horizons and increase our knowledge of film history.—Rebecca Pahle, Deputy Editor
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Though I didn’t love the final act of Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (not a fan of sadism!), the scene of Margot Robbie as Sharon Tate watching the real Sharon Tate in The Wrecking Crew (at the Regency Bruin Theater in Westwood) is a sweet, melancholy, and lovingly-crafted ode to the Manson Family’s most famous victim. The prolonged scene demonstrates the kind of humanity Tarantino is capable of when he’s not too busy broiling characters with flamethrowers or bashing their heads into fireplace mantels.—Chris Eggertsen, Analyst
Inglorious Basterds
When I was eight years old, this answer would have easily been Last Action Hero. I had a great affinity for Arnold Schwarzenegger and his movies, partly because we share the same birthday and, as a kid, that was the coolest characteristic I could have in common with a celebrity that I liked—a random fact that coincidentally expanded to include another favorite filmmaker, Christopher Nolan, as I grew older. Specifically, though, Last Action Hero‘s driving conceit was that movies could literally come to life, and that was something I overwhelmingly identified with. Since then, however, the crown has changed hands to Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds, the first of what’s become his quasi-trilogy of alternate history films. There’s a satisfying irony that his characters used a venue highly influential in Tarantino’s own life, and in the life of all movie lovers, to achieve entertainment and escapism through fictional revisionism of one of the world’s darkest periods.—Shawn Robbins, Chief Analyst
Taxi Driver
It’s easy to remember the good dates we’ve had at the movies, but it’s the truly awful ones that are hard to forget. That’s why I love the first date scene in Taxi Driver; it’s one of the few moments where we genuinely feel bad for Robert De Niro’s Travis Bickle and his alienation to the city around him. As the couple walks into that seedy movie theater in Times Square, there’s a fleeting moment where you can imagine the unlikely couple working out. Cybil Shepherd’s Betsy enters the theater, knowing full well it’s “a dirty movie” but taking the risk to trust Travis nevertheless. That illusion comes crashing down in an instant. The entire movie turns on that moment, walking into that Times Square cinema is as close as Travis gets to escaping the rundown streets of 70’s midtown Manhattan.—Daniel Loría, Editorial Director
Annie Hall
Released a year after Taxi Driver and taking place only twenty blocks north of that Times Square cinema, Woody Allen’s Annie Hall might as well be set in a parallel universe. Scrosese’s midtown grit is replaced by an Upper East Side where the protagonist’s biggest mental health issue is his own neurosis. It’s also the site of another terrible date at the movies, as Allen’s Alvy Singer and Diane Keaton’s titular character get in multiple arguments outside of cinemas––first over entering a screening once it’s already started, and the second as they wait in line and put up with the loud conversation from the insufferable jerk behind them. Two moments that a rational person would just let slide, but pet peeves I happen to share and that probably make me as much of a bad date at the movies.—Daniel Loría, Editorial Director
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 following mixed results from previous films in their post-Nolan/Dark Knight era launched by Man of Steel, Batman v Superman, and Suicide Squad.
Wonder Woman showed off great staying power at the box office with a finish of $412.6 million domestically and $821.5 million worldwide, ranking third and tenth for 2017, respectively.
The highly anticipated sequel, Wonder Woman 1984, is slated to open August 14 following its delay from early June due to COVID-19.
Finding Nemo
May 30 – June 1, 2003
Pixar was already established as an animation powerhouse by the early 2000s, but Nemo sent them over the edge. Bowing to $70.3 million after the Memorial holiday, Pixar’s fifth film drew the best opening ever for an animated film at the time.
Just as impressive was its $339.7 million domestic and $871 million global finish, ranking as the second highest box office earner of the year on both fronts behind The Lord of the Rings: The Returnof the King.
Nemo remains one of the studio’s most beloved and successful titles in their quarter-century history, winning the Oscar for Best Animated Film in 2003, adding another $41 million with 2012’s 3D re-release, inspiring 2016’s blockbuster sequel Finding Dory, and still ranking second among Pixar’s original films in terms of overall box office (surpassed in 2015 by Inside Out).
Maleficent
May 30 – June 1, 2014
Disney was in the nascent stages of remaking beloved classics into live action films during the early 2010s. After the blockbuster run of Alice in Wonderland, this one proved the brand name could elevate even anti-heroes to box office glory.
With the undoubted help of starring Angelina Jolie, Sleeping Beauty’s classic villain opened her own film to $69.4 million domestically in summer 2014 and ultimately finished with $241.4 million. The film was an even bigger international hit with $517 million, giving it a massive $758.4 million global haul in the end.
Ranking eighth and fourth, respectively, on the domestic and worldwide fronts that year, the film introduced a new generation of fans to the fairy tale world and eventually triggered 2019’s sequel, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil.
Up
May 29 – 31, 2009
Pixar was no stranger to summer success by the time Up debuted in summer 2009 with $68.1 million on opening weekend, one of the studio’s top opening weekends up to that point and not far off of Nemo‘s launch six years earlier.
The beloved film was a hit across multiple generations, showing as much with its leggy box office run that culminated with $293 million domestically and $735.1 million worldwide. Those marks were strong enough to rank fifth and sixth, respectively, among all 2009 releases.
Nominated for five more Oscars, Pixar won the Best Animation trophy again for Up.
Sex and the City
May 30 – June 1, 2008
Summer movie season isn’t just for kids, as evidenced by a number of major hits appealing to adult audiences over the years. Prominent in that conversation is the feature adaptation of HBO’s popular series, Sex and the City.
The movie was an instant winner upon its $57 million opening weekend in 2008, nearly making back its entire $65 million budget within three days. Counter-programming the typical summer fare with an R-rated comedy aimed at adult women proved incredibly smart.
The film even avoided the front-loaded nature of fan-driven series adaptations by finishing with $152.7 million stateside and an impressive $418.8 million worldwide, ranking eleventh for 2008 on both fronts — the highest earning R-rated film of the year. Its success spawned a sequel in 2010.
Honorable Mentions
Not far behind the top five post-Memorial Day openers are a trio of other recent films that made impacts in various ways.
Snow White and the Huntsman
June 1 – 3, 2012
Led by Kristen Stewart and Chris Hemsworth fresh off their respective success in the Twilight and Marvel franchises, this re-imagining was an early summer success story as it earned $155.3 million stateside and $396.6 million worldwide off a $56.2 million domestic start, spawning a sequel in 2016.
X-Men: First Class
June 3 – 5, 2011
Following a couple of creative whiffs in the mid-to-late 2000s, the X-Men series turned to director Matthew Vaughn to revitalize the popular brand with this reboot, often cited among the most popular films in the overall franchise to date. The effort spawned a new series with a younger cast led by James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender as First Class debuted to $55.1 million on its way to a $146.4 million domestic and $352.6 million global finish.
San Andreas
May 29 – 31, 2015
Dwayne Johnson’s rise to stardom was steadily building in the years leading up to this summertime disaster flick, punctuated by the film’s $54.6 million debut weekend being achieved mostly on the shoulders of his presence and blockbuster marketing. The pic finished with $155.2 million domestically and $474 million worldwide, representing one of the biggest non-franchise earners in 2015.
Suggestions for films or milestones to cover in future weekends? Let us know!
You can check out previous versions of this column in our archives.
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 website; among them, all tickets and concessions orders must be placed via the Showcase Cinemas app; masks are required for restroom visits or if a patron needs to open their windows; and each vehicle will be given a trash bag upon mobile ticketing check-in, which they must take with them (along with their trash) at the end of the show.
“Drive-ins are a big part of Showcase Cinemas’ 80-year history, as the company was one of the first theater chains to introduce and embrace the drive-in concept throughout the 20th century,” said Mark Malinowski, vice president of global marketing for Showcase Cinemas. “Therefore, we are excited to bring our history full circle with this new concept that sold out its first show in less than 24-hours. This will be our first step towards reopening Showcase Cinemas with new health and safety protocols in the coming weeks.”
Shortly after theaters shut down in North America, drive-in theater started popping up in areas as far away as Alaska. (The drive-in concept is also popular in Germany.) In the month since the shutdown, some regional chains—such as Showcase—have begun exploring the drive-in concept, as well. Malco Theatres, for one, opened a drive-in location in Memphis earlier this month. EVO Entertainment, which operated drive-in theaters before the COVID-19 crisis, has upped their drive-in presence, and B&B Theatres has opened a drive-in location in Independence, Missouri.
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, helping to subtly ground even the most cinematic moments against a backdrop of realism.—Jesse Rifkin, Box Office Analyst
Variety
A bit of a cheat here, since this top-tier “movies at the movies” scene isn’t a scene so much as is a large chunk of the film—specifically Bette Gordon’s Variety, about a young woman who takes a job selling tickets at at a Times Square porn theater. Trapped in a tiny box office booth observing a parade of seedy characters, Christine (Sandy McLeod) develops an obsession with one of the theater’s patrons (Will Patton), leading to a sexual awakening that—rare in the world of erotic thrillers—positions the woman as the subject, not the object, of desire. Variety was a blind watch for me—a screening popped up at the Museum of Modern Art shortly before the shutdown, and the two-sentence synopsis seemed interesting, so I checked it out. It’s not something I had heard of before or likely would have seen otherwise—and thus it stands, for me, as a prime example of the ability of repertory programmers to expand viewers’ horizons and increase our knowledge of film history.—Rebecca Pahle, Deputy Editor
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Though I didn’t love the final act of Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (not a fan of sadism!), the scene of Margot Robbie as Sharon Tate watching the real Sharon Tate in The Wrecking Crew (at the Regency Bruin Theater in Westwood) is a sweet, melancholy, and lovingly-crafted ode to the Manson Family’s most famous victim. The prolonged scene demonstrates the kind of humanity Tarantino is capable of when he’s not too busy broiling characters with flamethrowers or bashing their heads into fireplace mantels.—Chris Eggertsen, Analyst
Inglorious Basterds
When I was eight years old, this answer would have easily been Last Action Hero. I had a great affinity for Arnold Schwarzenegger and his movies, partly because we share the same birthday and, as a kid, that was the coolest characteristic I could have in common with a celebrity that I liked—a random fact that coincidentally expanded to include another favorite filmmaker, Christopher Nolan, as I grew older. Specifically, though, Last Action Hero‘s driving conceit was that movies could literally come to life, and that was something I overwhelmingly identified with. Since then, however, the crown has changed hands to Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds, the first of what’s become his quasi-trilogy of alternate history films. There’s a satisfying irony that his characters used a venue highly influential in Tarantino’s own life, and in the life of all movie lovers, to achieve entertainment and escapism through fictional revisionism of one of the world’s darkest periods.—Shawn Robbins, Chief Analyst
Taxi Driver
It’s easy to remember the good dates we’ve had at the movies, but it’s the truly awful ones that are hard to forget. That’s why I love the first date scene in Taxi Driver; it’s one of the few moments where we genuinely feel bad for Robert De Niro’s Travis Bickle and his alienation to the city around him. As the couple walks into that seedy movie theater in Times Square, there’s a fleeting moment where you can imagine the unlikely couple working out. Cybil Shepherd’s Betsy enters the theater, knowing full well it’s “a dirty movie” but taking the risk to trust Travis nevertheless. That illusion comes crashing down in an instant. The entire movie turns on that moment, walking into that Times Square cinema is as close as Travis gets to escaping the rundown streets of 70’s midtown Manhattan.—Daniel Loría, Editorial Director
Annie Hall
Released a year after Taxi Driver and taking place only twenty blocks north of that Times Square cinema, Woody Allen’s Annie Hall might as well be set in a parallel universe. Scrosese’s midtown grit is replaced by an Upper East Side where the protagonist’s biggest mental health issue is his own neurosis. It’s also the site of another terrible date at the movies, as Allen’s Alvy Singer and Diane Keaton’s titular character get in multiple arguments outside of cinemas––first over entering a screening once it’s already started, and the second as they wait in line and put up with the loud conversation from the insufferable jerk behind them. Two moments that a rational person would just let slide, but pet peeves I happen to share and that probably make me as much of a bad date at the movies.—Daniel Loría, Editorial Director
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.
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, helping to subtly ground even the most cinematic moments against a backdrop of realism.—Jesse Rifkin, Box Office Analyst
Variety
A bit of a cheat here, since this top-tier “movies at the movies” scene isn’t a scene so much as is a large chunk of the film—specifically Bette Gordon’s Variety, about a young woman who takes a job selling tickets at at a Times Square porn theater. Trapped in a tiny box office booth observing a parade of seedy characters, Christine (Sandy McLeod) develops an obsession with one of the theater’s patrons (Will Patton), leading to a sexual awakening that—rare in the world of erotic thrillers—positions the woman as the subject, not the object, of desire. Variety was a blind watch for me—a screening popped up at the Museum of Modern Art shortly before the shutdown, and the two-sentence synopsis seemed interesting, so I checked it out. It’s not something I had heard of before or likely would have seen otherwise—and thus it stands, for me, as a prime example of the ability of repertory programmers to expand viewers’ horizons and increase our knowledge of film history.—Rebecca Pahle, Deputy Editor
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Though I didn’t love the final act of Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (not a fan of sadism!), the scene of Margot Robbie as Sharon Tate watching the real Sharon Tate in The Wrecking Crew (at the Regency Bruin Theater in Westwood) is a sweet, melancholy, and lovingly-crafted ode to the Manson Family’s most famous victim. The prolonged scene demonstrates the kind of humanity Tarantino is capable of when he’s not too busy broiling characters with flamethrowers or bashing their heads into fireplace mantels.—Chris Eggertsen, Analyst
Inglorious Basterds
When I was eight years old, this answer would have easily been Last Action Hero. I had a great affinity for Arnold Schwarzenegger and his movies, partly because we share the same birthday and, as a kid, that was the coolest characteristic I could have in common with a celebrity that I liked—a random fact that coincidentally expanded to include another favorite filmmaker, Christopher Nolan, as I grew older. Specifically, though, Last Action Hero‘s driving conceit was that movies could literally come to life, and that was something I overwhelmingly identified with. Since then, however, the crown has changed hands to Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds, the first of what’s become his quasi-trilogy of alternate history films. There’s a satisfying irony that his characters used a venue highly influential in Tarantino’s own life, and in the life of all movie lovers, to achieve entertainment and escapism through fictional revisionism of one of the world’s darkest periods.—Shawn Robbins, Chief Analyst
Taxi Driver
It’s easy to remember the good dates we’ve had at the movies, but it’s the truly awful ones that are hard to forget. That’s why I love the first date scene in Taxi Driver; it’s one of the few moments where we genuinely feel bad for Robert De Niro’s Travis Bickle and his alienation to the city around him. As the couple walks into that seedy movie theater in Times Square, there’s a fleeting moment where you can imagine the unlikely couple working out. Cybil Shepherd’s Betsy enters the theater, knowing full well it’s “a dirty movie” but taking the risk to trust Travis nevertheless. That illusion comes crashing down in an instant. The entire movie turns on that moment, walking into that Times Square cinema is as close as Travis gets to escaping the rundown streets of 70’s midtown Manhattan.—Daniel Loría, Editorial Director
Annie Hall
Released a year after Taxi Driver and taking place only twenty blocks north of that Times Square cinema, Woody Allen’s Annie Hall might as well be set in a parallel universe. Scrosese’s midtown grit is replaced by an Upper East Side where the protagonist’s biggest mental health issue is his own neurosis. It’s also the site of another terrible date at the movies, as Allen’s Alvy Singer and Diane Keaton’s titular character get in multiple arguments outside of cinemas––first over entering a screening once it’s already started, and the second as they wait in line and put up with the loud conversation from the insufferable jerk behind them. Two moments that a rational person would just let slide, but pet peeves I happen to share and that probably make me as much of a bad date at the movies.—Daniel Loría, Editorial Director
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.
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 seating in the theater auditorium was by far the most critical safety feature, with 42.2 percent saying this was a key condition. The next most critical safety measure is heightened theater cleaning procedures at 21.14 percent, followed by staff and guests wearing masks at 14.36 percent. Only 6.41 percent of moviegoers said taking staff and guest temperature readings before screenings was the most important condition that must be met before they would feel comfortable returning.
The contactless trend that’s surging in the food and retail industries also appears to be top-of-mind for moviegoers. Over 88 percent said that purchasing digital tickets from their own device and eliminating the need to interact with a cashier is an important safety measure. Concessions may also look different in a post-COVID world, with customers leaning into ordering ahead and picking up their items instead of waiting in crowded lines and being served directly over the counter. Of those who have never pre-ordered movie theater concessions, 61 percent said they are now likely to try it.
“Moviegoers are telling us that they miss the experience of going to the movies and they’re ready to get back, but that the experience needs to look slightly different than before,” said Matthew Bakal, chairman and co-founder of Atom Tickets. “We anticipate a rapid acceleration in digital ordering, just as we have seen in other industries, in order to reduce the amount of person-to-person interactions. We’re eager to resume being together with friends and family, but we want to do so responsibly. Atom is working with our theater partners to roll out spaced seat maps so that guests can see the steps being taken in order to provide a safe environment.”
So which movies will pull customers back to the comfy seats of theaters? The female superheroes lead the pack with Marvel Studios’ Black Widow and DCEU’s Wonder Woman 1984 taking 58 percent and 51 percent of votes respectively. The James Bond installment No Time to Die, Disney’s Mulan and Top Gun: Maverick round out the top 5. Millennial moviegoers weighed in slightly differently with John Krasinski’s A Quiet Place Part 2 coming in third position.
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 era included Top Gun (27 weekends in the top 10), Titanic (26), Forrest Gump (26), Home Alone (25), and Back to the Future (24).
It seemed nothing would stop the 21st century’s era of monster openings paired with faster dropoffs — until now.
Once cinemas return nationwide, a combination of social distancing measures and enforced auditorium seating limits will likely result in lower opening weekends. Simultaneously, studios’ sparser release calendars for months to come — due to postponements, reschedulings, and a few films getting removed from theatrical release entirely in favor of streaming exclusivity — will likely result in longer theatrical runs. These two factors in combination seem poised to return the box office to an old-fashioned path to profitability: debuting low but remaining in cinemas for months.
Though spending months in the top ten is a phenomenon mostly reserved for films of the 20th century, a few releases from the past decade also managed long stays in the top tier. What tends to set these films apart is positive word of mouth. Audiences will only turn out for a movie two and a half months after release if buzz remains strong, regardless of blockbuster opening weekends; Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, for example, are two films with massive openings that dropped relatively quickly.
Below are the 17 films from the past decade which spent “11 in 10”: at least 11 weekends in the box office top 10.
Sci-fi and Fantasy Blockbusters
Sci-fi and fantasy blockbusters, like Tenet and Wonder Woman 1984, will be among the first major studio releases to debut on the big screen once movie theaters open their doors, making the following box office champs apt comparisons for the initial wave of post-pandemic releases.
Inception. Christopher Nolan’s Tenet is currently scheduled as the first major release post-pandemic, on July 17. Nolan’s 2010 mindbender benefited from repeat viewings, as many went back to see the film a second or third time in order to fully grasp the famously complicated plot.
Avatar. James Cameron knows how to direct films that last in theaters. His Titanic tied Forrest Gump for the most top-10 weekends of the ’90s, with 26. Then his follow-up Avatar spent 14 weekends in the top 10.
Black Panther. Released so soon before Marvel’s next installment, Avengers: InfinityWar, would Panther get cannibalized? Actually, the opposite occurred, as the MCU installment declined -4% on Infinity War‘s opening weekend. Panther continued to hold strong thanks in part to double features, whether held by cinemas or more “unofficially” by fans just choosing to see both films back-to-back.
Spider-Man: Homecoming. The superhero kept swinging throughout the summer and into the fall of 2017. Sequel Spider-Man: Far From Home didn’t last as long in theaters, with eight weeks in the top 10.
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. No wonder its opening was depressed: it debuted against Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Yet during Jungle‘s second weekend, which included New Year’s Eve, it increased +38%, while its Star Wars competitor dropped -26%.
Jumanji: The Next Level. While the aforementioned Spider-Man: Homecoming was unable to replicate its box office longevity with its sequel, Jumanji did just that. As of this writing, it’s the most recent film to spend at least 11 weekends in the top 10.
Musicals
Musicals often experience theatrical longevity, with audiences wanting to hear their favorite songs multiple times. 2002’s Chicago spent 16 weekends in the top 10, the second-most of any 2000s film, behind only My Big Fat Greek Wedding with 19.
Frozen. The unstoppable animated juggernaut spent 16 weekends in the top 10, the most of any film of the past decade. Sequel Frozen II traded in a far higher opening for a steeper fall, spending nine weekends in the top 10.
La La Land. Audiences kept wanting “another day of sun,” as the opening number sang, for 13 top 10 weekends.
The Greatest Showman. Despite never ranking higher than fourth place in a given weekend, the film rode on the success of its songs and huge soundtrack, which became the top-selling album of 2018.
Beauty and the Beast(2017), Aladdin(2019),The Lion King(2019). These three titles were all live-action or GGI remakes of classic Disney animated films, propelled by a combination of audience nostalgia while also creating a new generation of fans.
Awards Contender Dramas
With the awards season lasting for months, these films are often ripe for theatrical longevity.
Green Book. The feel-good movie initially only spent three weekends in the top 10, then dropped out for almost two months. It remained in theaters, hovering around the #11 to #20 spots, appearing to indicate that its best box office days were behind it. Then the weekend after Academy Award nominations were announced, it more than doubled its theater count and re-entered the top 10, where it remained for months, including for several frames after winning Best Picture.
Silver Linings Playbook. A similar trajectory: the film ascended to the top 10 on Thanksgiving weekend, dropped out for a bit, made the top 10 again for one weekend in mid-December, then dropped out again. Like Green Book, it ascended the weekend after Academy Award nominations came out and stayed in the top ten for months, peaking in third place.
Hidden Figures. The true story of African-American women who made critical contributions to NASA’s 1960s space program was one of the big box office hits during the early months of the Trump administration, perhaps owing its longevity partly to the political environment at the time.
The King’s Speech. The inspirational drama proves “slow and steady wins the race.” It never reached the top three on any weekend, peaking at #4. Yet it rode its award season buzz, including an Academy Award win for Best Picture, for months.
Last but not least, there’s one more film from the past decade which qualifies, but didn’t quite fit any of the three above categories. Spending 13 weekends in the top 10: Disney’s animated Zootopia.
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 Paul Tamasy and Eric Johnson, who co-wrote The Fighter, The Finest Hours, and Patriots Day. The film is directed by Rod Lurie, best known for directing 2001’s The Last Castle with Robert Redford and Mark Ruffalo.
Read our May 1 article about Fathom Events’ planned release schedule, including an exclusive interview with CEO Ray Nutt, here.
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 a prime early-summer release date, the $48 million-budgeted film suffered from poor word of mouth and debuted to just $8.5 million over the four-day weekend, topping out at a disappointing $20.9 million in North America. Needless to say, its weak performance did not inspire confidence.
Though multiplexes would soon host another dud with Gramercy Pictures’ big-screen adaptation of Double Dragon—which opened to just $1.3 million in November 1994 and topped out at a minuscule $2.3 million in North America—it was followed in December by Universal’s adaptation of the wildly popular video game Street Fighter, which starred action-hero-of-the-moment Jean-Claude Van Damme. Though the $35 million-budgeted film opened to just $6.8 million in North America and finished with $33.4 million domestically, it powered its way to twice that amount overseas, boosting its worldwide gross to $99.4 million. That lopsided result was the first indication of video game adaptations’ overseas potential, which would underlie later global box office successes like Warcraft and the Resident Evil franchise.
The sub-genre really jumpstarted the following year with the release of New Line Cinema’s adaptation of the hugely controversial fighting game Mortal Kombat. Despite featuring a largely unknown cast and being lambasted by critics, the adaptation satisfied the game’s core fanbase and debuted with a superb $23.2 million in late August of 1995, ultimately finishing its run with $70.4 million in North American and $122.1 million globally off a reported $18 million budget. Unfortunately, that momentum didn’t carry over to the far less successful 1997 sequel Mortal Kombat: Annihilation ($51.3 million worldwide off a reported $30 million budget), nor to the much-derided 1999 adaptation of the video game franchise Wing Commander, which stalled out with just $11.5 million in North America off a reported budget of $30 million.
The following decade nonetheless saw an explosion of video game adaptations on the big screen, to mixed results. After Warner Bros.’ English-dubbed release of the anime film Pokémon: The First Movie closed out the ‘90s with a powerful North American gross north of $85.7 million and a worldwide tally of over $163.6 million off a $30 million budget, it was quickly followed by two more animated sequels, 2000’s Pokémon the Movie 2000 ($43.7 million domestic, $133.9 million worldwide) and 2001’s Pokémon 3: The Movie ($17 million domestic, $68.4 million worldwide), which were released to diminishing returns. The franchise picked up in U.S. theaters again with last year’s live-action/animated hybrid Pokémon Detective Pikachu, which rose to become the highest-grossing video game adaptation ever in North America when it surged to $144.1 million in domestic receipts and a whopping $433 million worldwide, nearly tripling its reported $150 million budget. Less than a year later, Sonic would steal its box office crown, at least in North America.
2001 would bring both the potential and pitfalls of the video game adaptation into sharp relief. That June, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider capitalized on the explosive star power of Angelina Jolie, swinging its way to $131.1 million domestically and $274.7 million worldwide off a reported $115 million budget (the 2003 sequel, Lara Croft Tomb Raider:Cradle of Life, would fall short of its success). The following month, however, saw the release of one of the most notorious flops in the canon of video game adaptations with the Sony/Columbia-distributed Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. Plagued by cost overruns that saw its budget balloon to a reported $137 million, the CG-animated film finished its run with a hugely disappointing $32.1 million in North America and $85.1 million globally, leading to the demise of its production company Square Pictures.
The most commercially successful and long-running video game movie franchise to date, Sony/Screen Gems’ Resident Evil, kicked off in March 2002 with the release of the first film in the series, which debuted to $17.7 million in North America and finished its domestic run with $40.1 million and $102.9 million globally, more than tripling its reported $33 million budget. The series racked up further success with a slew of sequels, including 2004’s Apocalypse ($51.2 million domestic, $129.3 million worldwide), 2007’s Extinction ($50.6 million, $147.7 million), 2010’s Afterlife ($60.1 million, $300.2 million), 2012’s Retribution ($42.3 million, $240.1 million), and The Final Chapter, which capped off the soon-to-be-rebooted series with $26.8 million in North America and $312.2 million worldwide, making the series a billion-dollar franchise.
On the other side of the coin, the 2000s hosted the release of several notorious, mid-budgeted video game adaptations directed by Uwe Boll, all of which failed to gain box office traction either domestically or internationally. This list includes 2003’s House of the Dead ($10.2 million domestic, $13.3 million worldwide), 2005’s Alone in the Dark ($5.1 million, $12.6 million), 2006’s BloodRayne ($2.4 million, $3.6 million), and 2007’s In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale, which managed a paltry $4.7 million domestically and $13 million worldwide off a bloated $60 million budget.
Elsewhere that decade, TriStar Pictures’ 2006 big-screen adaptation of the popular horror game Silent Hill became a minor hit with $46.9 million domestically and $100.6 million worldwide; 20th Century Fox released Hitman ($39.6 million domestic, $101.2 million worldwide) and Max Payne ($40.6 million, $87 million) to okay (if unspectacular) results; and Universal’s Doom—arguably the most anticipated video game adaptation of the 2000s—fell far short of expectations when it grossed just $28.2 million in North America and $58 million worldwide off a reported $60 million budget, despite the presence of future action star Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in the lead role.
The 2010s kicked off with a relative dud in Disney’s Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, which even a bulked-up Jake Gyllenhaal couldn’t save. Though the film managed $90.7 million in North America and $336.3 million worldwide—a high number for the video game sub-genre—according to some reports, its budget ballooned to $200 million, presenting the film with an all-but-insurmountable commercial hurdle.
The overseas appeal of video game adaptations cannot be underestimated, and in the 2010s, a number of big-budget titles were salvaged by their international grosses. The most infamous example of this phenomenon is Universal’s Warcraft, which was released in June 2016 to poor reviews and a polarized reception from fans of the hugely popular video game franchise. Opening to just $24.1 million in North America and finishing its run there with a paltry $47.3 million, the $160 million-budgeted film nonetheless scored with audiences overseas, particularly in China, where it finished its run with a whopping $225 million. When all receipts were tallied, the film exited multiplexes with over $439 million globally—only about 10% of which came from audiences in the U.S. and Canada.
This asymmetrical domestic-overseas breakdown was echoed to a lesser extent by a number of other titles, including Disney’s Need for Speed ($43.5 million in North America, $203.2 million worldwide in 2014); 20th Century Fox’s Assassin’s Creed ($54.6 million, $240.6 million in 2016); and Warner Bros.’ Tomb Raider reboot ($58.2 million, $274.6 million) and Rampage ($101 million, $428 million), both released in 2018.
One interesting note: Since the sub-genre kicked off in 1993 with Super Mario Bros., only five video game movies have grossed more than $100 million at the box office: Sonic the Hedgehog, Pokémon Detective Pikachu, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Rampage and the animated Angry Birds Movie, which grossed $107.5 million domestically and $352.3 million worldwide in 2016 (its 2019 sequel, by contrast, finished with just $41.6 million and $147.7 million). Additionally, no video game movie adaptation has ever crossed the $500 million threshold worldwide.
That could change with any number of video game adaptations on the theatrical horizon, including Sony’s Monster Hunter (currently slated for 9/4/20), Paramount’s Without Remorse (10/2/20), Warner Bros.’ Mortal Kombat (1/15/21), Sony’s Uncharted (7/16/21), Warner Bros.’ Minecraft (3/4/22), and the inevitable Sonic the Hedgehog sequel.
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 that decision in case circumstances around the world don’t reach a state necessary for an important, and expensive, global release like this.
The timing of this debut isn’t particularly surprising, though, since this time on the calendar would have typically been the ideal time for a studio to kick its marketing machine into high gear for a big July release. This provides yet another indication that the studio (and, almost certainly, Nolan himself) have not abandoned hope of sticking to the July window.
That being said, if worse comes to worse, there is a possibility the film could scoot down the calendar into Wonder Woman 1984‘s August 14 if necessary — likely pushing that film into the holiday slate later this year. There are no clear answers on that, but for now, no news is probably good news.
What Is Fortnite?
Launched in 2017, Fortnite is an enormously popular video game—with 350 million registered players as of April, according to developer Epic Games—that lets users either fight their way through a post-apocalyptic hellscape or fight each other, depending on what mode they’re in. Last month, Epic Games launched the “party royale” section of Fortnite—simply put, a digital “island” where where players can get together and socialize. The design of the party royale space includes fast food restaurants, a dance club, and a movie theater. It’s in this social-centric, no-fighting zone that Fortnite has hosted a string of digital concerts, one of which—a Travis Scott concert with multiple “tour dates” spreading over three days in April—drew 12.3 million concurrent players at its height. (Watching a few seconds of this Marshmello concert will give you a sense of what these big, in-game events are like.)
Fortnite’s party royale island is where players will need to be to see the new Tenet trailer, marking just the latest of a string of marketing collaborations between the game and major studios. Many of those marketing collaborations have taken place outside party royale, in the parts of the game where players—or, rather, their digital avatars—fight. Over the last several months, marketing tie-ins have allowed Fortnite users to adopt “skins” allowing them to play as John Wick (tied to John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum); Harley Quinn (tied to Birds of Prey, also from Tenet distributor Warner Bros.); or several characters from the MCU, in the form of a crossover game tied to Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame. Fortnite’s ties with Disney have extended to a Stormtrooper skin and, last December, the release of a clip from The Rise of Skywalker. In addition to movies and music, Fortnite promotional tie-ins have included sports and clothing, leading Polygon to call the game “one of the most popular and effective ways to promote a product” as of last year.
Donald Mustard, Worldwide Creative Director for Epic Games, further elaborated in the decision to launch this trailer via their popular game. “The idea of debuting the Tenet trailer came from a phone call with Christopher Nolan. We were all talking about our love of seeing new trailers in a THEATER and how sad we were that we can’t do that right now – but how maybe this could be the next best thing. Hope you love it!”
Why Fortnite?
In addition to the aforementioned communal aspect, the game attracts a predominately young audience between the ages of 26 and 34, with many players even younger. That’s an important target audience for major Hollywood films who often go to films in large groups and can rank among the most effective groups of consumers when it comes to spreading word of mouth via social media.
Classic Nolan Marketing
This isn’t the first time a Nolan film has been shrouded in mystery, though it is certainly the first time one of his films has debuted a trailer via a video game. Typically, his trailers have debuted exclusively in theaters followed by an online launch, and typically attached to films that targeted adult and/or four-quadrant audiences. The aim here seems to underline the importance of attracting a younger audience when the film launches given that they are likely to return to theaters the soonest.
Following the premiere John David Washington commented that Tenet is “to be seen in a theater on a big movie screen, it’s going to be so vibrant.”
