Weekend Box Office Forecast: Tenet Targets 5th Consecutive #1 Finish as Domestic Market Grinds to a Halt

October is upon us, a time of year that exhibition had hoped would be marking the return of widespread moviegoing with the previously planned release of Wonder Woman 1984 this weekend. Unfortunately, that’s not happening. Following that film’s delay last month, and more in its wake since, theater owners are being left high and dry without the amount of new content once promised to them upon re-opening their doors with significant investments to provide a safe and healthy experience for consumers. Studios are spooked by the ongoing pandemic and the lack of encouraging coverage coming out media hub cities, not all moviegoers are ready to return, and new content is slowing down. All of this comes despite the encouraging micro-trends from recent counter-programmers hitting cinemas. Instead of beginning what was hoped to be the next phase of domestic box office recovery, we’re...

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Severtson Screens Named Strategic Partner for 2020 MENA Cinema Forum

Severtson Screens has been named a strategic partner for both the in-person and virtual 2020 MENA Cinema Forum in Dubai, the company announced today (Sept. 30). The forum runs from Oct. 27-28. “We had a very successful show last year and, as a result, we are excited to be a strategic partner for this year’s event,” said Severtson Corp. president and CEO Toby Severtson. “In these unusual times, hosting both an in-person as well as a virtual event is a great way to include as many international industry members as possible.” Severtson Screens’ latest product lines include its next generation SAT-4K Acoustically-Transparent cinema projection screen line and enhanced SēVision 3D GX-WA projection screen coating. A member of the Giant Screen Cinema Association, Severtson has manufactured cinema screens for countries across the globe. The post Severtson Screens Named Strategic...

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GQT Movies to Reopen All Michigan Indoor Theaters in October

Following Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s announcement that hard top movie theaters will be allowed to reopen on Oct. 9 at 20% capacity, GQT movies has unveiled a plan to reopen its 11 remaining locations in the state. Its theater in Cadillac reopened on Aug. 7. To ensure that all safety plans are in place and training for employees can be completed, GQT will be reopening its Michigan theaters on three consecutive Fridays: October 9, 16, and 23. “GQT will open with the three S’s of our safety plan at the forefront of their efforts; social distance, sanitize, and safely following recommendations,” said GQT COO Matt McSparin in a statement. “Guest safety through clean and disinfected lobbies, bathrooms, concession areas, and auditoriums will be our priority.” To lure moviegoers back, a release notes that all GQT Movies locations in the state will offer tickets and...

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Box Office Top 10: One-Word Title Movies

One of the first tentpole films scheduled for release post-shutdown is Tenet, debuting starting August 26 overseas and September 3 domestically. That one-word title runs counter to the increasing 2010s trend of longer titles, from Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2. Looking at the highest-grossing film domestically from each year of the 1980s, one had a single-word title: Batman in 1989. Two did in the 1990s: Aladdin in 1992 and Titanic in 1997. Two did again in the 2000s: Spider-Man in 2002 and Avatar in 2009. Yet none did in the 2010s. As the summer movie season (such as it is) rolls on, Boxoffice Pro presents the 10 highest grossing films with one-word titles. Note: this list is ordered by domestic revenue earned during a film’s original theatrical run. It does not take into account admissions,...

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GLOBAL REPORT: Tenet Crosses $40M Domestic, $280M Global Marks; Break the Silence Hits $1M in North American Debut

Sunday, September 27 Report: Warner Bros. checks in this morning with a report that Tenet is posting another strong weekend hold on the domestic and international fronts, adding $19.2 million globally this weekend. The worldwide haul now stands at $283.2 million. After crossing $250 million last week, the film is pacing to top the $300 million threshold by next weekend. Domestically, Tenet eased 26 percent to $3.4 million this weekend (both figures cited by Warner’s email today). The film passed the $40 million mark in North America and is estimated to stand at $41.2 million by Sunday’s end. This was the movie’s top global market this weekend. In the domestic marketplace, 25 percent of cinemas remain closed, while Warner also notes that 78 percent of California (25 counties, including Los Angeles) remains closed. Other major regions like metro New York also remain inoperable. Tenet‘s...

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Long Range Box Office Forecast: Black Widow‘s Delay, Lessons from Tenet, and What to Expect from the Next 8 Weeks

Earlier this week, Disney made the latest seismic moves to its — and exhibition’s — release calendar with the delay of Marvel Studios’ Black Widow from November 6 to May 7, 2021. While the move is lauded as another signal that the distributor remains committed to the theatrical experience and the revenue window it provides, the news underscores a reality that moviegoing on a domestic and international scale will take longer to recover than hoped or planned for. Widow‘s delay comes on the heels of Warner Bros.’ decision to shift Wonder Woman 1984 from October 2 to December 25 later this year. Studios remain apprehensive when looking at the opening weeks of Tenet‘s domestic box office performance, nervous to risk another big-budget tentpole in a market that remains partially closed (despite far more encouraging trends in many international markets). By and large, theater...

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Art Houses Fight On: Salt Lake Film Society Launches @homeArts

On March 13, the Salt Lake Film Society closed its doors. It was a frightening time for exhibition, as theaters were faced with a closure of unsure length along with further (and continuing) uncertainty about product availability. But Tori Baker, President and CEO of the Salt Lake Film Society, didn’t let the closure of her two theaters slow her down. “My immediate plan was to pivot,” she says—a result both of her “entrepreneurial spirit” and technology and resources the Salt Lake Film Society had had in the works since last year, when they were working on an online media accelerator studio. Several months and a global pandemic later, the media accelerator found new life as @homeArts, a platform that gives art house exhibitors the means to take core parts of their business online. With their new platform, which launched in August with ten art house cinemas in addition...

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Disney Moves Black Widow to 2021, Soul Sticks to November 20 Theatrical Release

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Studios announced its latest round of release date changes, as the studio continues to adapt to the challenging theatrical distribution landscape of the Covid-19 pandemic. The most high profile change on the schedule concerns Marvel’s Black Widow, previously scheduled as the next major studio release in North America on November 6. The title will now debut in domestic theaters on May 7, 2021. The change produced a number of ripple effects across the Marvel Cinematic Universe, pushing Eternals (from 2/12/21 to 11/5/21) and Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (from 5/7/21 to 7/9/21) further down the schedule. Other notables changes include an extra year’s wait for Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story (from 12/18/20 to 12/10/21), while 20th Century Studios’ The King’s Man is moved up a week (from 2/26/21 to 2/12/21). Pixar’s Soul,...

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Weekend Forecast: Tenet Eyes Another #1 Finish, Kajillionaire Set to Debut as Industry Braces for Slowdown Without New Content

The news on wide releases has come to a screeching halt again as studios remain apprehensive to support cinemas with more high profile releases, something that is impacting weekend outlooks for the foreseeable future. Until earlier this month, this weekend had been slated to see the release of STX’s Gerard Butler-led disaster thriller, Greenland. That film is now unset with a tentatively planned fourth quarter release. Today, Disney also announced that Marvel Studios’ Black Widow has been delayed from November 6 to May 7, 2021, while Death on the Nile has shifted from October 23 to December 18 this year. As such, Christopher Nolan’s sci-fi epic should easily lead the box office again in its fourth full frame. With $36.4 million in the domestic bank through last Sunday, it seems on target to top the $40 million mark this coming weekend after reaching the $250 million global...

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Movio Promotes Nicholas Maquet to Chief Technology Officer

PRESS RELEASE — Auckland, NZ September 22, 2020 – Movio, a company specializing in marketing data analytics for the cinema industry, has named Nicolas Maquet as Chief Technology Officer. Maquet, who joined Movio six years ago and was subsequently named Head of Technology, will report to Matthew Liebmann, Chief Operating Officer at Movio. A native of Belgium, Maquet earned a Ph.D. in Computer Science at the Free University of Brussels in 2006 and remained there as a researcher for four years. In 2011, he became a Software Engineer at Worldline by Atos, an electronic payment system linked to Belgium’s two largest credit card companies, Visa and Mastercard, as well as working as a lecturer at the University of Mons. In 2014, he co-founded DemonSquid, which built web applications for tabletop role-playing games. That same year he joined Movio as a Software Engineer...

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Christie Introduces CP4450-RGB Direct-Coupled RGB Pure Laser Projector for PLF Theaters

PRESS RELEASE Digital cinema projection and audio provider Christie has introduced a new state-of-the-art RGB pure laser cinema projector for PLF theaters. The Christie CP4450-RGB large-format projector, equipped with dual-laser optical systems (LOS) and high-speed CineLife+ electronics capable of 4K @ 120Hz HFR playback, is the first advanced format cinema projector to feature Christie RealLaser™ technology for screens up to 111 feet (33 meters) wide. With an output of up to 55,000 DCI lumens, the CP4450-RGB is the brightest direct-coupled RGB pure laser cinema projector on the market. “The compact and DCI-compliant CP4450-RGB excels in image quality, operational lifetime, and onscreen brightness, making it the ideal projection system for PLF theaters,” says Brian Claypool, executive vice president, global cinema, Christie. “This direct-coupled...

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GLOBAL REPORT: Tenet Ticks Past $250M Globally, Eases Just 26 Percent Domestically, Tops Dunkirk & Interstellar Starts in Japan

Warner Bros. updates this morning with a report that Tenet will eclipse the $250 million global box office threshold by Sunday’s end, earning an estimated $29.7 million from 52 markets this weekend. Domestically, where an estimated 73 to 74 percent of the market is open, the Christopher Nolan film posted another strong hold with $4.7 million in its third wide release frame — just a 26 percent decline from last weekend. That brings the North American total to $36.1 million as the film remains atop the box office. The film also generated a strong debut in Japan, where its $4.3 million opening weekend topped Dunkirk and Interstellar as the biggest Nolan and Warner Bros. starts ever in the country, despite capacity restrictions around 50 percent. Tenet‘s top market from a global perspective, China, added $5.6 million this weekend, bringing the film’s local cume to $60.6 million...

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Sean Durkin Returns to the Big Screen with The Nest

Jude Law and Carrie Coon give towering performances in The Nest, in theaters today. A silver-tongued financier with a “fake it til you make” it attitude towards household finances, Rory (Law) moves his family—son, stepdaughter, and Allison (Coon), bristling at the confines of the “subservient housewife” role she’s attempting to fill—to a manor house outside London, where the comfortable fictions the pair of them have built about their life together come tumbling down. Written and directed by Martha Marcy May Marlene‘s Sean Durkin, The Nest uses some of the tone and aesthetics of the haunted house genre to explore a family tormented, not by ghosts,...

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