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Wednesday, September 30, 2020

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 now looking at an autumn corridor that will see the market inevitably hit by regression.

As a result of the setbacks, Christopher Nolan’s Tenet remains an unchallenged box office champion. Last week saw positive openings by Break the Silence: The Movie and Disney’s 40th anniversary re-issue of The Empire Strikes Back, each earning estimated $1 million weekends. By contrast, Tenet posted a $3.4 million showing in its fourth full frame of wide release.

Declining less than 30 percent in each of its past few weekends, Nolan’s film remains the anchor of the North American (and global) market. The film reached $41.2 million stateside through Sunday, and $283 million worldwide through the same point. Last weekend’s domestic haul on the picture for the title accounted for 33 percent of the box office.

This weekend, we don’t currently expect new wide releases — although we’ll have more official insight on that come Thursday when studios report theater counts.

For now, Tenet remains the lone story of the box office as it eyes a fifth consecutive number one finish atop the domestic chart (unofficially, it may be the sixth, but the studio hasn’t detailed Canadian earnings from August 28 – 30).

The last film to hit that streak? Black Panther in February and March 2018. The most recent to achieve six consecutive weekends as the box office champion was Avatar in December 2009 through January 2010 (ultimately doing so for seven straight frames).

Estimated Domestic Location Counts (Subject to Updates)

  • Tenet (2,700+; unconfirmed)

Weekend Forecast

Film Distributor 3-Day Weekend Forecast Projected Domestic Total through Sunday, October 4 % Change from Last Wknd
Tenet Warner Bros. $2,500,000 $45,100,000 -26%
The New Mutants Disney / 20th Century Studios $950,000 $21,000,000 -19%
Unhinged Solstice Studios $800,000 $18,500,000 -17%
Break the Silence: The Movie Trafalgar Releasing $675,000 $2,000,000 -32%
Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back Disney / 20th Century Studios $490,000 $1,650,000 -46%
Infidel Cloudburst Entertainment $470,000 $3,550,000 -38%
The Broken Hearts Gallery Sony / TriStar Pictures $330,000 $3,800,000 -34%
Shortcut Gravitas Ventures $175,000 $580,000 -43%
The Last Shift Sony Pictures $160,000 $520,000 -35%
Kajillionaire Focus Features $135,000 $465,000 -37%

All forecasts subject to change before the first confirmation of weekend grosses.

For press inquiries, please contact Shawn Robbins

Follow Boxoffice PRO on Twitter

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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.

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Tuesday, September 29, 2020

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 concessions at discounted rates between 10-25%. GQT Movies will additionally honor Goodrich Quality Theater gift cards, following the latter company’s bankruptcy filing this summer.

You can find a list of GQT theater reopening dates below. For more information, visit www.gqtmovies.com.

Theater reopening list:

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2020 

Ann Arbor, MI (Quality 16)

Bay City, MI (Bay City 10)

Holland, MI (Holland 7)

Battle Creek, MI (West Columbia 7)

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2020

Ada-Lowell, MI (Ada-Lowell 5)

Jackson, MI (Jackson 10)

Three Rivers, MI (Three Rivers 6)

Kalamazoo, MI (Kalamazoo 10)

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2020 

Oxford, MI (Oxford 7)

Hastings, MI (Hastings 4)

Port Huron, MI (Krafft 8)

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Monday, September 28, 2020

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, re-releases, or figures adjusted for inflation. 


#1: Avatar

James Cameron’s 2009 3-D science-fiction fantasy became the highest grossing film of all time both domestically and globally, a title that it held onto for decades. The film’s original run total of $749.7 million now ranks third domestically, behind Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Avengers: Endgame. Its $2.79 billion global total ranks second behind Endgame. An Avatar sequel is currently scheduled for release on December 21, 2022, along with three subsequent sequels slated for 2024, 2026, and 2028.

#2: Titanic

“I’m king of the world” indeed. James Cameron claims the top two slots on this list, as the writer/director’s 1997 historical epic earned $600.7 million during its original theatrical run. Like Avatar before it, Titanic became the highest grossing film of all time both domestically and globally at the time of release; it now ranks 10th and third, respectively. The film spent 15 weekends atop the box office and 26 weekends in the top 10, both marks unmatched by any release since. 

#3: Spider-Man

With the hyphen, it’s technically one word. There have now been eight official Spider-Man films, with an untitled ninth installment scheduled for release December 17, 2021. But it all started with 2002’s original. Webslinging to the first $100 million opening weekend in history, the movie earned $403.7 million domestic during its original theatrical run. Even without adjusting for ticket price inflation, that remains the top-grossing Spider-Man installment to this day. (The runner-up is 2019’s Spider-Man: Far From Home with $390.5 million.)

#4: Frozen

The movie that launched a billion parental admonitions of “If you play that soundtrack one more time…,” Disney’s 2013 animated musical was a massive smash. Its box office total was cool as ice with $400.7 million domestic, while its 16 weekends in the top 10 were the most of any film from the 2010s. Globally it took in $1.28 billion, edging out Iron Man 3 to become the year’s the top film worldwide. 2019 sequel Frozen II only improved upon its predecessor, with $477.3 million domestic and $1.45 billion globally.

#5: Deadpool

One of only two R-rated entries on this list, 2016’s profane superhero spoof earned $363.0 million. Parodying numerous tropes of the genre, the action comedy defied even the most optimistic expectations at the box office, becoming the sixth-biggest title of the year domestically. 2018’s Deadpool 2 kept the green coming with $318.4 million during its original run. 

#6: Aladdin [2019]

Disney’s live action musical rode a magic carpet to $355.5 million domestic, good for eighth place of 2019 and 11 weekends in the top 10. The movie also saw another wish granted with $1.05 billion globally, making it the year’s ninth-biggest title worldwide. If you’re wondering where 1992’s original animated Aladdin ranks on this list, while its $217.3 million domestic during its original run made it the top film of the year, rising ticket prices over subsequent decades relegate it to #33 on this dollars-based list.

#7: Zootopia

Taking place in a world where talking animals abound, from rabbits as police officers to sloths running the DMV, Disney’s animated original earned $341.2 million domestic to become the eighth-biggest film of the year. Globally it ranked even higher, taking in $1.02 billion as the year’s fourth-largest release. No sequel has been officially announced, a rarity for a Disney billion dollar property.

#8: Minions

The animated Despicable Me and Despicable Me 2 had already proven huge hits, albeit with multiple-word titles, when 2015’s spinoff Minions focused on the franchise’s barely-verbal yellow creatures. Earning $336.0 million domestic, it became the sixth-biggest release of the year. Globally it ranked slightly better, with $1.15 billion making it the year’s fifth-biggest title. The franchise’s fifth film and direct Minions sequel Minions: The Rise of Gru is currently scheduled for release on July 2, 2021.

#9: Joker

The other R-rated entry on this list, the gritty and bloody portrayal of Batman’s nemesis and his descent into madness wasn’t joking with $335.4 million. Nine films earned $1 billion globally in 2019, but Joker was by far the least likely as the only non-family-friendly entry among them, surprisingly out-grossing the likes of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and Toy Story 4Joker earned a Best Actor Academy Award for Joaquin Phoenix’s portrayal of the title character. 

#10: Aquaman

Given the character’s relative lack of prior name recognition compared to other DC Comics characters, few could have predicted Aquaman would out-earn the likes of Man of SteelBatman v. Superman, or Justice League. Yet with $335.0 domestic, 2018’s superhero title starring Jason Momoa became the fifth-biggest film of the year. It was also the year’s fifth-biggest release globally, with $1.14 billion. An Aquaman sequel is currently scheduled for release December 16, 2022.

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Sunday, September 27, 2020

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 top ten theaters were dominated by California venues, though, with eight from the state landing among the top performers. Five of the top ten were drive-ins, while two were IMAX screens (both in the Los Angeles / Orange County area) and the Alamo Drafthouse in Ashburn, Virginia also stood out.

Among overall DMA markets for Tenet, Orange County / Greater Los Angeles is ahead of the pack, followed by Dallas, San Francisco, Salt Lake City, Toronto, Phoenix, Chicago, Washington DC, Houston, and Atlanta.

32 percent of the domestic gross is represented by premium formats like IMAX, Dolby Cinema, and others.

Tenet‘s International Highlights

Christopher Nolan’s cerebral epic added $15.8 million this weekend from international play, bringing the overseas cume to $242 million.

Japan eased just 30 percent from its strong debut last weekend (even stronger considering it was a holiday last Sunday), when the film topped the opening’s Dunkirk and Interstellar, to add $3.0 million this weekend. The country’s local cume on the title is at an estimated $11.4 million. Tenet is tracking 46 percent of Dunkirk‘s lifetime gross at the moment.

France and Germany also delivered more staying power for Tenet, drawing a light 13 decline and 9 percent increase, respectively, for $1.4 million and $1.3 million frames. Nolan’s film stands at $18.0 million in France and $14.6 million in Germany. Holland (up 8 percent), Italy (down 17 percent), United Kingdom (down 21 percent), Korea (down 28 percent), and Australia (down 21 percent) round out the trend of strong holds this weekend.

China, the film’s top grossing market thus far, continues to see the title losing screens and market share as it dropped 71 percent to $1.6 million this weekend from 4,746 screens (down 38 percent from 7,670 last week). The Middle Kingdom has generated $64.3 million from Tenet to date.

Tenet still has 25 overseas markets yet to open.

Tenet in IMAX

As alluded to, IMAX remains a powerhouse for Tenet as the film added $2.2 million across the company network to reach $32 million in global box office from that film alone.

IMAX grosses for Nolan’s latest registered another $1.8 million from 625 screens, representing 11 percent of overseas box office this weekend, and bringing the international cume to $27 million.

Domestically, IMAX earnings on Tenet tallied $355K this weekend, down just 25 percent from last, bringing the North American cume to $5.1 million.

Tenet Key Market Weekend Estimates

Territory WK # WE BO WE BO Drop % Screens Cume Cume
    (LC) (USD)     (LC) (USD)
Domestic (U.S./Canada) 4 $3.4m $3.4m -0.26 2,850(locations) $41.2m $41.2m
Japan 2 ¥317.8m $3.0m -0.3 488 ¥1.2b $11.4m
China 4 CNY 10.9m $1.6m -0.71 4746 CNY 439.5m $64.3m
France 5 €1.2m $1.4m -0.13 933 €15.2m $18.0m
Germany 5 €1.1m $1.3m 0.09 1500 €12.3m $14.6m

Tenet Key Market Cumes

Territory Cume Cume
LC USD  
China
CNY 439.5m $64.3m
Domestic (U.S./Canada) $41.2m $41.2m
United Kingdom £14.9m $19.6m
France €15.2m $18.0m
Germany €12.3m $14.6m
Korea Won 15.5b $13.1m
Japan ¥1.2b $11.4m
Taiwan NT$ 310.7m $10.6m
Russia RBL 724.2m $9.6m
Spain €6.7m $7.9m
Italy €6.1m $7.2m
Australia A$9.9m $7.2m
Holland €5.9m $7.0m

Break the Silence Debut, Light Domestic Drops, & More

In other domestic news, event cinema received a bit of a jolt this weekend with the $1 million opening of Break the Silence: The Movie. The film, expected to be driven by fans, posted a very encouraging 52 percent increase from Friday to Saturday ($290K to $440K).

“Opening” right behind that title was Disney / 20th Century Studios’ 40th anniversary re-issue of Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back. The title took in an estimated $908K from 2,097 locations this weekend in its under-the-radar distribution.

The New Mutants and Unhinged continued to post modest declines. The former added $1.147 million (down 30 percent) for an updated tally of $19.46 million. Solstice Studios’ thriller is estimated at $1.0 million (down 22 percent) for a new cume of $17.19 million. New Mutants has also now earned $38.9 million globally to date.

Cloudburst’s Infidel slid 46 percent from opening weekend last frame to $745K this weekend.

The Broken Hearts Gallery was down 41 percent from last weekend to $470K, giving it $3.24 million domestically in all thus far.

Meanwhile, Shortcut debuted to $305K from 725 locations for Gravitas Ventures, The Last Shift delivered $235K from 871 locations in its debut for Sony Pictures Classics, and Kajillionaire opened to $215K from 529 theaters for Focus Features.

Greenland Overseas Debut

STX reports that the Gerard Butler action-thriller Greenland bowed in first place across 21 countries this weekend. The estimated weekend total is $3.7 million from 2,136 locations, bringing the overseas cume to $17.7 million.

Spain is a key market for the film with a first place debut of $777K from 517 locations. The Middle East also generated $1.5 million from 283 locations.

Mulan International Update

Wrapping up this weekend’s report, Mulan added $3.3 million internationally to give it an updated haul of $64.4 million. The film’s top market remains China (by far) with $40 million in earnings there.

The post GLOBAL REPORT: <em>Tenet</em> Crosses $40M Domestic, $280M Global Marks; <em>Break the Silence</em> Hits $1M in North American Debut appeared first on Boxoffice.



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Friday, September 25, 2020

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 owners have done all they can up to this point by re-opening over 70 percent of cinemas in North America, investing in and adopting an array of new health practices to ensure customer safety during the ongoing pandemic. That move was met with Warner’s bold and widely respected decision to release Tenet in a virtual wild west atmosphere. They stood with theaters as far as delivering a new product.

Unfortunately, the progress has been stunted early on in the re-opening process. Consumer awareness (not to be confused with sentiment) of theaters reopening has remained very low, according to multiple surveys from NRG, and marketing for both Tenet‘s release and the broader resumption of exhibition’s business has been generally quiet.

Communication has lapsed in many ways. The cooperation between studios and theater chains has leaned largely on the latter — relying on grassroots word of mouth in suburban and rural areas instead of the usual media and marketing blitzes provided by the entertainment hubs of Los Angeles and New York, among other metro areas whose theaters remain closed.

The result, despite consistently strong week-to-week legs by virtually all films in release right now, has been a light volume of foot traffic throughout the past month.

To be clear: a return to normalcy was never expected to happen anytime soon. It became evident over the summer that we likely weren’t going to be talking about pre-pandemic-level box office trends again until sometime in 2021. The theatrical reboot has (correctly) been defined as a “marathon, not a sprint” by Warner Bros. and various exhibition sources.

That doesn’t mean moviegoing has to stall indefinitely, though. There has been, and still is, an opportunity for the majority of the country to return to movie theaters in a safe and controlled environment. Comscore polling as recently as this month indicated that positive sentiment was trending in the right direction.

However, studios — largely based in the two major markets whose cinemas remain shuttered — haven’t taken as proactive a role in marketing current films and sharing in the promotion of open theaters as many exhibitors would like to see. Audiences need to be better informed of open theaters and their safety protocols.

Just as importantly, cinemas need new product — more than just one tentpole, and preferably, something with true four-quadrant appeal.

It’s a theme we’ve heard all year, and it will remain true throughout the duration of this pandemic and the recovery era. Combined with the streaming dump of Mulan, and subsequent delays of Wonder Woman 1984 and Black Widow, the box office is now relying on one highly cerebral blockbuster and a bevy of counter-programming content, putting the box office at risk of a backslide this fall.

Forecasting the Pre-Holiday Box Office Corridor

With the aforementioned delays in mind, and even whilst factoring in Tenet and other films’ strong holds, the next six weeks are pacing to generate close to $80 million or less at the domestic box office. That takes us up to the day Black Widow would have opened, November 6.

For perspective, the five-week period of August 22 through September 25 this year will finish slightly over $85 million. That was once expected to be the slowest and most challenging time of the restart, with Tenet and Mulan hypothetically drawing various audiences back in steady waves and compounding word of mouth about re-openings — leading into Wonder Woman 1984 and other titles. But in this day and age, nothing is written in ink.

Broken down, that means weekly domestic box office revenue, after topping $22 million for two straight weeks mid-September, may dip to an average of $10 million or less throughout October and early-to-mid November leading up to the tentative openings of No Time to Die and Soul on November 20.

That projected weekly average would register on par with the $11.3 million earned from August 22 to August 28 — before Tenet had fully expanded nationwide, and before many theaters had re-opened.

Notably, these models assume the vast majority of theaters currently open will remain so during this time, with similar operating hours and showtimes observed over the past five weeks. Just as crucially, the equations also presume cinemas of New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco — the top three domestic markets — will remain closed until November 6.

Models, of course, deteriorate if any significant markets are forced to temporarily close again due to the lack of new product, sustainable admissions, and/or regional outbreaks of the virus during a time of year scientists have warned could be very challenging as flu season peaks around the corner.

If there’s a silver lining here, it’s that a number of lower profile, non-major releases remain slated (for now). As of this writing, 101 Studios has The War with Grandpa for October 9, Open Road is planning the Liam Neeson thriller Honest Thief for October 16, and Disney moved up the horror pic The Empty Man from December to October 23 (in time for Halloween), among others.

We’re also excluding the potential impact of Sony’s Connected and STX’s Greenland for now, which remain unscheduled but tentatively planned for releases in the fourth quarter of this year. Those films alone aren’t going to cut it when it comes to supporting mid-to-smaller-sized circuits, though.

Applying the Lessons of Tenet and the Re-Opening’s First Phase

Optimistically, the major market holdouts could begin their restart process by late October or early November in advance of Disney / Pixar’s Soul and MGM’s No Time to Die — both still slated for November 20 releases.

Even more optimistically, if studios show a higher degree of involvement in marketing these films and theatrical re-openings than they have during Tenet‘s early weeks, the next phase of recovery might still have a chance to begin during the typically lucrative holiday season.

These are lofty “if”s, though. A potential second wave of COVID-19 this fall would certainly impact studios’ plans to remain dated in November and December, as could the results of the United States presidential election on November 3 — which may or may not have its own implications on further financial aid for the film industry, not to mention how the country itself tackles the virus going into the new year as a vaccine (hopefully) comes closer into view.

Much has been made of the importance Los Angeles, New York, and other major cities provide to the box office footprint, but their dollar contribution (estimated by NATO and Comscore at 10 to 15 percent for most mainstream films) is arguably secondary to their ability to start the national marketing engine — which, in turn, plays a significant role in guiding the sentiment of moviegoers. It’s not just about money, it’s also about influence.

The safety of everyone is the top priority right now, and that’s why exhibitors have gone to great lengths to provide it for customers while also striving to support thousands upon thousands of people whose families and livings depend on the functionality of this industry.

No outbreaks have been traced to theaters upon re-opening, and as cited by the earlier Comscore survey, the customer experience from those attending theaters during this time has been overwhelmingly positive.

Can we be certain things will stay that way indefinitely? Of course not. That comes with the territory of adaptation during a pandemic. Uncertainty is an element even during times of so-called normalcy.

It’s understandable that studios are playing things safe during a time when everyone is re-writing the rule book, just as it is admirable that they’ve shelved the vast majority of titles for later theatrical releases instead of pushing them off to streaming.

Likewise, some studios are in a stronger position of being able to take risks right now than others. That’s why Disney and Warner Bros., essentially with the strongest backlogs of new films, are in control of how this year — and early next — pan out for the movie industry.

When the time does come for the next major film to open nationwide, be it No Time to Die, Soul, Wonder Woman 1984, or something further out into 2021, the warnings and lessons of these first five weeks absolutely must be heeded.

No more half measures. The experiment of Tenet must breed progress and improved results for the next trial release — because everything will be a trial until it isn’t. Just as one major film had to be first out of the gate, eventually, another will have to be the second.

8-Week Film Forecast

Release Date Title 3-Day (FSS) Opening Range 3-Day (FSS) Opening Forecast % Chg from Last Week Domestic Total Range Domestic Total Forecast % Chg from Last Week Distributor
10/9/2020 The War with Grandpa   n/a     n/a   101 Studios
10/9/2020 The Wolf of Snow Hollow   n/a     n/a   Orion Classics
10/9/2020 Yellow Rose   n/a     n/a   Sony / Stage 6 Films
10/16/2020 2 Hearts $500,000 – $3,000,000 $1,000,000 -50% $2,000,000 – $13,000,000 $4,500,000 -40% Freestyle Releasing
10/16/2020 The Courier   n/a     n/a   Roadside Attractions
10/16/2020 Honest Thief $2,000,000 – $7,000,000 $4,000,000 -53% $10,000,000 – $35,000,000 $20,000,000 -43% Open Road
10/23/2020 The Empty Man $1,000,000 – $6,000,000 $2,500,000   $3,000,000 – $18,000,000 $6,500,000 +30% 20th Century Studios
10/23/2020 Synchronic   n/a     n/a   Well Go USA Entertainment
10/30/2020 Come Play   n/a     n/a   Focus Features
10/30/2020 Fatale $1,000,000 – $4,000,000 $2,000,000 -73% $4,500,000 – $18,000,000 $9,000,000 -54% Lionsgate / Summit
11/6/2020 Let Him Go   $2,750,000     $10,000,000   Lionsgate
11/6/2020 Stillwater   n/a     n/a   Focus Features
11/13/2020 Freaky $4,000,000 – $9,000,000 $7,500,000 -50% $8,000,000 – $20,000,000 $16,000,000 -50% Universal
11/20/2020 No Time to Die   n/a     n/a   MGM
11/20/2020 Soul   n/a     n/a   Disney / Pixar

As always, the news cycle is constantly evolving. Market projections are subject to breaking announcements at any moment.

This column will continue to track the impact of release date changes in the weeks ahead.

For press inquiries, please contact Shawn Robbins

Follow Boxoffice PRO on Twitter

The post Long Range Box Office Forecast: <em>Black Widow</em>‘s Delay, Lessons from <em>Tenet</em>, and What to Expect from the Next 8 Weeks appeared first on Boxoffice.



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Thursday, September 24, 2020

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 to Salt Lake, @homeArts aims to solve two of exhibitors’ key problems: Cash flow (slowed by the “topsy-turvy” payment structures to be found in other virtual theatrical models, says Baker) and fundraising. To do this, @homeArts mimics the operation of a brick and mortar theater in a viewer’s home, allowing them to watch movies and donate to their chosen cinema without the migration to a different site that is often required by the existing virtual theatrical model. 

When you watch a movie on the website of your chosen @homeArts partner you are, technically, streaming that movie—but Baker is adamant that @homeArts is “not a streaming platform. The fact that you’re streaming a movie is certainly a factual thing surrounding the tech. But it is a visit to your local theater. And you are watching a film on their virtual screen.” With a ticket purchase comes the option to donate additional money to the theater; when she spoke to Boxoffice Pro on September 2, Black estimated that, as an aggregate, 40 percent had been added to Salt Lake Film Society online ticket sales in the form of donations.

Key to @homeArts, Black explains, is reinforcing theatrical behavior—the business model, the feeling of loyalty, even the scarcity that with brick and mortar cinema makes moviegoers rush out to see a film before it closes. “It has to be exactly the same experience, with the exception of an online screen,” says Black. “They feel like they’re still my patron. They’re walking up to our box office. They’re participating in our curation and our programming, and they’re not being sent elsewhere”—specifically, sent to the websites of film distributors, often an extra step in the virtual-theatrical model.

That extra step means that another company is collecting your moviegoers’ information, Black argues—information that is a lifeline for art house cinemas, which thrive or die on their connection to their community. “What the art houses in particular, of all the NATO constituents, hold—that they have for decades—is their audiences. They know who they are. They know them intimately, personally, and all their information. What kind of movies they watch. How long they’ve been a member. How much they’ve donated on top of going to see movies.” In the moment of “panic when all theaters closed,” Black says, “everybody let go of that precious asset.”

In re-adapting moviegoers to a theatrical model and a theatrical mindset, even as they continue watch movies from home, @homeArts fights against a pattern of behavior inculcated by years of watching streaming platforms like Netflix: namely, the expectation that the film they want to watch will be there for months, if not indefinitely. Sale Lake Film Society, now as before, opens films on Friday and closes them on Thursday. There are holdovers and exclusive engagements—“all that same language that we use to reinforce the urgency of a film theatrically. There’s no reason not to use that same information. I think it creates that FOMO thing if they do miss out.”

Through replicating the theatrical model on the small screen—letting people feel like they’re patronizing their local cinema, even as they sit in their homes—Baker hopes that viewers will be more likely to come back to the theaters’ physical locations when they’re able to do so. Even then, one of the goals of @homeArts is to “augment,” says Baker, those physical locations, giving “underserved audiences”—for example, people who can’t go out because of medical issues, or those who may not yet feel comfortable returning to a cinema due to Covid—access to a cinema’s “mission-based” virtual screen. “Even post-Covid… maybe that underserved audience is somebody we’ve never noticed before. It’s people who are physically [or emotionally] bound to their home or who can’t participate for some reason in your bricks and mortar [location].” At the Sale Lake Film Society, “we’re talking about that potential, because we’ve always been limited by 200 seats within a given community on every particular screening.… I think there are some interesting potentials emerging out of [@homeArts]. Just because the film is streamed, it’s not a streaming platform. It’s a technology created to augment your bricks and mortar with a virtual screen that has the functionality that you need that reinforces the theatrical experience.”

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Wednesday, September 23, 2020

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, currently scheduled for November 20, 2020, is keeping its date and now becomes the next major Hollywood title expected to hit theaters in North America.

Latest Changes to Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Studios Release Schedule:

DEATH ON THE NILE (20th) previously dated on 10/23/20 moves to 12/18/20

THE EMPTY MAN (20th) previously dated on 12/4/20 moves to 10/23/20

BLACK WIDOW (Disney) previously dated on 11/6/20 moves to 5/7/21

ETERNALS (Disney) previously dated on 2/12/21 moves to 11/5/21

SHANG CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS (Disney) previously dated on 5/7/21 moves to 7/9/21

DEEP WATER (20th) previously dated on 11/13/20 moves to 8/13/21

WEST SIDE STORY (20th) previously dated on 12/18/20 moves to 12/10/21

THE KING’S MAN (20th) previously dated on 2/26/21 moves to 2/12/21

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Release Schedule

(as of September 23, 2020)

2020

10/23/20 THE EMPTY MAN
11/20/20 SOUL
12/4/20 NOMADLAND

12/11/20 FREE GUY

12/18/20 DEATH ON THE NILE

2021

1/22/21 EVERYBODY’S TALKING ABOUT JAMIE
2/12/21 THE KING’S MAN
2/19/21 ANTLERS

3/12/21 RAYA AND THE LAST DRAGON
4/9/21 BOB’S BURGERS
4/23/21 RON’S GONE WRONG
5/7/21 BLACK WIDOW
5/28/21 CRUELLA
6/18/21 LUCA
7/9/21 SHANG CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS
7/30/21 JUNGLE CRUISE

8/13/21 DEEP WATER
8/27/21 THE BEATLES: GET BACK
9/10/21 UNTITLED 20TH CENTURY
10/15/21 THE LAST DUEL
11/5/21 ETERNALS
11/24/21 UNTITLED DISNEY ANIMATION
12/3/21 UNTITLED 20TH CENTURY
12/10/21 WEST SIDE STORY
12/17/21 UNTITLED DISNEY LIVE ACTION

2022

1/7/22 UNTITLED 20TH CENTURY
1/14/22 NIMONA
2/11/22 THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER
3/11/22 UNTITLED PIXAR ANIMATION
3/25/22 DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS
4/8/22 UNTITLED DISNEY LIVE ACTION
5/6/22 BLACK PANTHER 2
5/27/22 UNTITLED DISNEY LIVE ACTION
6/10/22 UNTITLED 20TH CENTURY
6/17/22 UNTITLED PIXAR ANIMATION
7/8/22 CAPTAIN MARVEL 2
7/29/22 UNTITLED INDIANA JONES
8/12/22 UNTITLED DISNEY LIVE ACTION
9/16/22 UNTITLED 20TH CENTURY
10/7/22 UNTITLED MARVEL
10/21/22 UNTITLED 20TH CENTURY
11/4/22 UNTITLED DISNEY LIVE ACTION
11/11/22 UNTITLED 20TH CENTURY
11/23/22 UNTITLED DISNEY ANIMATION
12/16/22 AVATAR 2
12/23/22 UNTITLED 20TH CENTURY

2023

1/13/23 UNTITLED 20TH CENTURY
2/17/23 UNTITLED MARVEL
3/10/23 UNTITLED DISNEY LIVE ACTION
3/24/23 UNTITLED 20TH CENTURY
5/5/23 UNTITLED MARVEL
5/26/23 UNTITLED DISNEY LIVE ACTION
6/9/23 UNTITLED 20TH CENTURY
6/16/23 UNTITLED PIXAR ANIMATION
7/14/23 UNTITLED DISNEY LIVE ACTION
7/28/23 UNTITLED MARVEL
8/11/23 UNTITLED DISNEY LIVE ACTION
9/15/23 UNTITLED 20TH CENTURY
10/6/23 UNTITLED DISNEY LIVE ACTION
10/20/23 UNTITLED 20TH CENTURY
11/3/23 UNTITLED MARVEL
11/10/23 UNTITLED 20TH CENTURY
11/22/23 UNTITLED DISNEY ANIMATION
12/15/23 UNTITLED DISNEY LIVE ACTION
12/22/23 UNTITLED STAR WARS

2024

12/20/24 AVATAR 3

2025

12/19/25 UNTITLED STAR WARS

2026

12/18/26 AVATAR 4

2027

12/17/27 UNTITLED STAR WARS

2028

12/22/28 AVATAR 5

UNSET

THE FRENCH DISPATCH

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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 threshold a few days ago. Tenet added an estimated $4.7 million in North America last weekend, which Warner Bros. reported was off 26 percent from the prior three-day haul.

Once again leaving us in the position of having to reverse engineer the math of the film’s earnings, that indicates the studio previously over-estimated (or has simply revised) Tenet‘s second full weekend gross. It was previously reported as $6.7 million, but the studio’s quote of a 26 percent decline during the September 18 – 20 period suggests they are now reporting the September 11 – 13 weekend earned around $6.35 million instead. (The studio has not yet responded to our request for confirmation on this.)

Either way, these holds represent the little bit of good news in the moviegoing space. Tenet, alongside The New Mutants, Unhinged, and other titles are displaying very soft week-to-week declines, and Infidel was a welcome surprise last weekend with its $1.38 million opening — notably above our own expectations.

Despite the overall muted performances of all titles in a domestic market that still lacks the marketing blitz and media support of major cities like New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, those who are willing and able to return to cinemas are doing so in consistent numbers. Unfortunately, though, awareness remains an issue. At last report from NRG via NATO, less than 45 percent of consumers even knew theaters were open as of the September 11 – 13 weekend.

While Tenet will continue its dominant footprint in IMAX and other PLF screens, this weekend does see the release of Focus Features’ Kajillionaire. The indie dramedy starring Evan Rachel Wood could provide a moderate boost to attendance in suburbs and cities with open cinemas. We’re still waiting on an official location count to be confirmed, but a true wide release in 1,000 or more theaters could help the picture net a debut of $1 million or higher.

Focus is also re-releasing two archival titles in an estimated 1,000 theaters each, those being On the Basis of Sex and RBG. Both are re-entering the marketplace in memoriam of the passing of Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg. It’s nearly impossible to tell how these re-releases will perform without no comparisons in a pandemic market, so forecasts are significantly more volatile than those of other holdovers.

Meanwhile, Gravitas Ventures will release Shortcut in an estimated 500 locations, this weekend, while Sony and Stage 6 Films will debut The Last Shift in an unreported number of locations.

Estimated Domestic Location Counts (Subject to Updates)

  • Tenet (2,930+) (unconfirmed)
  • Infidel (1,885)
  • On the Basis of Sex (~1,000)
  • RBG (~1,000)
  • Shortcut (500+)

Weekend Forecast

Film Distributor 3-Day Weekend Forecast Projected Domestic Total through Sunday, September 27 % Change from Last Wknd
Tenet Warner Bros. $3,600,000 $41,100,000 -23%
The New Mutants Disney / 20th Century Studios $1,300,000 $19,600,000 -20%
Unhinged Solstice Studios $1,100,000 $17,300,000 -14%
Kajillionaire Focus Features $1,000,000 $1,000,000 NEW
Infidel Cloudburst Entertainment $930,000 $2,900,000 -33%
The Broken Hearts Gallery Sony / TriStar Pictures $625,000 $3,400,000 -22%
After We Collided Voltage Pictures $220,000 $1,550,000 -28%
The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run Paramount $180,000 $4,500,000 -13%
RBG Focus Features $150,000 $14,200,000
Bill & Ted Face the Music United Artists Releasing $120,000 $3,300,000 -37%
Words on Bathroom Walls Roadside Attractions $110,000 $2,370,000 -25%
Shortcut Gravitas Ventures $100,000 $100,000 NEW
On the Basis of Sex Focus Features $90,000 $24,700,000

All forecasts subject to change before the first confirmation of weekend grosses.

For press inquiries, please contact Shawn Robbins

Follow Boxoffice PRO on Twitter

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Monday, September 21, 2020

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 and was made Head of Technology in 2017.

“It’s truly exciting to be part of Movio’s cadre of innovators who care about the movie industry in general and the exhibition space, in particular,” said Maquet. “We’re all movie lovers at the company so to be involved in the cutting-edge research and services that Movio provides to its customers is a remarkable experience.”

“Nic has the extraordinary ability to cut through technological fads to ensure Movio employs the optimum solution to overcome any obstacle,” said Movio Co-Founder and Chief Executive William Palmer. “This approach has led to vast improvements in the cadence and quality of our development and built confidence in our technical direction.”

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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 RGB laser cinema projector enables exhibitors to impress audiences with stunning, true-to-life 4K images while benefiting from a platform designed to support the content and formats of the future.”

The Cinity Cinema System, developed by Christie for Huaxia Film Distribution, is based on the CP4450-RGB’s architecture and technology. To date, cinemas in more than 30 cities across China have installed Cinity to deliver a variety of advanced technologies, including 4K, 3D, HFR, HDR, and Wide Color Gamut (WCG), to PLF auditoriums.

Christie will showcase a static unit of the CP4450-RGB at its booth (EA2-01) during the upcoming InfoComm China 2020, which takes place at the China National Convention Center in Beijing from September 28-30. Click here for more information on this event.

Built on the CineLife+ platform, the CP4450-RGB is capable of displaying HFR titles in 4K at 120 frames per second. With this new system architecture and ultrafast processing, audiences won’t see the motion blur typical of some giant screen experiences. These projectors display artifact-free images in 2D and 3D.

Both the CP4450-RGB and 45,000 lumen CP4440-RGB can achieve greater than 95% of the Rec. 2020 colour space, feature superior contrast ratio performance versus other projection technologies, and has a long-lasting light source that offers over 50,000 hours of optimal performance.

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Sunday, September 20, 2020

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 in the Middle Kingdom.

Key domestic highlights from the studio include:

  • As new markets and theaters become available, we’ve continued to increase our counts. Overall, the additional locations we’ve picked up since our Labor Day opening weekend account for approximately 13 percent of our weekend total. Note: approximately 27 percent of the Domestic marketplace is not open including most of Los Angeles as well as the key New York and San Francisco areas.


  • Where open, the greater Los Angeles/ Orange County market continues to dominate: three of the top five, and five out of the top ten Domestic locations came out of the Greater LA/Orange County DMA, with many locations showing increases in their week over week totals.


  • While California overall is still primarily closed (approximately 80 percent), the regions that are open continue to show great promise as well. Including locations in the open regions of Northern California as well as San Diego, six of our ten top theatres and ten of our top twenty theatres came out of California.


  • The top ten locations this weekend are:  1. AMC Block Orange, 2. Paramount Drive-In Los Angeles, 3. Regal Irvine Spectrum, 4. Alamo Drafthouse Loudoun (Wash DC), 5. Sacramento Drive-In, 6. Cinemark Huntington Beach Bella Terra, 7. Five Drive-In Toronto, 8. AMC Tustin, 9. Stardust Drive-In Toronto, 10. AMC Tysons Corner (Wash DC).


  • The top ten DMA markets are: 1. Orange County/Greater Los Angeles, 2. Dallas, 3. Toronto, 4. Salt Lake City, 5. Phoenix, 6. Chicago, 7. Greater New York Metro area (NJ & CT theatres), 8. Houston, 9. Atlanta, 10. San Diego.


  • Where all markets are open, Canada continues to perform strongly with a 14 percent drop versus last weekend and represents approximately 14 percent of our gross this weekend.  Note: Canada opened the week before the U.S.

  • The upcharge premium formats continue to represent a large portion of thegross, led by IMAX, PLF/Premium Large Formats, and Dolby Cinema.

Tenet‘s International Highlights

Meanwhile, Warner Bros. notes the following performances standing out among Tenet‘s non-domestic markets:

  • Japan opened very strongly to $4.3 million, which was ahead of both Dunkirk and Interstellar for the three-day opening weekend. IMAX screens accounted for a 27 percent market share, and other premium formats also performed very well. Japan enters their Silver Week holiday this week and results are expected to be very good through the week.


  • Mexico, with 88 percent of the market now re-opened, was a clear number one at the box office with $850,000 for the weekend. This is the first market in the Latin American region to open the film and, as in other countries, a long playout is expected for the film.


  • Holds across the board this weekend were excellent, especially on Saturday where drops were minimal: France ( down 14 percent), Germany (down 25 percent), Italy (down 24 percent), Russia ( down 28 percent), Spain (down 11 percent), UK (down 35 percent) and Korea (down 26 percent). As Warner Bros. has continually noted, and as these numbers clearly indicate, the film’s run is a marathon and not a sprint.


  • The IMAX results continue to be very strong internationally representing $3.5 million this weekend, or 14 percent of the international total.


  • Tenet still has 25 international markets yet to release the film, including all of Latin America, Indonesia, India, and the Philippines. These markets will release once cinemas re-open in each respective country.

Tenet‘s IMAX Notes

With Japan’s strong launch included, Tenet added $4 million from IMAX theaters around the world this weekend, marking a slim 5 percent decline from last weekend. IMAX is currently representing 13.3 percent of the overall weekend total on the film. To date, the company’s screens have accounted for $28 million of the film’s box office haul, 11.2 percent of the global tally.

In Japan, the film earned a $30K per-theater average with $1.15 million from just 38 IMAX screens. Those represented 27 percent of the film’s overall gross in the country.

Internationally, Tenet earned $3.5 million this weekend from 782 IMAX screens — giving the company an overseas cume of $23.4 million from the film. Excellent holds included EMEA (down 24 percent), Asia/Pacific (down 32 percent excluding Japan), Hong Kong (down 13 percent), Switzerland (up 3 percent), Belgium (down 2 percent), Sweden (down 1 percent), Saudi Arabia (down 8 percent), South Korea (down 15 percent), France (down 17 percent), Russia (down 19 percent), Italy (down 21 percent), and Germany (down 22 percent).

China added $700K in IMAX for a cume of $9.2 million.

In North America, Tenet‘s IMAX footprint added $505K from 293 screens this weekend, down just 24 percent from last weekend. The format’s cume on the title is $4.6 million domestically, nearly 13 percent of the domestic box office tally.

With Los Angeles and New York still closed, the top three domestic IMAX plays this weekend came from Orange County: Regal Irvine Spectrum, AMC The Block in Orange, and Regal Yorba Linda.

Tenet‘s Weekend Cumes

Territory WK # WKND BO WKND BO Drop % Screens Cume Cume WKND Rank
    (LC) (USD)     (LC) (USD)  
China
3 CNY 38.2m $5.6m -0.46 7670 CNY 414.6m $60.6m 3
Domestic (U.S./Canada) 2 $4.7m $4.7m -0.26 2,930 (locations) $36.1m $36.1m 1
Japan 1 ¥452.5m $4.3m   488 ¥452.5m $4.3m 1
Russia 3 RBL 120.0m $1.6m -0.25 1904 RBL 615.7m $8.2m 2
Hong Kong 2 HK$ 11.7m $1.5m -0.22 130 HK$ 31.9m $4.1m 1
France 4 €1.2m $1.4m -0.22 927 €13.1m $15.6m 1

Tenet‘s Global Cumes through Sunday

Territory Cume Cume
LC USD  
China
CNY 414.6m $60.6m
Domestic (U.S./Canada) $36.1m $36.1m
United Kingdom £13.9m $18.2m
France €13.1m $15.6m
Germany €10.9m $12.9m
Korea Won 14.1b $11.9m
Taiwan NT$ 286.8m $9.8m
Russia RBL 615.7m $8.2m
Spain €6.2m $7.3m
Italy €5.5m $6.6m
Australia A$8.9m $6.4m
Holland €5.2m $6.2m
Saudi Arabia SAR18.0m $4.8m

Infidel Beats Expectations

Not to be overlooked this weekend is Cloudburst Entertainment’s Infidel, which handily beat pre-release expectations with a $1.5 million opening weekend in North America, taking third place in its debut.

The breakdown includes estimates of $530K on Friday, $530K on Saturday, and $440K on Sunday. The film is playing at 1,724 locations.

Mulan Reaches $57 Million Internationally

Disney updates this morning with fresh figures for Mulan as the live-action remake took in an estimated $10.9 million internationally this weekend. That brings the film’s cume to $57 million, including $36.2 million from China. In the Middle Kingdom, the film’s second weekend earned $6.5 million.

Mulan opened in Korea with an estimated $1.2 million four-day weekend, taking first place during the frame ahead of the country’s Chusok holiday.

The pic remains in first place in the Middle East, Malaysia, and Singapore. Strong holds include markets such as Poland (down 21 percent), Middle East (down 39 percent), and Russia (down 42 percent).

Mulan opens in Israel next weekend.

Key cumes:

Territories GBO
   
China $36.2M
Middle East $5.1M
Russia $3.5M
Thailand $2.7M
Taiwan $2.2M
Singapore $1.8M
Malaysia $1.4M
Korea $1.2M

The New Mutants Maintains Healthy Holds

Domestically, The New Mutants continued to display some staying power as moviegoing recovers at a slow-and-steady pace. The film is earning an estimated $1.6 million from 2,518 locations in North America this weekend, representing just a 23.4 percent drop from last weekend.

Internationally, Mutants $2.0 million this weekend from 38 territories, giving the film a $3.6 million global weekend (down 39 percent from last weekend). Strong holds this week include Spain (down 19 percent), France (down 23 percent), and Germany (down 26 percent).

After opening in Ecuador this weekend, Mutants next eyes a release in Brazil (October 8) and Japan (November 27). China is slated but with no date announced yet.

Key cumes:

Territories GBO
   
France $2.6M
UK $1.7M
Mexico $1.6M
Spain $1.3M
Russia $1.0M

The post GLOBAL REPORT: <em>Tenet</em> Ticks Past $250M Globally, Eases Just 26 Percent Domestically, Tops <em>Dunkirk</em> & <em>Interstellar</em> Starts in Japan appeared first on Boxoffice.



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Friday, September 18, 2020

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, but by its own failings to live up to the crushing expectations they’ve pushed upon themselves. Shortly before its theatrical bow courtesy of IFC Films, Durkin spoke with Boxoffice Pro about the film’s period setting, visual style, and shoulderpads.

Congratulations on the film. I really enjoyed it, even though I will say it isn’t the best film to watch mood-wise when you’re trapped in your house and you feel like your life is slipping away from you.

[laughs] Thank you!

At what point did Carrie and Jude come to be cast?

We shot in the fall of 2018. I guess about six months before we shot, I sent the script to both of them. I’d known Carrie a little bit through friends. We’d met a couple times. My casting director, Susan Shopmaker, and I work closely together. We were talking about people, and then once Susan said Carrie, it all clicked. “Of course. Of course it’s Carrie.” So I sent it to her, and she responded. I knew we needed somebody who could capture that duality. Allison is very clearly more than one thing. She typically, maybe, would be divided into two characters, in a way. I needed someone who could be believable to bring those two parts of the character together as one cohesive person and do it with real power and subtlety. She’s just incredible. 

Jude, I sent the script to. He was in LA and responded, and we met. And from from day one, we were asking the same question, which is: “Rory does things that don’t seem like the best things for the family, but he genuinely believes they are.” And so what we talked about from day one was how we find that heart and that warmth underneath Rory. So no matter what he does, he’s always doing it with love. Jude, for me, has so much love and such a big heart.

Rory’s not just being dishonest to other people in his life. He’s being dishonest to himself, first and foremost. 

Exactly.  He’s not being truthful with himself. Neither of them are, and that’s what I wanted the film to be about. How do they get to a point of admitting a truth to themselves?

Allison is such a great character—her battling between the housewife box and her own inner power. It’s a mix of strength and vulnerability that she she did so well in “The Leftovers.”

Yeah. It’s also why I wanted to set the movie [during the ‘80s]. These themes run through life no matter what time period it is. I wanted to study two people who were from a post-War parenting generation that were given these societal dreams that they were chasing. There were these things put on them by their families and where they came from. They’re caught between these two worlds. And I thought that time period was a great way to explore those values and ask: Are these values mine? Where do they come from? And Allison is such a complex [example] of that. Because it makes no sense that she would assume [the subservient housewife] role, on some level. Because she’s so outspoken and so strong. I think that life is complicated and people are complicated. And so I wanted to tap into that.

Image Courtesy IFC Films

Once you’d cast Carrie and Jude, did that change the characters at all, or the dynamic between them? Or did they pretty much fit the vision you were working with?

By the time they got the script, it was pretty finished.They said they felt it was there on the page. The thing I always say is that when I hand over a script to an actor, it’s like a handing over of the character. I always want them to bring their own experience, their own inspiration, to mold some of the details. I like to be really open about that, and both [Jude and Carrie] are so creative in the details. 

So it was very much there, but they both brought their individuality to it. And their chemistry was fantastic. We didn’t do that much prep. I think we spent a day together, the three of us. We met in New York, and we went out for lunch. It was really just that. It was spending a bit of time and building that trust. And we felt that right away. We were all there to give it our all. Everyone was passionate about it and wanted to be a bit ugly at times. Not be afraid to be ugly and say terrible things to each other and get into the messiness of being in a marriage and being human.

The dishonesty and the pettiness and the bitterness.

And also the passion and attraction. I really wanted to make something about a couple who are attracted to each other. I think you feel that in the film. You see a spark between them, at times, where you get why they’re together. There’s an energy to them. And that’s something I think you don’t see a lot: a married couple who might fight like crazy, but they’re also into each other. That was something that was really important, that we talked about from the very beginning.

Image Courtesy IFC Films

I’d like to talk a bit about the look of the film—you have a real duality, just like you do with the characters. It almost feels warm and cold and claustrophobic and distancing at the same time.

I always try to approach each scene to get the best out of that scene in that moment. I don’t think too much on a macro level. I’m not calculated in that sense. But I think in the end, you do end up having a more specific feel than is intended. 

In terms of the distances, I’m always very specific about when to be close and when to be far. I think Rory only gets two extreme close ups in the film. One is the introduction to him, in the beginning. And then one is the revelation at the end. And in between, I wanted to drift between being close to him—being with him—and being farther away. But oftentimes that, for me, is more about space and how people inhabit their space. The space that they’re in, whether it is the coziness of their American home or the grand coldness of their English home, which still has a warmth [in its] tone—it’s really important to see people in their in their world and their landscape. Or Rory walking through empty London streets, because he’s the first to work and he has this drive. 

Space is really important to me, and seeing people in their environment is really important to me. I think we get used to seeing characters at a certain distance, especially on TV. We get used to this language, but actually we don’t often often need to be that close. And I don’t see that as being cold or distant, either. I think seeing someone in their environment, being as close as you need to be, can tell you as much as if you are absolutely up close. And so it’s always about the balance for me and doing what’s the right emotional beat for that scene and giving the right distance for the actor to do their thing.

The scenes set in that big manor house—the characters feel overwhelmed by it. It almost feels like it’s going to crash in on them.

It’s trying to give a sense that, even though the first house [they live in, before they move] is smaller and much closer, it’s much less claustrophobic than the giant house. You can’t escape it. So even though there’s more space, and you’re wider a lot in the big house—this idea of crashing down is really good. It’s keeping them locked in.

Image Courtesy IFC Films

It almost feels like a haunted house movie, but the ghost is aspirational, ‘80s Yuppiedom.

It’s absolutely what I wanted—to use the elements of a haunting and cinematic language of that to embody what they’re going through emotionally. And also, spending time in these kinds of houses, they are just scary. There doesn’t need to be a ghost. There doesn’t need to be a reason. They just are. This house is 700 years old. You step in, and there’s an atmosphere that has nothing to do with the supernatural. You’ve got 700 years of people living in there. It’s old, and it changes size. It literally expands and contracts over the course of the day. It is constantly making noises. Doors that close in the morning don’t close an afternoon and then close again at night. It’s amazing how alive it is. I don’t think there’s really space to explain that in a movie—or in this movie, I should say—but I certainly wanted to try and embrace that feel, even though it wasn’t a movie about a haunting.

What were the conversations you had with your costume designer?

This is really, really crucial, actually. I said to everyone on costume or makeup: When people make movies about the ‘80s, they have too much fun. They bask in the joke of it. When really, you look back at the references, and it doesn’t look that different from today. I wanted it to be completely accurate, yes, but almost not noticeable until there are key things that are you can’t [avoid]—computers, telephones, those things. The costume designer, Matt Price, and I had amazing conversations upfront about that subtlety and about making sure it was accurate without ever tipping into an area [that’s] too much of an indicator. Even Jude’s suits—we had them cut by this amazing tailor that Matt knew in London, and they were totally accurate to the time. It was old-school guys, and they’d been there for 50 years and knew the time period. Decisions about shoulder pads—we went with the smaller version of the shoulder pads. Things like that. We’re so used to seeing ‘80s [movies where the costumes have] full shoulder pads. They were accurate, but we took the least exaggerated version of them. 

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