The Croods: A New Age was a breath of fresh air at North American movie theaters this weekend, grossing an estimated $14.22 million over the five-day Thanksgiving frame and $9.71 million from Friday-Sunday on 2,221 screens.
If the latter figure holds, the Universal release will surpass Tenet ($9.35 million) as the biggest three-day opening since the coronavirus pandemic shuttered theaters in March. The Croods’ per-screen average was $4,392 over the three-day period and $6,429 over the five-day.
This marks the fifth straight weekend Universal has enjoyed the No. 1 film at the North American box office, following Come Play, Let Him Go (both Focus Features titles) and Freaky, which held the top spot for two consecutive weekends. The studio has four more films set to release this year, including All My Life (Universal) and Half Brothers (Focus) on Dec. 4 and Young Woman (Focus) and News of the World (Universal) on Christmas Day.
The Croods: A New Age received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics but fared even better with audiences, garnering an “A” Cinemascore and a 95% Audience Score on Rotten Tomatoes (from 516 ratings). It marks the first major family release to hit theaters since March, satisfying a pent-up demand and suggesting many parents were just waiting for the right title to lure them back to cinemas again. Notably, 32% of this weekend’s audience consisted of parents, while half fell under the age of 17.
Of course, no apples-to-apples comparisons can be made with the first Croods, which opened to $43.64 million in March 2013 and finished with a robust $187.17 million domestic and $587.2 million worldwide during a very different time. In today’s climate, a near-$10 million theatrical opening counts as a win.
Overseas, The Croods opened to an estimated $20.8 million from seven markets, $19.2 million of which came from China. A New Age marks the third-highest MPA debut in that country, after Tenet and Mulan, since theaters reopened there.
Dipping one spot to second place after two weeks at the top was Universal’s Freaky, which grossed an estimated $770,000 over the three-day frame and $1.1 million over the five-day. That brings the total for the horror-comedy to $7.02 million in North America and $11.89 million worldwide.
Third place went to 101 Studios’ The War With Grandpa, which grossed an estimated $644,000 over the three-day frame and $892,000 over the five-day. The cume for the Robert De Niro family comedy is $17.26 million to date.
In fourth and fifth place were the Universal/Focus titles Let Him Go and Come Play, which brought in an estimated $453,000 three-day/$670,000 five-day and $387,000/$520,000 in their fourth and fifth weekends, respectively (they are also now available on PVOD). Totals currently stand at $8.74 million and $8.7 million.
In limited play, NEON released the Kate Winslet-Saoirse Ronan drama Ammonite on 58 screens and brought in an estimated $161,000.
Disney’s latest holiday re-release, the original Frozen, made barely a dent despite opening on 1,367 screens, grossing just $120,000 over the three-day and $150,000 over the five-day period. The underwhelming result isn’t a surprise considering the presence of The Croods in theaters this weekend.
OVERSEAS
Warner Bros.’ Tenet surpassed $300 million internationally this weekend after grossing an estimated $837,000 from 53 overseas territories. Its international cume stands at $300.4 million while its global tally is $357.8 million. It has yet to release in 15 markets, including Argentina, India, Indonesia and the Philippines.
Also from Warner Bros., The Witches (which went directly to HBO Max in North America) grossed an additional $1.2 million, bringing its overseas total to $16.9 million.
Sunday’s 3-Day Studio Weekend Estimates (Domestic)
Universal has checked in during this holiday break with a brief update on the early performance of The Croods: A New Age, reporting that the film has earned $4.6 million in its first two days of domestic release.
Broken down, that sum has been reached through a $1.9 million Wednesday opening and a $2.7 million Thursday haul. While Wednesday’s result was already slightly ahead of expectations, Thursday’s 42 percent increase was unexpected and quite atypical for Thanksgiving.
Traditionally, most films post a decline on the holiday — particularly those opening on the Wednesday immediately before, and especially franchise films with wide appeal. For example, Pixar’s Coco dropped over 32 percent from Wednesday to Thursday during the 2017 holiday week, and Disney’s Ralph Breaks the Internet slid 44.5 percent the year after. Both films, like Croods, opened the day before Thanksgiving.
What this translates to is another development of new trends during the pandemic in a market where less than half of theaters are currently operating due to the record surges of the virus and moviegoers are exercising caution, while open cinemas are limiting attendance. Front-loading is a term we haven’t used in a long time, nor are likely to again until sometime next year.
Ordinarily, we would expect a major Friday surge from Thursday after past Thanksgiving runs, but it’s difficult to tell if that will be the case this year. The aforementioned examples of Coco and Ralph more than doubled their Thanksgiving Day gross on Black Friday.
Our final forecast called for an $8.3 million five-day domestic opening (Wednesday through Sunday), a figure that looks increasingly possible (if not likely) for the sequel to top.
China Release
Meanwhile, the Croods follow-up is also starting its international run in China. The film opened to $3 million on opening day Thursday in the Middle Kingdom, marking the third best opening day for a Hollywood release in 2020 behind Tenet and Mulan.
Universal notes that the sequel’s opening Friday is on par with the original film’s first day gross back in 2013, which landed on a Saturday. A New Age is in a close race with local titles Caught in Time and One Second for the top spot at the Chinese box office, and is earning healthy pre-sales for Saturday and Sunday.
The Croods: A New Age will open in another six markets this weekend, followed by a staggered rollout over the next couple of months.
2020 marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of Boxoffice Pro. Though the publication you hold in your hands has had different owners, headquarters, and even names—it was founded in Kansas City by 18-year-old Ben Shlyen as The Reel Journal, then called Boxoffice in 1933, and more recently Boxoffice Pro—it has always remained committed to theatrical exhibition.
From the 1920s to the 2020s, Boxoffice Pro has always had one goal: to provide knowledge and insight to those who bring movies to the public. Radio, TV, home video, and streaming have all been perceived as threats to the theatrical exhibition industry over the years, but movie theaters are still here—and so are we.
We at Boxoffice Pro are devotees of the exhibition industry, so we couldn’t resist the excuse of a centennial to explore our archives. What we found was not just the story of a magazine, but the story of an industry—the debates, the innovations, the concerns, and above all the beloved movies. We’ll share our findings in our year-long series, A Century in Exhibition.
When moviegoers sank into their seats in the dark auditorium of the Lowe’s State Theatre in New York City on March 14, 1972, to watch a drama about the Italian American Mafia, little did they know they were making movie history. The Godfather became the best-selling title of the year and the first American film to gross $100 million domestically in its initial release. The Godfather was also making history in a different way: It encapsulated the contradictions of the decade. On the one hand, director Francis Ford Coppola represented the generation of “movie brats,” young male directors fresh out of film school like Martin Scorsese, Brian De Palma, and George Lucas, who represented New Hollywood at its peak. On the other hand, The Godfather was a precursor of the blockbuster phenomenon that buried New Hollywood in the second half of the decade. Like the countercultural revolution that had been embraced by so many young people in the previous decade, The Godfather spoke to the disillusionment of the Vietnam and Watergate era. But in other ways it was a nostalgic film about the waning of white male patriarchal power amid the ascendance of the women’s rights, gay rights, and Black Power movements.
The 1970s were, in fact, a period of rapid and contradictory transformations for exhibition. At the beginning of the decade, weekly admissions continued their decline. Admissions in 1970 were 18 million, down from 30 million in 1960, in part because of rising ticket costs, cable TV, theaters playing the same film for an extended period (a practice Boxoffice Pro founder and editor Ben Shlyen criticized), and a lack of both film variety and advertising. Dwindling admissions and the collapse of the studio system made room for New Hollywood but also for cheap, shocking exploitation films. The civil rights movement and the realization that African American audiences had box office potential launched blaxploitation, while the failures of the MPAA’s rating system opened the door for raunchy sexploitation. Though not without some success, these films were not enough to prevent the downtown houses and movie palaces that showed them from going quiet as (white) audiences and exhibitors rushed to theaters in suburban malls. Movies became another expression of consumerism, epitomized by the rise of blockbusters—with their wider releases and expensive marketing strategies— ushering in an era of new vitality for the industry.
Power to New Audiences
The early 1970s saw an industry in crisis. And as many industries in crisis do, the film industry sought to make money cheaply and quickly. With exploitation films, dabbling in on-trend subjects like martial arts and eroticism, studios were able to attract moviegoers without investing in the sort of big-budget spectacle that had flopped in the 1960s. One of the most important exploitation sub-genres was blaxploitation. The civil rights movement had obliged exhibitors to open their doors to Black audiences and brought new ways of thinking about race relations. For the first time since the birth of cinema, the integration of theaters gave African Americans a wider platform and showed the importance of catering to a diverse audience.
Melvin Van Peebles’s 1971 film Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song is believed to be the first blaxploitation film. The movie features a male prostitute, Sweetback, who evades the police and protests against white authority. It established one of the genres core themes: A Black person fights the system, and for the first time wins. Despite its X rating (the movie tagline was “X-rated by an all-white jury”), the film grossed $15 million and pushed Hollywood toward a new audience. That same year, MGM’s Shaft became an instant hit. Boxoffice Pro reported that it played 24 hours a day for the first week of its opening in some theaters, like the DeMille Theatre in New York City’s Times Square. Unlike many Hollywood films, the genre also made room for women stars, such as icon Pam Grier, “the “Queen of Blaxploitation.”
Film historians still try to understand the significance and impact of the genre. Was it an expression of Black empowerment, a manifestation of their anger toward the system, or just a new marketing angle for Hollywood? Blaxploitation was indeed criticized by some African Americans and by the NAACP for perpetuating stereotypical images of Black people as criminals. Others criticized the lack of originality of the genre, which by the middle of the decade had resorted to horror, western, and kung fu film remakes.
In the pages of Boxoffice Pro, blaxploitation films were received with mixed reviews. Steven Jacobson, head of the independent production company Xanadu Productions, acknowledged in November 1975 that “Black films make money.” But, criticizing their hyper-focus on Black audiences, he continued that “it’s in the best interest of the industry to be sensitive to the needs of the [entire] moviegoing public.” A semiretired trade paper editor, Don Carle Gillette, criticized their quality. “Too many exhibitors still are more interested in making money from sales of popcorn, cold drinks, and hot dogs than from the sale of box office tickets. … But tawdry exploitation pictures can draw many munchers while quality films attract a more discriminating clientele that sits attentively all through a performance. … So what’s best for the industry—quality films or popcorn pictures?” he asked.
Downtown Theaters Are Shuttered
Criticism aside, blaxploitation films did invigorate Black filmmakers and audiences, especially urban moviegoers. But their success was not enough to keep inner-city theaters from closing. In the local news sections of Boxoffice Pro, articles about theater closings proliferated. In an article dated February 1976, Shlyen attributed this to “conditions which [small theaters] have been unable to control,” including product shortages, excessive rental terms, and extended runs in inner-city theaters that “did not provide sufficient patrons to sustain such extended needs.” Moreover, as an anonymous contributor wrote in 1972, “The audience that once looked to moviegoing big-city wise as a steady habit, has moved increasingly to the outlying sections and spilled over to the fast-growing suburban towns.” Because of the “frightening displays of violence in the streets, choking traffic conditions, [and] reduced parking availability,” they continued, “it’s a matter of persuading entertainment-seekers to ‘return’ to the central-core city after dark.”
Suburbanization was taking a toll on drive-ins too, as more and more were razed to the ground to make room for parking lots and malls. Another institution of American moviegoing was particularly hard hit during that period: movie palaces. A September 1979 editorial entitled “Grand old houses fast becoming a memory” explained that “many of the survivors are threatened with extinction either through demolition, recycling, or restoration projects that would render their once grand appeal antiseptic by former standards of excellence—a sad throwback to the proverbial winds of change that we all so proudly hail as progress.” Boxoffice Pro advocated for the protection of these historically and culturally significant theaters, but the high costs of maintenance in the context of a wider moviegoing crisis made the task almost impossible.
Some movie palaces, like the Hollywood Pantages or Radio City Music Hall, were converted to performing arts centers. Others were transformed into churches. Drive-ins, meanwhile, hosted swap meets to bring in additional revenue during the day. NATO dedicated many conferences and roundtables to the problem, with debates on topics like “Unconventional Uses for Conventional Theaters” or “Daytime Dividends for Drive-ins.” NATO’s 1972 Showmanship Award winner, Joe Vleck, the advertising director of National General Theaters in Los Angeles, suggested making the theaters available for beauty operators’ conventions, travel agencies, garden-equipment dealers, sports-equipment suppliers, and savings and loan shows. In the end, it was grassroots activism from local moviegoers that contributed most to the preservation of movie palaces. Historic theaters like the 4,000-seat Chicago Theatre or the Bandbox in Philadelphia were registered as historical landmarks thanks to their efforts.
Movies Go to the Multiplex
Suburban theaters were popping up just as fast as downtown houses were disappearing. The magazine’s Modern Theater section was continuously dominated by news of the construction of multiplexes, shopping center theaters, and “multi-mini-theaters,” defined as multiplexes with smaller auditoriums. Suburban theaters had their roots in the postwar years, but the 1970s truly became the decade of the “complex theater type,” as M.A. Lightman, president of Malco Theatres, described it in 1970. Shopping center theaters and multiplexes, where exhibitors could show more movies simultaneously to smaller audiences, were now the norm. This coincided with the phenomenon later known as the “malling of America,” a period from 1960 to 1980 in which an estimated 17,500 malls were built. These malls catered to a suburban crowd of largely white, middle class moviegoers—still considered the backbone of the exhibition industry. Far removed from the harsh realities of city life, shopping center theaters were also places where cinema’s escapism could be literally felt.
The multi-theater concept can be attributed to Stanley Durwood, president of Durwood Theatres, the Kansas City–based circuit that eventually became the exhibition giant AMC. After the success of its Parkway Twin in 1962, AMC pioneered the multiplex with the first-ever quadruplex in its hometown in 1966. In April 1971, Boxoffice Pro reported from Kansas City that AMC would open 70 new auditoriums and 17 multiplexes in 13 cities in “one of the most intensive expansions in the history of motion picture exhibition.” AMC’s growth was such that it managed to become a nationwide franchise in less than 10 years. Stanley Durwood described the company’s “fresh and imaginative” approach in a press release: “The patron-oriented convenience, comfort, and choice add up to a totally unique experience that has met with immediate success everywhere it has been introduced.” Durwood also touted the free parking and the availability of “a wide variety of entertainment for a variety of patrons in a single complex.”
Accounts from exhibitors supported Durwood’s argument. The genius of the mall multiplex was that when families were done with their shopping, they could all go to the movies without being obliged to watch the same film. They could go to the theater “together but separately,” wrote one mini-theater exhibitor in 1970. Multiple exhibitors pointed out that the cost of running a multiplex was now about the same as running a single-screen theater with 500 seats or more, thanks to advances in automation, which allowed theaters to serve multiple auditoriums from a single projection booth as well as invest in only one lobby, box office, and concession stand. Ben Shlyen, still urging the protection of smaller urban theaters, congratulated “progressive theatermen for their capacity to innovate and keep up with demographic changes,” as he wrote in 1973. “Competition may come and go, but the movie theater goes on forever. This has been shown in the upbuilding of new theater structures, improvement, and modernization of the existing ones that have kept apace of the demands of the times, population, and urban changes,” he argued.
The Blockbuster Phenomenon
With the “malling” of cinemas, movies were now less a cultural form of entertainment than a consumerist hobby. That shift was accelerated and epitomized by the advent of the blockbuster.
After a harsh admissions crisis at the beginning of the decade, “lost” audiences started returning en masse in 1974 when hits like The Exorcist (which broke The Godfather’s box office record) and The Sting contributed to an increase of weekly attendance from 16.6 million in 1973 to 20 million. But the history of the blockbuster cannot be told without Jaws. In 1975, a young director named Steven Spielberg created one of the biggest cultural phenomena in the history of the industry. Jaws became the highest-grossing film ever, as well as the most talked-about movie of the year. The movie was a landmark as well for its unprecedented release: It opened simultaneously in 409 theaters nationwide, while most films until that point would hit screens in a few key locations before rolling into new ones. Jaws was also the first film to understand the power of the ancillary markets. It launched the biggest TV campaign up to then with a $700,000 spend for three nights of nationwide prime time TV ads on all networks. And then came Star Wars (Episode IV – A New Hope). After opening on May 25, 1977, George Lucas’s opus became an instant hit. Its record-breaking success was made evident by the endless lines in front of theaters. “It broke records in every house in which it opened and set cumulative box office records in most of the cities where it is showing,” Boxoffice Pro breathlessly reported on the sixth day of its opening.
Thus was the modern blockbuster born. Bigger, high-concept movies that generated “buzz” started flooding the market. New practices in marketing, wider releases in the summer, and longer runs steadily became the norm. Ben Shlyen pondered the social roots of the phenomenon in January 1979. “Has the public simply tired of the ‘deep think’ and ‘message films’? Some say that the type of pictures America chooses to watch are indicative of what we may be currently experiencing as a people. That is, the recent dramatic shift to the just-for-fun brand of motion pictures is symbolic of what the country is experiencing in the late ’70s. … Today’s audiences are tired of inflation, leery of politics, and are turning to the movies again as a source of entertainment.”
What certainly amplified the escapism and wow effect of blockbusters were their special effects and sound innovations. True to its capitalist foundations, Hollywood seems to follow an economic cycle of booms and busts, the latter often accompanied by surges in technological invention. Much like the gimmick frenzy of the fifties meant to combat TV, the 1970s witnessed a technological boom that was supposed to attract the “lost” audiences flocking to cable and video cassettes. While advances in sound and special effects had been happening for decades, they gained an unprecedented popularity in the 1970s thanks to the blockbuster.
One of those innovations was Imax, which premiered at the Expo ’70 world’s fair in Japan with the 17-minute-long Tiger Child. Special effects also captivated audiences in memorable sequences in films like The Exorcist, Superman: The Movie, and Alien. Star Wars perhaps did more than any other movie to popularize special effects with its first extensive use of animated 3-D CGI, widely lauded in the pages of Boxoffice Pro. The film’s VFX editors, including several of George Lucas’s Industrial Light and Magic co-founders, went on to receive the Academy Award for Best Achievement in Visual Effects.
Star Wars also cemented Dolby’s dominance as surround sound made its comeback. In 1971, A Clockwork Orange had become the first film to use Dolby technology for recording sound and noise reduction. Dolby Stereo, an optical four-channel sound system technology, was used in A Star Is Born five years later. But to quote famed sound designer Walter Murch, “Star Wars was the can opener that made people realize not only the effect of sound but the effect that good sound had at the box office.” When Star Wars opened in the summer of 1977, only three prints out of the 40 screens where it played were Dolby. Lucas, despite distributor 20th Century Fox’s objections, had insisted on using Dolby Stereo. As the Star Wars phenomenon took off, so did the demand for Dolby. In the first weeks after the launch of the film, more and more space in the magazine was dedicated to the installation of the system in theaters all over the country. Exhibitors bragged about the modernity of their theaters and the box office effects of the technology. A showman in Louisville was reported as saying that the Dolby system was “excellent, making even regular films sound better.” Another exhibitor in Milwaukee boasted about recently installing the system, “which people tell [him] is half the film.”
Dolby Stereo had become a must. For many, it was the way to fight home entertainment. Dennis Udovic, a Wisconsin projectionist writing to Boxoffice Pro in September 1977, argued, “The basic movie customers are young people, and stereophonic sound is right up their alley.” Two years later, writer John M. Novak urged exhibitors to abandon the view that stereo sound was “just another fad” and advised them to invest in the technology. “The average theater is 30 years behind the times in terms of sound quality. … In competition with the quality of today’s home stereo components, never mind what’s in store for tomorrow; the average theater sound system would lose by forfeit,” he argued.
The blockbusters, in combination with multiplexes and technological innovations, gave new life to the industry and changed it forever. Ben Shlyen wrote in March 1976 that good blockbusters have “caused people, again, to talk enthusiastically about motion pictures.” Nevertheless, as waves of blockbusters overwhelmed theaters, critics—including Shlyen—pointed out that the lack of diversity, embodied by the predictable stories copying the Star Wars and Jaws formulas, coupled with long runs could eventually hurt the market. It was not enough to have big films. They needed to be good as well. Many articles in Boxoffice Pro warned of the importance of protecting smaller, high-quality films. One writer in Knoxville, in a 1976 review of Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon, declared, “It takes a lot of guts to assemble a film of this magnitude to compete with today’s made-for-money movies.” The exhibition landscape was indeed very different from what it was in the early 1970s, with its independent New Hollywood productions.
Sex, Censors, and Videotapes
The end of the 1970s was radically different in another respect. The first half of the decade did not only see the height of New Hollywood and blaxploitation—it was the heyday of sexploitation. MPAA president Jack Valenti’s rating system had failed to trademark the X rating, which led to a boom of adult films in downtown theaters. In particular, 1972 and 1973 were the golden age of sexploitation. Deep Throat was mainstream (even Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis saw it, and Bob Hope talked about it on TV), and adult film exhibitors, now organized in their own trade group, the Adult Film Association of America, were preparing their own ratings code.And while Boxoffice Pro frequently wrote about the need for more general and family products, most of the ads in the magazine during that period were for X-rated films.
Sexploitation relaunched debates about censorship and the precise meaning of “obscenity” and “pornography,” which lacked an official legal definition. Roth v. United States had established in 1957 that sex and obscenity were not synonymous but did not define what obscenity actually was. A few years later, an exhibitor from Georgia, Billy Jenkins, was arrested for showing Mike Nichols’s Carnal Knowledge. His case was taken to the Supreme Court, which ruled the movie was not obscene. But in 1973, the Supreme Court found that obscenity should be defined “by contemporary community standards,” leading many local courts to ban erotic films. Adult theaters were subject to crackdowns by the police and picketed by citizens. Some cities even developed zoned areas specifically for adult theaters, as many people feared their effects on children. In fact, another debate frequently animating the magazine was the impact of these movies on the behavior of audiences. Most of the studies presented concluded that pornography had no impact on “moral character and sexual orientation.”
James H. Nicholson, president of American International Pictures, said in a keynote speech at a NATO convention in 1970: “I cannot believe we are all voyeurs, and I know this present ‘flash’ of box office gold is mostly the result of fleeting curiosity.” Looking at the example of Europe, he warned, “The audience who liked the almost pornographic films got tired of them, and the audiences they had alienated no longer cared about going to the movies.” Letters from exhibitors in the magazine certainly show that there was indeed sexploitation fatigue by the mid-1970s. However, it was not the end of that “fleeting curiosity” that killed adult film exhibition. Adult exhibition was an early victim of the industry’s newest threat, video cassettes, which were to become so contentious in the eighties.
Following an expected dip at the domestic box office last weekend, largely driven by renewed curfews, lockdowns, and theater closures amid surging virus cases, cinema operators still up and running will receive a much needed reprieve this frame as Universal launches The Croods: A New Age in an estimated 2,211 locations.
The sequel to 2013’s original film is one of the few titles this year to actually stick to its 2020 release plans. In fact, it was moved up ahead of schedule after the litany of other delays and evolving market conditions gave it a greater purpose to serve exhibitors starved for content. The film was originally slated to open during Christmas.
As the only major studio consistently releasing films at the moment, Universal is poised to enjoy its fourth #1 title in a month as Croods aims to draw families willing to venture out over the long Thanksgiving holiday weekend. The studio is fresh off the release of Freaky, as well as Let Him Go and Come Play (both from Focus Features).
The marketing campaign has been among the strongest of any film during the pandemic with television spots and targeted ads comparable to the footprints of Freaky and Tenet.
Naturally, expectations are quite modest for the Croods sequel and well below what they would have been under normal circumstances. That said, this film is effectively the first high-profile film to target a family audience in the theatrical market since Disney and Pixar opened Onward shortly before the pandemic forced theater closures in March.
During the fall, 101 Studios’ live-action comedy The War with Grandpa found some modest success appealing to families and older adults.
It’s widely expected that Universal will take advantage of their recently struck deals with certain exhibition chains that allows them to move the Croods sequel to a PVOD release in mid-December, something that shouldn’t be surprising given the current surge of virus cases in the United States and the fact that cinemas are bracing for a tough winter. Without those agreements, it’s unlikely this film would be hitting big screens at all right now.
An estimated 40 percent of the market is open heading into Thanksgiving, which is typically one of the anchors of any given year with strong holiday business. That won’t be the case this year, unfortunately.
The animated sequel itself boasts an estimated 29 percent of all booked showtimes, per our parent company’s Showtimes Dashboard. Notably, 6 percent of showings belong to “private watch parties”, suggesting that the holiday week has provided an opportune time for families and quarantine pods to hit theaters and take advantage of the heavily discounted rental availabilities. It’s unknown how those grosses will be reported, but they could help pad performances for certain films.
Meanwhile, Disney continues its recent tradition of re-issues — this week with a return of the original Frozen in an estimated 1,357 theaters.
Film
Distributor
3-Day Weekend Forecast
Projected Domestic Total through Sunday, November 29
% Change from Last Wknd
The Croods: A New Age
Universal Pictures
$5,500,000
$8,300,000
NEW
Freaky
Universal Pictures
$830,000
$7,100,000
-35%
The War with Grandpa
101 Studios
$600,000
$17,200,000
-20%
Let Him Go
Focus Features
$440,000
$8,700,000
-39%
Frozen (2020 Re-Issue)
Walt Disney Pictures
$400,000
$600,000
NEW
Come Play
Focus Features
$390,000
$8,700,000
-31%
Honest Thief
Open Road Films
$320,000
$13,500,000
-28%
The Santa Clause (2020 Re-Issue)
Walt Disney Pictures
$250,000
$910,000
-46%
Tenet
Warner Bros. Studios
$260,000
$57,400,000
-28%
Vanguard
Gravitas Ventures
$220,000
$770,000
-42%
All forecasts subject to change before the first confirmation of weekend estimates from studios or alternative sources.
Following last week’s announcement that the studio will be distributing Wonder Woman 1984 as part of a hybrid day-and-date strategy with theaters and a streaming option in the United States on Christmas Day, Warner Bros. this morning confirmed its theatrical rollout dates for the rest of the world. The current target is to reach 82 territories.
Key markets include the United Kingdom and France opening the film on December 16, followed by China and Japan on December 18. The following week will see the debut of the highly anticipated DC sequel in Germany and Korea (December 23), followed by Canada and the United States, among others, on December 25.
Following those releases, Australia and New Zealand will get the film on December 26. Russia will see the pic debut on January 14, while Italy will bow on January 28.
Other countries and regions, such as Latin America, remain undated at this time.
The full list of confirmed release dates:
Wednesday, December 16 – Belgium, Bulgaria. Egypt, Estonia, France, Greece, Holland, Iceland, Indonesia, Portugal, South Africa, Switzerland, United Kingdom
Thursday, December 17 – Bolivia, Brazil, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Mexico, Middle East – Other, Nicaragua, Panama, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Taiwan, Thailand, United Arab Emirates
Friday, December 18 – China, East Africa, Japan, Nigeria, Spain, Vietnam
Wednesday, December 23 – Austria, Germany, Korea
Thursday, December 24 – Hungary, Slovenia
Friday, December 25 – Canada, Colombia, Finland, India, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Sweden, Venezuela, United States
Saturday, December 26 – Australia, New Zealand
Thursday, December 31 – Argentina
Thursday, January 7 – Ukraine, Uruguay
Friday, January 8 – Philippines
Thursday, January 14 – Azerbaijan, CIS Others, Czech Republic, Kazakhstan, Russia
Friday, January 15 – Romania, Turkey
Thursday, January 21 – Chile, Peru
Friday, January 22 – Poland
Thursday, January 28 – Italy
TBD – Bahrain, Ghana, Israel, Kuwait, Lebanon, Asia – Other, LatAm – Other, Islands – Other
In operation since 1907, the Kino Pionier 1907 in Szczecin, Poland has been through wars, regime changes, the 1918 Spanish flu… and now, Covid-19. It has, to put it lightly, been a year of struggle for the theater. The initial closure of Poland’s cinemas was announced on March 12; cinemas were allowed to re-open on June 6 under capacity restrictions. The Kino Pioner, faced with dwindling attendance and a shortage of films to program, found itself in a dire financial situation. That’s when their local community stepped up with a crowdfunding campaign meant to save a theater that, at one point, was certified by the Guinness Book of World Record as the world’s oldest still in operation.
The Kino Pionier 1907, says co-owner Jerzy Miśkiewicz, is the only independent cinema in Szczecin, a port city located near the border of Poland and Germany. In terms of programming, the two-screen cinema prizes European productions over Hollywood fare, attracting an audience of “around 50,000 viewers” a year—“mostly middle-aged people and university students.”
That statistic, of course, predates the Covid-19 pandemic. After reopening in the summer, the Kino Pionier 1907 reduced the number of screenings and limited their daily hours of operation.. Attendance was capped at 25 percent. Programming films became “much harder… because distributors are withdrawing their films,” Miśkiewicz notes, preferring to release them in 2021 once the pandemic subsides.
Facing a sharp decline in ticket sales and a lack of money from the government—“To be honest,” says Miśkiewicz of government assistance to the cinema sector, “they promised, but so far nothing… has happened.”—on September 28 the cinema announced a five-day closure. But even before that, on September 22, Szczecin locals had set up a crowdfunding campaign for their beloved cinema. The initial goal—earning enough money to cover the Kino Pionier’s costs for one month—was reached in two days. And so, the campaign continued; to this point, 1,174 people have donated 57,400 zł, roughly equivalent to $15,000 U.S. dollars—enough, says Miśkiewicz, “to keep us going till the end of the year, for [which] we are very grateful.”
Through the #wspieramykinapolskie campaign (“#wesupportpolishcinema”), fans also bought over 800 tickets for future shows at the Kino Pionier 1907 over the period of a single week. So far, that campaign has raised 161,137 zł (approximately $42,649) for cinemas across Poland.
Yet the Kino Pionier 1907—like so many other cinemas around the world—continues to feel the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, which is spiking in areas throughout Europe and necessitating a second phase of cinema shutdowns. In Poland, that second phase started on November 7 and will run at least through November 29; Kino Pionier, on its Facebook page, said it would be closed until December 27. But Miśkiewicz is optimistic that this grand old theater, supported by its fans, will make it through these unprecedented times. “It seems indestructible,” he says. “After the pandemic, we will keep on working, hopefully better than ever.”
A little-noticed milestone was achieved at the theatrical box office this weekend: $2 billion in North American ticket sales.
For the prior three years, the $2 billion threshold was reached in early-to-mid March. In 2019 it came in mid-March, on the coattails of CaptainMarvel, Us, and Aquaman. In 2018 it came in early March, from the successes of BlackPanther, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. In 2017 it also came in early March, led by Get Out, Logan, HiddenFigures, and The Lego Batman Movie.
2020 originally looked like it was going to reach the $2 billion mark in mid-to-late March, perhaps a week or two behind recent years, but still in the same general range. Year-to-date box office stood at $1.69 billion through the March 6-8 weekend, the last “fully open” frame in the U.S. It rose to $1.78 billion after the March 13-15 weekend, which was something of a “partially open” frame. After that, though, cinemas were forced to shut down completely for months.
The planned release of Paramount’s A Quiet Place Part II on March 20 almost certainly would have lifted total box office past $2 billion. Or, if the total still fell just shy of the $2 billion mark at that point, the planned release of Disney’s Mulan on March 27 surely would have blown past it. Without those titles, though, box office slowed to a crawl, inching forward largely on the basis of rerun classic films at drive-in theaters for months.
After stalling at $1.78 billion in mid-March, the year’s box office finally surpassed $1.8 billion on the August 7-9 weekend. Then it reached $1.9 billion on the September 18-20 weekend, thanks largely to Tenet as the first major studio tentpole released since the pandemic. The $2 billion point was achieved this past weekend, the November 20-22 frame, led by titles like Universal’s horror comedy Freaky and Focus Features’ drama thriller Let Him Go.
Due to the pandemic, though, this year’s $2 billion is now running behind recent years: down about -79 and -81 percent relative to the year-to-date box office in 2019 and 2018, respectively.
French President Emmanuel Macron announced a potential mid-December re-opening date for the country’s cinemas during a televised address on Tuesday evening, contingent on public health benchmarks being met ahead of time.
Cinemas in France were originally ordered to close by government mandate on March 14 due to the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. As cases dissipated nationwide, cinemas began to reopen their doors on June 22. By the Fall, however, a second wave of the virus forced movie theaters to close once again on October 30.
Addressing the nation’s cultural sector, Macron thanked those institutions “who held on and were able to innovate and create other connections with their audiences… We need them. Culture is essential to our lives as citizens.”
Most businesses in France will be able to return to operation on November 28. As long as the number of Covid-19 cases is under 5,000 per day and intensive care hospitalizations limited to 2,300 to 3,000, cinemas, theaters, and museums will be allowed to follow suit on December 15, a day ahead of Wonder Woman 1984’s overseas launch on December 16. Should those public health benchmarks fail to be met, cinemas will need to wait until the next reopening cycle of January 20 to reopen under the same benchmarks.
Even if French cinemas do reopen by mid-December, they would still need to adhere to curfew restrictions between the hours of 9 pm and 7 am. Screenings that conclude past the curfew, however, will be allowed to take place as long as the showtime begins before 9 pm. In a joint press release issued ahead the presidential address, French cinema trade bodies FNCF and the private theaters union (SNDTP) had previously emphasized the importance of maintaining 8 pm showtimes, stressing that “an excessively strict curfew that would not allow evening sessions would prevent an eventual reopening.”
France will suspend the national curfew on December 24 and 31 to facilitate limited gatherings during the holiday period. The national curfew rules will be reevaluated, contingent on the same public health benchmarks, ahead of the next reopening cycle of January 20.
“This is great news for the cinemas and theaters that have fought hard over the past two weeks to not be lumped into the restrictions facing restaurants and indoor dining,” FNCF president Richard Patry told Boxoffice Pro France after Macron’s press conference.
“While we remain uncertain about how the epidemic will continue to evolve, there are good intentions in the President’s words for the cultural sector that vindicate our efforts. France remains in lockdown but will be able to count on cinemas and theaters being open when people leave their homes, something we can be proud of.”
“We have registered 25 million admissions between two lockdowns without being responsible for a single cluster of cases,” he said. “We look forward to reopening theaters with a variety of new titles for the holidays, as well as bringing back films whose runs were interrupted by the latest closures.”
Ultimate Outdoor Entertainment (UOE), a Texas-based outfit that specializes in outdoor movie screen rentals, has announced the opening of their first drive-in theater in East Austin by April 2021.
Branded The Ultimate Drive-In™, the theater will provide a hybrid movie experience combining open-air cinema seating with premium parking, alongside LED screens and SkyView Deck seating. Their approach will include dining and drink packages, contactless food and drink delivery or exclusive SkyDeck Loft concierge services, and a mix of repertory movies and new releases with theme nights and party packages. Various ticket options allow viewers to bring their own snacks, or guests can order the amazing Ultimate Grilled Cheese Donut or fresh popcorn packages delivered straight to their seats or vehicles.
“We began our outdoor movie adventure in Austin, TX in 2008, so we are thrilled to bring this new movie-going experience and vision to life here in our home-town!” said Darrell Landers, founder of UOE and The Ultimate Drive-In. “However, we want to make clear this is not your grandparent’s drive-in. We have created a modern combination of viewing options with a new generation of movie experiences as the world continues to change. Two-story outdoor seating options in our SkyView Deck Pods will accompany our drive-in parking spots and up-front single seats on plush turf, offering all first-class viewing options to our guests. With everything being bigger in Texas, the screen will be no exception! Expect a giant-sized viewing experience that will parallel some of the largest screens in the country.”
Before construction begins in January, UOE is spreading some holiday cheer in Austin with a 52′ inflatable screen, constructed on top of a platform of shipping containers located at 1600 S. Pleasant Valley Rd. to create a movie watching experience like no other in Austin. UOE will screen a mix of holiday movies, new releases, and classic films starting Friday, November 27th. Chandra Schwausch with the UOE sales team says “Pardon our dust while we build the future of the drive-in and change the way Americans watch movies. With so many ways to consume movies and television these days, through phones, tablets, streaming services and more, combined with reduced big name films due and delays from Hollywood for the foreseeable future, the drive-in is the next best thing to a traditional indoor theater. But no wants to watch movies inside right now. It’s not safe. Outdoor movies and drive-in theaters are making a big comeback in these very different times.”
The Ultimate Drive-In final buildout will be complete mid-March. In the meantime, UOE’s temporary holiday drive-in will be held from November 27th, 2020 thru January 3rd, 2021. The largest inflatable screen in UOE inventory (52′ x 26′) will be used alongside their Mobile Max 15 LED Screen Trailer, creating two theaters (lots) of day and nighttime drive-ins. The first week of showings is up online, with the remaining Holiday Series lineup coming soon. All tickets must be purchased thru the website, www.TheUltimateDriveIn.com.
If you would like more information about this topic, please visit THEULTIMATEDRIVEIN.com, call 512-501-6362, or email 259844@email4pr.com.
Like any old venue, the Regent Theatre in Picton, Ontario has experienced its fair share of (alleged) supernatural activity: cash boxes flying off shelves, cold spots, inexplicable sensations. But until now, it didn’t have a resident spirit to call its own.
“There’s lots of anecdotal stories, third hand, you know, ‘My friend’s brother worked there in the projection room back in the ’80s, and he was working alone one night and felt a cold breath on the back of his neck,’” Regent Theatre board chair Benjamin Thornton tells Boxoffice Pro. “But no one story stuck.”
To rectify that, Thornton decided to hold a “Ghost of the Regent” contest, allowing patrons to support the nonprofit venue—which hosts both first-run and repertory films as well as live events—with a $25 donation in exchange for a chance to win “the perpetual right to haunt the theater” after death. All donations for the contest, which wrapped up on Halloween, went to the Regent Theatre Foundation’s Raise the Curtain campaign, which set a goal of raising $250,000 for much-needed infrastructure projects at the 102-year-old venue.
In all, Ghost of the Regent raised $4,500, thanks in part to an assist from Ghostbusters star Ernie Hudson, who cut a spot for the campaign after the Regent reached out to him through the service Cameo, which allows people and organizations to request custom-made videos from celebrities. In the spot, Hudson—in character as Winston Zeddemore—makes a solemn promise not to “bust” the theater’s future spook.
“He was a really good sport about it,” says Thornton, who notes Hudson made the video at a reduced rate for charity. “Considering that we’re just a small town theater in Canada, he really sold it.”
On Halloween night, a winner was crowned: local crime writer Ryan Aldred, who has “pledged to support the theater in life as much as he [will] in death,” says Thornton. To make the transaction official, Aldred received a certificate, a duplicate of which will be hung “in a place of honor” at the Regent—presumably for as long as it stands.
The contest was an imaginative ploy to add to the coffers of Raise the Curtain, which was launched in August amid a coronavirus pandemic that has kept the theater’s doors closed for eight months. Thornton says the Regent has since invested in equipment to host live streamed events, but, while they’re having “growing success” with those programs, they simply can’t make up for lost box office revenue.
Aside from that virtual programming, the Regent has survived mainly via cash reserves, government relief programs, foundation grants, angel donors and local small business sponsors. But the costs of maintaining the century-old venue have continued to mount, prodding the Regent’s board to set Raise the Curtain in motion. At least so far, it’s paid off, with the campaign bringing in roughly $100,000 over the last three months.
Thornton says getting creative with fundraising efforts is a necessity in a climate of “donor fatigue,” with an avalanche of causes competing for attention during a time of great suffering and uncertainty. Still, he maintains that the Regent and other cultural venues are worthy beneficiaries.
“The arts are important,” says Thornton. “In the long run, every community needs some kind of creative outlet.”
NATO’s Annual Meetings are usually held in Los Angeles every fall. This year, those meetings were all held virtually.
While a lack of in-person interaction with members left a void, we still received a lot of great feedback on how NATO should move forward during these difficult times.
Here is a summary of the meetings that were held:
Executive Board Meeting
Following the Advisory Board meeting, the Executive Board met in closed session to provide direction regarding NATO’s priorities, to consider recommendations presented by NATO committees, and to review NATO financial reports.
The Executive Board discussed strategic initiatives currently under way at NATO, including efforts to help member companies survive the Covid-19 pandemic—the state/local government relations grants program, lobbying support for relief legislation, an industry public relations campaign promoting “CinemaSafe,” and the dues hiatus for fiscal year 2020–2021.
In keeping with its fiduciary responsibility to the organization, the Executive Board periodically reviews NATO financials in detail. At the October 7 meeting, reports were presented by NATO treasurer Joe Masher, Investment Committee chairman Dan Harkins, and Audit Committee chairman David Wright.
A Nominations Committee report, delivered by outgoing NATO secretary Jeff Logan, recommended the following slate of NATO officers for the 2020–2022 term:
Chairman: Rolando Rodriguez, Marcus Theatres Corp.
Vice Chairman: Bob Bagby, B&B Theatres
Secretary: John Vincent, Wellfleet Cinemas
Treasurer: Joe Masher, Bow Tie Cinemas
An election was held, and the slate was elected as presented. The Executive Board members expressed their gratitude to outgoing officers, chairman Ellis Jacob and secretary Jeff Logan, for their leadership and service.
Global Cinema Federation / International Committee Meeting
The Global Cinema Federation and NATO International Committee held a joint meeting on Tuesday, October 6. Exhibitors from around the world gathered virtually to hear from guests from the Fédération Nationale des Cinémas Français (FNCF), Federación de Cines de España (FECE), Hauptverband Deutscher Filmtheater Kino (HDF), and the U.K. Cinema Association, who reported on some success stories regarding box office and back-to-cinema campaigns in their respective territories. Several studies regarding the safety of cinemas were highlighted during the meeting, and NATO representatives discussed CinemaSafe. A review of the upcoming film release schedule was a reminder to all that exhibitors worldwide are being affected by the struggle to defeat Covid-19 in the United States. Despite many territories around the world having reopened cinemas safely months ago, they too are lacking new, exciting content from major Hollywood studios, which is hurting their businesses as well. On October 14, the Global Cinema Federation sent a letter to New York’s Governor Cuomo, urging him to reopen cinemas in his state for the sake of exhibitors worldwide.
Strategic Planning Committee
Members of the Strategic Planning Committee (SPC) used their time together to discuss several important topics related to NATO’s work in the months and years to come.
As the industry looks to rebound from the pandemic, the SPC will advise on the timing of any media campaigns designed to reinvigorate moviegoing and the resources that will be devoted to those campaigns. Continuing to work with the creative community on those campaigns will be essential.
The SPC discussed the potential of live sports in movie theaters to offset the volatility of the release calendar. NATO staff members are in the process of connecting to the major sports leagues.
The SPC is also developing ways to improve diversity and inclusion within NATO’s committee structure.
Membership Committee
NATO’s Membership Committee, consisting of volunteer members representing a multitude of member categories, met on Thursday, October 1. Jeff Logan (Logan Luxury Theatres, Mitchell, S.D.) chaired his final meeting of the committee, as John Vincent (Wellfleet Cinemas, South Wellfleet, Mass.) assumes the chair position following his recent election as NATO secretary on the Executive Board. Also new to the committee is Gurbani Marwah (Cineplex Entertainment), a leader on NATO’s Young Members Committee, who represents the Canadian member category. In addition to the traditional governance issues (Advisory Board roster and emeritus member approval), the committee agenda consisted of the current NATO member dues hiatus, existing member benefit programs, regional association activities, and potential educational webinar topics.
Diversity & Inclusion Meeting
NATO’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee met virtually via Zoom webinar. During the meeting, the committee thanked their inaugural chair, Moctesuma Esparza, CEO of Maya Cinemas, for his dedication and leadership during the D&I committee’s first two years of activity. The committee also welcomed the new chair of the committee, Racheal Wilson, COO of Harkins Theatres. Racheal led the meeting as various NATO staff discussed previous accomplishments of the D&I Committee, including the NATO scholarship program, the elections toolkit, the D&I case study white paper, the Greenlight Committee meetings, and NATO committee benchmarking. Meeting attendees were surveyed about their companies’ D&I efforts during the pandemic. It was inspiring to see that a majority of companies remained committed to D&I efforts during the pandemic. Attendees offered plenty of ideas for future D&I Committee projects, which NATO staff are looking forward to exploring further.
Codes Committee
The Codes Committee met via Zoom webinar on October 5, 2020. The meeting was well attended and supported by our committee chair Don Harton. Gene Boecker, NATO’s codes consultant, discussed relevant codes issues, and Randy Smith, NATO’s legal consultant covered relevant ADA issues for the committee.
Gene Boecker covered issues associated with the International Code Council (ICC), NFPA Life Safety Code (101) and Building Code (5000), ICC/ANSI A117.1, as well as issues related to adult changing table requirements. Boecker noted that the 2021 ICC was in the process of being published and that the NFPA 2021 codes are available and he will prepare updates associated with same soon. However, he noted again that few jurisdictions are ready to adopt them at this time. As far as ANSI, the code has no updates, but the group is working on the scoping appendix to make it code. Finally, Boecker addressed the issues associated with existing and proposed state laws concerning adult changing stations, which are currently required in certain facilities in California and Arizona. Boecker noted that ANSI is also looking at the issue, which could create enhanced requirements, such as those in the U.K. and Australia, beyond those currently existing in the U.S. Boecker’s team will continue to monitor the issue.
Randy Smith provided an update on how the industry’s efforts to modify theater operations to comply with federal, state, and local guidelines/mandates could create ADA issues for operators. He covered the duty to provide reasonable accommodations during the pandemic and how such efforts must be reflected in operator’s policies and protocols. The key areas of compliance discussed included ensuring effective communication, appropriate parking options, compliant points of entry/egress, the impact of mandatory mask policies, public symptom screening, impact of floor markings and other signage on individual’s with visual impairments, queue line issues for individuals with mobility impairments, maintaining physical distancing, and impact of reduced seating capacity. Finally, Smith provided some basic deescalation protocols that members could consider in the event they find themselves having to deal with an aggressive guest objecting to newly introduced safety protocols.
The committee will continue to monitor code and ADA issues and provide updates as necessary.
Technology Committee
Over 200 joined the open Technology Committee meeting on Monday October 5, 2020. It is clear that technology remains important but has taken a change of direction as theaters prepare to reopen, and there is a need to extend the life of existing equipment rather than invest in new technology.
There is interest in the Digital Cinema Picture Level (DCPL) Project, but it will hibernate until we are up and running as an industry.
Work has continued in the standardization bodies including those working on immersive audio. The SMPTE standard for immersive audio has been published and we expect new movies will change the name of their audio file from “Atmos” to “IAB.” Those that have Dolby Atmos systems will be able to play the newly named files. Those that have upgraded their immersive systems (DTS/Barco and others) will be able to play the new files (and, in fact, the files named “Atmos” as well).
We held a lively discussion on the upcoming Direct View (LED) requirements that are being discussed at DCI (the studio committee—Digital Cinema Initiatives—that set the original standards for the rollout of digital cinema). NATO hopes that the industry recognizes that new equipment and change of standards is a long-term issue and not a short-term requirement.
NATO will continue to engage with DCI to share our common views and industry reality.
Independent Theatre Owners Committee
The NATO Independent Theatre Owners Committee (ITOC), composed of companies operating fewer than 75 screens, met on Tuesday, October 6, led by chair Scott Lotter (Paradise Cinemas, Chico, Calif.) and vice chairwoman Colleen Barstow (Main Street Theatres, Omaha, Neb.). The independent member category represents the largest group of member companies with over 720 companies in the United States, which includes 75 nonprofit cinema organizations. NATO’s lobbying efforts receive a substantial amount of support from the independent members, both at the state and federal level. The meeting agenda covered several key topics confronting smaller cinema companies during the pandemic, including ancillary cash flow, staff rehiring, and cutting expenses. Many smaller exhibitors also face the reality of possible bankruptcy due to state/local closures and a lack of film product. Like many other small businesses across the country, the pandemic has greatly affected these members. The four elected members of the NATO Executive Board from the independent category also joined the ITOC leadership to share an update on the association’s deliberations over the past months.
Regional Associations Meeting
NATO regional association leaders came together to discuss reopening updates and priority issues. These priorities included reopening follow-up issues, emerging issues for the 2021 legislative session, regional legislative grants, and the top priority, helping to obtain state-by-state grants for exhibitors.
The NATO regionals will continue to have bi-weekly calls in order to share current experiences and coordinate messaging on the various issues being addressed nationwide.
Young Members Committee
Leaders of the Young Members Committee met to discuss the status of the industry. The overwhelming consensus of the meeting was, no matter how safe cinemas are, the industry will continue to suffer until there is a more reliable stream of new, wide releases from major studios. In the meantime, repertory content such as classic holiday films and alternative content like, hopefully, professional sports games will be key. Erin Von Hoetzendorff was assigned as the new NATO staff lead for the Young Members Committee. If you are interested in learning more about this committee, please reach out to her at evh@natoca.com. All NATO members younger than 40 are eligible to join.
Moviegoers can now customize their ticket buying experience at Showcase Cinemas on Alexa-enabled devices. The voice-activated solution allows moviegoers to find showtimes and purchase tickets on Amazon’s digital assistant for any of the circuit’s 25 U.S. locations.
The voice-activated solution—developed by Boxoffice Pro’s corporate parent, The Boxoffice Company—allows moviegoers to find standard and premium format showtimes, reserve seats, and purchase tickets. Once a transaction is completed, Showcase sends the tickets directly to a customer’s email so they can be scanned from their phone at the theater.
Customers can activate the skill on the Alexa mobile app by searching for Showcase Tickets under the Skills & Games menu or command their Alexa device by saying, “Alexa, enable Showcase Cinemas.” Once it’s set up, customers can use the skill with commands such as “Alexa, ask Showcase what’s playing,” or, “Alexa, ask Showcase to buy movie tickets.” Ticket purchases through the skill are completed through a user’s connected Amazon Pay account.
To celebrate the launch, Showcase is giving away a free ticket to The Croods: A New Age to the first 1,000 customers who purchase tickets for the film using the Alexa skill (one ticket per transaction).
“We’re thrilled to make ticket purchasing even easier through voice,” said Mark Malinowski, Vice President of Global Marketing for Showcase Cinemas.
“Showcase Cinemas is one of the first theater circuits to integrate Amazon’s Alexa digital assistant to offer a hands-free, voice ticket purchase skill, our offer of 1,000 free tickets via Alexa-enabled devices for the movie The Croods: A New Age is an amazing way to continue to bring movie-lovers back to Showcase and see movies the way they were meant to be seen––on the big screen!”
“We’re thankful that Showcase trusted our innovative capabilities to develop such a skill, providing hands-free, contactless technology for moviegoers” said Stan Ruszkowski, President of The Boxoffice Company.
Voice-activated ticketing is one of the innovations Showcase Cinemas is offering as it navigates Covid-19 restrictions with its U.S. locations. It is part of its “Be Showcase Safe” program, developed and certified with J.S. Held—an environmental, health and safety firm led by noted toxicologists, epidemiologists, and an Assistant Surgeon General, US Public Health Service (Retired). The program also includes employee health screenings before starting work; food and beverage manager ServSafeTM Food Safety Certification; installation of air-purifying systems for all U.S. theaters; reduced auditorium seating capacity; automatic seating social distancing; increased and enhanced auditorium cleaning between shows and in high-touch surface areas; employee and patron protective mask requirements; social distancing markers; and the availability of hand-sanitizing stations.
Freaky, the Universal body swap horror-comedy that topped the box office last weekend, again finished at No. 1 over a quiet pre-Thanksgiving frame that saw a dearth of major new studio releases.
Grossing an estimated $1.2 million in its second weekend, Freaky now sits at $5.6 million after ten days of release. In announcing the results, Universal noted that the theatrical footprint in North America has been reduced from 3,400 to 2,800 screens since last weekend, putting a damper on turnout. Freaky itself lost over 400 screens.
Rising to second place was 101 Studios’ The War With Grandpa, which took in an estimated $733,067 and now has $16.18 million through its seventh weekend of release.
Third and fourth place went to two Focus features titles that previously debuted at No. 1: Let Him Go, which brought in an estimated $710,000, and Come Play, which grossed an estimated $550,000. Both films have brought in $8 million to date.
Finishing in fifth was Disney’s re-release of the 1994 Tim Allen holiday comedy The Santa Clause, which grossed a mild $461,000 on 1,581 screens.
Open Road Films’ Honest Thief took sixth place with an estimated $452,000, bringing the total for the Liam Neeson action film to $13 million.
Gravitas Ventures enjoyed its widest release to date with the Jackie Chan actioner Vanguard, which nonetheless debuted way down in seventh place with an estimated $400,000 from 1,375 screens.
Tristar Pictures’ post WWII drama The Last Vermeer debuted on 912 screens and brought in an estimated $225,000, good enough for ninth place.
Debuting outside the Top 10 was Paramount comedy The Buddy Games, which opened in a slight 401 locations and grossed an estimated $140,000.
OVERSEAS
International grosses for domestic titles were light this weekend. Warner Bros.’ The Witches, which was released directly on HBO Max in North America, grossed an estimated $1.2 million in 23 markets for a total of $15.1 million to date, while the studio’s Tenet brought in another $1.1 million from 53 markets for a total of $299.2 million internationally and $356 million worldwide.
Freaky brought in $1.1 million from 23 markets for a total of $3.7 million to date.
After weeks of seeming inevitable, we now know the distribution fate of Wonder Woman 1984 is that of a hybrid December 25 release.
Industry news outlets and blogs are awash with speculation surrounding what Warner Bros.’ strategy of a simultaneous streaming release alongside the film’s theatrical debut means for movies and movie theaters. It’s the latest development in a year filled with speculation, uncertainty, unease, and then more speculation.
The bad news, quite obviously, is this means the highly anticipated sequel — previously touted in our own internal forecasts and those of other industry watchers as a candidate to earn $1 billion-plus at the global box office, and potentially become the highest grossing film of the year — won’t play anywhere near as large of a role in theatrical recovery as it could have.
It’s a shame for cinema lovers, particularly given what director Patty Jenkins accomplished as the first film became the highest-grossing female-directed movie in history — earning $412.6 million domestically and nearly $822 million globally.
After multiple delays of the sequel, though, the studio and its parent company ran out of time and faced the reality of needing to generate revenue in the short term. (There are other speculative factors relating to their parent company’s fledgling streaming services needs, but that’s a conversation for another day and another arena.)
The good news, however, is that the studio didn’t pull the film from theatrical. By avoiding the step Disney took over the summer to release Mulan exclusively on its own streaming service with a premium charge, Warner Bros. has at least shown its continuing commitment to support theaters in some capacity as the industry careens toward what health experts expect to be the worst period of this pandemic during the holidays and into early 2021.
As a result of the studio’s strategy, exhibitors able and choosing to remain open during this time have another lifeline thrown their way to help keep the lights on until brighter days come — hopefully in springtime and early summer of the approaching new year.
News of multiple vaccines and their strong efficacies have lifted spirits for cinema owners in ways that can’t be overstated, though distribution and months of waiting out this health and economic crisis must be endured before the fruits of those developments will be felt in a tangible way.
The Box Office Hole Left by Wonder Woman 1984
Projecting what Wonder Woman 1984 can generate at the domestic — or global — box office is arguably the most difficult prognostication to make of any film since… well, since the last time a major studio attempted to release a tentpole film. It almost seems like ages have passed, but that was the same studio with Christopher Nolan’s Tenet nearly three months ago. Domestic results were far below even cautious hopes thanks to a myriad of problems both inside and outside the greater movie ecosystem, although its respectable overseas performance helped make up for that soft landing to some extent.
Given Tenet‘s performance is still challenging to qualify due to the circumstances on its shoulders, modeling for Wonder Woman 1984‘s forthcoming and unprecedented release pattern is going to depend on a litany of factors — not the least of which include fluid developments of regional curfews, lockdowns, and/or temporary theater closures that may pop up over the next five weeks as the country — and the world, in some cases — continues to face daily records of new COVID-19 cases.
What can be said with reasonable certainty, albeit a fair amount of excessive caution, is that a box office performance similar to Tenet‘s is possible… but not guaranteed. In fact, it wouldn’t be shocking if Nolan’s film ends up the higher box office performer on either a domestic or global level. Remember, it was exclusive to theaters — and has been for nearly three months now.
While many consumers are expressively ready for a return to theaters when a vaccine is available, there is no guarantee fans will skip the cautious option just a few weeks from now and rush out for opening weekend like would be expected for a film of this type under normal circumstances. This is, yet again, completely foreign territory.
Could the film exceed our initial domestic box office expectations (in the chart below)? Absolutely. Could it miss them? That’s possible too. We’re in the wild west on this one. Comparison-based models mean nothing at the moment. There was no at-home option for Tenet, there was no domestic in-theater option for Mulan, and now there are both for Wonder Woman 1984.
The Glass Half Full?
That latter fact is a particular sticking point for anyone concerned about the precedent this move may or may not set. However, another upside to all of this is that although not everyone agrees, high profile voices of the exhibition industry, such as the Independent Cinema Alliance and AMC’s Adam Aron, have come out in support of Warner’s move to stick with cinemas (in some capacity).
It’s a very different tone than was heard before and after AMC’s landmark deal with Universal was reached over the summer, but one that suggests some understanding and groundwork for fair compromises. That’s partly because the financial situation has become increasingly dire, partly because Warner has already made a bold commitment to support cinemas once before with Tenet, and partly because cooler heads are emerging in the evolution of theatrical windows during a pandemic that increasingly requires one-off, risk-taking strategies to keep all parties in the equation afloat until something resembling normal times return. Then, and only then, can long-term evolutions be reasonably addressed.
While various observers less favorable to moviegoing, or aware of the importance of the theatrical business than others, may be quick to launch an “I told you so” victory lap, the reality is that no one foresaw a pandemic bringing this and many other industries to their knees so suddenly. How can anyone possibly see into a crystal ball and know, beyond a reasonable doubt, that a vacuum of competition and choices will erase a century-long business model and cultural pillar from the face of the earth?
The answer is simple: no one can, just as no one can predict exactly which path a recovery to moviegoing will take. We can reasonably guess, we can follow the sentiment of moviegoers already eager to return, and we can do the math. Distribution of a vaccine seems almost assured as a requirement for many audiences at this point, as does a consistent slate of widely appealing films. Streaming isn’t going away either, but the two forms of entertainment can coexist and thrive together.
Could Wonder Woman 1984 Have Realistically Fit In 2021?
Beyond the existential soul-searching of a business that has faced many challenges over the decades, it’s arguable that many analyses of Wonder Woman 1984‘s new strategy easily miss the forest for the trees. While many speculated the film could be delayed again to a March or June release in 2021, those scenarios became increasingly infeasible throughout recent weeks as the remainder of major studio titles vacated 2020 and either picked out mid-2021 release dates or still remain unscheduled.
It became assumptively clear awhile ago that a traditional theatrical run for Wonder Woman 1984 this December was not going to be possible, and that thinking led to a waiting game as to what the studio would decide. The aforementioned fall and winter surge of the virus — combined with a fairly thin first-quarter release slate — have made a theoretical March release somewhat questionable given what we now know about vaccine timetables for the United States and other key global markets.
There’s an argument that March window could have worked, though — especially with the industry now seemingly looking to April as the beginning of cinema’s potential revival. The month boasts No Time to Die, Peter Rabbit: The Runaway, and A Quiet Place Part II as high-profile films aiming to release that month — just as vaccine distributions are expected to reach a wider swath of the population, barring any setbacks. On the other hand, having something of a “bridge month” between the rough winter ahead and a (hopefully) more positive spring could be useful for studios and cinema owners to begin spreading the word of a proper theatrical restart.
As for June 2021? While a six-month delay to the original Wonder Woman‘s date on the first weekend of that month (June 4) would have offered nice symmetry and a blueprint for success, the summer calendar has already filled up with other blockbuster-hopefuls formerly known as 2020 releases. May’s Black Widow was distanced well enough by a month, but Warner itself currently has Godzilla vs. Kong dated for May 21, Universal will launch F9 on May 28, and Sony will unveil Ghostbusters: Afterlife on June 11.
Frankly, even for a massively anticipated superhero sequel, that doesn’t provide a lot of breathing room for Warner. They would have had to hope Universal, Sony, and/or other studios would move in response to them, which is entirely possible given the precedence of this year and the pedigree of the DC and Wonder Woman brands. Still, it would be far from a guarantee because other studios will be eager to reap summer theatrical revenues themselves after their own year-plus delays. (Again, provided there are no further pandemic-related setbacks in the months ahead.)
The Bottom Line
Sure, it’s not great news that Wonder Woman 1984‘s potential $350 million-plus in theatrical ticket sales will no longer be realized by cinemas. There is no getting around that. But with more “we get it” responses from exhibition than may have been expected in reaction to this news, and an its-better-than-nothing theatrical component involved, there is reason to believe this to be the one-off move for an event film that the studio is touting it as.
If nothing else, perhaps the industry can now breathe a small sigh of relief that the wait on Warner’s decision is finally over. Plenty of challenges lie ahead, financial assistance remains crucial to support struggling theaters, and windows seem to be on a course for inevitable adaptation for at least the next couple of years. Even still, the constant daily panic over what studio will next need to delay a major film could be entering a pause period over the holidays. Only mid-to-low tier titles are scheduled from now until the end of 2020, and into January, February, and early March. There is no immediate need for studios to kick their cans down the road yet again.
Nothing is guaranteed, and anything can happen in this unpredictable time, but these are the positive takeaways at this stage for those needing some as we head into what’s sure to be the strangest and most trying holiday season virtually everyone will have ever faced.
Notable Release Additions and ChangesThis Week
Paramount’s Coming 2 America (removed from theatrical calendar)
Sony / Columbia’s Fatherhood (from April 2 to April 16, 2021)
Paramount’s Micronauts (now unset, previously June 4, 2021)
Sony / Screen Gems’ Monster Hunter (from December 30 to December 25, 2020)
Sony / Columbia’s Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway (from January 15 to April 2, 2021)
Paramount’s Tom Clancy’s Without Remorse (removed from theatrical calendar, previously February 26, 2021)
Paramount’s The United States vs. Billie Holiday (from February 12 to February 26, 2021)
8-Week Film Forecast
Release Date
Title
3-Day (FSS) Opening Forecast Range
% Chg from Last Week
Domestic Total Forecast Range
% Chg from Last Week
Estimated Location Count
Distributor
11/25/2020
The Croods: A New Age
$4,000,000 – $7,000,000
-31%
$15,000,000 – $35,000,000
2,200
Universal
12/4/2020
All My Life
$1,000,000 – $4,000,000
$5,000,000 – $15,000,000
Universal
12/4/2020
Half Brothers
Focus Features
12/11/2020
Parallel
Vertical Entertainment
12/11/2020
Wander Darkly
Lionsgate
12/25/2020
Monster Hunter
$2,000,000 – $5,000,000
$10,000,000 – $20,000,000
+9%
Sony / Screen Gems
12/25/2020
News of the World
$3,000,000 – $8,000,000
$15,000,000 – $30,000,000
Universal
12/25/2020
One Night in Miami…
Amazon Studios
12/25/2020
Promising Young Woman
Focus Features
12/25/2020
Wonder Woman 1984
$5,000,000 – $15,000,000
NEW
$30,000,000 – $60,000,000
NEW
Warner Bros.
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.
