Spider-Man: No Way Home Drives Second Biggest Day of Ticket Sales for a Single Title in AMC History

AMC Theatres recorded the second busiest day of ticket sales for a single movie in the circuit’s 101-year history on Monday, November 29 with the pre-sale launch of Sony’s Spider-Man: No Way Home. The superhero sequel came within 1.5 percent of the all-time single day record for one title, set by Avengers: Endgame in 2019. The circuit boosted interest for the title by partnering with Sony Pictures to offer an exclusive NFT to AMC Stubs and Investor Connect members who bought a ticket for the film’s opening day on December 16. The limited run of 86,000 NFTs was sold-out following Monday’s ticket sales. The post <em>Spider-Man: No Way Home</em> Drives Second Biggest Day of Ticket Sales for a Single Title in AMC History appeared first on Boxoffice. from Boxoffi...

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Cinergy Entertainment Group to Launch 5th Annual Holiday Toy Drive

Cinergy Entertainment Group has announced its 5th annual holiday toy drive. This year, the exhibitor will offer guests a choice of a $5 game card or a free popcorn in exchange for a toy valued at $5 or more (limit two offers per person). Guests can drop off toys at any Cinergy location between Wednesday, Dec. 3 and Monday, Dec. 20. “The holidays can be an especially difficult time for families in need,” said Cinergy Vice President of Marketing Traci Hoey in a statement. “We are so happy to be able to bring toys to thousands of children in our communities.” “This year we are excited to be partnering with Cinergy in the toy drive,” added Jennifer Virdell of Highland Lakes Christmas is for Kids, an organization based in southern Burnet County, Texas that spearheads an annual toy drive in the region. “We hope everyone will take advantage of this great way to help others in...

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Cinemark Reaches Covid-Era High in Children’s Ticket Sales During Thanksgiving Week

Cinemark sold more children’s tickets between Nov. 22 and Nov. 28 than during any other week of the pandemic to date, the exhibitor reported Monday (Nov. 29). According to a press release, the Covid-era high was reached thanks to a solid lineup of popular family-friendly films at the multiplex, including Sony’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Disney’s Encanto and Paramount’s Clifford the Big Red Dog. The announcement follows news that October was Cinemark’s highest-grossing month since Covid-19 forced the closure of movie theaters across North America in March 2020. “Moviegoing is a decades-long treasured family pastime, and we are thrilled that families chose to spend their time together in Cinemark auditoriums watching great new movies on our larger-than-life screens with booming surround sound,” said Wanda Gierhart Fearing, Cinemark’s chief marketing and content officer....

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Escape from Afghanistan: Jonas Poher Rasmussen Animates a Refugee’s Harrowing Journey in Acclaimed Doc Flee

One of the most tragic news stories of this turbulent year has been the plight of thousands of Afghans, now that the United States has withdrawn its forces after a 20-year presence in the quagmire known as Afghanistan. Those headlines have lent an unexpected timeliness to Flee, Neon’s acclaimed animated documentary about the odyssey of an Afghan boy in the 1980s and ’90s. Filmmaker Jonas Poher Rasmussen first met Amin (a pseudonym) when both were teenagers. Amin had recently arrived in Rasmussen’s small town in Denmark, a shy refugee with a mysterious backstory. The two boys became lifelong friends; Amin went on to a distinguished career as an...

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AMC Stubs and Investor Connect Members to Receive Exclusive NFT with Advance Opening Day Tickets for Spider-Man: No Way Home

AMC Stubs Premiere, A-List, and Investor Connect members will have access to a limited run of Spider-Man NFTs with their advance purchase of opening day tickets for Sony’s Spider-Man: No Way Home at any U.S. AMC Theatres location, while supplies last. Advance tickets for Spider-Man: No Way Home go on sale on November 29. The movie will open exclusively in cinemas on December 16. Only 86,000 NFTs will be made available for opening day advance ticket buyers, with redemption codes delivered to recipients via email on December 2021 and must be redeemed by March 1. The total production of the NFTs in this partnership between Sony and AMC Theatres is expected to be limited to an overall quantity of 90,000. Over 100 NFT designs will be available, specially designed by Cub Studios. The NFT giveaway will be valid only for tickets purchased or reserved for December 16 showtimes...

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SPECIALTY BOX OFFICE: Belfast Keeps Pace with Expansion, Licorice Pizza Scores Top PSA of the Pandemic

Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast led the specialty box office this weekend with a $970k 3-day and $1.3 million 5-day tally from its wide expansion over its third frame in the domestic market. The historical drama played at 1,128 locations in North America for a three-day per-screen average of $860 and currently sits at $4.9 million from its domestic run. The title landed in 11th place just outside the top ten over the Thanksgiving holiday led by its performance in DMAs like New York (10.7%), Boston (5%), Philadelphia (4.7%), Los Angeles (4.5%), and Chicago (4%). Four of the film’s highest-earnings locations on Friday and Saturday were in New York City, led by AMC Lincoln Square. Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch, released domestically by Searchlight Pictures, only dropped 38% over its fifth weekend in North America. The title finished 12th on the domestic chart with a $622k...

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WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Encanto Enchants Thanksgiving with $40M 5-Day Debut, House of Gucci Comes in Third

Disney’s Encanto – the first non-Pixar Walt Disney Studios original animated film to debut exclusively in theaters since Frozen II in November 2019 –won the top spot at the domestic box office over the Thanksgiving frame, grossing an estimated $27 million over the three-day weekend and $40.3 million over the five-day span beginning Wednesday from 3,980 locations. The adult-skewing House of Gucci, meanwhile, enjoyed a solid debut while the horror reboot/prequel Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City launched quietly further down the chart. Despite winning the weekend and boasting the highest domestic theatrical debut of any fully-animated film since the start of the pandemic, Encanto’s opening haul came in at the low end of expectations. The reason for this may partly come down to timing; while kids 5-11 became eligible to receive the Covid-19 vaccine earlier this month,...

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Indie Influencers: State of the Art House 2021

In a November LIVE session webinar, Boxoffice Pro partnered with cinema advertising company Spotlight Cinema Networks to launch a discussion on the current state of the art house market. A panel of experts from the art house and specialty space provided candid insights into the impact that Covid-19 has had on the way the indie sphere operates, from shifting relationships with streamers to attempts to bring in younger demographics. Below, we share a condensed version of that very important conversation. Listen to this week’s episode below and subscribe to The Boxoffice Podcast on any major podcast platform. Presented by Spotlight Cinema Networks Watch...

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Spider-Man: No Way Home is Most Anticipated Movie of the Holiday Season, According to Marcus Theatres Survey

Spider-Man: No Way Home is the most anticipated movie of the holiday season, according to a Marcus Theatres survey of nearly 2,400 customers enrolled in the exhibitor’s Magical Movie Rewards loyalty program in 17 states, the company announced on Tuesday (Nov. 23). The forthcoming Sony/Marvel sequel was named on 63% of survey respondents’ lists of their five most-anticipated holiday movies, the theater chain reports. The film was the highest-ranked title in 10 states, as well as the most-anticipated title among male respondents. It was followed closely in second place by Ghostbusters: Afterlife, which was named on 62% of respondents’ most-anticipated lists and was also the top-ranked title in seven states. The Sony reboot was also the top-ranked title among female respondents across the board. The remainder of the top five includes Warner Bros.’ The Matrix: Resurrections...

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Regal Partners with Flexa to Accept Digital Currency, UberEats for Popcorn Delivery

Regal has announced a pair of new partnerships. The first, struck with pure-digital payments network Flexa, will allow Regal customers to pay for movie tickets, popcorn and more using  digital currencies. The second partnership, reached with Uber Eats, will allow customers of the meal-delivery service to order Regal concessions via the Uber Eats app. Under its agreement with Flexa, Regal customers can now pay with a variety of cryptocurrencies – including bitcoin, ether, dogecoin and Dai – “all instantly and with zero risk of fraud,” according to a press release announcing the deal. The partnership covers the exhibitor’s entire global footprint of over 500 theaters representing more than 7,000 screens. The digital currencies valid under the deal include: Cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH), litecoin (LTC), and dogecoin (DOGE); Digital dollars and...

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Cinematic Enchantment: Disney Reunites with Lin-Manual Miranda for Animated Musical Encanto

The 60th feature film from Walt Disney Animation Studios opens with crickets chirping quietly and the sound of someone whispering, “Abre tus ojos” (open your eyes). Right from the opening moment of Encanto, the audience is immersed in the sights and sounds of Colombia. The past few Walt Disney Animation Studios films took place in fictional lands — inspired by real places, but fictional nonetheless. Raya and the Last Dragon was set in Kumandra, a Southeast Asian nation like Cambodia, Myanmar, or Thailand. Moana took place in Motunui, modeled on Polynesia and Hawaii. Frozen and Frozen II unfolded in Arendelle, a mythical Scandinavian land. “From the beginning we knew we wanted to set it in Latin America,” Encanto producer Clark Spencer tells Boxoffice Pro, “but do we do it ‘inspired by’ or pick a real location? In our research, we discovered that Colombia is really the...

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