Movies

It was fascinating to see my good colleague Valerie Complex describe, in her review of the Antoine Fuqua/Will Smith slavery drama Emancipation, having almost walked out of the film, not because it was unworthy, but because she found the depiction of Black suffering and death almost too much to watch. In the end, Complex stuck

A platoon of titles hits the specialty circuit this weekend, getting in ahead of steamroller Avatar: Way of Water and the year-end deadline for Oscar eligibility. This is a soul-searching, what-lies-ahead moment for a market still much too inconsistent for comfort, but that can be pondered later. At the moment, indie distributors are quite busy

UPDATED, Saturday AM Writethru after Friday PM post: Where’s a wide expansion of Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery when you need it? Expect a greater subtraction of dollars at this weekend’s box office, as the Rian Johnson-directed whodunit goes dark until December 23. Disney/Marvel Studios’ Black Panther: Wakanda Forever came in with a $4.4M

Moonage Daydream is returning to the really big screen. Brett Morgen’s award-winning documentary about David Bowie will be re-released on Imax screens around the country for limited engagements, beginning on Monday, December 5 at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. From Dec. 7-13 it will play at six Imax locations in the Los Angeles area,

AMC got its meme back Thursday, with the stock surging 27% at its high on heavy volume, way outpacing the broader market and other publicly traded theater chains. The jump was its biggest since May as the stock revisited its days as huge chatroom favorite. Volatility is a hallmark of meme stocks with others like

Before Disney’s 20th Century Studios’ Avatar: The Way of Water floods the box office with a potential $200M opening on Dec.16, Universal might have a surprise this weekend in the 87North holiday action movie Violent Night, starring David Harbour. Universal is hoping for $10M, maybe $12M on the Tommy Wirkola-directed movie for a second place

Here’s another bucket of cold water for the budding romance between Netflix and exhibitors. Founder and co-CEO Reed Hastings fully, almost happily, agreed that his company left lots of money on the table with the limited release and booming ticket sales of Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery over Thanksgiving weekend. He has no problem

The highest grossing movie of the year, Top Gun: Maverick, is going back into select theaters this Friday, Dec. 2 on premium large format screens and Imax for a two-week run. The news comes in the wake of Paramount+ setting a drop date for Tom Cruise’s biggest grossing movie of all-time ($716.6M, $1.486 billion WW)

Even with one fewer show on the Broadway boards, and overall attendance at the 33 productions down a smidge from the previous week, Broadway box office was up 22% during Thanksgiving week, scoring a plump $37,475,773 due to plumper holiday ticket prices. Not coincidentally, average ticket price was up 22% from the previous week, hitting

Over the 5-day Thanksgiving stretch, Netflix’s one-week sneak preview of Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery buried all new and old major studio adult counterprogramming with an estimated $13.3M over 5-days for what is projected to be a $15M first week by Tuesday. Far and away, this is the best theatrical launch ever for a

Sideshow/Janus Films EO held well in week two, grossing $23,217 for the five-day holiday frame ($11,609 per screen) and $16,900 for the three-day weekend ($8,450 per screen). The new cume is $50.7k in a crowded arthouse market, a strong showing for the film starring a melancholic gray donkey. It expands to LA next week opening at

Death, taxes, and films that bomb at the box office. Such is life in Hollywood, and at the end of the day, the estimated $147M loss which is expected for Disney Animation’s Strange World isn’t spilt milk to cry over for the entertainment conglomerate. The bombing of the Thanksgiving family title, with a $28M global

In its third weekend, Disney/Marvel’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever continued to reign at the global and international box office. With a $32.1M offshore frame (-53%), the sequel has an overseas total of $308M for $675.6M worldwide through Sunday. Before we look more closely at the hold on Wakanda Forever, however, attention turns to Disney’ new

James Norton has been set to lead the West End stage adaptation of Hanya Yanagihara’s bestselling novel A Little Life. Shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2015, the emotional story follows four college friends in New York City. Ivo van Hove (Network, Hedda Gabler) is directing the 12-week run at the Harold Pinter Theatre which

Laura Poitras’ Venice Golden Lion-winner  All The Beauty And The Bloodshed opens in three theaters today, testing a crowded specialty market at the IFC Center, Lincoln Center & BAM in NYC. It adds LA and San Francisco (AMC Sunset 5 & AMC Kabuki) Dec. 2. Presented by Neon, this is the story of internationally renowned photographer

The long awaited James Cameron sequel to the highest grossing movie of all-time hit tracking this morning with a projected opening of at least $150M. Tracking has it higher near $175M, but rivals are bullish at $200M. Here’s the thing — the pic is being comped against holiday fanboy titles, and the numbers that are

Exhibition stocks were up today on news from Bloomberg that Amazon is going to commit a reported $1 billion to theatrical releases annually. We hear that such a plan is truly in its early days — read Amazon doesn’t have an executive yet to lead MGM theatrical. Capisce? Since Amazon bought MGM, it has been

Editor’s note: Deadline presents the 41st episode of its video series Take Two, in which Pete Hammond and Todd McCarthy tackle the artistry of films just opening in theaters every weekend. Each has reviewed and written about the craft for decades and built a remarkable breadth of knowledge of films past and present. What we hoped for

WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON: Early figures and take the 3-day and 5-day with a grain of salt as projections are always off at this point in a Thanksgiving stretch. Disney/Marvel Studios’ Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is leading today with $9.5M, even with yesterday and a $50M Wednesday through Sunday outlook. However, Strange World, as we thought, it

Call it a holiday tradition as common as sweet potatoes on the Thanksgiving table, but Disney is going to rule the five-day holiday stretch again after wins in 2016 (Moana), 2017 (Coco), 2018 (Ralph Breaks the Internet), 2019 (Frozen 2) and last year (Encanto), as Black Panther: Wakanda Forever‘s third weekend looks to do $40M