Movies

Searchlight Pictures’ The Banshees Of Inisherin opened to an estimated $181,000 and a raring per screen average of $45,250, beating Tár’s impressive $40,000. Both opened in four locations and now rank no. 2 and no. 3 for an indie per-theater gross this year after A24’s Everything Everywhere All At Once. That film’s in a class

We have confirmed that tracking service NRG is eyeing a $175 million start for Disney/Marvel’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. That total would give it the second-best opening of 2022 after Disney/Marvel’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which debuted to $187.4M in May. Last year’s Marvel sequel Spider-Man: No Way Home owns the biggest

SATURDAY UPDATE: Black Adam added a host of 19 markets on Friday and has now cumed $30.2M through its first three days at the international box office. Friday rocked $15.8M with the Dwayne Johnson-starrer ranking as the No. 1 U.S. film in all 76 markets in release. With these results, we are still eyeing the $70M

The Banshees of Inisherin, which won writer-director Martin McDonagh Best Screenplay and Colin Farrell the Volpi Cup for Best Actor in Venice last month, hits theaters in New York and Los Angeles on Friday, expanding to 10 more markets/50 locations next weekend, and to 600-800 screens November 4. If standing ovations say anything, the comedy-drama had a

UPDATE, Friday late afternoon: We are hearing from sources that Black Adam is set to make $25 million on Friday, which would easily be the best opening day for Dwayne Johnson among his solo projects. That list includes Hobbs & Shaw ($23.6M), Mummy Returns ($23.1M) Jumanji: Next Level ($19.7M) and San Andreas ($18.1M). Today’s $25M

EXCLUSIVE: On the heels of releasing Goran Stolevski’s feature directorial debut You Won’t Be Alone, Focus Features is re-teaming with the Macedonian-Australian filmmaker on his second feature, Of An Age. Focus has scheduled Of An Age for February 10, 2023, with a national expansion on February 17. Universal has offshore rights sans Australia. Written, directed,

EXCLUSIVE: Lionsgate is giving an Oscar-qualifying run to the psychological thriller Alice, Darling on December 30 before the pic’s nationwide release in 2023. The film, which made its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival where it notched a near 90% on Rotten Tomatoes, stars Oscar nominee Anna Kendrick as a woman woman pushed to

Alamo Drafthouse Crystal City, the chain’s newest location and its fourth in the Washington, DC metro area, will open October 24 as the exhibitor continues to roll out sites. This latest entrant is a 49,000-square-foot, 915-seat, aviation-themed theater at 1660 Crystal Drive in Arlington, Va., joining the Alamo Drafthouse Bryant Street in D.C. proper, and

The Universal/Blumhouse/Atomic Monster genre film M3GAN is hitting screens a week earlier than its original MLK weekend date, and now will be released January 6. The pic from director Gerard Johnstone and producers James Wan and Jason Blum moves onto a date where there’s Sony’s untitled True Haunting movie, and away from New Line’s House

EXCLUSIVE: In an unprecedented move, Netflix and major exhibition circuits in the U.S. and UK recently agreed a 30-day theatrical window for Rian Johnson’s Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery. This comes after years of discussions on finding “a way forward to show their high-quality productions on our screens,” says Tim Richards, founder and CEO

Finally, after a very long drought at the box office, a fire-breathing theatrical-windowed tentpole arrives in New Line’s Dwayne Johnson title, Black Adam. But will it deliver? Knock on wood, everyone hopes so for this DC movie that was shot for less than $200M. The movie arrived hot on domestic tracking this month with a

Sony has decided to kick off the Tom Hanks movie A Man Called Otto on Christmas Day in an exclusive opening in New York and Los Angeles versus a wide release on Wednesday, December 14. The movie then will go wide over MLK weekend, January 13, which is where Warner Bros.’ House Party and Universal/Blumhouse’s

Sight Unseen, Makeready and Hillman Grad Productions’ A Thousand and One will be released in theaters on March 31, 2023 from Focus Features. The pic reps the feature directorial debut of A.V. Rockwell, off a script the filmmaker wrote, which follows unapologetic and free-spirited Inez (Teyana Taylor), who kidnaps six-year-old Terry from the foster care

EXCLUSIVE: Imax has inked a deal with Wanda Films, China’s largest exhibitor, to install six Imax systems in new multiplexes across top Chinese markets including Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou. Wanda will also relocate and upgrade three of its existing Imax systems to forthcoming locations. The agreement marks an expansion of their work together and a

Chinonye Chukwu’s Till got off to a solid start at the specialized box office, grossing over $15k per theater from 16 locations in five markets for an estimated weekend gross of $240.9k, possibly more depending on how Sunday plays out. “It’s as much as we could have hoped for,” said Erik Lomis, president of United Artists Releasing. The

The over-under on Universal/Blumhouse/Miramax’s Halloween Ends for its debut weekend is $50 million at 3,800 theaters. Some even see it possibly touching $60M, and that’s with a theatrical day-and-date on Peacock. That opening alone is what all films have been averaging at the box office over the last three weekends: $55M. In 2021, Part 2

EXCLUSIVE: Momentum Pictures has acquired distribution rights in the US, Canada, and UK to Soft & Quiet, the debut feature from filmmaker Beth de Araújo which made its world premiere at SXSW. The film, produced by Blumhouse and Second Grade Teacher, earned gripping reviews out the Austin, TX event, near 90%. The pic will be released

FRIDAY MIDDAY UPDATE: As of this minute, Halloween Ends isn’t looking as super as the forecasts had predicted — meaning in the $50M range. Still, at a $43M opening, it’s not shabby for a film that cost $30M. Remember, it is a threequel. Universal can brag that it’s the sixth year in a row (8th

Specialty film rollouts continues to accelerate with Chinonye Chukwu’s Till, Park Chan-wook’s Decision To Leave and A24’s Stars At Noon joining releases from previous weeks to populate theaters as awards season gathers steam.   Till, from United Artists Releasing, world premiered at the ongoing New York Film Festival to stellar reviews (100% on Rotten Tomatoes,

New Line’s reboot of House Party, which was originally supposed to go to HBO Max, but was given a theatrical release, will now open on Jan. 13, 2023 rather than Dec. 9, 2022. Bad news: That shifts one wide release out this year, however, two weekends before Christmas was a desert last year with Steven