ReportWire

Tag: box office

  • Box Office Preview: Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ to Tower Over Dwayne Johnson’s ‘Smashing Machine’

    Taylor Swift appears to be enjoying the role of box office queen.

    She’s returning to theaters this weekend with a special event pic promoting her new album, The Life of a Showgirl, which comes out Friday. The big screen album release party, which will also feature the world premiere of the music video for Showgirl single “The Fate of Ophelia,” music videos and behind-the-scenes footage, is expected to tower over the competition and win the relatively quiet Oct. 3-Oct. 5 box office race with anywhere from $25 million to $35 million, if not more. Tracking suggests $35 million, while distributor AMC Theatres — which also partnered with the superstar musical artist on her record-breaking concert pic Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour — is being more conservative in suggesting $25 million to $30 million.

    Either way, that’s well ahead of opening weekend projections for its closest competitor, the Dwayne Johnson-led wrestling drama The Smashing Machine. That’s not exactly a surprise, considering Johnson’s latest outing is a specialty pic from A24, versus the sort of wide-appeal action movie The Rock is best known for. Smashing Machine, which made its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival as this year’s awards season kicked off, is tracking to open in the $12 million to $14 million range.

    Directed by Benny Safdie, Smashing Machine reunitues Johnson with his Jungle Cruise co-star and good friend Emily Blunt, who played a key role in bringing Johnson and Safdie together. The film is based on the real-life story of Mark Kerr, a former college wrestler who battled trauma and an addiction to painkillers during the early years of the UFC.

    Another player to watch this weekend is James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water, which is being rereleased exclusively in 3D. Like Swift’s team, Cameron and partner 20th Century/Disney are using the box office for promotional purposes: this Christmas, Avatar: Ash and Fire opens.

    Cameron’s Avatar movies have generally done well when rereleased, and this time out, the focus on Imax is an added bonus. The movie will be playing in 90 percent of all Imax auditoriums domestically but will have to share Dolby Cinema screens and other premium large-format auditoriums with the Showgirl release party. Way of Water is projected to earn $3 million to $4 million domestically from 2,100 theaters; rivals think it could approach $5 million.

    Taylor Swift: The Official Release Party of a Showgirl is only playing in cinemas for three days, and Swift’s team went to great lengths to keep the project top secret until the 11th hour (they almost succeeded, but not quite), much to the chagrin of other distributors, such as A24 or even Disney, who don’t like last-minute surprises even if the idea of a live audience watching a viewing party on the big screen is a far cry from the sort of frenzy surrounding her Eras Tour. She announced the Oct. 3-Oct. 5 special event on Sept. 19 in a well-orchestrated social media post informing fans that advance tickets would go sale that day at 12:12 local time for $12, in keeping with Swift’s longtime relationship with numbers (Showgirl is her 12th album). Consumers can expect to pay more for Imax and other premium large format screenings.

    “I hereby invite you to a *dazzling* soirée, The Official Release Party of a Showgirl: Oct 3 – Oct 5 only in cinemas,” Swift wrote across social media on Sept. 19. “You’ll get to see the exclusive world premiere of the music video for my new single ‘The Fate of Ophelia,’ along with never before seen behind-the-scenes footage of how we made it, cut by cut explanations of what inspired this music and the brand new lyric videos from my new album The Life of a Showgirl. Looks like it’s time to brush off that Eras Tour outfit or orange cardigan… Tickets are on sale now. Dancing is optional but very much encouraged.”

    Like her tour itself, The Eras Tour film was a phenomenon when opening in 2023 to a huge $93.2 million domestically on its way becoming the top grossing concert film of all time with $261.6 million in global ticket sales. Swift and her team financed the $15 million project herself, bypassing the Hollywood studio system and partnering with AMC Theatres, the country and world’s largest cinema circuit, AMC Theatres Distribution is releasing Showgirl in partnership with Variance Films in the U.S. and Canada, and with Piece of Magic Entertainment in other international markets.

    This weekend, the one-hour-and-30-minute film also opens in its first 18 international markets. It will continue its international rollout throughout October.

    Showtimes begin Oct. 3 — the day of the album’s release — at 3 p.m. local time.

    Both Avatar and Smashing Machine will host Thursday previews.

    Pamela McClintock

    Source link

  • The Latest ‘Demon Slayer’ Movie is Another Record-Breaking Hit

    Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle came to the United States this weekend, and it’s doing numbers well ahead of projections.

    Per the Hollywood Reporter, the film—the first of a trilogy meant to bring the shonen fantasy series to a close—made an estimated $70 million domestic, double the $35-40 million predicted by analysts. But Sony’s been aggressive with marketing it, not to mention the anime itself is pretty popular on its own. It’s the biggest opening ever for an anime film in North America, the biggest-ever animated debut for a September film, and with an additional $30 million from international audiences, brings Infinity’s box office to an estimated $468 million worldwide.

    Being a money maker isn’t new for Demon Slayer: in 2022, Sony released the film adaptation of the Mugen Train arc, which was the most succssful opening for a foreign film at the time. While it wasn’t the top movie that weekend, it helped reinvigorate U.S. theaters in the aftermath of the early COVID-19 pandemic and was 2020’s highest-grossing film.

    Meanwhile, The Conjuring: Last Rites from September 5 fell by 69% domestically and came in behind Infinity Castle. With a new domestic total of $131.1 million and an extra $60.5 million overseas, its latest total is $332.9 million. It’s now the second highes-grossing movie in the franchise behind the first Nun movie ($366 million) and ahead of The Conjuring 2 ($322.8 million).

    As for The Long Walk, the weekend’s other big genre release, it made an estimated $11.5 million domestic. Based on Stephen King’s 1979 novel, the Francis Lawrence-directed film stars Cooper Hoffman, David Jonsson, and Mark Hamill, and has had eavy marketing in recent weeks. Compared to other adaptations of King’s work, that domestic open is below The Monkey and Doctor Sleep, according to Deadline. But at time of writing, its international numbers aren’t out, and we’ll update when they’re disclosed.

    Update (9/13/2025 @ 4:23 PM ET): This story has been updated with more recent numbers for Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle.

    Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

    Justin Carter

    Source link

  • ‘The Conjuring: Last Rites’ Summons a Franchise-Best Box Office

    After a longer-than-expected wait, the fictionalized versions of Ed and Lorraine Warren have financially gone out with a bang.

    Per the Hollywood Reporter, this weekend’s The Conjuring: Last Rites has made $187 million worldwide. Of that, $83 million came domestically, becoming the best launch for a Conjuring movie, the third-biggest open for a horror movie overall, and well past initial projections from Warner Bros. and box office analysts. Internationally, its $104 million take also defied expectations and became the second horror biggest opening for a Hollywood horror movie.

    Last Rites once again sees real-life couple Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga as the Warrens as they investigate the Smurl hauntings. The movie’s marketing has leaned heavily on this being the pair’s last case as paranormal investigators, and by extension the end of the Warrens’ tenure in these movies. Despite that, The Conjuring itself isn’t going anywhere, as there’s a TV show in the works for HBO Max. Rites has earned mixed reviews, but nothing outside the norm for the overall franchise.

    Outside of Conjuring, New Line’s Weapons continues to clean up. Now in its fifth week, the horror-thriller has made another $10 million worldwide—$5.4 million domestic, and $4.6 million international—to bring its overall total to $250 million. Earlier this week, New Line revealed the film would be hitting digital platforms on Tuesday, September 9 before its physical release on October 14. No word yet on an HBO Max date.

    Looking ahead, the month’s theatrical genre movies include The Long Walk on September 12, Him and A Big Bold Beautiful Journey on September 19, and The Strangers: Chapter 2 on September 26.

    Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

    Justin Carter

    Source link

  • Studio-By-Studio Summer Market Share: The Box Office Haves and Have Nots

    Disney maintained its lead in summer marketshare at the 2025 box office but the toast of the town was Warner Bros., which came in a close second thanks to standout hits including Weapons, Superman and Apple Original Films’ record-smashing F1: The Movie starring Brad Pitt, as well as enjoying carryover money from spring blockbusters A Minecraft Movie and Sinners. Not so long ago, some thought Warners film studio chiefs Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy were gone. Not anymore.

    Heading into the season, Weapons and F1 were nowhere to be found when Fandango put out its annual survey of the top-10 most anticipated summer films. The survey was close to being bang-on correct regarding No. 1 on the list, which was Jurassic World Rebirth. Many in Hollywood were dubious as to whether Universal and Amblin could reboot the Jurassic franchise for a third time, and birth a new trilogy more than three decades after Steven Spielberg’s dinos first stomped onto the big screen in 1993’s Jurassic Park. But relaunch it they have.

    Jurassic World Rebirth is the summer’s second-biggest film, with more than $855.6 million in worldwide ticket sales behind Disney’s live-action Lilo & Stitch (Lilo was No. 9 on Fandango’s list). Yet Lilo is the only film of the year so far to have crossed $1 billion globally, with total earnings of $1.33 billion through Sept. 1. It has played both to families and to nostalgic teenagers and Gen Zers who grew up watching the 2002 animated film of the same name about the friendship forged between a lonely Hawaiian girl and a troublesome, pet-like, blue alien. Like Aladdin or The Little Mermaid, it points to the limitless financial potential of tapping into such nostalgia.

    Warners rebound has been anchored by Joseph Kosinski’s F1: The Movie. The big-budget Formula One movie finished Labor Day with more than $613 million in worldwide ticket sales, a sum no one thought possible considering its lead star is in his early 60s and this particular racing sport has never been all that popular in the U.S. (that’s why no studio would shell out $200 million to $300 million to make the racing film; instead Apple Original Films made the pic, and brought on Warners as its distribution and marketing partner).

    On Aug. 27, FI broke its latest record when passing up Warner and DC Studios’ Superman, a feat few could have imagined. It also is the top-grossing sports pic of all time, and the best of Pitt’s career, not adjusted for inflation.

    Abdy and De Luca also became heroes of the summer box office when originality paid off in a major way with the mid-August release of Zach Cregger’s Weapons. The film has became a cultural sensation, grossing north of $250 million to date against a $38 million budget. (Naysayers were just as dismissive when Ryan Coogler’s original pic Sinners, another De Luca and Abdy project, opened in theaters in April. They were silenced when the pic topped out north of $455.7 million globally.)

    It’s true that Superman, which has earned $611 million to date worldwide, has given DC a much longed-for win over Marvel, but the Man of Steel can’t exactly gloat. Superhero fatigue at the box office, a phenomenon which is now impacting the foreign box office in a major way, remains a major issue.

    Elsewhere, the ever-steady Universal remained in fine standing this summer between Jurassic World Rebirth and DreamWorks Animation’s live-action How to Train Your Dragon, which is the third top-grossing Hollywood title of the summer with a global cume of $629 million (it’s the first time DWA has borrowed from the Disney playbook and made a live-action adaptation of one of its library titles).

    Paramount and Sony both had tough summers, albeit for different reasons. The former was in the midst of waiting for the Skydance merger to close as it released Tom Cruise’s latest Mission: Impossible movie, The Final Reckoning. Sony was left bereft in terms of having a summer tentpole to release because of delays related to the labor strikes, say insiders.

    On Sept. 2, Comscore revised its summer revenue estimate after it finished tallying Labor Day numbers. For the period May 2-Sept. 1, domestic revenue came in at $3.672 billion, a decline of 0.10 percent from last year’s $3.672 billion. Comscore initially forecast a decline of 0.2 percent.

    Below is summer domestic, international and global revenue broken down by the five major legacy studios.

    Erik Hayden

    Source link

  • ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Sequel Moving Ahead As Sony and Netflix Engage In Deal Talks

    Once a demon slayer, always a demon slayer. Or at least, that’s the hope.

    Sony Pictures is in talks with Netflix to make an animated sequel to KPop Demon Hunters, sources tell The Hollywood Reporter. The fantasy musical has turned into the sort of cultural sensation every Hollywood studio or streamer tries to hunt down, even at great expense, but rarely finds.

    The events of the past few days — including Netflix dropping a surprise sing-along version of the Sony Pictures Animation film in theaters over the Aug. 22-24 weekend, or Demon Hunter becoming the most-watched English-language film of all time on the streamer — are reigniting the debate as to whether Sony’s film empire gave away the keys to the kingdom in 2021 when handing the movie over to Netflix to release, versus bankrolling a big-budget theatrical title on its own from a first-time feature director (Maggie Kang) with no major stars.

    More often than not, box office observers and rival studio execs say Sony made the safe and even the right call, considering that original animation is on a downward spiral at the box office in the post-pandemic era (known animated IP fares better). Even Pixar isn’t immune. This summer, Elio, also an original story, opened to $21 million, the worst debut in the history of the storied animation studio founded by Steve Jobs and later sold to Disney. Elio topped out at $73 million domestically and $152 million globally against a net budget of $150 million before a major marketing spend (ouch).

    Some say Sony should have held out and taken the full-blown theatrical route, even if it was a financial risk. “It was certainly a mistake for Sony to give it up,” says one insider on the exhibitor side. “Sounds like this was new IP, they didn’t think it would land and was just bad luck for them.”

    But there’s a silver lining: When it comes to profit margins, a studio hopes for a range of 10 percent to 12 percent. In the case of Demon Hunters, Sony could be looking at 20 percent to 30 percent.

    The deal for the first Demon Hunters — which was part of a larger, multi-title pact struck during the depths of the pandemic in 2021 — saw Netflix agreeing to cover the film’s entire $100 million budget in addition to paying Sony a fee of $25 million, or 25 percent of the budget and certain other costs. Sony also receives a piece of soundtrack sales, as well as music publishing fees for certain songs. Merchandising rights, however, belong solely to Netflix.

    On Tuesday, Netflix announced that KPop now ranks No. 1 on its list of most-watched English-language films with 236 million total views, ahead of previous crownholder Red Notice, starring Dwayne Johnson, Ryan Reynolds and Gal Gadot. That’s quite a feat for a film such as KPop that’s a two-quadrant movie targeting families and females 25 and younger. (Netflix’s all-time top 10 list is based on views in a title’s first 91 days of release.)

    And the film’s soundtrack now holds the distinction of being the first to have four simultaneous Top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, led by Huntrix’s “Golden.”

    Sony also gets a portion of the money Netflix is paying Sony’s animation company Imageworks, home of the visually groundbreaking, Oscar-winning Spider-Verse films (like Spider-Verse, an Oscar campaign is being planned for Demon Hunters).

    For the deep-pocketed Netflix, the victory of Demon Hunters is sizeable, and underscores the importance of keeping kids and families happy as part of its overall strategy to keep subs satiated, which is Netflix’s top concern. One source says kids are watching Demon Hunters again and again, or six to eight times on average (for some, it’s more).

    Insiders on both sides say the Sony-Netflix partnership has gone smoothly (although of course they would say that). It is true there was a built-in bond: Netflix animation head Hannah Minghella worked for years at Sony, including with now-Sony animation head Kristine Belson. In a recent statement to THR, Netflix head of film Dan Lin went out of his way to give a shout out to Sony, saying that he and Minghella are “thrilled to be supporting” Kang and co-director Chris Appelhans “and Kristine Belson and her team at Sony Animation” as their studio partner.

    In the same exchange with THR, Lin noted that Netflix allows its films to build an audience organically and over time. That’s a luxury theater owners can’t afford to offer if a film has a sluggish start. “As word of mouth spread and social media caught on, we saw viewing really take off and the movie became a cultural phenomenon — it’s one of the only films to grow its audiences in its fifth and six weeks of release,” Lin said.

    Kang and Appelhans have spoken publicly in the broadest strokes about a possible sequel, and are considered integral to the future of Demon Hunters. Sony insiders say they have held preliminary conversations with the directors but as of yet, there is no deal on the table. That’s because the first priority is to sort out the Netflix-Sony pact. It’s also important to note that Netflix cannot make a sequel without Sony, and Sony cannot make a sequel without Netflix.

    Stay tuned.

    Aug. 26, 6: p.m.: Updated with additional information about the film’s directors.

    Pamela McClintock

    Source link

  • ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Could Sing to Netflix’s First Theatrical Hit

    After growing popularity and fan demand, KPop Demon Hunters came to theaters across North America this weekend. And in what’s surely a shock, the film might manage to take the top spot in the box office and give Netflix something else to brag about.

    Per the Hollywood Reporter, the KPop singalong screenings is looking to earn $18-20 million domestic before the weekend is out. That number comes courtesy of exhibition sources and “rival studios,” since Netflix doesn’t report numbers when its movies hit theaters. But should KPop hit that range (or exceeds it), this would mark the first time a movie from the streamer hit #1 on the big screen. Of the big North American theater chains, AMC is the only one not playing it, and around 1,150 of its 1,700 showings sold out earlier in the week.

    Netflix has always had a rocky relationship with theaters, which has gained greater scrutiny recently. Earlier in August, Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer announced they were moving to Paramount in April 2026 to make theatrical movies—said to be a huge factor in their decision—and Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein will hit the big screen in October. People who’ve watched KPop Demon Hunters at home have come away from it thinking it could’ve been a hit in theaters, and this two-day screening proves them right a little bit. At time of writing, it’s unknown if Netflix will allow for more screenings closer to Oscar season, or even extend it to other countries, but it looks like there’s no stopping KPop Demon Hunters’ momentum for the forseeable future.

    Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

    Justin Carter

    Source link

  • ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Overtakes ‘Barbie’ In All-Time Domestic Box Office Receipts

    ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Overtakes ‘Barbie’ In All-Time Domestic Box Office Receipts

    Deadpool & Wolverine‘s record-smashing box office streak hit another milestone this weekend when Marvel Studios and Disney’s R-rated film surpassed Barbie to rank No. 12 on the list of all-time top-grossing films at the domestic box office, not adjusted for inflation.

    Over the weekend, Deadpool & Wolverine took in another $679,000 after Disney upped the film’s theater count from 990 locations to 1,500 theaters nationwide in a final push before the pic’s theatrical run ends. The Ryan Reynolds–Hugh Jackman crowd-pleaser finished Sunday with a domestic total of $636.3 million, compared to the $636.2 million haul of Greta Gerwig and Warner Bros.’ acclaimed meta-comedy.

    Barbie, however, still out-ranks the Deadpool threequel globally with a worldwide haul of $1,446 billion. The PG-rated, family-friendly pic is No. 15 on the all-time list of top-grossing films at the global box office.

    Deadpool & Wolverine is likewise a worldwide sensation, and is the top-grossing R-rated film of all time. Last weekend, Star Wars: Episode VIII — The Last Jedi was knocked out of the top 20 when Deadpool & Wolverine took its place. As of this weekend, its global gross stands at $1.336 billion.

    It’s just one of the many box office records the meeting of Marvel’s most misanthropic superheroes broke since its summer release, including the biggest opening weekend for an R-rated movie ($211 million). As for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Deadpool & Wolverine is the seventh-highest-grossing film out of 31 releases at the worldwide box office, and fifth-biggest domestically.

    Deadpool & Wolverine is also the second-biggest film of 2024 to date behind Pixar and Disney’s Inside Out 2, which has earned $652.9 million domestically and $1.694 billion globally.

    Kevin Dolak

    Source link

  • Terrifier 3 Kicked Some Box Office Butt This Weekend

    Terrifier 3 Kicked Some Box Office Butt This Weekend

    The fan-favorite Terrifier 3 came to theaters this weekend, and Art the Clown came out on top against bigger movies: namely, the already shaky Joker: Folie á Deux.

    Per Variety, Damien Leone’s slasher threequel earned $18.3 million in North America in its opening weekend. That’s a pretty big deal for the series: not only was this one reportedly only $2 million to make, it actually exceeded most projections that pegged a start of $10-11 million. For further comparison, this also blows past the worldwide $15.7 million haul for Terrifier 2 in 2016. Solid reviews and word of mouth from its passionate fans will take Terrifier 3 even further, but can Art hold his own against Smile 2 next weekend and Venom 3 the weekend after? We’ll find out.

    As for Joker, the hits are hitting Arthur Fleck even harder: domestically, the film fell to third place with $7.055 million, down 82% from its $37.8 million open. It’s one of the biggest second-weekend drops for a superhero movie, and a much steeper dip than the ones for last year’s The Marvels (78.1%) and The Flash (72.5%).  Globally, it’s now made $165.3 million, and sources told Variety it might be a struggle for the movie to hit a break-even point thanks to its critical lashings and bad word of mouth.

    Meanwhile, The Wild Robot happily did its own thing in domestic second place. Now on week three of its theatrical run, the animated flick added another $13.45 million to its take, making for $148.5 million worldwide. Dreamworks is surely happy with how it’s still doing, and as we learned on Saturday, a sequel is already in the works. As for fellow September holdovers Beetlejuice Beetlejuice and Transformers One, they’re still hanging in theaters: for its sixth weekend, Beetlejuice earned another $7.05 million, bringing its worldwide total for $420 million. And Transformers made $3.65 million in weekend number three, bringing its domestic total to $52.8 million and $111 million globally so far.

    Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

    Justin Carter

    Source link

  • ‘Joker 2’ Suffers Worst Second Week Box Office Drop in DC History

    ‘Joker 2’ Suffers Worst Second Week Box Office Drop in DC History

    Nobody at Warner Bros. is going to be laughing about this weekend’s box-office totals.

    There are two two more days, including one big night, left to go, but so far Joker: Folie à Deux is showing every sign of suffering a historic collapse at the box office. According to Deadline, in its second weekend of release, the Joker sequel “is posting a -82 percent freefall of with around $6.7-$7M per industry estimates.”

    Those numbers would make Folie à Deux “the absolute worst hold for a DC character movie in the history of the brand on the big screen.” Generally, hits decline less than 60 percent from weekend to weekend, and anything over that percentage of decline is bad. So an 82 percent drop would be very disappointing.

    In its opening weekend, Joker: Folie à Deux grossed $37.6 million in the U.S., down sharply from the first film, which had a $96.2 million opening weekend back in 2019. Combine an underwhelming debut with a massive drop, and you have the makings of one of the costliest flops in recent memory.

    Industry reports claim that Warner Bros. supposedly spent in the neighborhood of $200 million on the DC sequel, which stars Oscar-winner Joaquin Phoenix as Arthur Fleck and Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn.

    Warner Bros.

    READ MORE: Every DC Comics Movie Ever Made, Ranked From Worst to Best

    Per Deadline, the previous worst drop from first to second week for a DC Comics movie was The Flash from 2023, which dropped 73 percent from its opening weekend. (That opening weekend was still far better than Joker 2, at $55.0 million.) They also cite The Suicide Squad’s 72 percent — but that had the added issue of being released simultaneously to theaters and to HBO Max, limiting its potential audience.

    A huge drop is not entirely unexpected, given Joker 2’s poor reviews from critics and audiences — who rated the movie a “D,” the worst rating ever given to a comic-book movie. (Joker got a B+ — even The Flash got a B.

    Instead of Joker, it looks like a totally different clown is in line to rule the weekend box office: The indie gorefest Terrifier 3 appears on track to gross roughly $18 million in theaters.

    15 Once-Beloved Movies That Have Faded Away

    These movies were massive blockbusters on their initial release. As the years have gone by, they’ve haven’t become generational classics.

    ScreenCrush Staff

    Source link

  • Unbelievable facts

    Unbelievable facts

    Zoe Saldana is the first actor to star in four movies that each grossed over $2 billion at the box…

    Source link

  • The B-Word at the Box Office Might Not Be ‘Bots’

    The B-Word at the Box Office Might Not Be ‘Bots’

    Photo: Paramount Pictures/Everett Collection

    The same amount of Autobots and Goths rolled out to the cinema this weekend. Transformers One, an animated prequel film to the Transformers franchise, opened on Friday, and it had some stiff competition with Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice sequel. The bots are estimated to earn a $26 million opening weekend per Deadline, with Beetlejuice Beetlejuice earning $25 million during its third week in theaters. The robots did pretty well, considering it is a fall animated flick competing against a highly anticipated sequel as we’re approaching Halloween. However, as word gets around about the film’s positive reviews from critics, maybe things can turn around for the Autobots. It could also find more success on streaming; surely Paramount+. Either way, it’s the season of spooking, and Beetlejuice will probably be topping the box office for the time being.

    Alejandra Gularte

    Source link

  • Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Scares Up a Strong Opening Weekend

    Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Scares Up a Strong Opening Weekend

    It’s officially September, and for the first weekend of the month, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice was the record-breaking, box office winner.

    Warner Bros. and Tim Burton’s horror-comedy sequel opened to $145.4 million. According to Variety, the bulk of that came domestically, where it began its theatrical run with $110 million. It’s the second-biggest September debut of all time behind the $123 million debut of 2017’s It: Chapter One (and directly ahead of It: Chapter Two’s $91 million in 2019). For 2024 overall, it’s the third-best domestic opener of the year behind Deadpool & Wolverine’s massive $211.4 million start and Inside Out 2’s $154.2 million.

    There’s been a big marketing push behind Beetlejuice Beetlejuice over the past several months, and renewed interest in the larger franchise. Along with getting people to rewatch the first film to see if it still holds up (and maybe just Burton’s entire filmography overall), it definitely helps that the 90s animated series recently hit Tubi ahead of the sequel’s release. Its stars can also be credited: people love them some Winona Ryder, Michael Keaton, and Jenna Ortega, particularly the latter thanks to Wednesday and the Scream sequels. Add on the strong word of mouth from its premiere at the Venice Film Festival, and it’s no surprise that folks have drank the Juice, as it were.

    What else is there to look forward to this month? Genre-wise, Blumhouse’s Speak No Evil remake will finally hit theaters on September 13, along with a one-day run for the first three episodes of Dandadan, Lionsgate’s action-comedy The Killer’s Game, and the Megan Fox sci-fi horror flick Subservience. The folllowing week on September 20, we’ve got the animated prequel Transformers One, Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley’s The Substance, and Halle Berry protecting kids once more in Never Let Go. Finally, September 27 will close things out with Hellboy: The Crooked Man, The Wild Robot, Azrael, and Megalopolis.

    Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

    Justin Carter

    Source link

  • Even the Box Office Is Taking a Break on Labor Day Weekend

    Even the Box Office Is Taking a Break on Labor Day Weekend

    It’s the long weekend, and there’s no better way to beat the heat than to sit in a movie theater and watch something that’s been out for weeks. After six weeks in theaters, Deadpool & Wolverine has returned to the top of the box office and is estimated to earn about $19 million this weekend over four days. It’ll surpass the $600 million milestone for its domestic earnings in a few days’ time. The Ryan Reynolds-led film didn’t have much competition this weekend. Dennis Quaid’s Reagan and Blumhouse’s Afraid were both debuting this weekend. Still, they didn’t even make the top three— Reagan is estimated to earn about $9 million at no. 4, Afraid about $4 million at no. 9. Alien: Romulus (no. 2), It Ends With Us (no. 3), and Blink Twice (no.5) round out the rest of the top five. However, the holiday break will be over next week as Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is going to probably bring in a ton of ticket sales. Everyone loves an early Halloween.

    Alejandra Gularte

    Source link

  • Box Office: ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Back on Top as ‘Blink Twice’ Struggles and ‘The Crow’ Collapses

    Box Office: ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Back on Top as ‘Blink Twice’ Struggles and ‘The Crow’ Collapses

    New players at the late-summer box office are struggling to find their footing. Holdovers Deadpool & Wolverine, Alien: Romulus and It Ends With Us are easily beating new offerings on the August marquee, including suspense thriller Blink Twice and The Crow reboot. Marking Zoë Kravitz’s directorial debut and starring Channing Tatum, Blink Twice looks to […]

    Pamela McClintock

    Source link

  • ‘Inside Out 2’ Is Now One of the Ten Biggest Films in History

    ‘Inside Out 2’ Is Now One of the Ten Biggest Films in History

    As its impressive box-office run continues, Inside Out 2 has now achieved two major milestone at the same time: It’s officially passed The Avengers on the all-time worldwide grosses list — and in doing so, became one of the ten biggest movies in history.

    This week, Inside Out 2 passed $1.523 billion in worldwide ticket sales. That’s ever so slightly better than The Avengers’ $1.520 billion, knocking Marvel’s first mega-crossover down to #11 on the all-time box office list. The sequel is now the biggest Pixar movie ever, and the second-biggest Disney film ever behind only the “live-action” remake of The Lion King.

    The impressive list of films Inside Out 2 has made more money than now includes Top Gun: Maverick, Barbie, Black Panther, Frozen II, Avengers: Age of Ultron, and every film in the Fast & Furious and Harry Potter franchises.

    READ MORE: The Best Box Office Bombs of the Year

    Here is the latest all-time worldwide top ten box office list:

    1. Avatar – $2.92 billion
    2. Avengers: Endgame – $2.79 billion
    3. Avatar: The Way of Water – $2.3 billion
    4. Titanic – $2.26 billion
    5. Star Wars: The Force Awakens – $2.07 billion
    6. Avengers: Infinity War – $2.05 billion
    7. Spider-Man: No Way Home – $1.92 billion
    8. Jurassic World – $1.67 billion
    9. The Lion King – $1.66 billion
    10. Inside Out 2 – $1.52 billion

    Even without the original Avengers, Marvel still has three of the ten biggest box-office hits in history, and six titles in the top 25. (Pixar only has two — Incredibles 2 is the other.)

    The phenomenal success couldn’t come at a better time for Pixar, which had a rough few years during the pandemic when Disney released all of its titles direct to streaming. Their first release back in theaters, Lightyear, was a commercial disappointment, although they rebounded somewhat last summer with Elemental, which got so-so reviews but became a word-of-mouth hit that grossed nearly $500 million.

    Still, there’s a massive difference between nearly $500 million and $1.5 billion. Pixar will look to keep its sudden hot streak going with Elio in 2025 and a new Toy Story sequel in 2026.

    The Biggest Marvel Box Office Bombs

    These movies, based on comics released by Marvel, were not hits — and that’s putting it mildly.

    Matt Singer

    Source link

  • Ryan Reynolds on Stunning ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Box Office: I Think It’s “the First 4-Quadrant, R-Rated Film”

    Ryan Reynolds on Stunning ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Box Office: I Think It’s “the First 4-Quadrant, R-Rated Film”

    It wasn’t until about 10 a.m. PT on Saturday that Disney’s distribution team realized that the near-impossible was within reach: Deadpool & Wolverine was going to cross the $200 million mark in its domestic opening, an unimaginable feat for an R-rated pic. Case in point: the biggest R-rated opening until now was the $133.7 million collected by the first Deadpool in 2016.

    By Sunday morning, the news was official. The Marvel Studios movie opened to an estimated $205 million, the eighth-biggest debut of all time among any film and by far the biggest launch for an R-rated film, not adjusted for inflation. The third outing in Ryan Reynolds‘ irreverent superhero franchise smashed numerous other records both domestically and overseas, where it launched to $233.3 million for a global start of $438.3, the biggest debut since Avatar: The Way of the Water in December 2022.

    Reynolds has just returned home from a dizzying worldwide tour for the film with BFFs Shawn Levy, who directed Deadpool & Wolverine, and co-star Hugh Jackman. He conversed with The Hollywood Reporter on Sunday about his reaction to the opening, which exceeded all expectations. Most thought it could only get to $175 million to $180 million because of the rating, although one Disney insider says the studio was aware it had a shot at hitting $200 million — provided it got the required foot traffic.

    Reynolds has his own theory about its success. “Disney probably doesn’t want me to frame it this way, but I’ve always thought of Deadpool & Wolverine as the first four-quadrant, R-rated film,” Reynolds tells THR. “Yes, it’s rated R, but we set out to make a movie with enough laughs, action and heart to appeal to everyone, whether you’re a comic book movie fan or not.”

    There’s reason Disney and others may bristle at labeling it a four-quadrant film, which generally is reserved for movies that work equally for males and females over and under 25. Afterall, it is perhaps the most violent and bloody Deadpool movie yet.

    Still, here’s evidence to back up Reynolds’ theory that it’s playing to a far more broad audience than the usual MCU movie, even if it’s skewing male by anywhere from 60 to 63 percent.

    So far, 13.6 million people have bought tickets to see it, on par with last year’s Barbie, which was rated PG-13, according to Steve Buck’s leading research firm EntTelligence. That’s the most foot traffic ever for an R-rated movie.

    More tellingly, 11 percent of the audience was under 17. R-rated films typically only have 5 percent, according to Buck’s outfit. At the same time, it should be noted that 21 percent of the audience for Marvel’s last five films, all rated PG-13, were under the age of 17, according to an unweighted analysis by EntTelligence.

    Deadpool & Wolverine showed strength across all age groups — again, to Reynolds’ point — and not just the 18 to 34 crowd, which can make up as much as 60 to 70 percent of a superhero film’s opening weekend.

    According to Entelligence, those between ages 18 and 25 made up 21 percent of ticket buyers; 28 percent were between 26 and 35; 33 percent were between 36 and 45; 12 percent were between 44 and 60; and 5 percent were 55 and older. PostTrack, another leading exit-polling service, had slightly different percentage breakdowns, but not by much. Other stats: 81 percent of the audience was non-family, 13 percent were family groups, and 6 percent were teenagers.

    “Once thought of as a sure-fire way to limit potential box office, the R rating, when properly applied, can be the key to unlocking massive box office, and this has proven to be the secret sauce for the Deadpool franchise,” says chief Comscore box office analyst Paul Dergarabedian. “The creative freedom afforded by the less restrictive rating has enabled filmmakers to push the envelope and, particularly in the case of Deadpool & Wolverine, can deliver the kind of edgy, intense, profanity-filled comedy action that modern audiences are fired up to see on the big screen.”

    The R rating afforded Reynolds the creative freedom needed to fulfill his vision. “When I saw rated-R movies when I was a kid, they left a huge impression on me because I didn’t feel like people were pulling punches, and it’s been a huge inspiration to so many of the things that I look to make now,” Reynolds recently told The New York Times.

    “I’m not saying that other people should do this, but my 9-year-old watched the movie with me and my mom, who’s in her late 70s, and it was just one of the best moments of this whole experience for me,” Reynolds continued in the NYT piece. “Both of them were laughing their guts out, were feeling the emotion where I most desperately hoped people would be.” 

    If Disney is wary of declaring the new Deadpool film an all-audience film — aka, a four-quadrant film — it’s understandable considering it is the first R-rated film ever released by the studio. When Kevin Feige‘s Marvel Studios got its hands on the franchise after Disney absorbed 20th Century Fox, Disney chief Bob Iger went out of his way to assure audiences that Deadpool would retain its R-rating legacy.

    For Reynolds, it’s been a long journey since Deadpool 2 was released by Fox in 2018, between the Disney-Fox merger, the pandemic and then the strikes, which shut down production for months. The movie, in fact, is replete with references to the Fox-Marvel handover, and its implications.

    “I’ve been in some form of writing, producing, performing, editing and marketing of Deadpool & Wolverine for three years. I’d say it’s hard work, but it’s closer to obsession. The privilege and honor of making a movie with two of my closest friends in Shawn Levy and Hugh Jackman is never lost on me,” Reynolds tells THR. “Neither is the obscene talent and competence of a ruthlessly devoted post-production team.”

    Among additional records domestically, the film is the top opening ever for Reynolds, Levy and Jackman and the fifth-biggest superhero launch. It’s also the biggest July opening of all time, the biggest opening of 2024 so far and Marvel Studios’ biggest launch since Spider-Man: No Way Home in December 2021.

    Levy and Reynolds co-wrote the script with veteran Deadpool scribes Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, along with writer Zeb Wells. Reynolds, who is himself a master marketer, is also giving a tip of his hat to the team at Disney. The star tells THR: “Witnessing the prowess of Marvel/Disney’s promotional machine under Kevin Feige, Lou D’Esposito and Asad Ayaz was a learning experience I’ll never forget. I feel like I’ve waited my whole life to make this movie, and the outcome is icing on an already incredible cake.”

    Pamela McClintock

    Source link

  • ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Has Biggest R-Rated Opening Weekend Ever

    ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Has Biggest R-Rated Opening Weekend Ever

    Deadpool & Wolverine had the biggest opening weekend for an R-rated movie ever.

    That’s the biggest and most important takeaway, as the film debuted with a massive $205 million in domestic ticket sales. In addition to being the biggest R-rated debut ever, that’s also the eighth-biggest opening weekend ever for a film of any rating, just behind the original Avengers $207 million from 2012. Deadpool & Wolverine is also the ninth film in history to make $200 million in its opening weekend.

    For point of comparison, the original Deadpool grossed $132 million in its opening weekend in 2016. Deadpool 2 opened to $125 million in 2018. So the addition of Hugh Jackman and the promise of tons of Marvel Cinematic Universe elements (and big cameos) added roughly $80 million of appeal for that opening weekend.

    In terms of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Deadpool & Wolverine had the fifth biggest opening ever, behind Avengers: Endgame, Spider-Man: No Way Home, Avengers: Infinity War, and The Avengers.

    Marvel

    READ MORE: The Next Avengers Movie Is Avengers: Doomsday, Starring Robert Downey Jr.

    Here is the full (estimated) box office chart. Theaters had a good weekend overall, not just with Deadpool & Wolverine…

    1. Deadpool & Wolverine – $205.0 million
    2. Twisters – $35.3 million
    3. Despicable Me 4 – $14.2 million
    4. Inside Out 2 – $8.3 million
    5. Longlegs – $6.7 million
    6. A Quiet Place: Day One – $3.0 million
    7. Bad Boys: Ride or Die – $1.2 million
    8. The Fabulous Four – $1.0 million
    9. Fly Me to the Moon – $0.7 million
    10. MaXXXine – $0.2 million

    The last few years so many stories have been written about how Marvel has fallen on hard times; that they’d lost their magic touch, that the’d diluted themselves; that their best days were behind them. And in a stretch of 72 hours they had one of their biggest openings ever, the biggest R-rated opening ever, and they announced that they were bringing back their biggest star ever to appear in two new Avengers movies as Marvel’s biggest villain ever. Sooooo I don’t think we’re going to see too many more articles like that any time soon.

    The next Marvel film after Deadpool & Wolverine, Captain America: Brave New World, is scheduled to open in theaters on February 14, 2025.

    Every X-Men Movie Ranked From Worst to Best

    We ranked every single movie in the Fox (and now Marvel) X-Men film franchise, including all spinoffs and prequels.

    Matt Singer

    Source link

  • Longlegs Sets New Box Office Records in Opening Weekend

    Longlegs Sets New Box Office Records in Opening Weekend

    After weeks of creepy trailers and very good pre-release buzz, Neon’s long-awaited Longlegs finally hit theaters this weekend. Directed by Osgood Perkins, attention on the Maika Monore and Nicolas Cage-led horror thriller has built up a lot of goodwill, and that appears to have paid off big time at the theater.

    Despite some mixed impressions, Deadline reports Longlegs has earned $22.6 million domestically. It’s the biggest opening to date of Neon’s seven-year stint, and the biggest opening for an original horror movie this year. The studio’s definitely proud of it: in a press release, it noted the movie’s performance was similar to Blair Witch Project. “Not since [Blair Witch] has there been an independent genre film that out-projected, out-performed and over-indexed so wildly that it seemed to the industry it ‘came out of nowhere.’”

    Neon really went all-out to make sure everyone knew that Longlegs existed. Trailers played ahead of many tentpole movies in the last several months, and a marketing campaign further encouraged viewers to uncover potential secrets. It also helped to hide Cage’s appearance–if your movie’s already looking creepy as hell, the only way to see what its co-lead looks like is to steel yourself and see the damn thing. Neon’s distribution boss Elissa Federoff noted the marketing was “built with creativity and imagination,” and understandably took pride in the studio’s efforts. “We built a movement around this film,” she noted. “When audiences can tell that it will be original and something they haven’t seen before, they’ll rally behind it.”

    As strong as Longlegs did, it still ultimately fell in second place behind Despicable Me 4. The Illumination film added another $44.7 million from North America to its haul, bringing its domestic box office to $211.1 million. An additional $88 million oversees puts it at $437.8 million worldwide, helping the larger Despicable Me franchise cross $5 billion. It’s surely gonna make more money over the next few weeks, so get ready to bring your kids to Minions 3 in 2027. Both Inside Out 2 and A Quiet Place: Day One were also solid earners this weekend, respectively bringing their global totals to $1.35 billion and $203.6 million.

    Next weekend’s big blockbuster is Universal and Warner Bros.’ Twisters, which has been building up hype of its own in recent weeks. The following week on July 26 is the long-awaited Deadpool & Wolverine, which is likely gonna make a lot of money, especially since that’s also the same weekend as San Diego Comic-Con. With how well movies have done in this month and June, it’s hard to believe we were fretting about theatrical movies so much back in May.

    While we’re here, did Longlegs live up to its hype, or were you left wondering what the big deal was? Let us know in the comments below.

    Justin Carter

    Source link

  • Box Office: ‘Despicable Me 4’ Easily Wins With $44.7M as ‘Longlegs’ Stuns With Record $22.6M Launch

    Box Office: ‘Despicable Me 4’ Easily Wins With $44.7M as ‘Longlegs’ Stuns With Record $22.6M Launch

    Animation continue to the be hero of the summer office thanks to Despicable Me 4 and Inside Out 2, but Neon‘s Longlegs can rightly take a bow after scoring the biggest opening for an independent horror pic in a decade with $22.6 million in ticket sales.

    From Illumination and Universal, DM4 easily stayed atop the domestic box office chart in its second weekend with $44.7 million from 4,449 theaters as it jumped the $200 million mark to finish Sunday with a North American tally of $211.1 million. Overseas, Gru and the mischievous Minions also continued to stir up strong sales, earning $88 million from 78 markets for a foreign tally of $226.7 million and $437.8 million globally.

    In a notable milestone, the Despicable Me/Minions franchise has crossed $5 billion mark in global ticket sales, a feat no animated franchise has achieved before. (Earlier this week, Illumination announced that a Minions 3 is in the works.)

    The big surprise of the weekend is the better-than-expected performance of writer-director Osgood Perkins Longlegs, a serial killer chiller starring Maika Monroe and Nicolas Cage. The tense FBI procedural, playing in 2,510 cinemas, is the biggest opening ever for Tom Quinn‘s Oscar-winning specialty production and distribution outfit Neon, home of Parasite.

    Among other records, it’s Cage’s biggest opening since National Treasure: Book of Secrets almost twenty years ago in 2007. It’s also the top R-rated opening of 2024 to date. And it is the only indie horror film of the past decade to open to $20 million or more (this excludes one of the Insidious movies from Focus Features/Universal).

    Going back as far as 25 years, Neon also notes that very few indie films have crossed the $20 million threshold in their debut. For purposes of context, however, many indie titles — including Neon releases — only open a few theaters, versus rolling out nationwide from the get-go as Longlegs did.

    The well-reviewed movie earned $10 million on Friday alone, including previews, and wasn’t hampered by a C+ Cinemascore, since it’s common for the horror genre to land a grade in the C range. Fun fact: More than 70 percent of ticket buyers were between ages 18 and 34.

    The record-shattering Inside Out 2 — which has a shot at becoming the top-grossing animated film of all time — finished Sunday with a global cume of $1.35 billion. It’s already become the top-grossing Pixar title of all time and the third biggest animated title, not adjusted for inflation. The film has helped propel Disney become the first major studio to cross the $2 billion mark in 2024 global ticket sales.

    In North America, Inside Out 2 came in third in its fifth weekend with $20.8 million for a domestic tally of $572.6 million. Overseas, it earned another $50.2 million from 47 markets for a foreign cume of $777.5 million. It has yet to open in Japan, where it could do sizeable business.

    Paramount’s holdover A Quiet Place: Day One continues to entice moviegoers and placed fourth despite the entry of Longlegs. The prequel scared up another $11.8 million this weekend from 3,378 theaters for a domestic total of $116.2 million through Sunday.

    Apple Original Films‘ continues its theatrical ambitions with the release of director Greg Berlanti’s Fly Me to the Moon, a romantic comedy starring Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum. The period space-age movie, distributed by Sony on behalf of Apple, opened to a subdued $10 million from 3,356 sites to place No. 5. The number isn’t a surprise considering the film was fueled by older adults; more than half of ticket buyers were 45 or older, including 32 percent over the age of 55.

    The movie has earned meh reviews, but audiences were kinder in bestowing the older-skewing film an A- CinemaScore. Reviews matter more to older moviegoers, upon whom Berlanti’s film is relying, but Apple and Sony believe the film will have long legs, similar to Ticket to Paradise, which opened to $16.5 million domestically on its way to topping out at $68 million, and Where the Crawdads Sing, which opened to $17.7 million and topped out at $90 million domestic.

    At the specialty box office, new offerings include A24‘s Sing Sing, which is on course to score a solid per-theater average of $34,280 or thereabouts from four theaters in Los Angeles and New York. The film, from director Greg Kwedar, chronicles an arts program at the infamous Sing Sing prison.

    July 14, 7:45 a.m. Updated with revised estimates.

    This story was originally published July 13 at 10:16 a.m.

    Pamela McClintock

    Source link

  • ‘Minions 3’ Will March Into Theaters in June 2027

    ‘Minions 3’ Will March Into Theaters in June 2027

    That didn’t take long.

    Fresh off the successful box office debut of Despicable Me 4, Illumination and Universal announced plans for Minions 3, which has landed a release date of June 30, 2027.

    Written by Brian Lynch (Minions, The Secret Life of Pets films), Minions 3 will be directed by veteran Despicable Me/Minions helmer Pierre Coffin, who has also provided the voice for the Minions since their film debut in 2010.

    The film will be produced by Illumination founder and CEO Chris Meledandri and Bill Ryan, who exec produced The Super Mario Bros. Movie. 

    More than ten years after their creation, Illumination trumpets the Minions as becoming the most iconic animated characters of their generation who have helped Illumination’s Despicable Me and Minions movies to a global box office of almost $5 billion. 

    The franchise includes Minions, one of the highest-grossing animated films of all time, as well as the Oscar nominated Despicable Me 2 and Despicable Me 3, which each made more than $1 billion at the global box office.

    In 2022, Minions: The Rise of Gru shattered box office records with the highest grossing July Fourth opening weekend in domestic history. This year’s Despicable Me 4 confirmed the Minions have plenty of life left on the big screen when opening to $230 million worldwide. 

    Pamela McClintock

    Source link