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Tag: movie revenues

  • Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour movie hits a presale record for Cinemark | CNN Business

    Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour movie hits a presale record for Cinemark | CNN Business

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    New York
    CNN
     — 

    Taylor Swift’s concert film hasn’t even been released yet and it’s already toppling box-office records.

    Cinemark, a theater chain with about 500 locations, said that ticket sales for “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” are “setting domestic presale records” with demand “10 times higher” than any other event film the company has exhibited. The reaction has “blown everyone away,” Cinemark announced in a press release.

    Excitement has been building for the 3-hour-long film, which is opening Friday, October 13. An ad for the movie even aired during NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” last weekend, where Swift made an appearance to cheer on her possible boyfriend, Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce.

    Cinemark is not the first theater chain to experience an increase in sales via Swift: AMC Theaters previously announced that the singer’s Eras Tour concert movie “shattered records for single-day advance ticket sales revenue,” with $26 million sold on the first day that presales went live on August 31.

    Swift’s movie crushed the single-day record less than three hours after tickets became available, prompting AMC to add extra showtimes where possible.

    The concert film, which is being screened in some theaters in both IMAX and standard versions, is expected to rake in between $100 million to $125 million in its opening weekend, according to industry estimates.

    Superstar Beyoncé is also releasing a film version of her “Renaissance World Tour” for a theatrical release. Ticket presales began Monday for the December 1 premiere.

    For theaters eying a potentially grim fall with the ranks of movies thinned out by the (recently resolved) writers strike and the actors strike, the one-two punch looks like a gift from the musical gods. It’s a potential means of filling seats that doesn’t rely on what has come to look like an increasingly shaky theatrical business even with usually reliable studio blockbusters.

    In addition to Swift and Beyoncé, the box office also has been helped out by another fierce female: “Barbie.” The film hit the $1 billion global box office mark barely three weeks into its run — only about 50 films in history, adjusted for inflation, have reached the benchmark. It’s made more than $630 million in the US box office since its July release. (CNN and “Barbie” movie distributor Warner Bros. Pictures share the same parent company.)

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  • ‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’ wins big at the box office with record opening | CNN

    ‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’ wins big at the box office with record opening | CNN

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    CNN
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    “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” powered up at the box office with an impressive opening.

    The movie ran up the score with more than $200 million in the US and Canada for its five-day opening run, according to a news release, and an estimated $377 million worldwide – the latter topping the box office launch record for an animated movie, previously held by “Frozen 2.”

    It marks the biggest global box office opening of the year, with “Super Mario Bros.” standing ahead of “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” which brought in the $225.3 million during its February opening.

    The movie is based on the world of Nintendo’s classic 1985 “Super Mario” video games and stars Chris Pratt as Mario, Charlie Day as Luigi and Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach.

    Jack Black, Keegan-Michael Key, Seth Rogen, Fred Armisen, Kevin Michael Richardson and Sebastian Maniscalco round out the cast.

    Actor Charles Martinet, Mario’s longtime official voice in the games – who many gamer purists felt should have been cast as the titular character instead of Pratt – makes a special appearance in the movie.

    “Super Mario Bros.” follows Brooklyn plumbers Mario and Luigi as they’re transported down a mysterious pipe while working underground to fix a water main. The brothers wander into a “magical new world” and when they’re separated, “Mario embarks on an epic quest to find Luigi,” according to a synopsis on the movie’s website.

    The solid opening is a healthy sign for movie theaters headed into the summer box office season, with the next “Guardians of the Galaxy” movie, also starring Pratt, kicking off in May.

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  • ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ gives James Cameron his first $100 million domestic debut | CNN Business

    ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ gives James Cameron his first $100 million domestic debut | CNN Business

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    New York
    CNN
     — 

    The highly anticipated “Avatar: The Way of Water” took in $134 million at the US box office, giving director James Cameron his first $100 million opening weekend — despite falling short of analyst predictions.

    Although notching the second highest world-wide opening this year didn’t quite match expectations, the film’s ultimate success will depend on its long term appeal, a notable attribute of many of Cameron’s movies. “Avatar: The Way of Water” has so far earned $435 million at the global box office.

    Though Cameron hasn’t revealed exactly how much it cost to make the “Avatar” sequel, one answer isn’t in doubt: a lot. Or in Cameron’s own words to GQ Magazine, “very f***ing expensive.” The star director estimated to industry executives that in order to break even the movie has “to be the third or fourth highest-grossing film in history.”

    That means it needs to make more than $2 billion. Earning nearly $3 billion, “Avatar” is the highest-grossing film of all time. And only one film during the pandemic era, “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” has even come close to that mark, raking in nearly $1.9 billion.

    But for Cameron it’s all about the marathon, not the sprint.

    “The future of the Pandora isn’t going to be determined this weekend,” Comscore senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian said. “It’s going to be determined over the next many weeks as the film plays, and we’ll have, I think, strong week after week numbers.”

    The film might also be at the top of the list for viewers over the busy holiday period, which also won’t include any major blockbuster competition, Dergarabedian noted. However, the movie’s running time, 190 minutes, reduces the number of daily showings for theaters.

    The film could be a turning point for the movie theater industry too, which had been decimated by the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. The film’s success will also depend on whether audiences will pay for the immersive 3D experience, which has decreased in popularity over time, along with dwindling ticket sales.

    In 2009, “Avatar” earned $77 million in its opening weekend and collected 80% of its gross from 3D showings. That film revolutionized 3D viewing — and for its sequel, premium formats such as IMAX and 3D accounted for 62% of the domestic box office haul.

    “The Way of Water” notched the second highest all-time IMAX global opening weekend and the biggest IMAX December global opening ever.

    “I think people are on the fence about 3D,” Dergarabedian said. “But with ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ the 3D part of it is as woven in to its appeal as the movie itself.”

    Disney has placed a huge bet on the “Avatar” series. “The Way of Water” is one of four planned sequels, with a third installment set for release on December 20, 2024. The stars from the first film, Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana, returned as Jake and Neytiri. In the sequel, they live on Pandora with their family.

    – CNN’s Oliver Darcy contributed to this report.

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  • ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ notches record opening for November | CNN Business

    ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ notches record opening for November | CNN Business

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    New York
    CNN Business
     — 

    “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” had the major challenge of following “Black Panther,” one of the biggest blockbusters ever, and had to do so without star Chadwick Boseman, who passed away in 2020.

    Despite all of the challenges, “Wakanda Forever” notched a sizable box office opening this weekend. The Marvel movie opened to an estimated $180 million in North America, according to the film’s studio, Disney.

    The opening represents one of the best premieres of the year and makes the superhero film the highest-grossing debut ever for the month of November. The original record belonged to “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire,” which made $158 million in November 2013. The box office haul comes in around where most in Hollywood were predicting.

    The film has made $330 million globally so far.

    It’s no surprise why “Wakanda Forever” did so well this weekend.

    The film, which stars Letitia Wright and Angela Bassett as the princess and queen of the African country of Wakanda, comes from Marvel Studios — the most lucrative brand in all of Hollywood — and is the sequel to one of the most popular films of all time.

    When “Black Panther” hit theaters in February 2018, it opened to a stellar $202 million weekend. It then went on to make $1.3 billion worldwide and garnered multiple Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. The film is considered to be one of the best from the comic book genre and one of the best from Marvel.

    Audiences also likely bought a ticket to “Wakanda Forever” to see how the film and director Ryan Coogler would handle the passing of Boseman. In an interview with Empire magazine in September, Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige said “It just felt like it was much too soon” to recast the late actor. Boseman died at age 43 from colon cancer.

    As for its critical reception, “Wakanda Forever” notched an 84% score on review site Rotten Tomatoes. Audiences also gave the film an “A” on CinemaScore.

    “‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ faced an inordinate degree of difficulty, addressing the tragic death of Chadwick Boseman,” Brian Lowry, CNN’s media critic, wrote in his review. “That the movie manages to strike that somber chord and still deliver as Marvel-style entertainment represents a major accomplishment.”

    The film’s solid opening comes at the good time for theaters and Disney.

    For theaters, the industry needed a blockbuster to help boost numbers since new, notable films have been hard to find in recent months.

    As for Disney, the media giant’s shares sank 13% Wednesday after the company reported its streaming business lost $1.4 billion last quarter, despite growing its subscriber base.

    The debut of “Wakanda Forever” will unlikely impact Disney’s stock since investors remain heavily focused on the company’s streaming endeavors. But the strong box office performance helps Disney end a bad week on a high note.

    It could also help build momentum for theaters with another potential Disney blockbuster on the horizon next month: “Avatar: The Way of Water.”

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