B. Riley analyst Eric Wold, who has stayed generally bullish on the movie theater business despite its recent trials, is now warning investors that the arrival of a “down box office year” has made him “increasingly cautious.” In a note to clients about his 2024 outlook, Wold wrote that he expects the stock performance of
Actors Strike
AMC shares plunged today despite record quarterly earnings as the giant theater chain filed with SEC to sell up to $350 million worth of stock — offsetting any bump that could been expected from solid financials and an end to the actors’ strike. Shares were trading up this morning pre-market but reversed course when the
In another maneuver by the David Zaslav-run Warner Bros Discovery to kill movies, we hear on very good authority that Warner Bros will not be releasing the live-action/animated hybrid Coyote vs. Acme with the conglom taking an estimated $30M write-down on the $70M production. We understand the writedown for the pic was applied to the
EXCLUSIVE: With the end of 118-day actors strike at 12:01 a.m. Thursday morning, as well as a 148-day WGA strike back in September, global Hollywood feature productions can now resume. And while studios warned the guild that movies wouldn’t be able to start until January due to the holidays, they’ve been in pre-production on re-starts
Cinemark CEO Sean Gamble said Apple and Amazon, two behemoths of the tech world but newcomers to the wide-release movie business, are so far “very pleased” with their results. During a conference call with Wall Street analysts to discuss third-quarter results, the major exhibitor boss said Cinemark’s conversations with the two tech firms indicate they
The ramifications of the actors strike at the weekend box office continues to be felt, as ticket sales this weekend plummeted to $58.3M, which is currently the third-lowest of 2023. Remember, Legendary/Warner Bros’ Zendaya-Timothee Chalamet-Austin Butler-Florence Pugh sequel Dune: Part Two was originally set to play this weekend, and with its departure, there’s at least
More theatrical release date changes due to the actors strike which is clocking 113 days, however, the good news is that it doesn’t impact 2024. Universal and DreamWorks Animation’s live action take of animated movie How to Train Your Dragon goes from March 14, 2025 to Friday, June 13, 2025. Uni had the latter date
Imax CEO Rich Gelfond predicts the long SAG-AFTRA strike will settle relatively soon. If, instead, it drags on, theater chains will face a rocky second half of 2024 but he sees the large-format exhibitor standing apart. “An exhibitor who programs a multiplex needs lots of movies,” he told Wall Streeters after Imax reported a record
EXCLUSIVE: In one of the first major blows to the 2024 theatrical release schedule due to the ongoing actors strike, sources tell us that Marvel Studios‘ Deadpool 3 won’t be making its May 3 start-of-summer theatrical release date. Even if the strike ends in the next few weeks, a 2024 restart on the half-finished Deadpool
SAG-AFTRA Chief Negotiator and National Executive Director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland is very happy with Taylor Swift and not so happy with Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos. We spoke with Crabtree-Ireland today at New York Comic-Con where he took the stage for a panel about AI. Talks collapsed on Wednesday night between studios and SAG-AFTRA following the guild’s
Bollywood’s Jawan and star Shah Ruhk Khan livened up a slow specialty market, grossing close to $2.5 million in 776 locations in week two for a cume close to $12.2 million. The Yash Raj actioner is no. 6 at the domestic box office. Its weekend split was $694,724k Fri.; $1.024m Sat,; $775k Sunday as Jawan
New Line’s new animated movie, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, is moving from its April 12, 2024 release date to Dec. 13 next year. The move stems from a chain-reaction of Warner Bros re-dating today, spurred by Legendary Entertainment’s Dune: Part Two going from Nov. 3 this year to March
Cinemark CEO Sean Gamble said Hollywood strikes currently delaying the production, and promotion, of new films won’t affect “key fundamentals” of a revived exhibition business although they might extend the “recovery trajectory of theatrical film volume a bit.” “We know that our studio partners are doing everything they can to minimize the disruption of content
EXCLUSIVE: With such big 2023 movies such as Kraven the Hunter, the next Ghostbusters, the Zendaya romance Challengers and more moving into 2024 due to the SAG-AFTRA strike, exhibition is facing another possible recession should stars remain unable to promote. Movie theaters are currently relishing a box office boom in Barbie and Oppenheimer with the
Mike Cavanagh, the president of Comcast who was recently named the de-facto head of NBC Universal, said the company remains “committed to reaching a fair deal [with actors and writers[ as soon as possible, so we can get back to doing what we do best, which making great content together.” In a change, he kicked
EXCLUSIVE: Despite all the champagne popping at Warner Bros and Universal over the bananas box office success of Barbie and Oppenheimer, distribution executives continue to sweat over a possible lengthy SAG-AFTRA strike that is already blowing up the fall release calendar. We told you first last week this was going to happen. Many want their
EXCLUSIVE: Lionsgate is pushing the theatrical releases of this August’s White Bird: A Wonder Story and next year’s Dirty Dancing sequel from director Jonathan Levine due to the dual WGA and SAG-AFTRA strike, we hear. White Bird, the spin-off prequel to the studio’s 2017 box office smash Wonder, was set to launch limited on Aug. 18 and
EXCLUSIVE: In light of the current strikes, A24 is pausing the release of Julio Torres’ Problemista which was set to launch limited on Aug. 4. The new release date will be determined down the road. The studio is doing this to support filmmaker Torres, furthermore these awards-type indie movies need their stars, Tilda Swinton here,
Another 2023 theatrical release gets moved due to the SAG-AFTRA strike as MGM is pushing the Zendaya starring, Luca Guadagnino directed R-Rated tennis romance to April 26, 2024. The pic was scheduled to open stateside on Sept. 15, working off the heat of its Venice Film Festival opening night premiere. That world premiere is not
In a contorted legal case, a Delaware judge today struck down a settlement that would have helped AMC Entertainment move ahead with steps to raise cash and shore up its stock. “To cut to the chase, the settlement cannot be approved as submitted,” Judge Morgan Zurn of Delaware Chancery Court wrote in a 69-page opinion
On the edge of what is bound to be the domestic box office’s third $200M+ weekend thanks to Barbie and Oppenheimer, the motion picture industry’s fret is whether the great post-pandemic moviegoing rebound is about to screech to a halt due to the SAG-AFTRA strike and actors prohibited from promoting. Barbie and Oppenheimer are expected
At a time when the industry is suffering through historic dual strikes by the WGA and SAG-AFTRA, the motion picture industry is poised to see an enormous weekend at the box office with Warner Bros./Mattel’s long awaited toy feature adaptation Barbie and Christopher Nolan’s World War II era three-hour adult drama Oppenheimer reaping a combined
What was it W. B. Yeats wrote, that line Joan Didion lifted and twisted in her essay “Slouching Towards Bethlehem,” about West Coast chaos in 1967? Things fall apart; the center cannot hold. That’s how it felt on Thursday, a few minutes before lunch with some seasoned film executive-friends at the Academy Museum (Salad Niçoise
Expressing solidarity with Hollywood actors on Day 1 of the SAG-AFTRA strike, specialty distributors polled were anxiously juggling opening weekend Q&As and movie premieres without talent. They were trying to clarify which actors on what international productions are SAG-AFTRA, bound by the guild, or neither. And, for those involved in production, trying to pin down