Breaking News

A government-mandated curfew that was set in place in France last week has been widely extended across the country, and will come into effect from Friday night. An estimated 46M people (69% of the population) will be impacted by the new measures announced by Prime Minister Jean Castex this evening. Residents of the 54 total
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John Stankey, CEO of WarnerMedia parent AT&T, said productions – with about 130 underway since last week – are up and running but “the question is, what does exhibition look like?” “We don’t have great visibility on that,” Stankey said, speaking on a conference call after the telco, cable and media entertainment giant reported third-quarter
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AMC Entertainment will resume operations at a dozen theaters in New York State October 23 in accordance with Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s recent, welcome reopening announcement over the weekend that, however, still excluded New York City and a handful of other counties. NY is “vital to the theatrical exhibition industry,” the world’s largest chain said Monday.
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The association of theater owners, NATO, called on Congress Tuesday to get an aid package approved, saying exhibitors are desperate for help. It’s begged for help before. Now Senators Schumer, Cardin and Shaheen have included relief for movie theaters as part of the Save Our Stages initiative, which is included in the COVID relief bill
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AMC Entertainment expects revenues for the three months ended September 30 of $119 million versus nearly $1.32 billion for the year earlier quarter and the struggling theater anticipates material write-downs of assets, according to an SEC filing Tuesday morning with preliminary financial results. Cash and cash equivalents stood at $417.9 million. The company also said
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The Right Girl, a new musical based on (and co-written by) the real-life story of former screenwriter Louisette Geiss and the sexual harassment by Harvey Weinstein she says ended her film career, will be presented in a film version to a live audience for the first time next month. The production features music by 11-time
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Exhibitors in New York State are speed dialing former staffers and bookers after a surprise weekend announcement by Gov. Andrew Cuomo that long-shuttered cinemas can reopen Friday under guidelines expected early this week. Joseph Masher, president of NATO New York and CEO of family-owned Bowtie Cinemas, anticipates the long-awaited state playbook will pretty much echo
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The specialty box office was fairly quiet this weekend with The Kid Detective being the new theatrical release posting numbers. The Stage 6 Films comedy starring Adam Brody and Sophie Nélisse banked an estimated $135,000 on its opening weekend. The movie debuted in 865 theaters and took in $45,000 on Friday, $57,000 on Saturday and is projected
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There is a very good mix of theatrical, digital, VOD and hybrid releases this weekend starting with The Kid Detective from Stage 6 Films starring Adam Brody and Sophie Nélisse. Written and directed by Evan Morgan, the movie is about exactly what the title suggests: a kid detective. Brody plays a once-celebrated kid detective who is
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Open Road’s Liam Neeson action movie The Honest Thief posted a notable first night during the pandemic of $225K in previews. Neeson’s action movies outside of Taken typically see largely double that or more than triple that in a healthy marketplace, i.e. last year’s Cold Pursuit posted $540K on its Thursday preview, The Commuter did $700K, and Run All Night grossed
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EXCLUSIVE: Yes, there have been a number of film distributors –big ones– who’ve cut and run during the pandemic, jettisoning their movies onto PVOD or selling them outright to streamers as domestic exhibition hangs in a fractured state. And despite how prevalent it has become, from Universal/Dreamworks Animation’s Trolls World Tour to Paramount’s $125M sale of Coming 2
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Donna Langley, chairman of Universal Filmed Entertainment Group, and Ann Sarnoff, chair and CEO of Warner Bros had the same reaction Thursday when asked if their companies had any interest in buying movie theaters. They laughed. “We have no plans to do that currently,” Langley said, appearing with Sarnoff and CBS CEO George Cheeks on
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Things are going from bad to worse in exhibition as AMC Entertainment said Tuesday its cash will be gone by late this year or early next and it’s exploring potential sources of additional liquidity, including asset sales, joint ventures or minority investments. The nation’s largest movie chain, like others in the industry, has been struggling
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In another blow to the industry, the French government has ordered a curfew in several major cities across the country. From Saturday, residents of L’Ile de France (which includes Paris and its environs), Lyon, Marseille, Aix-en-Provence, Lille, Grenoble, Montpellier, Rouen, Toulouse and Saint-Etienne will be under a strict curfew from 9PM to 6AM. This will
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As the exhibition industry teeters, global cinema owners beseeched New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to reopen theaters in areas of the state with low infection rates. The response was not promising. The executive committee of the Global Cinema Federation — led by Alejandro Ramirez Magaña, CEO of Cinépolis, in a letter to the governor Wednesday,
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EXCLUSIVE: Global cinema marketing data analytics and campaign management corporation Movio has named Sarah Lewthwaite to the post of Chief Client Officer. In her new position as Chief Client Office, Lewthwaite will oversee all of Movio’s exhibition and film studio and distributor relationships worldwide. Lewthwaite most recently was Managing Director & SVP for Europe, the
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EXCLUSIVE: Here’s the story of how the Brady Bunch might reclaim the now ubiquitous, Zoom-era Brady Bunch-style screen squares. With the help of the son and daughter of series creator Sherwood Schwartz, original Bradys Barry Williams and Christopher Knight and a cast of Broadway performers, a Maine theater company will present a benefit reading of
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With Broadway’s shut down at least until June, some producers who had been hoping to open shows this spring are re-setting their sights on fall or even 2022, while others have announced no plans whatsoever. The latest to announce a new schedule is Lincoln Center Theater’s much anticipated production of Flying Over Sunset, a new
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Disney last week moved Pixar’s Soul off of its domestic November 20 date and onto Disney+, where it will now be released December 25 in the U.S. and other global markets where the streaming service is available. Similar to its move with Mulan, the decision has upset European exhibitors who are starved for major new
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Digital movie ticketing platform Atom Tickets and the Independent Cinema Alliance (ICA) have teamed to offer contactless, digital ticketing to moviegoers. ICA reps more than 175 companies and 3,000 screens. The first group of theatres to sign on and activate digital ticketing under the partnership include Premiere Cinemas (Texas, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, New Mexico and South
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