In the war on streaming, Will Smith is doing his part to get butts back in theater seats. The Academy Award-winner surprised fans at a recent screening of his new movie, Bad Boys: Ride or Die, the fourth installment in the buddy cop franchise. He snuck out of the theater at Cinemark Baldwin Hills Crenshaw
Movie Theaters
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
Deadpool 3, Beetlejuice 2 and Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire top Fandango‘s list of most-anticipated wide-release movies in 2024. (See the full top 10 and other charts below.) The NBCUniversal-owned digital movie brand surveyed 8,000 ticket buyers about the titles they’re most looking forward to, and also gauged their mood heading into next year. About 81% of
Former National Association of Theatre Owners executives John Fithian, Patrick Corcoran and Jackie Brenneman have launched a new consulting firm The Fithian Group to advise global exhibition clients on strategy, partnerships, innovation and strategic communications. “We have spent the last couple of decades helping to guide the cinema industry through the biggest challenges it has
Imax CEO Rich Gelfond turned a media conference Q&A back on the host today, grilling a Goldman Sachs analyst about the firm’s two-year ‘sell’ rating on the stock when, he said, much of the Street has a ‘buy’. The two were discussing Gelfond’s $1.1 billion box office projection for Imax, made earlier this year,
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
Amazon’s upcoming wide release of Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s Nike movie Air exclusively in theaters in April “could represent the start of a substantive move into theatrical exhibition by streaming companies,” said Sean Gamble, chief executive of nation’s third-largest movie chain. Amazon last month releaves plans to give Air a wide theatrical release April
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
Major movie theater circuits AMC, Regal Cinemas and Cinemark have adjusted their policies on face masks, allowing those who have been vaccinated against Covid-19 to not have to wear them. The change comes as the North American box office heats up this weekend. Paramount’s A Quiet Place, Part II and Disney’s Cruella are battling over
Capacity restrictions on New York City movie theaters – now at 33% — will be lifted on May 19 but six-foot social distancing rules won’t — a somewhat confusing edict set out earlier Monday by Governor Andrew Cuomo. Break out the measuring sticks. Cuomo rarely mentions movie theaters and didn’t specifically today but it seems
The closure of Pacific Theatres and ArcLight may have sounded alarm bells over the dire state of exhibition due to the coronavirus pandemic, but theater owners are especially frustrated, anxious and unnerved that a signature government lifeline so far has struggled to get up and running. The Shuttered Venues Operators Grant (SVOG), as the Small Business
With the first green shoots of spring — and mass vaccinations — bringing hope for continued drops in Covid-19 cases, some events and venues sidelined for the past year are cultivating comeback plans. Below is a running list of theme parks and movie theaters that are reopening, movies rescheduled, and awards shows, film festivals and
AMC Entertainment revenue fell last quarter plunged to $162 million from close to $1.5 billion the year as the global pandemic squeezed exhibition. That beat expectations, coming about $20 million above Wall Street’s consensus estimates. The stock is up in late trading. Net losses widened to $946 million, including a hefty one-time impairment charge, from
Financially hurting cinema advertising network National CineMedia has inked a deal to run ads with Coinstar, a big operator of supermarket coin-counting kiosks. With the exhibition business on the Covid-19 skids, the agreement helps expand National CineMedia’s digital-out-of-home footprint by extending its movie-centric entertainment content, trivia, and advertising beyond movie theaters to complementary venues. It
Struggling AMC Entertainment said it risks running out funds in January. In its latest warning cry, it said it needs $750 million “to remain viable” through 2021. Even if it raises that, it still risks bankruptcy next year if moviegoing doesn’t pick up — and Warner Bros. may have made that harder to accomplish. In
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
Last week, just before the President’s diagnosis consumed us, Hollywood leaders joined in asking that Congress send coronavirus relief funds to exhibitors. Those were described as a life-and-death issue for theaters. A mortal threat. And who can doubt it? If the White House isn’t safe, movie houses are certainly still a question mark. But the
AMC Entertainment announced Monday it’s officially concluded a complex, and controversial, restructuring of approximately $2.6 billion of its debt that included an exchange and fresh capital raise. The news came as iyd new distribution deal with Universal Pictures continues to roil the industry. Holders of more than 87% of senior subordinated notes participated in an
Imax shares shot higher Wednesday as Goldman Sachs initiated coverage of the large-format leader with a “buy” rating, saying it’s well positioned to take share in the current environment and has ample cash to navigate a potentially turbulent recovery. The stock was up more than 16% on a day of solid gains for exhibition that
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has removed movie theaters, as well as malls and gyms, from the list of businesses that can reopen in Phase 4 of the state’s plan to study recent developments — mainly a surge in COVID-19 infections in other states. There’s no set duration for the phases, which depend on heath
As theaters start reopening, Fandango is looking to make the help moviegoers return to theaters confidently with a newly launched comprehensive program. Starting today, Fandango.com and Fandango mobile apps will begin rolling out new resources and product functionality, including social distance seating maps, a one-stop guide to safety policies provided by more than 1000 theater
Giant exhib AMC Entertainment said it expects to report ballooning losses of between $2.1 and $2.4 billion for the first quarter ended in March on one-time charges compared with losses of $130 million the year before. Announcing preliminary results Wednesday, it ancipated revenue of $941 million last quarter versus $1.2 billion the year earlier. The
Giant U.K. exhibitor Cineworld said it will open theaters in July when it currently anticipates restrictions on cinemas will be lifted in each of its territories, and that it antcipates a cash infusion from government COVID-19 relief programs in the U.K. and U.S. along with new loans. “Subject to this [restrictions being lifted] and confirmation
Cinemark CEO Mark Zoradi said Hollywood studios “are anxious to get back in this business once safety is no longer a concern,” shrugging off Universal/Dreamworks Animation’s Trolls World Tour going directly to PVOD as a blip in the road. It was a highly successful one for Universal, however, with Trolls bringing in about $50 million, according