If 2020 began with promise, all that changed as every industry tradition we took for granted was stripped away without warning. The pandemic has seen nearly 20 million positive cases in the U.S. alone, and soon 350,000 will be dead. Every facet of entertainment was impacted: live theaters and movie theaters closed, production in TV
Streaming
A word for stocks in 2020: epic — as in monumental, as a bona fide crash in the spring alternated thereafter with convulsions of angst and optimism reflecting a world turned upside down by the first global pandemic in a century. Major indexes from the Dow Jones to the Nasdaq, S&P 500 and Russell 3000
Leading the charge this week in streaming and specialty titles is Netflix with two films that have been garnering awards season buzz with their star wattage and prestige storytelling. First up, is the highly anticipated Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom adapted from two-time Pulitzer Prize winner August Wilson’s play of the same name. Set in 1920s
EXCLUSIVE: CAA is the latest to blast WarnerMedia on its decision to place its entire 17-film slate on HBO Max at the same time the films are released in U.S. theaters in 2021. Sources said that at an agency staff meeting, CAA president Richard Lovett read aloud a letter that he sent to WarnerMedia CEO
Can cinemas play day-and-date releases from Warner Bros after continually refusing to show Netflix films? The big circuits have to be feeling really stupid now: If they had only made a deal with Netflix last year on Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman at a 45-day window instead of emphatically rejecting one, perhaps this looming apocalypse brought on
Editors’ Note: Michael Shamberg is a tenured film and TV producer whose credits include Contagion, Get Shorty, The Big Chill, Erin Brockovich, Out of Sight, Pulp Fiction, A Fish Called Wanda and many others. With the Warner Bros announcement that all its 2021 films will premiere online at the same time as in theaters, it’s
WarnerMedia didn’t have to wait until Wonder Woman 1984 debuted both on HBO Max and in theaters: The Burbank, CA based studio is putting its entire 2021 theatrical slate on HBO Max for their respective first month of release, concurrent with a global cinema release. After a one month access period for the pics on
WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar jumped on the phone today to talk more about the revolutionary theatrical-HBO Max window for the studio’s 2021 slate. That big decision comes strictly down to the pandemic, and the studio aiming to maximize their movies as revenue events on its new streaming service HBO Max, as well as helping those
“There is no way to sugarcoat this for the theater operators,” said one Wall Streeter as exhibition stocks plunged Thursday on WarnerMedia’s bombshell – a reimaging of its entire 2021 release slate that hit an exhibition industry already teetering on the brink. Cinemark shares– up earlier in the session — lost nearly 22% of their
A major acceleration of Hollywood studio and travel advertising could inject up to 10% in incremental ad spending on national television in the second half of 2021, spending that won’t be present this year, according to the latest forecast by Group M. National TV ad spend will fall by 7.9% this year but next year
STX’s Mikael Marcimain thriller Horizon Line will debut on EPIX in 2021 followings the pic’s transactional platform launch on Jan. 12. The movie will be available then for the purchase of $14.99 or to rent at $6.99. From the creators of 10 Cloverfield Lane and The Shallows, Horizon Line follows estranged couple, Sara (Allison Williams) and Jackson
As we enter the long Thanksgiving holiday weekend during an era when the box office is struggling and more weight is being placed on streamers for new product, there are still titles making theatrical debuts amid the digital film landscape as people recover from their turkey-induced tryptophan haze. It all starts with three films spotlighting
EXCLUSIVE: The Sarah Paulson thriller Run has become Hulu’s most watched feature title ever during its opening weekend, and has ranked as the most talked about Hulu Original Film to date on Twitter, Deadline has learned. Through the pic’s first three-days, which began on Nov. 20, Run has beat not only previously watched Hulu Originals Films, but
Amazon is set to find the beat with the upcoming Sound of Metal starring Riz Ahmed which hits select theaters today before moving to Prime Video on December 4. The film marks the feature directorial debut of Darius Marder, who co-wrote the movie with Abraham Marder. Sound of Metal follows punk-metal drummer Ruben (Ahmed) who begins to experience intermittent hearing
EXCLUSIVE: No final decision has been made, but Deadline hears that the uncertainty of the future theatrical marketplace has Disney looking at launching a number of its upcoming tentpole family films on Disney+ instead of the theatrical release bows that were envisioned when the films were developed and green lit. At this point, the films
ErosSTX’s acquisition Songbird will be skipping theaters in exchange for a Premium VOD release starting Friday, December 11. STX picked up the KJ Apa and Sofia Carson pandemic thriller produced by Invisible Narratives back in August. The movie was one of the first to actually shoot in Los Angeles during the pandemic under newly created
Neon will bring some passionate romance in Ammonite this weekend. The period pic starring Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan opened at the Toronto International Film Festival in September where immediately garnered buzz as an Oscar favorite. Written and directed by Francis Lee, is set in the 1840s and follows once-acclaimed paleontologist Mary Anning (Winslet), who works
Walt Disney blew past Wall Street estimates last quarter although it swung to red and revenue fell with Disneyland shuttered, and movie theaters in major markets dark. It’s the last showbiz giant to report financials in the latest earnings round and the most anticipated as its sprawling businesses touch most of media and entertainment for
If you’re dying to know what the total revenue reap was from Disney’s combined PVOD/Disney+-overseas theatrical release experiment of Mulan, well, we just have to wait for the studio’s investor day on Dec. 10. That’s when they’re reportedly going to tell us more. Disney CEO Bob Chapek said on today’s year-end earning call that he was “pleased
This weekend, Focus Features will bring the feature adaptation of Let Him Go starring Oscar winner Kevin Costner and Oscar nominee Diane Lane to theaters. Directed and written by Thomas Bezucha, the suspense thriller is based on Larry Watson’s popular 2013 novel of the same name. The story follows retired sheriff George Blackledge (Costner) and his wife
Lionsgate posted soft quarterly earnings with revenue of $745 million down 20% from $938 million the year earlier and below Wall Street expectations. The motion picture producer and distributor, which just announced it’s laying off 15% of its global motion pictures group, said it swung to a net loss of $18.4 million from a $1.8
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
Thanksgiving Week just got a lot more grim at the box office as Disney on Thursday moved its bit Pixar movie Soul to Disney+, where it will now be released on December 25. It had been set for a November 20 release in domestic theaters. The move is similar to what Disney did with Mulan,
Mank, David Fincher’s movie about Oscar-winning Citizen Kane screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz and his tumultuous development of the Orson Welles’ classic, will hit Netflix on December 4 following a November release in theaters. Take a look at the official teaser above. The movie is one of many Netflix 2020-21 awards season contenders; their latest Aaron Sorkin-directed political
As box offices start to test the waters, Roger Michell’s family drama Blackbird starring Susan Sarandon is set to open in theaters and on demand starting today. Known for My Cousin Rachel and Notting Hill, Michell directs a script by Christian Torpe, who wrote the 2014 Danish film, Silent Heart of which the family drama is based. In it,
Refresh for updates: On Disney’s 3Q earnings call today, it was announced that Mulan is going to Disney+ on Sept. 4. Specifically, Disney will be releasing the film theatrically in certain markets where the studio currently has no announced launch plans for Disney+ and where theaters are open (i.e. China). The concern with opening the film in
In or around 1976, I caught a forlorn moment near New York’s Bleecker St. It was early morning. The sun was just up. Two ragged guys were shuffling toward me on the sidewalk, when one offered the other a bottle in a bag. But the drink was declined. “I guess I lost my taste for
Amazon Studios brings the story of Marie Curie to the screen with Radioactive starring Oscar-nominated actress Rosamund Pike as the pioneering scientist. Directed by Marjane Satrapi (Persepolis) and written by Jack Thorne, Radioactive is based on the 2010 graphic novel Radioactive: Marie & Pierre Curie: A Tale of Love and Fallout by Lauren Redniss. The film adaptation follows
EXCLUSIVE: Apple’s WWII drama Greyhound, starring and written by Tom Hanks, has become the largest opening-weekend release ever for Apple TV+, including series that have bowed on the service, sources close to Apple tell Deadline. The streamer is loathe in giving up exact numbers, but I’m told the film turned in a viewing audience commensurate
Train to Busan Presents: Peninsula, the sequel to the hit 2016 Korean horror thriller and one of the 56 titles that was part of the official selection of this year’s Cannes Film Festival, will embark in North American theaters on August 7. It also landed an exclusive streaming deal with Shudder, AMC’s horror streaming site.