Universal

In a snap, Universal was ready to backfill July 2 today with its long-awaited Blumhouse sequel The Forever Purge with the news of Paramount/Skydance’s Top Gun: Maverick leaving the Fourth of July weekend for Nov. 19. The last two Purge movies, 2018’s The First Purge and 2016’s Purge: Election Year played the July 4th corridor. The Forever Purge moves up from July 9. The
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Universal Pictures has scheduled George Clooney and Julia Roberts’ next movie together, Ticket to Paradise, for Sept. 30, 2022. Uni already had the release date reserved for an event film on the theatrical release calendar. Ticket to Paradise currently follows the weekend after Universal/DreamWorks Animation’s Puss in Boots: The Last Wish sequel on Sept. 23 and ahead of
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There’s a great axiom when it comes to success in Hollywood; a saying which remains true through good times and bad, even at a moment when streaming is stepping on theatrical’s feet, and that is “Talent rules.” Such talent is Russian filmmaker Ilya Naishuller whose Universal action movie Nobody literally turns the genre on its head.
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Cineworld CEO Mooky Greidinger said today that the No. 2 global exhibitor is “actively negotiating terms and structures of evolving theatrical windows with our studio partners.” He made the comment on an earnings call after Cineworld reported 2020 results which included its first-ever annual operating loss ($2.26B) as the industry has been greatly impacted by
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Here’s more fallout from Disney’s release date changes moves on Tuesday: With the studio dropping their 20th Century Studios’ Ryan Reynolds action comedy Free Guy on Aug. 13, Universal is now moving their Amblin Tom Hanks sci-fi film Bios, which was on that weekend, to Aug. 20 instead. That leaves the calendar looking as follows: August 13Don’t Breathe
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Universal has reserved two 2022 release dates for its upcoming DreamWorks Animation movies. The sequel to the 2011 Oscar nominated Puss in Boots, entitled Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, will open on Friday, September 23, 2022. Currently, Puss in Boots 2 is the only wide release on that date, and Universal had the weekend already reserved for
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Universal Pictures action movie Nobody starring Bob Odenkirk will get ahead of Warner Bros.’ long-Easter weekend release of Godzilla vs. Kong by going on March 26 instead. The Odenkirk movie, directed by Ilya Naishuller, was scheduled for Good Friday, April 2. Recently, Warner Bros moved its HBO Max day-and-date release of Godzilla vs. Kong to Wednesday March
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The movie adaptation of Tony-winning Broadway musical Dear Evan Hansen will hit theaters on September 24, Universal Pictures said Friday. Ben Platt is reprising his Tony-winning title role alongside Amy Adams, Julianne Moore, Kaitlyn Dever, Amandla Stenberg, Colton Ryan, Nik Dodani, DeMarius Copes and Danny Pino. The story follows Evan Hansen (Platt), a high schooler
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Refresh for more analysis, chart, etc. Even in a normal, healthy economy, the major studios are typically skittish about opening big movies before Christmas with many busy with holiday activities, so it comes as no surprise during a pandemic where just north of 40% of all 5,500 domestic movie theaters are open that there wouldn’t
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Universal’s release of Dreamworks Animation’s The Croods: A New Age stayed on target from what we saw yesterday with an opening Wednesday of $1.85M in a very broken exhibition landscape where there’s only 2,650 theaters open right now out of national footprint of 5,5K. Croods 2 is booked at 2,211 theaters. Five-day projections are unpredictable as we don’t
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EXCLUSIVE: Despite the severe ratcheting down of movie theaters during the pandemic in recent weeks, Universal is standing strong with a robust global promotional campaign behind their DreamWorks Animation sequel The Croods: A New Age which opens today at 2,211 theaters. While the marketing spend on domestic wide releases has been in the single digit
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Universal’s domestic release of Simon Kinberg’s directorial The 355 is jumping from its MLK 2021 weekend release to MLK weekend Jan. 14, 2022. While Universal has committed a number of fresh wide releases during the pandemic to exhibition during Q4, i.e. Focus Features’ Come Play, Let Him Go, Blumhouse’s Freaky, Dreamworks Animation’s The Croods: A New Age and Tom Hanks’ News of the
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SUNDAY AM UPDATE, refresh for chart and more analysis: The weekend before Thanksgiving is one of the most lucrative ones on the calendar, last year bringing in $204.9M off the opening of Disney’s Frozen II which posted November’s fifth best domestic opening of all-time at $130.3M. Who would ever think that the domestic box office would sink
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Universal has just inked another multi-year shortened theatrical window/PVOD share deal, this time with Canada’s biggest exhibitor, Cineplex. The deal comes on the heels of Uni’s recent pact with No. 3 U.S. chain Cinemark. To date, Cineplex becomes the third exhibitor to agree to Uni’s truncated theatrical window terms since AMC first signed on back
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SATURDAY AM UPDATE: Universal/Blumhouse’s genre body swap comedy Freaky, starring Vince Vaughn, took in $1.45M yesterday, including Thursday night previews ~$200K, on what looks to be a $4M opening at 2,472 theaters. Universal, the only major Hollywood studio putting out consistent fresh wide product during the pandemic, can claim a three-week streak at No. 1 between
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EXCLUSIVE: Universal has set changes to its leadership teams for Germany/Austria and the Netherlands as Paul Steinschulte, Managing Director for Germany and Austria, has decided to retire at the end of the year. A 31-year veteran of the studio, he joined in 1989 as part of a joint venture between Universal and Paramount. Universal’s President
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Universal Pictures’ Jennifer Lopez music fueled romantic comedy Marry Me is moving from Presidents Day-Valentine’s Day weekend on the theatrical release calendar next year, Feb. 12 and going to May 14, 2021. Marry Me will take the place of DreamWorks Animation’s Untitled Spirit Riding Free movie which has now been title Spirit Untamed. That animated pic will now open on
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Universal, which already had July 22, 2022 RSVP’ed on the theatrical release calendar, is designating that as the day to open Jordan Peele’s next horror event title. Between the Oscar-winning filmmaker’s Get Out and Us, his directed genre fare has minted a combined $510.5M WW for Universal. The news comes in the wake of Warner Bros. announcing today that Fantastic
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