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Post by dex on Nov 25, 2019 9:03:10 GMT -5
‘Frozen 2’ heats up box office with $127M opening weekend By Jake Coyle The Associated Press
NEW YORK — Six years after “Frozen” kicked up a pop-culture blizzard, the sequel to Elsa, Anna and Olaf’s adventures snowed-in the box office with an estimated $127 million debut domestically and $350.2 million worldwide, according to studio estimates Sunday.
The opening for the Walt Disney Co.’s “Frozen 2” buried several records. It’s the highest-grossing debut ever for any animated film globally. It marks a new high in the U.S. and Canada for an animated movie released outside of the summer season. And it’s the largest opening for any Walt Disney Animation Studios release.
Disney opted for the week ahead of Thanksgiving to open “Frozen 2,” meaning it will get a significant second week bump from kids out of school. The first “Frozen” opened over Thanksgiving, earning $93 million in five days and $67 million for the three-day weekend.
The original, though, quickly grew into a sensation, remaining in the top 10 at the box office for 17 weeks and ultimately grossing $1.27 billion. Propelled in part by the hit song “Let it Go,” “Frozen” begat a flurry of merchandizing, untold numbers of Elsa dresses and a Broadway musical. It won two Academy Awards, for best animated feature and original song.
Matching that total gross won’t be easy sledding, but “Frozen 2” has a head start. Cathleen Taff, distribution chief for Disney, granted there’s a “high bar” set by “Frozen,” but she’s confident of the film’s enormous appeal.
“We can’t open to a number this big without everybody coming out to see it,” said Taff. “We’re looking forward to a good run through the holidays given kids are going to start getting out of school this next week.”
Reviews and audience reaction have been good for “Frozen 2,” but not as strong as they were for the original. The CinemaScore was A- for “Frozen 2,” whereas “Frozen” yielded an A+. Critics were also a little less taken with the sequel: 75% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, compared to 90% for the original.
But scores were still very high, including a 93% Rotten Tomatoes audience rating. Crowds were largely female (59%) but not extremely so. And audiences came out in larger numbers than analysts forecast, especially overseas.
The film brings back much of the talent behind the 2013 original, including the voices of Idina Menzel (Elsa), Kristen Bell (Anna) and Josh Gad (Olaf). Also returning are songwriters Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, though the music this time hasn’t be quite as enthusiastically received. And it’s again directed by Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee, who’s now the chief creative officer at Disney Animation.
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Post by dex on Dec 2, 2019 9:30:05 GMT -5
‘Frozen 2’ sets record for holiday weekend By Andrew Dalton The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — “Frozen 2” kept a wintry wind at its back in its second week, setting a Thanksgiving record with a whopping box office bounty, while newcomer “Knives Out” found its own broad audience.
Disney’s new set of adventures for Anna, Elsa and Olaf brought in $85.3 million in the U.S. and Canada over the weekend and earned an unprecedented $132.7 million for the holiday frame of Wednesday through Sunday, according to studio estimates.
The first “Frozen” opened on Thanksgiving in 2013, but the sequel opened a week prior to the holiday, making it poised for a huge second week, with out-of-school kids happy to see it a second or a third time.
“Having the opening weekend falling a few days ahead of Thanksgiving really set it up perfectly,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for the box office tracker Comscore.
That came on top of a record-burying opening weekend of $127 million debut domestically and $350.2 million worldwide that made it the highest-grossing global debut for any animated film globally, and the largest opening for any for any Walt Disney Animation Studios release.
The original film and its world-making song “Let It Go” became a pop-culture phenomenon, earning $1.27 billion worldwide and selling countless Elsa and Anna dresses.
The sequel has more than showed that the six years since has brought no thaw. It has already earned $739 million globally and should certainly surpass the original’s totals.
“Disney is usually immune to the waning interest that audience have with some sequels,” Dergarabedian said.
“Knives Out,” the innovative whodunit from writer and director Rian Johnson, rode great reviews and strong social media buzz to a $27 million weekend and a five-day domestic total of $41.7 million that easily earned back its budget.
The film’s vast and eclectic cast included Ana de Armas, Christopher Plummer, Jamie Lee Curtis, Don Johnson, Michael Shannon, Toni Collette and Chris Evans.
Johnson, the director of “Looper” and “The Last Jedi,” had been the target of some Twitter fanboy outrage for the direction he took the second episode in the newest “Star Wars” trilogy, whose final chapter opens next month.
The “Knives Out” opening showed his name value was unharmed and might even have been strengthened by the online noise, and its reception could mean awards season consideration for Johnson and the cast.
“First and foremost, this starts with Rian Johnson,” said David Spitz, president of domestic distribution for Lionsgate. “He wrote a screenplay we all loved and executed it to perfection.”
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Post by dex on Dec 9, 2019 10:12:11 GMT -5
‘Frozen 2’ leads box office again By Jake Coyle The Associated Press
NEW YORK — “Frozen 2” blanketed multiplexes for the third straight weekend, continuing its reign at No. 1 with $34.7 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.
The Walt Disney Co. animated sequel has already grossed $919.7 million worldwide. It will soon become the sixth Disney release this year to cross $1 billion, a record sure to grow to seven once “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” hits theaters later this month. Early next week, Disney will cross $10 billion at the global box office this year.
But the weekend overall at the box office was yet another disappointing one for the movie industry. A handful of under-performing releases and a relatively thin wide-release schedule hasn’t helped the 5.6% slide in domestic ticket sales from last year, according to data firm Comscore.
This weekend produced an outright flop in “Playmobil: The Movie,” the week’s only new wide release. The STX Films release was never expected to do well, but it bombed so thoroughly that it will rank among the worst-performing wide-releases ever. It grossed $668,000 in 2,337 venues, giving it a per-theater average of just $286.
A handful of companies combined to produce the $75 million French film, including Wild Bunch and Pathe.
The top five films were almost unchanged from last weekend.
Rian Johnson’s acclaimed, star-studded whodunit “Knives Out” remained in second place with $14.2 million, declining a modest 47% in its second week of release. With $63.5 million cumulatively and $124.1 million worldwide, the Lionsgate release has been one of the season’s bright spots.
So has James Mangold’s “Ford v Ferrari,” which stayed in third place with $6.5 million over its fourth weekend.
The racing drama, starring Matt Damon and Christian Bale, has sped to a global take of $168 million for Disney, which acquired the film’s original studio, 20th Century Fox, earlier this year. The film cost about $100 million to make.
Melina Matsoukas’ outlaw romance “Queen & Slim” moved up to fourth in its second week with $6.5 million, swapping places with Marielle Heller’s Mister Rogers drama “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” ($5.2 million in its third weekend).
Todd Haynes’ true-story legal drama “Dark Waters,” starring Mark Ruffalo as a defense attorney who takes on the DuPont chemical company, expanded nationwide to 2,011 theaters. The Focus Features release made $4.1 million.
Celine Sciamma’s acclaimed period romance “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” opened at two locations with a very strong $33,552 per-theater average. Neon will release the French film wider in February.
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Post by dex on Dec 16, 2019 10:34:34 GMT -5
‘Jumanji’ ends ‘Frozen 2’ hot streak By Jonathan Landrum Jr. The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — “Jumanji: The Next Level” puts “Frozen 2” on second-place ice, while Clint Eastwood’s “Richard Jewell” opened with one of the worst box office debuts for the director.
The Sony film starring Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart brought in $60.1 million in the U.S. and Canada to break a three-day record for a comedy in December for the production company. The sequel is a followup to 2017’s “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle,” which grossed $962 million worldwide.
A week before it opened in North America, Sony’s “Jumanji: The Next Level” debuted in 18 international countries where it made $52.5 million. The film was Hart’s first movie release since the actor-comedian suffered a serious back injury after his vintage muscle car he was riding in crashed in California in September.
“People were like ‘Another reboot’ of a well-known franchise, but the movie delivered so well on the promise of the marketing, and the whole concept of the movie just resonated with audiences,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for the box office tracker Comscore. “It’s going to play well in the long haul.”
“Frozen 2” dropped to second place with $19.2 million domestically after claiming top box office spot for three straight weeks, earning $367 million since its Nov. 22 release. The animated film following the adventures of Anna and Elsa crossed the $1 billion mark globally to become Disney Animation’s third billion-dollar project along with “Frozen” and “Zootopia.” It also became Walt Disney Studio’s sixth billion-dollar release in 2019.
“Richard Jewell” landed at No. 4, bringing in $5 million. The film took aim at the media and federal investigators for what he sees as a rush to judgment after the 1996 Olympics bombing in Atlanta.
The 89-year-old Eastwood calls Jewell’s story “a great American tragedy.” The docudrama focuses on Jewell, who was initially hailed as a hero for finding a bomb at the event held at Centennial Olympic Park and clearing bystanders from the area.
One person was killed and 111 were injured when the bomb exploded.
Jewell likely helped prevent many more casualties, but within a few days was reported to be the focus of the FBI investigation, and the public quickly turned on him. He was cleared three months later after his life had been upended by the investigation and public scrutiny.
The film fell under immense scrutiny from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution which objected to the movie’s portrayal of the late journalist Kathy Scruggs, who seemingly sleeps with an FBI agent.
Olivia Wilde, who plays Scruggs, posted a series of tweets on Thursday that she does not believe the real-life journalist “traded sex for tips” despite the insinuation in the movie.
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Post by dex on Dec 23, 2019 9:19:56 GMT -5
‘Rise of Skywalker’ opens with $175.5 million By Jake Coyle The Associated Press
NEW YORK — The Force was a little less strong with “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.” J.J. Abrams’ Skywalker finale couldn’t match its recent predecessors on opening weekend, but it still amassed a $175.5 million debut that ranked as the third largest weekend of the year.
“The Rise of Skywalker” came in with worse reviews than any “Star Wars” movie except for 1999’s “The Phantom Menace,” which famously heralded the debut of Jar Jar Binks. “The Rise of Skywalker” has a 57% fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Audiences, too, were relatively lukewarm to the movie, giving it a B+ CinemaScore.
That response may have muted what could have been a record-setting weekend. While Disney had cautiously estimated about a $165 million opening, analysts had pegged “The Rise of Skywalker” for around $200 million.
“The Rise of Skywalker” pulled in $374 million worldwide, according to studio estimates Sunday.
The film was especially lackluster in China, where all “Star Wars” films have struggled. It grossed $12.1 million in the world’s second largest movie marketplace.
Though it proved divisive with fans, 2017’s “The Last Jedi,” directed by Rian Johnson, opened with $220 million and ultimately grossed $1.3 billion worldwide. Abrams’ own “The Force Awakens” set a then-record in 2015 with a $248 million debut and sold more than $2 billion in global tickets.
With the coming holiday period, “Rise of Skywalker” is poised to dominate the year’s most lucrative week of moviegoing. Cathleen Taff, distribution chief for Disney, called it a great start.
“With critics, we’ve seen that our movies have received lower scores than not but that they continue to do business because they’re great quality movies for the moviegoer,” said Taff. “Audiences are generally responding really positively to the film.
“We know that people are very passionate about ‘Star Wars’ and have very strong opinions about it. And we’re fine with that,” added Taff. “We think it’s inspiring to see so many people who want to prompt a discussion around a film.”
Such expectations did not await Tom Hooper’s adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Cats.” The much ridiculed big-screen musical, featuring infamous “digital fur technology,” scratched out just $6.5 million in ticket sales, sending Mr. Mistoffelees (and Universal Pictures) home licking their wounds.
The $100 million production, featuring an ensemble including Jennifer Hudson, Judi Dench, James Corden, Idris Elba, Ian McKellen and Taylor Swift, came in behind projections and opened in a distant fourth place. The movie drew an 18% fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes and a C-plus CinemaScore from audiences.
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Post by dex on Dec 27, 2019 10:16:31 GMT -5
REVIEW ‘Spies in Disguise’ takes aim at tropes By Katie Walsh Tribune News Service
Walter Beckett (Tom Holland) and Lance Sterling (Will Smith) in “Spies in Disguise.” [TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX]
Will Smith has had a hit or miss year at the movies. His experiment with acting opposite a digital composite of his younger self in Ang Lee’s “Gemini Man” didn’t exactly light the world on fire. So it’s nice that he’s closing out the year on a more positive note, with the lightly entertaining animated feature “Spies in Disguise.”
Longtime animation artists Nick Bruno and Troy Quane make their directorial debuts on the film, written by Brad Copeland and Lloyd Taylor. The film takes its premise and inspiration from the 2009 animated short by Lucas Martell, “Pigeon: Impossible,” and therein lies all you need to know about “Spies in Disguise,” a strange tonal mashup that turns the hypermasculine and hyper-violent world of glamorous spies, in the vein of James Bond, and turns it into kid-friendly family entertainment.
But what becomes apparent is that introducing and then skewering those tropes is at the heart of “Spies in Disguise,” a film that wonders if conflict could be cuddlier, and if lone wolves can work as a team, or perhaps, a flock. Smith voices the smooth Lance Sterling, super spy and the star of his agency, headed up by a tough talking Southern-twanged boss, Joy Jenkins (Reba McEntire). On a dangerous mission fighting a nefarious supervillain with a robotic hand (Ben Mendelsohn), he discovers that one of his exploding gadgets has been replaced with kitty holograms and glitter.Though Sterling emerges victorious, he seeks out the oddball tech who slipped him the kitty glitter, Walter (Tom Holland), and fires him.
The tables are turned when the arrogant Sterling needs Walter’s help to go underground, finding himself at the center of an internal affairs investigation led by the hard-hitting Marcy (Rashida Jones), who has accused Sterling of theft and sabotage. At Walter’s home lab, Sterling gulps down a mysterious liquid and finds himself transformed into a pigeon.
Walter is a wunderkind scientist who firmly believes in nonlethal weapons: protective balloons that wrap you up in an inflatable hug, sticky pink bubblegum that stops anyone in their tracks. It takes time for Lance to get on board, but the advantages of life as a pigeon spy soon reveal themselves. It’s through his friendship with Walter, and with the help of a few feathered friends, that Lance learns to embrace friend lier methods too.
There’s a warm message of companionship and teamwork at the center of “Spies in Disguise,” but what makes it subversive is its emphasis on gentler methods of conflict resolution, or at least less bloody ones. It’s refreshing to see bubbles, bubblegum and lots of kitty glitter defeat murderous robots.
★★★
‘Spies in Disguise’
Starring: Will Smith, Tom Holland, Rashida Jones, Reba McEntire, DJ Khaled, Karen Gillan
Rating: PG for action, violence, and rude humor.
Running time: 1:41
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Post by dex on Feb 3, 2020 9:07:37 GMT -5
‘Bad Boys’ leads the box office By Jonathan Landrum Jr. The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — “Bad Boys of Life” went for a three-peat at the box office during Super Bowl weekend.
The Sony Pictures’ film starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence brought in $17.6 million to claim the No. 1 spot for the third straight week. The studio said the third installment became the highest-grossing film in the franchise with $148 million, eclipsing “Bad Boys II.”
The earning for “Bad Boys” is the best box office turnout compared to other No. 1 titles (“Glass,” “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” and “Split”) during the NFL championship weekend over the past four years.
Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for Comscore, said box office numbers are typically lower during football’s championship weekend. But he said Hollywood is banking on Super Bowl commercials of films to help boost numbers moving forward.
“It’s a longer-term benefit for Hollywood to have trailers presented to a massive worldwide audience,” Dergarabedian said. “Studios bet big during the telecast by dropping trailers, which they’re doing for the first time. They are hoping to build media buzz and get people talking.”
The World War I tale “1917” notched second as the film continues to build momentum as an Oscars contender. It has been an impressive feat for the Sam Mendes-directed war movie after going from 11 screen s in its first week to nearly 4,000.
Each week, “1917” has been holding on strong since receiving 10 Oscar nominations including best picture.
Dergarabedian called the war film’s surge a “dream scenario.”
“It’s a winner all day long,” he said. “It’s had this picture-perfect platform release on its road to the Oscar telecast.”
It was a bumpy start for newcomers “Gretel & Hansel” and “The Rhythm Section,” which barely cracked the top 10.
After “Dolittle” placed third, the re-imagined ancient fairy tale “Gretel & Hansel” opened at No. 4 with $6.1 million, but received mixed reviews including a C- from CinemaScore.
“The Rhythm Section,” an action drama starring Blake Lively, pulled in $2.8 million barely notched “Knives Out.”
“It does get increasingly difficult for films that don’t over-perform on Super Bowl weekend to build any head of steam going forward,” Dergarabedian said. “Particularly if they don’t have good reviews.”
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Where available, the latest international numbers for Friday through Sunday are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore.
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Post by dex on Mar 2, 2020 9:19:31 GMT -5
‘Invisible Man’ tops box office By Lindsey Bahr The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — The Elisabeth Moss-led thriller “The Invisible Man” rode a wave of good reviews to a very visible spot atop the box office this weekend. Universal Pictures on Sunday estimated that the film from writer-director Leigh Whannell earned $29 million from North American theaters. Internationally, the Blumhouse production picked up an additional $20.2 million.
Whannell helped dust off the classic H.G. Wells story and update it for modern audiences by focusing on Moss’ victim character instead of the Invisible Man character, who here is an abusive ex-boyfriend.
“The Invisible Man” carried a relatively modest budget, costing under $10 million to produce, and exceeded expectations by a few million dollars. The film, which had been well-received by critics, drew diverse audiences to the theaters (46% Caucasian, 20% African American and 18% Hispanic), according to exit polls.
“We couldn’t be more pleased,” said Jim Orr, Universal’s president of domestic distribution. “(Whannell) brought this century-old character to life in a very clever and relevant way.”
The studio expects it to continue to play well into March, although it will have some extra competition when “A Quiet Place Part II” opens on March
20.
Paramount Pictures’ “Sonic the Hedgehog” slid to second place in its third weekend in theaters adding $16 million and bringing its domestic total to $128.3 million. “The Call of the Wild,” with Harrison Ford, placed third in its second weekend with $13.2 million.
Fourth place went to the anime superhero film “My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising” which opened to $6.3 million from just 1,260 screens.
“We should never underestimate films like this that may not have broad recognition among the general public,” said Comscore’s senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian.
“Bad Boys for Life” rounded out the top five with $4.3 million in its seventh weekend. The Will Smith and Martin Lawrence pic is just shy of reaching the $200 million mark in North America and has earned over $400 million globally.
In limited release, “Wendy,” Benh Zeitlin’s long-awaited follow-up to his Oscar-nominated film “Beasts of the Southern Wild,” got off to a bumpy start with just $30,000 from four theaters. The Peter Pan-inspired film has garnered mixed reviews from critics and will be expanding in the coming weeks.
Although it’s still early in the year, overall the box office is up nearly 3.5%.
“This weekend it was business as usual in North American theaters,” Dergarabedian said. “People went to the movies to escape the trials and tribulations of the real world.”
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Post by dex on Mar 16, 2020 8:11:28 GMT -5
Sales dive at box office By Jake Coyle The Associated Press
NEW YORK — Ticket sales plunged to their lowest levels in at least 20 years at North American movie theaters as the coronavirus pandemic led to one of Hollywood’s worst weekends at the box office.
Receipts totaled about $55.3 million in U.S. and Canada theaters, according to studio estimates Sunday. Not since 2000 has weekend box office revenue been so low, according to data firm Comscore, when $54.5 million in tickets were sold on a quiet September weekend. More people went to the movies the weekend after Sept. 11, 2001.
Disney’s latest release from Pixar, “Onward,” remained the top film, earning $10.5 million in its second weekend. The Christian romance “I Still Believe” from Lionsgate brought in $9.5 million. Sony’s comic-book adaptation “Bloodshot,” with Vin Diesel, grossed an estimated $9.3 million in its debut. The Blumhouse horror satire “The Hunt” opened with $5.3 million.
All of those totals were notably below expectations. Most films last week had aimed to do 25% to 50% better. The weekend’s sales overall were down 45% from the weekend before, according to Comscore.
While this weekend’s crop of films weren’t expected to compete with the same timeframe last year, when “Captain Marvel” was in release, revenue was down 60% from the same weekend last year.
Pixar films virtually always hold well for weeks, but “Onward” dropped 73% from its opening weekend. “The Hunt,” which remounted its release after its debut was canceled last fall following a wave of deadly shootings, had hoped to do twice as well.
Most of Europe’s cinemas have shuttered in recent days, as have theaters in China, India, Lebanon and Kuwait. Those closures have already slashed international grosses.
Health officials are urging for those who can stay home to do so, to help stymie the spread of the virus.
But the wide majority of North American theaters remained open for business over the weekend. The continent’s two largest chains, AMC Theaters and Regal Cinemas, said they wouldn’t fill theaters to more than 50% capacity to facilitate social distancing. Others asked moviegoers to leave empty seats around them. All pledged to clean theaters in between screenings.
Other theaters opted to close completely, including many in New York. Of the roughly 5,800 theaters in the United States, about 100 were closed over the weekend.
Jim Orr, Universal’s distribution chief, said the industry was doing its best to navigate the unknown.
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