Member News Category: Box Office

Distribution

Deadline: Paramount Sees Skydance Merger Closing In First Half As Streaming & ‘Sonic’ Bright Spots In Mixed Q4 Paramount Global confirmed today that despite all the noise it still expects the merger with Skydance to close in the first of the year as the company reported mixed quarterly numbers with misses on the top and bottom lines. Stock-based and other executive compensation was a one-time hit on earnings, Deadline hears. And revenue was softer that Wall Street forecasts. Numbers beat on key cash flow and other metrics. Par swung to a net loss of $224 million for the fourth quarter – from a $514 million profit the year before — on revenue up 5% to $7.98 billion for the quarter.

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Creative Community

World of Reel: Sean Baker Calls on Directors to Demand 90-Day Theatrical Windows

Thank you, Sean Baker. We need more filmmakers to stomp for this cause, and last night, as he was accepting his DGA award, Baker called on all filmmakers to demand that studios give “at least” 90-day theatrical exclusivity on their films.

Let’s do whatever we can do to expand that theatrical window. Demand it. We make films for the big screen. Let’s expand it to at least 90 days […] Let’s get it back to the way it used to be.

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International Box Office

Deadline: ‘Ne Zha 2’ Crosses $1B At China Box Office; First Movie Ever To Milestone In A Single Market

Shortly after setting a new benchmark as the highest-grossing movie ever in a single market worldwide, Chinese smash Ne Zha 2 has become the first movie ever to cross $1B in a single market.

As we noted earlier (see below), the writing was on the Great Wall that Ne Zha 2 would reach the milestone in China where the running gross is RMB 7.58B ($1.04B) as of 11:30am Beijing time on Sunday, according to Maoyan.

In other milestones, Ne Zha 2 is also the first non-Hollywood movie to join the billion-dollar club, and has swiftly cracked the all-time Top 10 chart of animated films globally. It is also the 13th film to ever surpass $1B outside of North America.

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Distribution

Deadline: ‘Moana 2’ Buoys Disney’s Latest Quarter As Studio Profits Surge

Moana 2 helped float a solid fiscal first quarter for Disney with studio profit riding the strong box office of the animated sequel that’s topped $1 billion worldwide. The quarter, which ended in December, also featured Mufasa: The Lion King at $653 million. The prior-year period included The Marvels and Wish.

The studio division swung to a $312 million profit from a year-earlier loss of $244 million on revenue up 34% to $2.2 billion. Last quarter, Inside Out 2 and Deadpool & Wolverine made a splash. Analyst Alan Gould has noted that the biggest fundamental change at Disney of late is that “the studio is executing creatively again,” and studio success can lead to higher consumer products sales, theme park interest and streaming engagement.

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Release Schedule

Deadline: Chinese New Year Box Office Sets All-Time Record With $1.3B As ‘Ne Zha 2’ Looks To Make Global History 

Ushering in the Year of the Snake, China’s Spring Festival 2025 has set a new record for box office during the annual holiday period. Total Mainland grosses reached RMB 9.51B ($1.3B) from January 28-February 4. This outstrips the previous record of RMB 8.02B.

The new milestone was expected once Chinese New Year turnstiles kicked into gear in earnest on January 29, with the biggest gross for a single day in China at RMB 1.8B ($247.5M) across all titles. Momentum did not falter over the following week, with each day through yesterday clocking more than RMB 1B ($137.5M).

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Global Box Office

Variety: ‘Moana 2,’ Once Destined for Streaming, Crosses $1 Billion at Global Box Office

“Moana 2,” originally conceived as a television show for streaming, is officially a billion-dollar box office smash.

The animated sequel has generated $445 million domestically and $567 million internationally, bringing its grand total to $1.009 billion globally after eight weekends of release. “Moana 2” is Disney‘s third 2024 release to join the billion-dollar club following “Inside Out 2” and “Deadpool & Wolverine,” capping off a stellar 12 months for the film studio. None of its rivals fielded a single $1 billion release in 2024, though Universal was closest with “Despicable Me 4” ($969 million).

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Release Schedule

Deadline: A24 Sets Nationwide Release For Alex Garland & Ray Mendoza’s Iraq War Pic ‘Warfare’

A24 has set a nationwide theatrical release for Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza’s Iraq War feature Warfare for April 11.

Last year, on the second weekend of April, A24 released Garland’s dystopian political thriller Civil War which wound up their biggest stateside opening at $25.5M and their second highest grossing movie ever with $127M worldwide.

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The Hollywood Reporter: ‘Sonic the Hedgehog 4’ Set for Spring 2027 Release

The fourth movie in the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise is set to speed into theaters with a wide release on March 19, 2027.

Paramount Pictures had long been eyeing a spring 2027 for Sonic the Hedgehog 4, the latest installment in the series that is based on the popular Sega video game and combined has surpassed $1 billion in box office to date. The most recent movie in the series, Sonic 3, bowed last month.

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Domestic Box Office

The Hollywood Reporter: How F-Bombs and Family Fare Saved the 2024 Box Office

For much of the past two decades, if not longer, Hollywood relied on PG-13 fare to rally the masses. Slapping a big-budget event pic with a PG rating could alienate older kids, teens and young adults (the latter are the most frequent moviegoers). Case in point: Remember the choice to change the rating from PG to PG-13 for the fourth and fifth Harry Potter movies? The franchise saw a spike in grosses for films that had the more mature rating.

The past year upended this long-held theory, with PG fare — including Universal’s smash hit Wicked — accounting for as much as 30 percent of domestic ticket sales, a record according to Comscore chief box office analyst Paul Dergarabedian. “2024 is the year that PG-rated movies showed their undeniable appeal for all age groups and demographics,” he says. “It’s the pizza of ratings, and everybody loves it.” Adds Paramount worldwide president of distribution and marketing Marc Weinstock, “this shows there will l always be an audience for family movies. Look at this holiday. You have four PG movies at the top of the chart.”

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Golden Globes

People: Wicked Wins Cinematic and Box Office Achievement Award at 2025 Golden Globes

“We all fell in love with movies at some point. We were all in the dark when we saw something that changed our brains and made us see a perspective we’ve never thought before, or opened a culture that we never believed existed before and made us drop everything and risk everything to be here in this town right now. I think about that and I think about how beautiful that is,” Chu said.

“This is for you, the fans out there who came to the movie theaters, who bring their friends and family and stay in the dark. We saw your videos, we saw your singalongs, we saw your makeup, your hair products, your bakery items. And it shows us how important making this stuff is,” he concluded.

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Box Office

Associated Press: ‘Moana 2′ sails to a record $221 million opening as Hollywood celebrates a moviegoing feast

Michael O’Leary, president and chief executive of the National Association of Theatre Owners, said the weekend showed what’s possible when “all the pieces of the puzzle come together” in compelling big-budget movies with marketing muscle.

“We’re very optimistic that this weekend is the start of what we believe is a full-on charge into the future,” he said.

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Marketing

Deadline: Creating Big Waves: How Disney’s Marketing Brought The Masses Back For ‘Moana 2’; Sequel’s Promo Campaign Worth $100M+

When it came to opening a sequel to a classic animated movie, Disney didn’t rest on their laurels in selling Moana 2.

Already, the original 2016 2x Oscar nominated movie has a built-in faithful; the pic being one of the most viewed Disney movies on Disney+. Expanding the brand to a worldwide audience, the Burbank, CA lot executed a multi-prong, bespoke D-Day global marketing campaign, one whose stunts arguably rivaled that of Universal’s blitzkrieg for Wicked. While that Broadway musical adaptation had LEGOs, Mattel dolls and pricey consumer fashion attire, Moana 2 roared with a drone show over the Thames river, projection mapping on the cliffs of Capri, Italy, an immersive 3D LED Tunnel 360° “Gallery” in Florence, Italy; a big digital splash around Korean’s Shinsegae department store, as well as beach-themed takeovers.

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Box Office

Variety: Box Office: ‘Wicked’ Opens to Record-Setting $114 Million, ‘Gladiator II’ Starts Strong With $55.5 Million

“Once again, it’s clear that when healthy competition meets premium experiences, the marketplace thrives, and consumers win,” says Michael O’Leary, president and CEO of the National Association of Theatre Owners, the exhibition industry’s trade organization. “This is a tremendous catalyst for a strong box office going into December and the new year.”

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SUBSCRIPTION: Bloomberg: ‘Wicked’ and ‘Gladiator II’ Open to $170 Million in Cinemas

Bob Bagby, the chief executive officer of the B&B Theatres chain and chairman of the National Association of Theatre Owners, said in an interview that a young family friend pledged to see Wicked in cinemas at least twice more. “Our lobbies were full of guests in pink and green and of course a few dressed like gladiators, and this is just the beginning of a fantastic holiday season,” Bagby said. 

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Release Calendar

Deadline: Paramount Dates & Shifts Slew For 2025: Glen Powell’s ‘Running Man’, ‘Smurfs’, ‘Naked Gun’, ‘Vicious’ & More

Paramount is making some big shifts on the 2025 release calendar, the biggest title date being Edgar Wright’s reboot of The Running Man starring Glen Powell. The pic is going the Friday before Thanksgiving next year, Nov. 21.

Running Man will race against Wicked: Part Two on that date as well as Angel Studios’ David and a Warner Bros. event movie.

In regards to this year, their awards season contender, September 5 is now opening Nov. 29 limited before getting a Dec. 13 expansion. Previously, the Venice and Telluride world premiere pic was set to go on Nov. 27. The Tim Fehlbaum directed movie starring Peter Sarsgaard, John Magaro, Ben Chaplin, Leonie Benesch follows what happens the ABC Sports TV control booth has to contend with a live act of terrorism during the Munich Olympics.

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NATO

This Week on the Boxoffice Podcast: NATO COO Lou DiGioia on Cinemas’ Investment in the Future

[Boxoffice:] Let’s talk about the big news that came in: Theater owners announcing that they’re going to be investing more than $2.2 billion back into the cinematic experience. Can you give us a little bit of context on this? What does that $2.2 billion figure mean, exactly?

[Lou DiGioia:] Let’s put that $2.2 billion into context. That’s eight of our top members, so it’s not the entire industry. What’s important to note is that the reason we put out this release was to raise awareness about the investments that are being made throughout the entire exhibition industry. We had the data point for the top eight, so that’s why we used that in the release. But understand, it is not just eight chains that are investing in themselves. It’s all of them, and we’re really excited about that. It’s a trend that we heard when we would talk to our members; what we kept hearing people saying was, “We’re investing, and we’re investing in lots of different ways. Certainly, great sight and sound is very important. But there are lots of investments beyond that, in seating, in the facilities, in HVAC, in carpeting, in concessions. All of these things help make a better experience for moviegoers, no matter where they go. That’s what we want. That’s what our members want. They want to make this experience as amazing as it can be for all of their audiences. I’m glad that people are responding to this release, because this is great news for the industry.

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Chicago Tribune: Column: The nation’s movie theaters are getting a $2 billion makeover. Now it’s up to the movies to make it pay off.

Chris Johnson serves as regional representative and executive board member of NATO as well as the CEO of Downers Grove-based Classic Cinemas and its 141 screens in 16 Illinois and Wisconsin locations. I asked him why, coming off that 13% drop after the summer of Barbenheimer, NATO is pushing the familiar, optimistic tale of moviegoing’s resilient future.

He acknowledged the challenges ahead. He remembers 2020 and the eerie, unwanted main attraction titled the pandemic all too clearly. His banker didn’t want to lend Johnson money to help keep Classic Cinemas afloat: “I was told, ‘Yeah, I think your industry’s done.’”

But it wasn’t. Classic Cinemas stayed afloat and has sailed through harsh economic weather better than most theater chains.

Every year, he tells me, the company spends at least $5 million on reinvestment. “Every single year. We’re committed to it. And when we’re hit with all sorts of cost increases, from supply and labor expenses, we try not to pass it on to the guest.”

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Exhibition

Press Release: Theatre Owners To Invest More Than $2.2 Billion In The Cinematic Experience

“There is no question that movie fans of all ages love heading to the local theatre to see great movies on the big screen. But the competition for consumers’ hard-earned dollars is fiercer than ever,” said NATO President & CEO Michael O’Leary. “Going to the theatre is an unparalleled entertainment experience, and exhibitors are dedicated to making every visit to their theatres memorable.  This investment reflects that commitment in a tangible way that every moviegoer will see and enjoy.”

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Deadline: Top Cinema Chains Will Spend $2.2 Billion Over Three Years To Upgrade Theaters As Box Office Accelerates

A group of exhibitors in the U.S. and Canada will invest more than $2.2 billion over the next three years to upgrade and modernize their theaters amid renewed optimism at the box office after a battering by Covid and Hollywood strikes, said industry trade group NATO.

The chains, representing over 1,600 locations across all 50 states and Canada, include AMC Entertainment, Regal Cinemas, Cinemark USA, Cineplex, Marcus, B&B Theatres, Harkins Theatres and Santikos Entertainment. Together they handle 21,000 screens and 67% of the North American box office.

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Distribution

Variety: Amazon Joins Motion Picture Association, as Entertainment and Tech Converge

Amazon will become the newest member of the Motion Picture Association next month, adding its tech industry clout to the Hollywood lobbying group.

Amazon is both a streamer and a traditional studio, operating Prime Video and MGM Studios, which it bought for $8.5 billion in 2021. Its decision to join the MPA is a symbol of the convergence of entertainment and Big Tech, which were separated by a sharp divide not that long ago.

“Amazon’s mission is to entertain customers around the world with compelling film and television,” said Mike Hopkins, the head of Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios. “In order to do that, we must support storytellers, while also helping to sustain a robust entertainment industry that works for both studios and our creative partners. We are proud to join the MPA and its member studios in their collective efforts to protect creators, content, and consumers worldwide.”

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