‘Demon Slayer’ slashes through its competition at the box office

LOS ANGELES — As Universal Pictures prepared for a big night at the Academy Awards with “Oppenheimer,” the studio also celebrated the No. 1 debut of “Kung Fu Panda 4,” which collected $58.3 million in domestic theaters over the weekend, according to estimates Sunday.“Kung Fu Panda 4,” the first film in the DreamWorks Animation franchise since the third installment in 2016, got off to a better start than all but the 2008 original.

Chinese comedy drama YOLO from Sony Pictures International had a yodeling good domestic debut, grossing $840k on 200 screens, making no. 9 on the weekend top 10. Directed and produced by and starring China’s top grossing female helmer, Jia Ling, it’s earned close to $482 million in China since opening Feb. 10 — and was the highest-grossing film over the Lunar New Year holiday.

Angelique Jackson Before “Bob Marley: One Love” hit theaters on Valentine’s Day, the musical biopic about the Reggae legend was expected to sing its way to No. 1 on the charts. But box office projections indicated the Paramount movie — which chronicles Marley’s (Kingsley Ben-Adir) rise to fame in the mid-1970s and complex relationship with his wife Rita Marley (Lashana Lynch) up until he died in 1981 — would start slow.

Despite its “particularly British” nature, Mr Bates vs the Post Office has now sold to a dozen territories around the world, ITV bosses revealed this morning.

An Enemy of the People, director Sam Gold’s Broadway revival of the Ibsen classic starring Jeremy Strong and Michael Imperioli, is off to a great start, grossing more than $1M last week and playing to stand-room-only crowds.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Taiwanese-produced crime action film “The Pig, the Snake and the Pigeon” opened on top of the mainland China box office over the weekend, ahead of a quartet of holdover titles from Lunar New Year. Sony’s ‘Madame Web’ and a rereleased “Dune” also opened, but they failed to penetrate the top five. “The Pig, the Snake and the Pigeon” earned $16.2 million (RMB115 million), according to data from consultancy firm Artisan Gateway.

Last week saw the global launch of Denis Villeneuve’s second “Dune” film, wrapping up the conclusion of the first novel adaptation while also leaving everything on a cliffhanger for a third movie that the filmmaker is co-writing with franchise screenwriter Jon Spaihts. Strong critical responses and audience word of mouth have paid off big time for the film as it has made some history over the weekend, becoming the biggest opening for the director and overperforming compared to the first part that was released back in September 2021.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter “Dune: Part Two” is turbocharging the international box office. Director Denis Villeneuve’s otherworldly sequel has generated $97 million from 71 overseas markets, bringing its global tally to a promising $178.5 million. Those worldwide revenues include $81.5 million from North American theaters, where it landed the biggest domestic opening weekend of the year.

Jujutsu Kaisen won Anime of the Year at the eighth annual Crunchyroll Anime Awards, which were handed out Saturday in Tokyo.

FRIDAY UPDATE: Dune: Part Two added 42 international box office markets on Thursday, taking the offshore cume on the Denis Villeneuve-directed sequel to $20.8M in a total 55. This includes two full-days of play and previews in those markets.

Sony’s Will Gluck-directed Anyone But You crossed $200M globally over this past weekend, injecting fresh life into the romcom genre and proving yet again that when done right, these films can travel theatrically and bring audiences together for a communal experience. 

We’ve been waiting for this one for quite some time.

“Bob Marley: One Love” continues to exceed expectations by claiming the No. 1 spot at the box office, overcoming two debut films and Sony’s “Madame Web” that’s still producing subpar numbers.The Paramount film starring Kingsley Ben-Adir pulled in $13.5 million during its second week of release.The project, which was produced for about $70 million, already eclipsed that mark, grossing nearly $72 million domestically in North America.It’s an impressive achievement for the Reinaldo Marcus Green-directed Marley’s musical biopic that’s focused on the Rastafarian legend’s story during the making of his 1977 album “Exodus” while leading up to his impactful concert in his native Jamaica.“Some of his greatest hits came out nearly 50 years ago, but his music still resonates through this film,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for data firm Comscore.“One Love” drew nearly $2 million more than “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba – To the Hashira Training” which placed No.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Paramount’s musical biopic “Bob Marley: One Love” ruled again over a barren box office landscape. The film added $13.5 million from 3,925 North American theaters in its second weekend of release, a 53% decline from its debut. “One Love” has been a surprise box office success with $71.1 million domestically and $100 million globally.

J. Kim Murphy Paramount’s “Bob Marley: One Love” will retain its holding as the top film on domestic charts this weekend, besting a trio of new releases in the manga adaptation “Demon Slayer Kimetsu no Yaiba — To the Hashira Training,” the faith-based Hilary Swank drama “Ordinary Angels” and Ethan Coen’s lesbian crime caper “Drive-Away Dolls.” “One Love” added $3.7 million to its domestic haul on Friday, marking a modest 51% drop from its gross seven days ago. After opening on Valentine’s Day, the Bob Marley biopic has now earned a solid $61 millionacross its first 10 days in North American theaters.

FRIDAY EVENING: Paramount’s Bob Marley: One Love remains on uppers at the weekend box office with a $3.6M Friday, and a 3-day of $13.4M at 3,597 theaters, -53% which will get the Reinaldo Marcus Green directed title to $71M by Sunday. That’s a great piece of counterprogramming business in a struggling marketplace. Say what you will, S&P Global about putting Paramount Global on “credit watch negative,” but the film studio has a vibrant theatrical release schedule this year with Gladiator 2, Quiet Place: Day, If and Smile 2 to name a few.

new superhero movie “Madame Web” tanked at the box office last week and was overwhelmingly panned by critics.In the film, the 34-year-old actress played the titular character of Cassandra Webb/Madame Web, a clairvoyant paramedic linked to the iconic superhero Spider-Man. “Madame Web” earned only $26.2 million over the six-day holiday weekend from its premiere on Valentine’s Day to Presidents Day, per Variety.“Madame Web’s” debut marked the lowest opening for any film in the Sony Spider-Man universe and one of the worst starts for any movie based on a Marvel Comics character.

Brent Lang Executive Editor In what is shaping up to be a muted weekend at the box office, Sony and Crunchyroll’s “Demon Slayer Kimetsu no Yaiba -To the Hashira Training” earned $1.8 million in Thursday previews, while Lionsgate and Kingdom Story Company’s inspirational drama “Ordinary Angels” picked up a paltry $285,000. The weekend’s other new release, Focus Features’ comedic thriller “Drive-Away Dolls,” didn’t report preview grosses, which does not augur well for its commercial prospects. Despite the influx of movies, “Bob Marley: One Love” is expected to retain its spot at No.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, but when will the new episodes be available on streaming?Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba is based on the manga series by Koyoharu Gotoge published under SHUEISHA’s JUMP COMICS, which consists of 23 volumes.Before the streaming release, Crunchyroll announced in January that Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – To the Hashira Training would be coming to the big screen in what was described as an “extra-sized blockbuster experience”. The release will bundle together the final episode of the third season of the series (the Swordsmith Village Arc) with the first episode of the fourth season (the Hashira Training Arc).The release will mark the first time the finale of the Swordsmith Village Arc has ever been shown in cinemas, and it will also be the first-ever showing of the Hashira Training Arc’s beginning.The cinematic release will be screening in UK cinemas from February 23, with a special screening taking place at the BFI IMAX on February 25, featuring guests Natsuki Hanae (the voice actor who plays Tanjiro Kamado) and producer Yuma Takahashi.But when will Demon Slayer fans be able to see the new material on the small screen?With the theatrical release currently rolling out, Crunchyroll is yet to give a specific date for the streaming release of season four of the show.The most information that has been made available so far is that the season will land in “Spring 2024”, but many have speculated that it is likely to arrive in April, as that is the month that the first and third seasons of the show landed on streaming.Season three finished off the Swordsmith Village arc, which took us up to chapter 127 of the manga.

John Travolta and Fred Durst’s box office bomb The Fanatic is trending again, with people scarcely believing how little money the movie made.Released in 2019, the film, which the Limp Bizkit frontman directed, took a paltry $3,153 (£2,489) at the box office in its opening day. It is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video.The film may have barely been seen in theatres at the time, but with the title trending on social media over recent days, it does continue to have an unfortunate life of its own, some five years later.One account on X, formerly Twitter, wrote: “Just learned there is a movie that Limp Bizkit’s Fred Durst wrote and directed starring John Travolta as an autistic stalker, and it only made $3000 at the box office.”Just learned there is a movie that Limp Bizkit's Fred Durst wrote and directed starring John Travolta as an autistic stalker, and it only made $3000 at the box office.