‘Hell’s Kitchen’, ‘The Great Gatsby’, ‘Uncle Vanya’ Among Strong Broadway Box Office Newcomers

We’re already in the fifth month of 2024, but new data about the 2023 box office is still coming in and we’ve learned some interesting things!

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Maggie Rogers is headlining arenas for the first time this fall, but she didn’t want it to feel like moving into bigger spaces for her concerts would mean a more impersonal experience. So for 11 shows that just went on sale in late April, she went out and personally manned the box office on opening day to help sell tickets for those big shows.

Universal teed off summer last night with 87 North/David Leitch’s Ryan Gosling Emily Blunt action romance, The Fall Guy, which made $3.15M from showtimes that began at 5PM yesterday as well as Wednesday advance screenings. The movie is only suppose to do around $35M for the weekend, maybe $40M. That’s not your typical start to summer, but we’re in this predicament due to the strikes’ delay on feature films.

EXCLUSIVE: DreamWorks Animation/Universal’s Kung Fu Panda 4 crossed the $500M mark globally this past weekend, reaching the milestone on a staggered release pattern that has worked well for the partners in the past (think Puss in Boots: The Last Wish). Through Wednesday, it’s at $324M international box office and $509M worldwide.

Broadway‘s busy, busy spring of new shows came to an end today with this morning’s Tony nominations announcement, and while the impact, if any, of the nominations won’t be felt at the box office for a while, there were some indications last week about how things could pan out.

Challengers is No. 1!

Refresh for latest…: Universal/DreamWorks Animation’s Kung Fu Panda 4 has topped the half-century mark globally, now with $503.5M worldwide. Of that, $318.5M is from the international box office. Passing $500M makes KFP4, directed by Mike Mitchell (and co-directed by Stephanie Ma Stine), only the fourth animated title to the benchmark since 2020, joining Illumination’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie ($1.4B) and Minions: The Rise of Gru ($943M), and Sony/Marvel’s Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse ($691M).

Two hours and 30 minutes, with one intermission. At the Broadway Theatre, 53rd Street and Broadway.Forget East Egg and West Egg.

Christian Lewis F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel “The Great Gatsby,”which captured the roaring twenties with shocking clarity,is a staple of high school curricula and has been immortalized in two famous film adaptations (in 1974 by Richard Clayton and in 2013 by Baz Lurhman). It’s most remembered for the titular character’s lavish parties, though as any good reader of the novel will tell you, the party’s are all razzle dazzle — what really matters is what’s underneath.

Jeremy Jordan and Eva Noblezada arrived at the opening night performance of Broadway’s The Great Gatsby in style!

Two hours and 30 minutes. At the Vivian Beaumont Theatre, 150 West 65th Street.When Steve Carell emerges from behind a bench onstage at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre, the crowd giggles automatically at the “Office” star.Now playing the hapless title role in Anton Chekhov’s “Uncle Vanya,” the revival of which opened Wednesday night on Broadway, the actor’s presence gets laughs before he does much of anything.

Ben Stiller opens up about Zoolander 2‘s box office when it premiered, saying he felt “blindsided” by the results.

Back in 2016, writer/director Shane Black (“Kiss Kiss Bang Bang”) released “The Nice Guys,” a comedic two-hander that starred Ryan Gosling (“Blade Runner 2029”) and Russell Crowe (“Gladiator”) in an unlikely team-up an odd-couple pair of private eyes investigating a missing girl and the mysterious death of a porn star. However, while the film was considered a solid effort, it didn’t do gangbusters at the box office, only earning $71.2 million globally against a budget of $50 million.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Fantasy action movie “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” retook the top spot at the mainland China box office from Studio Ghibli animation title “The Boy and the Heron” during the latest weekend. “Godzilla x Kong” recorded earnings of $7.3 million (RMB51.5 million) between Friday and Sunday, a 32% week-on-week drop, according to data from consultancy firm Artisan Gateway. But it returned to the top spot on the box office charts in its fourth weekend of release and overtook “The Boy and the Heron” in the process.

Selena Kuznikov Like many people, Lucy Boynton uses music to reminisce on special times in her life. So much so that she felt like she was holding up a mirror while playing her time-traveling character in “The Greatest Hits,” who discovers that certain songs can literally transport her back in time. “It was a full spectrum of emotions that, as an actor, I think is so appealing to get to dive into,” Boynton told Variety at the premiere for the film, which debuted on Hulu on April 12, at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood on Monday.

Broadway‘s spring newcomers continued pulling in the city’s tastemakers, tourists and the merely curious last week, with overall box office down about 10% from the previous week but most new shows filling at least 90% of their seats.

The Great Escape over its ties to Barclays bank.The Brighton-based festival is sponsored by the bank, which has been a source of controversy amid the current events in Gaza because of its financial investment in companies that supply arms to Israel.The issue was first highlighted by a petition started by the promoter How to Catch a Pig and the band The Menstrual Cramps, and has since been signed by artists including Kneecap, Lambrini Girls, Alfie Templeman, Lip Critic, Wunderhorse and Mary in the Junkyard who have urged the festival to drop Barclays as a sponsor. Altogether, 208 of the 440 bands who had originally been booked for the line-up have signed the petition, which has 977 signees in total.It reads: “A bank that is involved in Israel’s genocide has no place at The Great Escape, which is a fixture of the independent music scene and has a prized place in the industry.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Oscar-winning Japanese animated fantasy “The Boy and the Heron” held on to top spot at the mainland China box office to record a second weekend win. The film, which opened triumphantly on April 3, in time for a family-oriented long weekend, fell steeply in its second, non-holiday, frame. It earned $12.8 million (RMB90.6 million), according to data from consultancy firm Artisan Gateway.

Alex Garland’s provocative “Civil War” didn’t only ignite the discourse.The film also inspired audiences to go to the cinemas this weekend where it surpassed expectations and earned $25.7 million in ticket sales in North America, according to studio estimates Sunday.It’s the biggest R-rated opening of the year to date and a record for A24, the studio behind films like “Everything Everywhere All At Once” and “The Iron Claw.”“Civil War” also unseated “Godzilla x Kong” from its perch atop the box office. The titan movie from Warner Bros.

Lessons in Chemistry star and executive producer Brie Larson, showrunner and executive producer Lee Eisenberg, and show’s co-stars Lewis Pullman and Aja Naomi King were at Deadline’s Contenders TV event Sunday to discuss the Apple TV+ limited drama series and the potential for a second season.