The marketing push for “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” has been an odd one, no doubt. The questions about the film’s future amid the soft reboot from new DC Studios co-CEOs, James Gunn and Peter Safran, dominated the discourse.
02.03.2023 - 17:39 / deadline.com
Saudi Arabian family comedy Sattar, set against the world of freestyle wrestling, has continued its record-breaking run at home to become one of the country’s top five highest-grossing local movies ever.
Since its release on December 29, the film has sold 723,000 tickets for a box office gross of $9.2M to date.
Distributor Front Row Arabia said that the film now sits in the fifth slot in Saudi Arabia’s historic box office charts after Top Gun: Maverick ($22.6M), Spider-Man: No Way Home ($17.4M) and two Egyptian films, Bahebek ($15.7M) and Waafet Regala ($15.6M).
The success comes just five years after the lifting of Saudi Arabia’s 35-year cinema ban at the end of 2017, and bodes well for the country’s burgeoning local filmmaking scene.
Kuwaiti filmmaker Abdullah Al Arak directs a cast led by stars popular Saudi actor and stand-up comedian Ibrahim Al Hajjaj, best known for the hit action series Rashash and Netflix’s Six Windows in the Desert.
Al Hajjaj plays a depressed man failing at both his professional and personal life who decides to pursue his childhood dream of becoming a freestyle wrestler.
His dream comes to fruition after a famous wrestling business manager (Abdulaziz Al Shehri) and a Pakistani coach (Ibrahim Al Khairallah), take the hapless young man under their wing, but not without knocks along the way.
The movie, which had its world premiere at the Red Sea International Film Festival in Jeddah in December, is produced by AlShimaisi Films, Telfaz11’s new production arm, and Muvi Studios.
Front Row Arabia, a joint venture between prominent MENA distributor Front Row Filmed Entertainment and leading Saudi Exhibitor Muvi Cinemas, is handling all theatrical distribution.
Faisal Baltyuor, CEO of Muvi Studios,
The marketing push for “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” has been an odd one, no doubt. The questions about the film’s future amid the soft reboot from new DC Studios co-CEOs, James Gunn and Peter Safran, dominated the discourse.
Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Japanese animation “Suzume” retained the top spot at the South Korean box office for a second weekend, far outstripping holdover titles and newcomers including “Shazam! Fury of the Gods.” On its second weekend of release, “Suzume” earned $5.65 million, just a small fraction below its opening weekend score of $5.71 million. Underlining its dominance, the film increased its market share from 60% previously to 62%. After 12 days of release, the film has accumulated $15.8 million, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic).
Roadside Attraction’s Moving On grossed an estimated $798k at about 800 theaters, about status quo this weekend for a specialty sector that’s better but still looking to break out.
EXCLUSIVE: Illumination/Universal/Nintendo’s Super Mario Bros Movie just landed on tracking this morning ahead of its Easter weekend release, and the animated film is shaping up to make at least $85M-$90M+ over its Wednesday through Sunday launch and that’s on the conservative side.
Netflix pulled the plug on Nancy Meyers’ $130 million ensemble comedy “Paris Paramount” on Tuesday, Jimmy Fallon is pretty confident in what will happen next. According to the “Tonight Show” host, the streamer will probably win back Nancy Meyers in a very Nancy Meyers-esque way.The romantic comedy was expected to star Scarlett Johansson, Owen Wilson, Michael Fassbender and Penelope Cruz, and followed a filmmaking duo who reunite on set after falling in and out of love with one another.
very slowly – plunges a knife into his chest.That “Saving Private Ryan” scene was so traumatizing for his mother to watch during the premiere back in ’98 that he said she hasn’t watched the film since. She was mad that her son didn’t warn her about it.“I felt much more, kind of moved by it than I expected to, I think partly because, not unlike the character, I feel like there’s a certain amount of distance I feel from my Jewishness.
Angelique Jackson When “Creed III” punched its way to the top of the box office over the weekend with a massive $58.7 million domestic haul, it knocked out a host of records. Directed, produced by and starring Michael B. Jordan as Adonis Creed, the MGM movie notched a franchise-best opening and the biggest domestic opening for a sports movie. With an additional $41.1 million Internationally, the film has already totaled more than $100 million worldwide. “Creed III” is also expected to become MGM’s first non-“Bond” film to gross $100 million domestically since the hit 2019 animated movie “The Addams Family.” There were other impressive stats, including the film’s “A-“ CinemaScore and ticket buyers reported to be 63% male, with 55% between the ages of 18 and 34. The statistics also illustrated a racially diverse audience where 36% were Black, 28% were Latino, 23% were white, and 13% were Asian, according to PostTrak data. The film, which Jordan shot with Imax cameras, also posted an impressive turnout on premium large format screens, with a huge 38% of the box office coming from those ticket sales.
The revival of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, with Josh Groban and Annaleigh Ashford in previews at the Lunt-Fontanne, is firmly in Broadway’s $1 million club, with receipts for the week ending March 5 at a bloody good $1,526,254. And that’s just for six performances.
EXCLUSIVE: As his directorial debut Creed III was cresting toward a $100 million global opening weekend and setting numerous records — top opening for the Creed franchise and biggest sports film opening ever and a knockout victory for MGM, new parent Amazon & United Artists Releasing as the company embraces the theatrical release, and Warner Bros (which launched the film overseas) — Michael B. Jordan sat down with me Sunday night as those numbers were piling higher. It was the first in person interview for us since I met him and Ryan Coogler at Cannes for the launch of Fruitvale Station. Trying to rebound from my own family tragedy months earlier, that film was cathartic for me because it was the first time I grieved the death of my father in Hurricane Sandy. I shared that with them, and spent a lot of time with both, and especially Jordan. He was just stepping into stardom and we talked about everything from navigating such a famous name to how much he was obliged to give of himself in interviews and in public. This was at a surreal moment when he was still a little uneasy walking down the Croisette and hearing a person or two calling out “Where’s Wallace,” the meme line about his young character from the series The Wire. I recall walking away from Coogler and Jordan hoping they continued to make strong followup creative choices because all the potential was there. Who knew it might happen so quickly for each of them?
Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Weekend honors at the South Korean box office went to the Japanese animation film “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba – To The Swordsmith Village,” the latest installment in the “Demon Slayer” film and TV franchise. It earned $2.31 million between Friday and Sunday, for nearly a quarter of the total weekend cinema business, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (KOFIC).
Seth Rogen dropped some news Saturday at the 2023 Kids’ Choice Awards worthy of a rowdy cowabunga!
Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter “Creed III” emerged victorious at the box office with its impressive $58.7 million debut, setting a franchise record while dethroning two-time champ “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.” It’s also a big win for theater owners, who are banking on the good fortunes to continue in March with upcoming releases “Scream VI,” “Shazam: Fury of the Gods” and “John Wick: Chapter 4.” Heading into the weekend, “Creed III” was projected to earn $36 million to $40 million, which already would have been enough to establish a new high-water mark. The first “Creed,” which re-launched the decades-old “Rocky” films in 2015, powered to $29.6 million, while its 2018 sequel “Creed II” opened to $35.5 million.
Seth Rogen dropped some news Saturday at the 2023 Kids' Choice Awards worthy of a rowdy !The actor announced the main voice cast for the upcoming, and it includes Rogen voicing the warhog Bebop, who is a member of Shredder's New York City gang. Rogen, who is also a producer for the film set to hit theaters Aug.
Marcus Corporation CEO Greg Marcus says he’s encouraged by the recent diversity and consistency of theatrical films and is “not ready to throw in the towel yet” on the notion of box office returning to pre-pandemic levels.
EXCLUSIVE: A24’s The Whale, whose Oscar-nominated star Brendan Fraser scooped the prize for Male Actor in a Leading Role at the SAG Awards on Sunday night, is enjoying a strong run globally, having crossed $30M worldwide in the latest frame. Now at $32.3M global and with more overseas markets to release, the drama counts $15.5M so far from the international box office; that’s a nearly 50/50 split with domestic — a terrific result for a low-budget indie. Its global box office is close to that of The Fabelmans.
Naman Ramachandran Disney’s “Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania” continued atop the U.K. and Ireland box office for the second weekend in a row with £3.04 million ($3.6 million), according to numbers from Comscore. In its fourth weekend, Universal’s “Puss In Boots: The Last Wish” collected £1.7 million in second place for a total of £20.4 million. Another Universal title, Elizabeth Banks’ “Cocaine Bear,” debuted in third position with £1.5 million. Studiocanal’s “What’s Love Got to Do with It?” debuted in fourth place with £1.08 million. Rounding off the top five was Warner Bros.’ “Magic Mike’s Last Dance” that earned £470,020 in its third weekend for a total of £4.9 million.
Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” held on to top spot at the South Korean box office. But the overall market continued to soften despite a slew of new release titles. Nationwide theatrical grosses totaled just $7.26 million. That made it the slowest box office weekend in over three months. “Quantumania” collected $2.0 million between Friday and Sunday, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic), and enjoyed a 27% market share. The second weekend increment lifted its 12-day total to $10.6 million. Long-running Japanese animation title, “The First Slam Dunk” earned $1.36 million in its eighth weekend on release. Since Jan. 4 it has accumulated $28.0 million.
Refresh for latest…: Coming out of its second weekend, Disney/Marvel’s Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania has grossed $363.6M globally. Of that, $167.3M is from domestic and $196.3M from the international box office.
slated to open somewhere in the mid-teens, with the possibility of hitting $20 million in ticket sales this weekend. For a comparison, the Christmas action comedy “Violent Night” made $1.1 million in Thursday preview showings to kick off a $13 million opening weekend. Directed by Elizabeth Banks, Jimmy Warden’s stranger-than-fiction screenplay tells the story of Cokey the Bear, a Black bear who in 1985 consumed a large amount of cocaine a drug runner had dropped into a Georgia forest.
While the box office climbed out of its August/September slump during the final quarter of 2022, Cinemark still reported a quarterly loss of $99.3 million, or 82 cents per share, amid a sluggish Thanksgiving holiday and a Christmas hampered by winter storms throughout much of the U.S.Cinemark reported quarterly revenue of $599.7 million, a 10% drop from last year’s $666.7 million, and well below Q3’s $650 million. The results came in ahead of the average Wall Street estimate for $568.5 million in revenue, according to Zack’s Investment Services.