After ‘Elemental’ Bombs, Can Pixar Restore Its Box Office Touch?

J. Kim Murphy Indiana Jones has faced Nazis and aliens, snakes and the fury of an Old Testament God — but he has never faced the terrors of the Red Door. Sony’s “Insidious: The Red Door,” the latest installment in the supernatural series, blew by expectations on its opening day with a $15.2 million gross from 3,188 venues — a figure that includes $5 million in Thursday previews. Horror entries usually face front-loaded weekend performances, but the Screen Gems, Stage 6 Films and Blumhouse co-production has fired off with a commanding lead. It looks to land the top spot on domestic charts for the weekend, projecting a $31 million haul and toppling last week’s victor “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” in the process.

McKinley Franklin editor Let’s-a-go: “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” is officially making its way to Peacock on Aug. 3, the streamer announced on Thursday. Fans will also get treated to bonus content when the blockbuster animated film arrives on Peacock, including behind-the-scenes interviews with the voice cast, an immersive video field guide and a lucrative “Peaches” lyrical video. Peacock $4.99/Month Buy Now

Looks like Indiana Jones can crack more than a whip. Harrison Ford was quick to correct Conan O'Brien after the former talk show host made an awkward flub at Ford's expense, while the star appeared on his "Needs a Friend" podcast. "I refer you to this piece of paper here that says ‘Born and raised in Chicago to an Irish/German father,'" O’Brien said, holding up a notepad, defending why he thought Ford had German blood in him.

We can knock Disney all we want over less-than stellar post-Covid results on Marvel, Pixar and Lucasfilm titles, but the fact of the matter is the brands are still delivering, making the theatrical motion picture studio the continued box office leader with $3.4 billion worldwide for the period of Jan. 1-July 2.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Chinese mystery drama “Lost in the Stars” expanded in its second week on release and gave China its third biggest box office weekend of the year. The film earned $117 million, according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway. That was significantly up from its opening weekend of $70.7 million (RMB502 million) a week earlier and enough to make it the second biggest film on the planet, behind “Indiana Jones,” according to Comscore. After two weekends on release, it has accumulated $320 million. “Lost in the Stars” is a Chinese adaptation of a 1990 Russian movie “A Trap for the Lonely Man,” which itself was adapted from a Robert Thomas stage play. It sees a woman disappear while on an overseas trip with her husband. Just as mysteriously, she reappears at the moment that the search for her is running out of steam. But the man refuses to accept that she is the same woman and believes that she is an imposter.

Refresh for latest…: Disney/Lucasfilm’s Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is off to a disappointing start with a $130M global opening. Of that, $70M is from 52 international box office markets as the the fifth installment in the beloved 42-year-old franchise came in below projections.

Facing the worst reviews ever for an Indiana Jones movie, the Lucasfilm franchise finale, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, is hoping to gain traction with audiences and best its $60M-$65M domestic start, $140M global opening.

$2.3 billion “Avatar: The Way of Water” raked in last Christmas — movie theaters are back to being an armory of high-profile bombs. This weekend, wobbly Warner Bros.’ “The Flash” dropped a staggering 73% in its second week to a worldwide total of just $210 million. A more-than-50% decline for an expensive DC Comics superhero film spells trouble.Consider that fellow Justice League member “Aquaman” made $229 million by his second weekend in the US and Canada alone.Pixar’s uninspired “Elemental,” released June 16 and so far having grossed $121 million, will wind up as one of the Disney-owned animation studio’s biggest failures ever.

J. Kim Murphy “No Hard Feelings” came out on top of the domestic box office on its opening day, bedding $6.25 million in Friday and Thursday preview screenings from 3,208 venues. Meanwhile, the top spot for the weekend is a battle between animated adventures; both “Elemental” and “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” are staying above “The Flash,” which looks to be collapsing in its second outing. Heading into the weekend, “No Hard Feelings” was projected to launch with a mild $12 million. The raunchy R-rated Jennifer Lawrence vehicle is already outrunning those estimates, now forecasting a debut of $15 million or so. “No Hard Feelings” may lose pace to holdovers as the weekend unfolds, but box-office-king-for-a-day is certainly a higher honor than most studio comedies have achieved of late. The once-prolific genre has fallen far from theatrical relevance in recent years, with the past few months containing an expansive slate of box office disappointments and failures, from “The Machine” to “Easter Sunday” to “Bros.”

Sony’s mission to return comedy to the big screen with the R-rated Jennifer Lawrence movie No Hard Feelings began Thursday, when the film grossed $2.15 million from showtimes that began at 4 p.m. at 2,745 locations. The pic hopes to do around $12M this weekend in what will be second session where Warner Bros’ misfire The Flash hopes not take a -70% tumble. At the low end that’s $16.5M. A good hold will be off 55% to north of $24M.

Jennifer Lawrence’s much-discussed return to studio star vehicles, in a film being pitched as a canary in the coal mine for the theatrical strength of star-driven comedies, got off to a promising start as Sony’s “No Hard Feelings” earned $2.15 million in Thursday previews. Meanwhile, Wes Anderson’s “Asteroid City,” which shattered records for a per-theater-average for a six-screen (or more) release last weekend, expanded into 1,675 theaters with $1.1 million for Focus Features.

Jordan Moreau Jennifer Lawrence’s new R-rated comedy, “No Hard Feelings,” hits theaters this weekend and made $2.15 million in previews at the box office. The raunchy comedy from Sony is predicted to open with a soft $12 million in its opening weekend, which may not bode well considering its $45 million budget. It’s been a tough time for R-rated comedies at the box office lately, with the once profitable genre nearly going extinct. Besides this year’s “Cocaine Bear,” which made $87 million worldwide, the last few comedies, like Sony and Bert Kreischer’s “The Machine,” Billy Eichner’s “Bros,” Sebastian Maniscalco and Robert De Niro’s “About My Father” and Jo Koy’s “Easter Sunday,” haven’t not found much box office success.

When Pat Sajak announced his retirement from hosting "Wheel of Fortune," it marked the end of an era. "Well, the time has come," he wrote in a post that was shared across all the "Wheel of Fortune" social media accounts. "I’ve decided that our 41st season, which begins in September, will be my last." He added, "It’s been a wonderful ride, and I’ll have more to say in the coming months.

Elemental is unfortunately not burning up at the box office.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Korean blockbuster “The Roundup: No Way Out” suffered a 50% week-on-week decline, but it was still strong enough to see a pair of Hollywood newcomers. The third part of the Don Lee-starring Roundup franchise, “No Way Out” earned $5.16 million between Friday and Sunday, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council. It accounted for a 42% share of the market and attracted 650,000 additional spectators.

Ben Croll The walls of Barcelona’s international convention center might soon rattle once the 4,000 European exhibitors, suppliers and service providers in town for the CineEurope trade show breathe out a collective sigh of relief. At the root of such succor are Europe’s more than encouraging box-office admissions, which saw a marked uptick in late 2022 and have continued to rise into the new year. “I think this edition will be very much about celebrating because 2022 was a much better year than 2021,” says Laura Houlgatte, CEO of the Intl. Union of Cinemas (UNIC), which tends to the needs of cinema trade associations and exhibitors across the old continent. “[What’s more] the numbers for the first quarter of 2023 have left everyone in a very good mood.”

William Earl Robert De Niro worked the crowd at the Beacon Theater during the Tribeca Festival closing gala on Saturday evening, which served as a 30th anniversary celebration of his directorial debut, “A Bronx Tale.” When asked about the film’s mild box office — earning about $17 million on a $21 million production budget — the director said, “How could you not be disappointed? You do all this work for it. At the same time, I was lucky to be able to make the movie I made.” De Niro also admitted that “I never got asked to do movies after that,” and it was an effort to get his next directorial effort, 2006’s “The Good Shepherd,” made.

J. Kim Murphy Nine years after it was first announced, “The Flash” has finally dashed into theaters, speeding toward a debut ahead of the box office competition. But the DC Studios film isn’t exactly matching the lightning pace of its superhero. The Warner Bros. release got started with $24.5 million on opening day, which includes $9.7 million in Thursday previews. That’s enough to set the Ezra Miller film on a surefire pathway to a No. 1 debut on domestic charts, but it’ll be tough for the film to match its projections heading into the weekend — some bullish ones predicting a four-day bow as high as $85 million through the Juneteenth holiday.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Pete Docter, Pixar’s creative chief officer, is hoping the animation studio’s 27th release, “Elemental,” will draw families to movie theaters this weekend. Peter Sohn‘s film is a story about immigration, families, duty and love. Not only does Docter say the visuals are “a spectacle,” but believes it should be experienced with an audience. Docter, who has been with the studio since the beginning and was upped to CCO in 2018, has come under criticism recently that Pixar has lost its magic touch. Here, Docter sits down with Variety over Zoom to discuss Pixar’s approach to programming, Cannes, “Elemental,” and what’s next for the studio.

Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy take in the view of the rolling hills of Antibes. The sun beats down so fiercely on a lily-white tablecloth that the co-CEOs and co-chairpeople of the Warner Bros. Film Group shield themselves with Gucci and Ray-Ban shades. They resemble the all-powerful studio chiefs of yore — or at least their surroundings do. A lot has changed since the Golden Age of Hollywood: Jack Warner didn’t have two smartphones constantly buzzing, misconduct allegations involving “The Flash” star Ezra Miller and cratering share prices to worry about. “It’s so competitive now,” De Luca says, looking out at the shimmering water. “We all have to sing for our supper.”