Cinema owners blame Disney+ launch for poor ‘Black Widow’ box office

Rebecca Davis editorThe list of major Hollywood tentpoles that have released in the U.S. in the past month but not yet fixed a China release date is growing ever longer — an issue of significant concern to industry players on both sides of the Pacific.“Black Widow,” “Space Jam: A New Legacy,” “Jungle Cruise” and now “The Suicide Squad” have all rolled out Stateside but given no formal indication of when and whether they will debut in the world’s largest film market.

Refresh for latest…: After debuting to $6.7M from five overseas markets last weekend, Warner Bros/DC’s The Suicide Squad moved into wide offshore release this session, taking $35M from 69 total international box office markets. This is a touch below the like-for-like opening of 2020’s disappointing Birds Of Prey ($36.6M at today’s rates) and under the $40M we were seeing coming into the frame. The offshore cume is now $45.7M and the global total, with domestic’s debut, is $72.2M.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and Media“The Suicide Squad” opened to $4.1 million in Thursday night previews, bolstered by strong reviews and the wider world of fandom’s mania for all things James Gunn.Theater owners are hoping that the very R-rated comic book film will provide a much-needed jolt to the box office after concerns about the Delta variant and new distribution models have stalled their recovery.

even recently its own director, David Ayer.But with Gunn taking over the director’s chair and adding new cast such as Idris Elba and John Cena alongside Margot Robbie returning as Harley Quinn, Warner Bros. is hoping the new film can win back both critics and audiences.

Rebecca Davis editorDonnie Yen-starring action thriller “Raging Fire” roared to the top this weekend in China with a $37.2 million opening, according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway, but its sales were far from enough to revive China’s slumping ticket sales.Yen was last seen on Chinese screens last year in Disney’s “Mulan,” which performed worse than expected.

New Line’s The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It has grossed more than $196M WW, catapulting the entire Conjuring franchise through seven movies past $2 billion in global ticket sales.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and Media“Jungle Cruise” sailed into port with $2.7 million after opening in Thursday evening previews.The Disney film is armed with substantial star power in the form of Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt, but it also faces fierce headwinds given that the public health situation is worsening as the highly contagious Delta variant appears to be making moviegoers skittish about returning to theaters.

Rebecca Davis editor“Green Snake,” the Chinese animated sequel to the folktale adaptation “White Snake,” slithered past propaganda films to the top of the box office this weekend with a $29.7 million debut, according to Maoyan figures.The platform currently predicts that “Green Snake” will go on to gross $77.5 million, which would make it more successful than its 2019 predecessor’s $61.6 million.The new sequel brought in $2.6 million from Imax screens in China, which accounted for 9.1% of its

Refresh for latest…: As with domestic, a pair of new studio offerings opened at the international box office this weekend. However, the biggest grosses came from local pics in China where upcoming release dates for Hollywood continue to be a frustrating question mark.

Marvel Studios is doomed! Movie theaters are going to disappear! The sky is falling! Okay, that’s just hyperbole. But if you look at the last week of box office news, starting with the surprising financial decline of “Black Widow” and the incredibly harsh words from the National Association of Theater Owners (NATO), there is some concern that maybe folks aren’t flocking back to cinemas as fast as we hoped.

Marvel‘s “Black Widow” had a pandemic-record opening making $80.3 million last weekend. However, in its second frame, the top spot has been usurped by LeBron James‘ “Space Jam: A New Legacy,” as the sequel has earned $31.6 million, which is still slightly less than WarnerMedia was hoping for, but the studio is also offering a home viewing option to HBO Max subscribers.

UPDATE: Disney/Marvel’s Black Widow narrowly led the international box office for Hollywood films this weekend, grossing an additional $29.9M from 48 material markets. That’s a 55% drop from opening, which most agree is decent even if there’s no getting around the fact that these are not Marvel-ous numbers. The overseas total is now even with domestic at $132M for $264M global. Contrary to last weekend, Disney did not break out streaming figures this time around.

Rebecca Davis editor“Chinese Doctors” gave a shot in the arm to a sluggish weekend at the Chinese box office, coming in first with sales of $44.4 million, according to Maoyan data.The patriotic tear-jerked had little competition: only other patriotic films, children’s animations and youth-centric programming are currently in theaters.The Wuhan-set pandemic film from Bona Film is the most commercial of a slew of blockbusters intended to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Communist Party, and

The National Association of Theatre Owners have finally spoken out about the financial peril involved in Disney’s ambitious day-and-date theatrical Disney+ release of Black Widow. 

“Despite assertions that this pandemic-era improvised release strategy was a success for Disney and the simultaneous release model, it demonstrates that an exclusive theatrical release means more revenue for all stakeholders in every cycle of the movie’s life,” NATO said in a statement. The trade organization for movie theaters predicts that a theatrically exclusive release for “Black Widow” could have netted a $90 million-plus opening at the box office.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media ReporterMovie theater operators did not mince words in asserting that Disney left money on the table by putting Marvel’s “Black Widow” on Disney Plus on the same day as its theatrical debut.“Despite assertions that this pandemic-era improvised release strategy was a success for Disney and the simultaneous release model, it demonstrates that an exclusive theatrical release means more revenue for all stakeholders in every cycle of the movie’s life,” the National

Critics have rejected the sequel with a 31% Rotten Tomatoes score, but audiences have embraced it with an A- on CinemaScore along with a 3.5/5 rating on Postrak. CinemaScore demographics showed 72% of the audience is below the age of 35 but only 32% is below the age of 18, showing strong turnout from single millennials and older Gen Z audiences that supported family turnout.

“Black Widow” at home, audiences went to the movie theater in pandemic record numbers this weekend to catch the first Marvel movie released in two years.The Walt Disney Co. said Sunday the superhero pic generated an estimated $80 million in ticket sales in North America.

Black Widow is making history with its box office earnings and the film has now clinched a massive opening weekend collection of USD 80 million in the US as reported by Variety. It's the highest debut ever since the pandemic.