Cinemark Courts Gamers, Wrestling Fans; Sees Sales Surge, Market Share Rise Amid Box Office Recovery

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“The Battle at Lake Changjin” has become the highest grossing film of all time in China, after nearly two months of release. Co-directed by a trio of major helmers, Dante Lam, Chen Kaige and Tsui Hark, it is also the top earning film in the world this year.The Chinese record was achieved on Wednesday evening local time when the film passed the RMB5.69 billion total achieved in 2017 by “Wolf Warrior II,” another patriotic war film.

Pim is thriving!

EXCLUSIVE: By this weekend, Warner Bros/Legendary’s Dune will cross $100M, making it the second movie from the studio this year to clear the century mark stateside off their controversial day-and-date theatrical HBO Max pandemic strategy.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaDisney’s “Encanto” netted $1.5 million in Tuesday evening previews and MGM’s star-studded crime drama “House of Gucci” brought in $1.3 million ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday.“Encanto” is expected to top the box office and generate $40 million over the five-day period, a more muted launch for a Disney holiday offering than previous Thanksgiving debuts from the Mouse House such as “Frozen II” in 2019 ($123,7 million), “Ralph Breaks the Internet” in

“Encanto,” Disney’s latest animated feature that boasts original music from Lin-Manuel Miranda, earned $1.5 million in its box office preview screenings Tuesday night ahead of a busy Thanksgiving weekend at the box office. “Encanto” opens alongside MGM’s “House of Gucci” starring Lady Gaga and Sony/Screen Gems’ “Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City,” a reboot of the video game action and horror franchise.

Ridley Scott’s next film may very well be coming to a cellphone screen near you — because he has very specific thoughts about why his latest flick, The Last Duel, bombed at the box office!

While some studios have been concerned about the turnout of families with major movies during the pandemic, and have opted for a hybrid launch in homes simultaneously, Sony’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife began easing those fears last weekend with a $44M start, a third of that business from families. The Jason Reitman-sequel in its second weekend looks to do an estimated $30M-$35M over five days, armed with the power of Imax auditoriums. Afterlife made $4M on Monday and now stands at $48M.

Prior to the weekend, projections for the film ranged from $27 million to around $35 million, with Sony projecting on the lower end. Instead, the film has opened closer to the $46 million earned by the “Ghostbusters” reboot in 2016.

Rebecca Davis editorJust after China’s long National Day holiday on Oct. 10, Chinese social media was plastered in red-and-gold memes and posts celebrating the annual box office to date hitting the $6.26 billion (RMB40 billion) mark.

In the wake of Sony’s attempt to reboot Ghostbusters in 2016 with a leading female cast, the studio hasn’t given up on the IP and is finally releasing an all-new Jason Reitman-directed sequel Ghostbusters: Afterlife, which they’ve protected for a theatrical release throughout the pandemic.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media ReporterSony’s supernatural comedy sequel “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” is aiming to generate $30 million from 4,300 theaters in its domestic box office debut.The final weekend figure could vary slightly, with the studio predicting a three-day tally near $28 million and independent tracking services estimating a start closer to $35 million. In any case, the PG-13 “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” is eyeing a first-place finish on domestic box office charts.

Naman Ramachandran Disney release “Eternals” continued to rule the U.K.

Halle Berry spoke about that “Catwoman” tweet with Jimmy Kimmel on his show Monday.

Belfast, Kenneth Branaugh’s intensely personal story of one boy’s childhood in tumultuous late 1960s Northern Ireland, earned an estimated $1.8M in 580 locations this weekend for a PTA of $3,111 – a solid showing for a black-and-white film in a specialty market that’s waging what one distribution exec calls an “an inch-by-inch, week-by-week recovery.”

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media ReporterMarvel’s comic book epic “Eternals” is once again dominating over domestic box office charts.In its second weekend of release, the superhero adventure has collected a leading $27.5 million from 4,090 North American theaters. Through Sunday, “Eternals” crossed the $100 million mark in the U.S.

J. Kim Murphy administrator“Eternals” will keep its crown at the domestic box office, as the Marvel entry is projected to repeat as No.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media ReporterParamount’s family friendly adventure “Clifford the Big Red Dog” pulled in a solid $2.3 million on its first day in theaters.The film, which is playing simultaneously in 3,407 North American cinemas and on the streaming service Paramount Plus, opened on Wednesday to take advantage of the Veterans Day holiday weekend.

Paramount will continue to experiment with a theatrical day-and-date release model during the pandemic with eOne’s Clifford the Big Red Dog, a live-action CGI hybrid take of the 1963 Scholastic children’s book classic which hit theaters today at 1:30PM, goes wide tomorrow at 3,695 theaters and also drops on Paramount+. The movie is expected to do between $15M-$17M over its five days, which includes Veterans Day when close to half K-12 schools are off for the holiday.

AMC Entertainment saw revenue jump to $763 million last quarter, beating Wall Street forecasts on a strong movie slate and accelerating theatrical recovery.