Freestyle Wrestling Comedy ‘Sattar’ Sets Record At Saudi Arabia Box Office For Local Film, Kicks ‘Avatar’ From Top Slot

Indian superstar Shah Rukh Khan is back, and in a big way, as his action-packed espionage pic Pathaan has been breaking records for a Hindi title since debuting Wednesday in India and overseas. This also ends a lengthy hiatus from the big screen as a lead for SRK, and gives a boost to Bollywood which has had a rough run of late.

SATURDAY AM UPDATE: Refresh for more analysis and chart Coming out of this weekend, by mid-week, Disney/20th Century Studios/Lightstorm’s Avatar: The Way of Water will easily surpass The Avengers as the No. 10 highest grossing movie ever in U.S./Canada with $623.3M. The James Cameron directed pic is expected to gross between $14M-$16M for a seventh straight No. 1 weekend streak. Avatar 2‘s seven-weekend run at No. 1 ties with the original Avatar and the Henry Fonda-Katherine Hepburn Oscar-winning movie On Golden Pond.

EXCLUSIVE: New Line has set Secret Headquarters filmmakers Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman to direct Undo, from Will Simmons’ 2022 Black List screenplay. The action thriller is currently in development.

EXCLUSIVE: Saudi feelgood comedy-drama Sattar, which has enjoyed a record-breaking theatrical run at home, will hit U.K. cinemas next month in a release spearheaded by MENA region distributor Front Row Filmed Entertainment.

Steven Spielberg’s autobiographical feature The Fabelmans earned a number of Oscar nominations this morning, including one for Spielberg’s longtime collaborator, composer John Williams, and one for veteran actor Judd Hirsch, who plays Boris, a fictionalized version of Spielberg’s great uncle in the movie.

Over the past month, the conversation around “Avatar: The Way of Water” has shifted from, “Will it make money?” to “How much money will it make?” James Cameron‘s much-anticipated — or much-derided, depending on where you sit in the contemporary culture wars — was always expected to make money, but everyone has been shocked at its impact at the global box office. Once it became clear that the movie was going to outperform even its most ambitious expectations, the only question became whether this movie could possibly topple the original “Avatar.” And while that remains an open question, in at least one regard, Cameron’s sequel has already proven itself ahead of the pace.

Hrithik Roshan passed through Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Festival late last year to host one of the festival’s popular ‘In Conversation’ sessions. Before Roshan arrived at the festival venue, extra security was drafted in as the audience queue spiraled two floors. When Roshan finally arrived, he was mobbed by the crowd. The reaction was unsurprising. Despite Hollywood visitors like Spike Lee and Antonio Banderas, the biggest names at Red Sea were the stars from India’s Bollywood industry.

Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Fund has unveiled its latest round of feature film grantees from the Arab world and Africa.

Actor Richard E. Grant has been set as the host of the 2023 BAFTA Film Awards, which take place on February 19 at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall in London.

Refresh for latest…: James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water continues to outdo itself having crossed $1.8B globally and reaching nearly $1.9B at the worldwide box office through this weekend.

CJ So Cool just revealed he was shot FOUR times during a terrifying home invasion…

It is a blockbuster morning as far as the Producers Guild of America is concerned as it revealed film and TV nominations Thursday for its 34th annual PGA Awards.

The Red Sea International Film Festival has announced its foundation is getting behind French director Maïwenn’s period drama Jeanne du Barry, in which she co-stars as the titular 18th Century courtesan Madame du Barry opposite Johnny Depp as King Louis XV.

Japanese studio Toei announced today that its total box office revenue reached a record Yen32.56BN (US$246.6M) for the calendar year 2022, partly thanks to the strong performances of anime blockbusters One Piece Film Red and The First Slam Dunk. 

A flying ace, rampaging dinosaurs, Marvel, DC, Minions and battling blue aliens on a distant planet were among the highlights of 2022 for the Hollywood studios at the global and international box office. Still, it was yet another year of transition, with worldwide grosses reaching an estimated $26B — a 27% increase on 2021 but 35% off the pre-pandemic three-year average, according to Gower Street Analytics. The upward trajectory also occurred overseas as some markets came back strongly, while others struggled and exchange rates went wild.

A projected $22.5 billion deficit has Gov. Gavin Newsom proposing some belt tightening and program cuts for California, but the financial sun is still shining bright on the Golden State’s over $400 million film and television tax credits program.

Hong Kong’s box office managed to stage a partial recovery in the second half of 2022, despite cinemas being closed for nearly four months earlier in the year, due to US titles including Top Gun: Maverick and Avatar: The Way Of Water and a strong line-up of local movies.