Sonic the Hedgehog 2, the sequel to the last big blockbuster before the pandemic, opens this weekend, keeping a steady stream of dollars into the theatrical marketplace with a $50M+, possibly $60M opening.
20.03.2022 - 19:37 / deadline.com
A global pandemic which closed a majority of the world’s cinemas from 2020-21 just won’t keep large format exhibitor Imax down.
This morning, Imax announced that it crossed a $10 billion milestone in its lifetime global box office from narrative, non-documentary feature releases. The news comes in the wake of the exhibitor and specialty camera corp returning with a record share of the 2021 box office and its best Q4 since 2019.
After over 30 years of being a documentary platform and network in science museums and other institutions with movies like T-Rex: Back to the Cretaceous, Imax transformed their business, developing proprietary post production techniques and bringing Hollywood movies to their auditoriums with the re-issue of Ron Howard’s Apollo 13 in 2002. This spurred a demand from filmmakers, studios, exhibitors and moviegoers, and Imax mushroomed its global network to north of 1,664 screens from multiplexes in 85 countries.
As moviegoers head back to the movies during the pandemic, they’re spending big on watching event titles in a premium venues such as Imax.
Imax alone drove $36.2M worldwide for the $600.5M global debut of Sony’s Spider-Man: No Way Home. That repped the biggest global launch for a Sony movie in Imax, 25% higher than Spider-Man: Far From Home (which had China). In U.S. and Canada, during No Way Home‘s $260.1M opening weekend, Imax accounted for $22M at 407 auditoriums, also the biggest domestic launch for Sony, 3rd highest Imax domestic weekend in December and 5th best overall for the large format exhibitor.
The large format exhibitor was also responsible for driving ticket sales to Denis Villeneuve’s Dune despite the fact that the movie was available in homes to watch during its first month in
Sonic the Hedgehog 2, the sequel to the last big blockbuster before the pandemic, opens this weekend, keeping a steady stream of dollars into the theatrical marketplace with a $50M+, possibly $60M opening.
Warner Bros’ Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets Of Dumbledore is releasing ahead of domestic in 22 international box office markets this weekend, beginning in Holland and Belgium today and including the UK, Australia, Germany, Japan, Spain and China through Friday. The latter, unfortunately, is not expected to serve up any magic given significant cinema closures.
Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefCinema box office in mainland China crumbled to its lowest weekend total this year as the film industry was once again hit by the impact of anti-coronavirus lockdowns. Nationwide, cinemas recorded just $12.6 million of business.Virus infections are spiking sharply upwards in some parts of the country, caused by the spread of the highly infectious Omicron variant of the COVID-19 disease, though in comparison with many other countries absolute numbers remain low.
Refresh for latest…: New blood in the form of Sony’s Jared Leto-fronted Morbius led the global box office this weekend with an $84M debut, while Paramount’s Sonic The Hedgehog 2 got off to a booming $25.5M start from its first 31 offshore markets. Warner Bros/DC also has something to crow about as The Batman topped $700M worldwide.
The biggest box office hit of the COVID era added $1.7 million this weekend in theaters to join “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” and “Avengers: Endgame” as the only movies to hit that rare benchmark in the U.S. and Canada.
Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief‘The Batman’ flew to an opening weekend of $11.6 million and landed in first place at the box office in China. It was the biggest opening this year in China for a Hollywood title but, with a return of coronavirus problems affecting cinema operations, the result has a tinge of missed opportunity.Data from consultancy Artisan Gateway showed the film amassing $11.8 million including previews from Thursday. Imax reported that the film earned $2 million of that total from its screens or 16% of the films China weekend total.
Refresh for latest…: Just days after Warner Bros/DC’s The Batman rounded the five-century mark globally, it is now just shy of $600M worldwide in its third weekend. A $49.1M overseas frame (down 46% versus last session) brings the international box office cume on the Matt Reeves-directed pic to $298M, with global standing at $598.1M through Sunday.
The Batman remains a hit.
With this result, “The Batman” is now in striking range of the domestic totals of “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” ($330 million) and “Aquaman” ($335 million) as it still has one more weekend with major premium format support before the release of Sony/Marvel’s “Morbius” on April 1. The one blemish on the film’s numbers was its release in China this weekend, opening to just $12 million as it added $49 million from international markets.
Rebecca Rubin Film and Media ReporterRobert Pattinson’s gritty superhero adventure “The Batman” is the No. 1 movie at the domestic box office for the third weekend in a row.That feat is not surprising because March has been relatively light in terms of new releases.
“The Batman” earns its third No. 1 weekend with $10 million grossed on Friday and an estimated $39 million weekend total.
Earlier this week, “The Batman” became just the fifth Hollywood film in the past year to gross over $500 million worldwide and should pass the $300 million domestic mark and $600 million global mark by the end of this weekend. While the new COVID-19 infection surge in China has closed over 25% of theaters in that country as “The Batman” opens there, the film is still on pace to surpass the theatrical runs of “F9” and “No Time to Die” and become only the second Hollywood film to gross over $800 million since the pandemic began.
Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“The Batman” flew to a worryingly slow start on Friday at the mainland China box office, where Hollywood films have struggled of late and where the latest coronavirus surge is threatening films of all origins.By 3.30pm on its first full day, the Warner Bros. noir had earned a lowly RMB12.1 million, or $1.90 million at prevailing currency rates, according to provisional data from ticketing agency Maoyan.
Warner Bros/DC’s The Batman has winged its way past the half a billion dollar mark worldwide to become the fourth highest-grossing studio release of the pandemic era. The global total is $505.8M through Wednesday, and there’s still plenty of gas left in the Batmobile.
After two weeks in theaters, Warner Bros./DC’s “The Batman” has passed $500 million at the global box office, with more than half of that total coming from domestic theaters. On Wednesday, “The Batman” added $5.75 million domestically, bringing its total to $258.3 million in North America and $505.8 million worldwide.
Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefTreasure-hunting action adventure “Uncharted” picked up $1.95 million in China on Monday, its official opening day, according to local box office tracking sources. Provisional data from Ent Group showed it launching in first place on Monday, becoming the first film to displace the long-running Chinese patriotic war movie “The Battle at Lake Changjin II,” which had reigned supreme since Feb.
In its sophomore outing, Warner Bros/DC’s The Batman kept a firm grip on the international box office, dropping just 42% to add $66.6M from 76 offshore markets. That brings the overseas cume through Sunday to $224.7M for $463.2M global. As the Robert Pattinson-starrer heads to $500M worldwide this week, in like-for-like markets and using today’s exchange rates, it’s currently tracking 132% ahead of pandemic comp Godzilla Vs Kong and is 44% above Wonder Woman, 36% ahead of The Dark Knight and 24% over Justice League.
Dune, West Side Story and Nightmare Alley were among the big film winners at the Motion Picture Sound Editors’ 69th Golden Reel Awards, which were handed out during a virtual ceremony tonight. See the full list below.