Imax Q4 Revenue Dips On Strike-Related Slate Shifts; CEO Touts Strong Full-Year 2023 At North American Box Office, Growing Global Footprint

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The South Korean box office had a familiar look. Dark drama, “Exhuma” dominated the chart with a more than 50% market share for the fourth weekend in a row. And, for the third successive weekend, “Dune 2” placed second. “Exhuma,” about two shaman, a feng shui master and a mortician who attempt to reverse the mysterious events happening to a U.S.-based Korean family, earned $5.80 million between Friday and Sunday.

“Kung Fu Panda 4 ” stayed at the top of the North American box office in its second weekend in theaters. The Universal and DreamWorks Animation movie earned $30 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.The franchise featuring the voice of Jack Black is responsible for over $1.9 billion at the box office since it launched in 2008 and spawned several animated series, shorts, video games and a holiday special.

Indies in moderate-wide release claimed the nos. 6, 8 and 9 spots at the domestic box office led by Love Lies Bleeding. Kristin Steward toplines the Berlin-premiering film by Rose Glass that expanded nationwide, grossing $2.5 million for the weekend on 1,362 screens (up from five theaters opening week). The steamy crime thriller from A24 also stars Katy O’Brian with an ensemble featuring Ed Harris, Anna Baryshnikov Dave Franco and Jenna Malone. It’s 88% Certified Fresh with audiences on Rotten Tomatoes (92% critics score).

Revenues and profits fell at Poor Things super-indie Fremantle last year as the outfit’s lofty €3B ($3.2B) revenue target draws ever nearer.

Katcy Stephan The Avenue has landed North American rights to the action comedy “Old Guy,” starring Christoph Waltz, Lucy Liu and Cooper Hoffman. Simon West (“The Expendables 2,” “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider,” “The Mechanic”) directed the film, while “The Last Son” scribe Greg Johnson penned the script.

5 Seconds Of Summer’s Luke Hemmings has announced details of a solo tour, which will see him perform across the UK, Europe and North America later this year. Find ticket details below.Set to take place across the spring, the new run of live shows come as part of the singer-songwriter’s ‘Nostalgia For A Time That Never Existed’ tour and follow the announcement that he will be dropping a new EP later this year.The opening show of the tour will be held at Le Bataclan in Paris on May 4, and is followed by a slot at Fabrique in Milan two days later (May 6).

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Dune 2” launched in mainland China cinemas this weekend with a solid $19.9 million three-day haul. That put it in second place, narrowly behind holdover crime-drama “The Pig, the Snake and the Pigeon.” Data from consultancy firm Artisan Gateway, showed that “The Pig, the Snake and the Pigeon” earned $21.3 million (RMB151 million) between Friday and Sunday, for a 10-day cumulative of $54.1 million (RMB384 million).

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Dune 2” added $2.63 million in its second weekend in South Korea, but the sci-fi fantasy remained a long may short of the year’s runaway winner, “Exhuma,” which has dominated and dynamized box office for three weeks. “Exhuma,” about two shaman, a feng shui master and a mortician who attempt to undo the mysterious events happening to a U.S.-based Korean family, earned $6.52 million between Friday and Sunday, representing a 67% share of the overall box office market, according to data from tracking service Kobis, operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic). It was the third weekend in a row that “Exhuma” took two-thirds of Korean box office weekend total. After nearly three weeks on release the film has earned a powerful $58.7 million from eight million admissions.

LOS ANGELES — As Universal Pictures prepared for a big night at the Academy Awards with “Oppenheimer,” the studio also celebrated the No. 1 debut of “Kung Fu Panda 4,” which collected $58.3 million in domestic theaters over the weekend, according to estimates Sunday.“Kung Fu Panda 4,” the first film in the DreamWorks Animation franchise since the third installment in 2016, got off to a better start than all but the 2008 original.

EXCLUSIVE: Specialty distributor 3388 Films has acquired rights to Vietnamese smash Mai, and has set a March 22 theatrical release across North America and Europe. From director Tran Thanh, the romance drama is now the No. 1 movie of all time in Vietnam, having crossed 500B VND ($20M) locally this past week. 

Steven J. Horowitz Senior Music Writer Tyla has canceled her upcoming North American tour, citing a longstanding injury that has worsened over time. The South African singer, who rose to prominence last year with her single “Water,” was scheduled to kick off her Tyla Tour on March 21 in Oslo, Norway, with eight international dates on the itinerary before she intended to swing back Stateside.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Kino Lorber has acquired North American distribution rights to Bruno Dumont’s “The Empire,” a sci-fi satire starring Anamaria Vartolomei (“Happening”), Camille Cottin (“Call My Agent!”), Lyna Khoudri (“The Three Musketeers”) and Fabrice Luchini. “The Empire” just world premiered in competition at the Berlin Film Festival, where it won the Silver Bear Jury Prize.

An Enemy of the People, director Sam Gold’s Broadway revival of the Ibsen classic starring Jeremy Strong and Michael Imperioli, is off to a great start, grossing more than $1M last week and playing to stand-room-only crowds.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Exhuma,” a locally produced occult drama-thriller, expanded its domination of the South Korea box office on its second week of release. That left the newly-released “Dune 2” several sand dunes behind in second place. “Exhuma,” about two shaman, a feng shui master and a mortician who attempt to undo the mysterious events happening to a U.S.-based Korean family, earned $17.2 million between Friday and Sunday, representing a 69% share of the overall box office market.

AMC Entertainment posted strong fourth quarter numbers buoyed by Taylor Swift and Beyoncé Concert Films.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor UFC and WWE logged record revenue and sponsorship deals in 2023, which added up to a strong fourth quarter for TKO, the newly formed parent company of both sports brands. The strong numbers for WWE stand in contrast to the controversy that erupted last month when disturbing sexual assault allegations were leveled against former WWE chairman Vince McMahon in a lawsuit by a former WWE employee.

PJ Harvey has shared the most video for ‘Seem An I’ which features actor Ruth Wilson.The video for the song, taken from Harvey’s recent album ‘I Inside The Old Year Dying’, was shot at Kennel Farm outside Salisbury and was created by Oscar-nominated screenwriter and director, Colm Bairéad. In recent years, Wilson has appeared in shows including Luther, The Affair and His Dark Materials, while her film credits include Jane Eyre and Saving Mr. Banks.“Ruth and I became friends after working together on Clio Barnard’s film Dark River,” said Harvey in a press release.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Occult drama-thriller “Exhuma,” dominated the South Korea box office in its opening weekend with a scarily good debut approaching $17 million. The film, about two shaman, a feng shui master and a mortician who attempt to undo the mysterious events happening to a U.S.-based Korean family, grabbed $14.5 million between Friday and Sunday, representing a 77% share of the overall box office market. Including the earnings since its Wednesday debut, the film earned $16.8 million in its full opening session, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic).

Social media platform Reddit filed with the SEC today for an initial public offering, a move anticipated for years by the company, which was founded in 2005 by Steve Huffman, Alexis Ohanian and Aaron Swartz. It boasts 100k+ communities, or subreddits, including wallstreetbets, the home of meme stock traders who upended Wall Street in 2021, taking shares of GameStop and others to the moon.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief North American digital distributor Echelon Studios has come on board “12.12: The Day,” the highest grossing film from Korea last year. The film has been on theatrical release in North America, through 815 Pictures since last year and grossed over $1 million.