New Line’s ‘The Conjuring’ Franchise Clicks Past $2 Billion At Global Box Office

Those distributors with new movies this weekend will find they can easily blame any soured performance at the box office on the delta variant and vax cards being required at NYC, San Francisco and New Orleans cinemas.

The box office stories of the Summer Movie Season 2021™ have been giving film fans whiplash for weeks. One story talks about how “Black Widow” has a monster opening weekend and shows how cinema is rebounding after the pandemic.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorIn today’s podcast news roundup, a fictionalized series delving into John Lennon’s life in the 1970s makes its debut; Josie Duffy Rice joins Crooked Media’s daily news show “What a Day” as co-host; iHeartMedia teams with journalist Robert Evans to launch progressive podcast network Cool Zone Media; and more.“Blood on the Tracks: The John Lennon Story” premiered Monday, Aug. 16, with the first two episodes available on iHeartRadio and other podcast platforms.

Refresh for latest…: Disney/20th Century Studios’ Free Guy led the game at global turnstiles this session with a $51M worldwide debut. That includes domestic’s over-performance of $28.4M, and a $22.5M start in 41 material markets at the international box office — the latter in line with pre-weekend expectations.

NEW YORK -- “Free Guy,” an action comedy starring Ryan Reynolds as a background character in a videogame, opened better than expected over the weekend, collecting an estimated $28.4 million in ticket sales despite a marketplace challenged by COVID-19.After a few weeks of declining audiences and underwhelming debuts amid the delta variant surge, “Free Guy" succeeded with an old-school formula: an original, star-fronted movie with good word-of-mouth playing only in theaters.

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.

Sony Picture Classics and Neon fared well in their small releases this week with Nine Days and Ailey respectively, running across 6 total locations in New York, Los Angeles and Irvine – both notching heavy per screen averages with the former leading to its wider release next week.

Refresh for latest…: In its global launch, Disney’s Jungle Cruise grossed $61.8M at worldwide turnstiles. That does not include the “over $30M” that came from Disney+ in the day-and-date streaming release (which leads to $91.8M as Anthony has reported). In pure theatrical terms, the Dwayne Johnson/Emily Blunt-starrer performed ahead of expectations domestically, and came in vastly lower at the international box office compared to pre-weekend estimates.

Bleachers have collaborated with Lana Del Rey on new song ‘Secret Life’ – hear the track below.The song is taken from ‘Take The Sadness Out Of Saturday Night’, which is Jack Antonoff’s third album under the Bleachers moniker, and will come out on Friday (July 30).“i’m sick of chasing after all my ghosts, been trying to tell you i want you the most,” Antonoff sings on the hazy, country-tinged track.‘Take The Sadness Out Of Saturday Night’ has so far been previewed by the tracks ‘How Dare You Want

To date, Disney has tried to play an original animated film, a Marvel title, and an Emma Stone 101 Dalmatians villainess movie in theaters and on the PVOD tier of the studio’s streaming service, and this weekend they’ll accelerate windows again on the Dwayne Johnson-Emily Blunt theme park-inspired title Jungle Cruise.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media ReporterAt the box office, “Snake Eyes” is ringing true to its moniker.The latest “G.I. Joe” installment, an origin story starring Henry Golding of “Crazy Rich Asians” fame, fell short of expectations, collecting a paltry $13.3 million in its first three days in North American theaters.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentThe French box office has taken a big hit and dropped 70% this week due to the new sanitary measures enforced on July 21 which require a proof of vaccination or a recent negative PCR test to enter cultural venues, including movie theaters. French President Emmanuel Macron announced on July 12 that the EU Digital Covid Certificate — commonly called “health pass” — would be mandatory at all cultural venues.

Disney+ for poor box office returns on Marvel’s Black Widow.The film smashed US box office records in the pandemic era, earning $80million (£58.8million) in cinemas and $60million (£44million) on the streaming service in its opening weekend.But the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO), the US industry’s main lobbying arm, was critical of the film’s rollout.“Despite assertions that this pandemic-era improvised release strategy was a success for Disney and the simultaneous release model,

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.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“Black Widow” held on to top spot at the South Korean box office despite a challenge from the new release of local horror film “The Medium.” New release, “Space Jam: A New Legacy” made no impact.The Disney-Marvel film saw weekend earnings of $4.09 million, a drop of 54% compared with the previous session.

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 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

“Space Jam: A New Legacy” made its debut on Friday, dropping in theatres and simultaneously on HBO Max.