Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter For Tom Cruise, one of the most effective ways to sell tickets to blockbusters like “Top Gun: Maverick” and “Mission: Impossible” sequels has been recounting the horrors and headaches of performing his own death-defying stunts. In the lead-up to “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One,” however, Cruise hasn’t been able to talk up the antics of hanging off a runaway train or jumping out of airplanes on late-night shows due to the ongoing writers strike. And now, as the actors join the picket lines against Hollywood film and TV companies, the realm of promotion for upcoming projects is getting a lot narrower. According to SAG-AFTRA guidelines, stars aren’t allowed to appear on daytime shows like “Good Morning America” or “Today,” attend premieres, participate in interviews for completed work or even post about projects on social media while the strike is in effect. Talent is also unable to go to conventions such as San Diego Comic-Con, which is held at the end of July.
Peter Bart: ‘Barbie’ Vs. ‘Oppenheimer’ One Of Summer Box Office’s Biggest Test (Screening) Cases
27.06.2023 - 21:27 / deadline.com
Barbie will own the conversation. No, Oppenheimer will be the summer’s “must see” movie. The July 21 face-off between those unlikely rivals hints at the imminent surprises of Summer ’23.
Everyone I meet claims to have the “inside” on coming hits or misses. Since big chips are on the table, I decided to hunt down the expert whose job it is to know.
Kevin Goetz, as CEO of Screen Engine, is the feared and revered guru of advanced analytics who is hired to test most of the movies hitting the theaters. Or TV screens.
As such he has dutifully dispensed his data, insights and, often, some proposed solutions to filmmakers and studio chiefs. Most are eager to hear them. Even if some resist taking action on them.
Yes, he buzzes data with Tom Cruise and shares intel with Ron Howard and Michael Bay. He may not with Chris Nolan, because the director of Oppenheimer, like the protagonist of his movie, keeps his cards close to the vest.
Goetz has been “dispensing candor with kindness” for three decades, which itself reflects his proficiency. Accordingly, the American Cinematheque presented him last week with a special “Power of Cinema” award.
Spend time with him and you realize that he loves films as ardently as he measures them. He has himself produced 12 movies for television.
Nothing energizes him more than those moments at test screenings when the audience applauds the title of the movie (“you will be the first to see a movie titled Top Gun: Maverick“). Or at the finish when viewers are excited by the ending (Fatal Attraction, when data prompted a sharp new third act).
Screen Engine rates scripts for film or TV as well as films awaiting distribution deals or facing imminent release. Sometimes its data suggests increased outlay
‘Mission: Impossible’ cruises into the No. 1 spot at the box office
according to IMDB’s Box Office Mojo.The action spy flick, which the Post lauded as “summer’s best movie,” was released in select theaters on Monday, with a wider release on Wednesday.“Sound of Freedom,” which is in third last week, moved up to the No. 2 spot, earning close to $7.5 million.
Box Office: ‘Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One’ Cruising to Projected $78 Million Debut
J. Kim Murphy Paramount’s “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One” is defusing a bit at the domestic box office, readjusting for an estimated $78 million gross over its five-day opening. That’d be a substantial chunk behind projections headed into the weekend, which had the Tom Cruise action sequel hoping for a $90 million. Some in the industry were expecting a “Top Gun: Maverick” halo effect for “Dead Reckoning” after last year’s legacy sequel positively ignited movie theaters, rocketing through the summer to become the fifth-highest grossing domestic release of all-time. That doesn’t seem to be the case though, as “Mission” seems to be landing around the solid numbers typical for its franchise.
Box Office: Tom Cruise’s ‘Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One’ Earns $23.8 Million in First Two Days
Brent Lang Executive Editor “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” netted $8.3 million at the box office on Thursday, pushing the action sequel’s North American gross to $23.8 million after two days of release. The film, which finds Tom Cruise’s Ethan Hunt hurtling off cliffs, fighting knife-wielding bad guys on trains and evading pursuers while driving a Fiat through the streets of Rome, was incredibly expensive to produce. Shot during the pandemic (with all the attendant shutdowns, delays and health protocols that were a staple of the COVID era), the budget on the film ballooned to $290 million. So “Mission: Impossible” will need to generate a lot of repeat business if it’s going to turn a profit, and it needs to boom at the global box office.
How ‘Insidious: The Red Door’ Locked Out ‘Indiana Jones’ At Box Office & Brought Sony Horror Fare Back From The Dead
When it comes to horror movies at the box office, Sony resurrected its track record this past weekend with the opening of Blumhouse/Stage 6 Films’ fifthquel, Insidious: The Red Door which had a $32.65M domestic opening, $64M Worldwide debut.
‘Insidious: The Red Door’ Scares Up Best Overseas Horror Bow Since 2019; ’Indiana Jones’ Moves Dial To $248M Global; ‘Elemental’ Catching Fire Offshore; ‘Fast X’ Tops $700M WW – International Box Office
Refresh for latest…: Busy weekend at the international box office with a strong scary new entry, some unexpected spark in holds and a milestone for a long-running franchise.
'The Summer I Turned Pretty': The Biggest Changes From the Books to Series
is a hit on the page and onscreen! As fans gear up for season 2 of the Prime Video series, ET is taking a look at the biggest changes between Jenny Han's books and the Lola Tung-led drama.The story follows Belly (Tung), a teen on her annual summer trip to the fictional Cousins Beach with her mom, Laurel (Jackie Chung), and older brother, Steven (Sean Kaufman). While there, they stay with Laurel's lifelong friend, Susannah (Rachel Blanchard), and her teenage sons, Conrad (Christopher Briney) and Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno), who Belly is romantically torn between.When it came to adapting the series for the screen, Han, who serves as co-showrunner, knew it wouldn't be an easy task.«It's a bit of a balancing act, because I really had to weigh what the fans are expecting with where the show is going creatively and find that balance,» she told .
Peter Bart: Hollywood Icons Harrison Ford And Rock Hudson Still Flexing Their Movie-Star Muscles
Movie stars no longer “own” Hollywood, we are told, but two hallowed brand names owned much of the media space this week.
‘Back To The Future’ Musical Revs Up Broadway Box Office With Four-Show Take Of $1M
Back To The Future: The Musical landed on Broadway last week in overdrive: The stage adaptation starring Casey Likes and Roger Bart scored a dizzying $1,035,256 for just four preview performances, filling 98% of seats at the Winter Garden.
Midsummer Box Office Hitting $1.88 Billion, -2% From 2022
We’ve had a couple of tentpole missteps here this summer, read Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny this weekend with $60M, The Flash and Elemental; putting the running summer box office at $1.88 billion for May 1-July 2.
‘Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny’ Clocks Soft $130M Global Bow – International Box Office
Refresh for latest…: Disney/Lucasfilm’s Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is off to a disappointing start with a $130M global opening. Of that, $70M is from 52 international box office markets as the the fifth installment in the beloved 42-year-old franchise came in below projections.
Vue Printworks to be one of three cinemas in the UK to screen Oppenheimer in 70mm IMAX
VUE Cinema in the Manchester Printworks will be one of only three cinemas in the UK to showcase a special screening of Oppenheimer on IMAX.
Hollywood Predicts Potential $100 Million Opening Weekend For ‘Barbie,’ $50 Million For ‘Oppenheimer’
With July just around the corner, it’s time for the summer movie showdown moviegoers have been waiting for: Greta Gerwig‘s “Barbie” versus Christopher Nolan‘s “Oppenheimer.” And Hollywood already has speculations on which of those films will come out on top on their opening weekend. Deadline reports that Warner Bros.
Here’s who’s tracking to win the ‘Barbie’ v ‘Oppenheimer’ box office battle
Barbie and Oppenheimer is heating up ahead of the films’ releases – here’s who’s on track to come out on top.The two films are both set to be released on the same day next month (July 21) and have been locked into a humorous and meme-filled rivalry.Greta Gerwig’s Barbie stars Robbie in the titular role, with Ryan Gosling as Ken, while Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer sees Cillian Murphy play scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer who is credited as the “father of the atomic bomb” for his role in the Manhattan Project.Ahead of the films’ releases, box office projections have Barbie looking set to pick up more than double the taking of Nolan’s film.New projections from The Hollywood Reporter hint that Barbie could open with between a $70-80million opening weekend, while Oppenheimer is expecting a $40million opening.In the run-up to the release of his new film, Nolan has said there’s an “interesting relationship” between the endings of Oppenheimer and his 2011 film Inception.Speaking in an interview with Wired, Nolan explained that there’s some similarities between Oppenheimer’s ending and the ambiguous final scene in Inception, where it was left unclear whether Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) was still in a dream.Asked whether he believed his films have an optimistic or “anti-nihilistic” outlook, Nolan said: “I mean, the end of Inception, it’s exactly that.
Broadway Box Office Continues Summer Climb: Attendance Up Nearly 20% Over Last June
Broadway continued on its post-Tony glow last week, with the 32 productions grossing $34,004,232, about 3% more than the previous week and 10% over the same week last season. In all, attendance for the week ending June 25 was 270,206, 4% higher than the previous week and 18% over last year.
Only Tom Cruise can save Hollywood from a summer of box office bombs
$2.3 billion “Avatar: The Way of Water” raked in last Christmas — movie theaters are back to being an armory of high-profile bombs. This weekend, wobbly Warner Bros.’ “The Flash” dropped a staggering 73% in its second week to a worldwide total of just $210 million. A more-than-50% decline for an expensive DC Comics superhero film spells trouble.Consider that fellow Justice League member “Aquaman” made $229 million by his second weekend in the US and Canada alone.Pixar’s uninspired “Elemental,” released June 16 and so far having grossed $121 million, will wind up as one of the Disney-owned animation studio’s biggest failures ever.
Pixar’s ‘Elemental’ Knocks Down ‘The Flash’ on International Box Office Charts
Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter “The Flash” continues to stumble at the box office, collecting $26.6 million from 78 international territories over the weekend and bringing its overseas tally to just $123.3 million. The Warner Bros. comic book movie, starring Ezra Miller as the eponymous, timeline-spanning speedster, has grossed $210.9 million globally, including a lousy $87 million at the domestic box office. It’s far less than what a film of its size and scope — it cost $200 million to make and another $100 million to market — needs to break even in its theatrical run. China is leading the foreign territories with a lackluster $23.6 million followed by Mexico with $14.4 million and the United Kingdom with $8.5 million.
Box Office: ‘Spider-Verse’ Returns to No. 1 as ‘The Flash’ Collapses By 73% and Jennifer Lawrence’s ‘No Hard Feelings’ Opens to $15 Million
Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter In another universe, “The Flash,” once touted by its own studio as “one of the greatest superhero movies of all time,” would be towering over the box office with ease in its second weekend of release. But in this universe, audiences are flat-out rejecting the Warner Bros. movie, starring Ezra Miller as the eponymous, timeline-spanning speedster. Rather than taking a victory lap, the comic book adventure is cratering in third place with $15.3 million from 4,265 North American theaters, marking a brutal 73% decline from its unimpressive $55 million debut. That’s a far bigger drop than recent DC adaptations, including “Black Adam” (59%) and “Shazam: Fury of the Gods” (69%), which ended up as huge money losers for the studio.
‘No Hard Feelings’ flirts its way to top of the box office
according to IMDB’s Box Office Mojo.The Jennifer Lawrence-led flick centers around a 32-year-old bartender and Uber driver who accepts a job to date a 19-year-old from a Craigslist ad created by his parents.Rolling Stone said the A-List actress is “easily the best thing in this comedy about a woman hired to ‘date’ a shy high school senior — yet not even foul-mouthed, no-filter J-Law can save this mess.”“Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” crawled up to second place after being in third last week, earning 5.7 million. There was buzz from fans that a sequel to the flick would be released in March, but that rumor was dispelled from an anonymous artist who worked on the movie.“There’s no way that movie’s coming out then,” the employee dished to Vulture.“Everyone’s been fully focused on Across the Spider-Verse and barely crossing the finish line.
‘No Hard Feelings’ Earns $2.15 Million at Thursday Box Office
Jennifer Lawrence’s much-discussed return to studio star vehicles, in a film being pitched as a canary in the coal mine for the theatrical strength of star-driven comedies, got off to a promising start as Sony’s “No Hard Feelings” earned $2.15 million in Thursday previews. Meanwhile, Wes Anderson’s “Asteroid City,” which shattered records for a per-theater-average for a six-screen (or more) release last weekend, expanded into 1,675 theaters with $1.1 million for Focus Features.