UPDATED, 8:16 AM: Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans will receive the Vanguard Award at the 2023 Palm Springs Film Festival’s gala in January.
14.11.2022 - 01:13 / deadline.com
The Fabelmans grossed an estimated $160k this weekend at four theaters in NY and LA. That’s a $40K per screen average, on par with recent strong (for post-Covid) specialty openings like The Banshees Of Inisherin (at $45k PSA) and Tár (also $40k), both on four screens too, reflecting a definite pickup in the specialty space. Spielberg’s written, directed and produced semi-autobiographical tale debuted into one of the biggest openings of the year with Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
The Universal Pictures’ release has the potential to drum up strong weekday business from older demos (U’s Ticket To Paradise has) that don’t feel the need to rush out on opening weekend, especially with Wakanda fever, or on weekends in general. It’s preparing to expand to 600 screens on Nov. 23 and will likely go beyond that given an A Cinema Score, mid-90% Certified Fresh ratings on Rotten Tomatoes with audiences/critics, strong word of mouth and more commercial appeal than some other specialty films in the market.
Starring Gabriel LaBelle, Michele Williams, Paul Dano, Seth Rogen and Judd Hirsch, Fabelmans racked up $60k on Friday, including Thursday previews; $58k Saturday – a better than expected hold indicating strong word of mouth; and an estimated $43k Sunday.
“With The Fabelmans, Steven Spielberg has crafted one of his most personal stories yet, an incredible universal coming of age story that clearly resonated with audiences this weekend,” said Jim Orr, Universal Pictures’ domestic distribution chief. “We have no doubt the film will captivate audiences throughout the holiday season,” he said.
Checking in on other fare in an increasingly crowded and lively space: Banshees, from Searchlight Pictures, grossed $1.7 million in week three
UPDATED, 8:16 AM: Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans will receive the Vanguard Award at the 2023 Palm Springs Film Festival’s gala in January.
Word of Austin Butler’s steadfast work ethic was already becoming known in Hollywood before the 31-year-old actor played Elvis Presley. But in taking on the part of a lifetime, in Baz Lurhmann’s titular film, the actor truly proved his dedication beyond any expectation. Butler may have moved on to his next projects (among them, the Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg exec-produced Masters of the Air, and Dune: Part Two, currently in production) but he still relishes talking about playing Elvis and describes how he aimed to capture both the physical depiction and the soul of the man.
EXCLUSIVE: WME has signed The Fabelmans breakout Chloe East, in a competitive situation.
The Nintendo Direct YouTube channel unveiled the second trailer today for Illumination’s Super Mario Bros Movie.
Steven Spielberg has Covid. Given that, the 75-year-old director missed his planned introduction of the Michelle Williams tribute at the Gotham Awards tonight in Manhattan.
Sideshow/Janus Films EO held well in week two, grossing $23,217 for the five-day holiday frame ($11,609 per screen) and $16,900 for the three-day weekend ($8,450 per screen). The new cume is $50.7k in a crowded arthouse market, a strong showing for the film starring a melancholic gray donkey. It expands to LA next week opening at Laemmle Royal, Alamo Drafthouse DTLA, Los Feliz 3, and Santa Barbara’s Riviera Theater at SBIFF. Director Jerzy Skolimowski will be on hand for Q&As all weekend.
Over the 5-day Thanksgiving stretch, Netflix’s one week sneak preview of Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery buried all new and old major studio adult counterprogramming with an estimated $13.3M over 5-days for what is projected to be a $15M first week by Tuesday.
It’s starting to sink in that Harrison Ford is hanging up his whip with “Indiana Jones 5.” The 80-year-old actor ends his tenure as the beloved tomb raider and part-time archaeology professor next summer. The fifth installment is directed by James Mangold (“Ford Vs.
Few directors have reached the upper echelon in which names like Steven Spielberg reside, and “The Fabelmans” gives viewers insight into how the great movie-making mind came to be. Spielberg’s origin story springs off the page from a script co-written by the director and Tony Kushner, the “Angels in America” playwright and a frequent collaborator of Spielberg’s.
Steven Spielberg will be feted with a special homage at the 73rd edition of the Berlin International Film Festival next February.
“Bones and All” sees Guadagnino reunite with his “Call Me By Your Name” star Timothee Chalamet, who stars alongside newcomer Taylor Russell as a pair of cannibals who fall in love and embark on a tragic road trip across America. The film won Best Director and Best Newcomer honors at Venice and has received praise from critics with an 86% Rotten Tomatoes score, though its likely to remain a niche title as one would expect for a film with such a grisly taboo topic.
There was something particularly nerve-racking about playing a young Steven Spielberg in The Fabelmans, the director’s semi-autobiographical movie base on his own family and upbringing. For starters, star Gabriel LaBelle said during an appearance at Deadline’s Contenders Film: Los Angeles awards-season event that he never actually sat down with the director to get the 411 on what Spielberg was like as a young kid.
Three rite-of-passage movies are vying for attention this week at a moment when the rewards of maturity seem to be offering more gratification than the agonies of youth.
Projects come and go, some get announced and never happen, and sometimes filmmakers lose interest. But Steven Spielberg’s remake of Steve McQueen’s action car chase classic “Bullitt” (1968) looks like it is not only moving forward, but his next film as Bradley Cooper has been cast in the lead role.
EXCLUSIVE: Steven Spielberg looks to have found his Frank Bullitt as sources tell Deadline Bradley Cooper has closed a deal to play the no-nonsense San Francisco cop in the new original Bullitt story centered on the classic character famously played by Steven McQueen in the 1968 thriller, which is set up at Warner Bros. Cooper will also produce the pic along with Spielberg and his producing partner Kristie Macosko Krieger (marking their second collaboration after Maestro), with Josh Singer on board to pen the script. Steve McQueen’s son, Chad ,and granddaughter Molly McQueen will exec produce the new movie.
At just 19 years of age (reportedly), Gabriel LaBelle is already at the pinacle of Hollywood cinema. The relatively unknown Canadian actor is turning heads as Sammy Fableman, a fictional version of the legendary director Steven Spielberg in the new period drama “The Fabelmans.” A movie that is arguably the frontrunner for the Best Picture Oscar and will put LaBelle under a massive global spotlight in the weeks and months to come.