Search Results for: “Admissions”

‘Star Trek Into Darkness’ $164.5M Global: Lower Domestic But +80% Bigger Overseas; ‘Gatsby’ $132.1M Global, ‘Iron Man 3′ $1B

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Sunday May 19, 2013 @ 9:19am PDTTags: Box Office, J.J. Abrams, Star Trek Into Darkness

Box OfficeSUNDAY 9 AM, 7TH & 8TH UPDATE (WRITETHRU): The iconic space tentpole grossed a lot of money worldwide as May continues to sizzle for Summer 2013. But came nowhere near the $80M weekend and $100M total predicted. Star Trek Into Darkness from Paramount Pictures, Skydance Productions, and director J.J. Abrams‘ Bad Robot opened with $2M Wednesday from IMAX late shows, $11.5M Thursday, $22M Friday, $27.2M Saturday (for a +25% bump), and an estimated $21.2M Sunday. So that’s a $70.5M weekend from 3,868 theaters and an $84M domestic cume. Exit polling shows that the audience was 64% male/36% female with 27% under age 25/73% age 25 and over. Despite the passage of 4 years and the addition of 3D and IMAX for ticket premiums, 4 1/2 days of Star Trek Into Darkness barely beat 2009′s Star Trek 3-day weekend opening. Rightly or wrongly, fanboys (who are notoriously hard to please) saw the sequel as a ripoff of 1982′s The Wrath Of Khan. I felt the problem was that the latest pic’s marketing assumed people had seen the first installment and therefore didn’t target newbies. The iconic space tentpole in 3D received a coveted “A” CinemaScore to help word of mouth and 87% positive Rotten Tomatoes score setting it up for a strong weekend. The budget was a costly $190M, but the studio was predicting a 3-day weekend domestic estimate of $80M and 4-day estimate of $100M. Abrams’ first grossed $257.7M in North America but only $128M overseas where the franchise has long underperformed. STID was expected to easily beat the North American take so Abrams filmed 30 minutes using high-resolution cameras to increase the IMAX grosses which comprised 16% of domestic. To expand international, Paramount dispatched Abrams’ Bad Robot partner Bryan Burk to share 20 minutes of footage with media and distributors abroad earlier this year. It helped: international told a stronger story. Since sequels usually play well overseas, the total is $80.5 from 40 markets through Sunday, or +80% from the prior film. For comparison, STID is running +33% on a global basis compared to the 2009 reboot. Worldwide total is $164.5M. Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto reprise their roles as Kirk and Spock with its ensemble USS Enterprise cast and Benedict Cumberbatch debuts as the movie’s mysterious baddie in this sequel to Abrams’ 2009 reboot of the franchise, which began as a 1960s TV series. Star Trek Into Darkness, based on Gene Roddenberry’s creation, was written by credited scripters Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman & Damon Lindelof, who also are producers along with the Bad Robot duo of Abrams and Burk.

1. Star Trek Into Darkness (Skydance/Paramount) Week 1 [3,868 Theaters]
Wed $2.0M, Thurs $11.5M, Fri $22.0M, Sat $27.2M, Est Sun $21.2M
Wkd $70.5M, Dom Cume $84.0M, Intl Cume $80.5M, WW Total $164.9M

2. Iron Man 3 (Marvel/Disney) Week 3 [Runs 4,237]
Friday $9.6M, Saturday $15.8M, Weekend $35.5M,
Dom Cume $337.1M, Intl Cume $736.2M, Worldwide Total $1.073.3B

On May 16, the film crossed the $1B benchmark at the global box office in 23 days and the $300M threshold at the domestic box office in 14 days. Iron Man 3 is now the #9 highest grossing film of all time globally and the #9 highest grossing film of all time internationally. This is the 2nd Marvel Studios film and the 6th Walt Disney Studios release to reach $1B globally, and the 9th Disney release to reach $300M domestic.

3. The Great Gatsby (Warner Bros) Week 2 [Runs 3,550]
Friday $7.6M, Saturday $9.5m, Weekend $23.6M (-53%)

Dom Cume $90.1M, Intl Cume $42.1M, Worldwide Total $132.2M

Baz Luhrmann’s biggest to date here and overseas looks to make $140M domestic all in. “Domestic box office results are excellent,” a Warner Bros exec gushed. “Counter-programming can succeed with great success in a summer of tentpole fanboy event films.” Coming off the heels of a gala opening night event at the Cannes Film Event, The Great Gatsby in 3D released in 49 territories overseas and grossed a big $42.1M (ith 4.6Madmissions from almost 8,400 screens). This was 38% higher than Luhrmann’s Australia in the same markets ($30.4M) and 3x higher than Moulin Rouge ($13.8M). This weekend’s rollout abroad represent 70% of the international box office; major markets yet to launch include Australia (May 30th), Mexico (May 31st), Brazil (June 7th), Japan (June 14th). This weekend’s results included some #1 placements despite stuff competition: Russia $6.2M (Rbl 194M), UK $6.1M (£4.0M), France $4.7M (€3.6M), Korea $4.3M (KRW 4.75B), Italy $3.8M (€2.9M), Germany $3.7M (€2.8M), Spain $2.2M (€1.7M), Taiwan $779K (NT$23.9M).

Also, Universal’s May 24th domestic opener Fast & Furious 6 kicked off its worldwide release in the UK and Ireland this weekend with a record breaking #1 opening. The film grossed $13.8M (£9M) at 460 dates scoring Universal’s biggest 3-day opening weekend in that territory (smashing the previous record set by Les Miserables of $13.1M). It is the biggest opening weekend in the UK for the franchise and the highest opening weekend for Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson. F&F6 is now the 2nd biggest opening weekend of 2013 there behind IM3‘s $17.6M.

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AMC Entertainment Winds Up With A Net Loss For Q1

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Friday May 10, 2013 @ 5:45pm EDTTags: AMC Entertainment

The year started off badly for the theater chain owned by China’s Wanda Group. AMC Entertainment reports that it had a Q1 net loss of $7.46M, down from a $727,000 profit in the period last year, on revenues of $577.8M, -9.2%. Admissions revenues fell 10.1% to $382.9M, as attendance fell 11.3% to 42.7M, offsetting a 1.2% increase in the average ticket price. AMC says that it raised prices for 2D films, but fewer people ended up paying premiums to see 3D or large-screen films. Concessions fell 2.1% to $167.9M, largely due to the attendance drop. While the company’s film exhibition costs fell 13.5% to about $191M, concession costs rose 2.6% to $23.2M. At the end of April, AMC borrowed $925M mostly to refinance existing debt.

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‘Skyfall’ Helps European Union Films Hit Highest Market Share In 12 Years

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Tuesday, 7 May 2013 15:51 UKTags: Skyfall, Taken 2, The Intouchables

A British secret agent, an unlikely pair of friends and a kidnapped ex-CIA operative helped boost admissions for European Union films across Europe by 12% in 2012. Despite a drop in overall attendance, market share for Euro films jumped to 33.6%, the highest level of the 2000s so far. The European Audiovisual Observatory said today that Skyfall, a majority UK co-production, was the biggest draw with 44.38M admissions across the Union. It was followed by two French films: The Intouchables at 24.07M and Taken 2 at 10.43M. Receipts hit a record high of 6.47B euros ($8.47B) reflecting hikes in ticket prices and the increase in 3D movies. Admissions for U.S. films were up slightly to 62.8% but were still far off the 68.4% achieved in 2010. The top three Hollywood performers were Ice Age: Continental Drift, The Dark Knight Rises and The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2. Read More »

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Cinemark Q1 Earnings Fall But Beat Forecasts With Growth In Latin America

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Tuesday May 7, 2013 @ 6:28am EDTTags: Cinemark

Add Cinemark to the list of exhibition chains licking their wounds from the weak Q1 box office. The company reports this morning that it generated net income of $33.1M, -22.9% vs the period last year, on revenues of $547.8M, -5.4%. The revenue figure was slightly short of the $550.4M that analysts anticipated. But earnings at 28 cents a share beat forecasts for 24 cents. Admissions revenues fell 6.4% to $349.4M as a 6.7% drop in worldwide attendance to 57.4M wiped out the 1 cent gain in the average ticket price to $6.09. And concession revenue fell 4.1% to $172.4M, even as average sales per patron rose 8 cents to $3. All of the fall-off in attendance took place at domestic theaters (-13% to 34.7M) while Cinemark’s international ones were up 4.8% to 22.8M. Read More »

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Carmike Records Q1 Loss Due To Acquisition And Lease Termination Charges

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Monday May 6, 2013 @ 4:19pm EDTTags: Carmike, Carmike Cinemas

All exhibition chains struggled with the weak box office in early 2012. But Carmike suffered from a triple whammy in Q1 as it recorded $12.3M in interest expenses — due in part to the additional leverage to finance its acquisition of Rave’s theaters at the end of 2012 — as well as about $3.1M in charges to cancel leases for underperforming theaters. The company ended up with a net loss of $5.8M, down from a $3.2M profit in the period a year ago, on revenues of $130.1M, +0.1%. The top line was right about where analysts expected. But the net loss of 33 cents a share contrasts with forecasts for a seven cent profit. Revenues from admissions fell 1.4% to $81.5M as the rise in the price of the average ticket — to $7.02 from $6.68 — was offset by the 4.6% drop in attendance to 11.6M. Even so, concessions revenues rose 2.7% to $48.6M, as the average concessions sales per patron rose 27 cents to $4.18. The company says that the increase reflects the success of its experiments and efforts to promote high-margin goodies. “Last year’s first quarter box office benefited from a strong and well-balanced film slate, creating a challenging year-over-year comparison for the industry,” CEO Dave Passman says. But Q2 “is off to a strong start,” he adds, and “we expect the positive momentum to continue throughout the summer as the upcoming release calendar features a … Read More »

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Studios Translate Local Language Movies Into Lucrative Global Business

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Sunday, 5 May 2013 22:47 UKTags: Big Deals Film, Fox International Productions, Universal International, Warner Bros Pictures

If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em, goes the old saying. While the studios continue trying to crack the nut of getting Hollywood films into China, many of the majors also have a wider global strategy that’s proving lucrative both there and elsewhere: Local-language production. Hollywood’s involvement in the area is not new. But, increasingly, movies that are co-produced or distributed by the majors in such places as China, India, Germany, Italy, Spain, Korea and Latin America are finding themselves reaping strong returns.

The markets “are huge,” especially where local box office rivals that of Hollywood pictures. Homegrown films in China, for example, generally snag about 50% of the annual market share and are currently widely outperforming Hollywood films – this week’s Iron Man 3 notwithstanding. In India, the indigenous share of a $2B market can be as much as 90%. There’s an argument to be made that Chinese or Indian films don’t cross cultural borders, but with those kinds of numbers, “Why would the film need to travel?” posits an exec.

Richard Fox, EVP International for Warner Bros., says the studio is looking to develop relationships to make Chinese-language films. “There are a lot of moving pieces in assessing which countries to focus on,” but, “if it doesn’t recoup in the country of origin, we don’t get involved,” he says. Warner recently bet well in Mexico where its comedy Nosotros Los Nobles smashed records with the second biggest opening ever for a non-animated local film.

Another studio exec says local language production “is all relatively opportunistic.” It can be a distraction to try and stay abreast of local material, but “paying attention to local markets, filmmakers and stories around the world gets you more educated in terms of worldwide taste and emerging filmmakers.” Plus, “the minute you have a hit, it’s ‘How much money are we making? Why don’t we up this business?’” Here’s a look at how the studios are speaking in various tongues: Read More »

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Disney, ‘Iron Man 3′ Dominate 2013 Golden Trailer Awards

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Sunday May 5, 2013 @ 1:55pm PDTTags: Disney, Golden Trailer Awards, Hit & Run, Spring Breakers

Golden Trailer Awards Winners 2013The annual marketing kudos went big for Disney pics Iron Man 3, Wreck-It-Ralph, Monsters University, Brave, and The Avengers at the Golden Trailer Awards Friday night. The GTAs didn’t just fete the best movie promos of the year. They also doled out Trashiest Trailer (to A24′s Spring Breakers) and gave indie comedy Hit & Run the Golden Fleece award, awarded to a trailer better than its actual movie. Here’s the full list of winners:
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Steven Soderbergh’s State Of Cinema Talk

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Tuesday April 30, 2013 @ 3:10am PDTTags: San Francisco International Film Festival, Steven Soderbergh

Here is the full transcript of director Steven Soderbergh‘s keynote at the 56th San Francisco International Film Festival delivered Saturday. At first he requested the festival ensure no still photographs, audio, or video of his talk at the Kabuki Theater. But instead it was tweeted, blogged, recorded, and put online. Soderbergh promised in advance to “drop some grenades” and he opined about studio executives, indie filmmaking, and cinema vs movies. He did not detail his own retirement:

A few months ago I was on this Jet Blue flight from New York to Burbank. And I like Jet Blue, not just because of the prices. They have this terminal at JFK that I think is really nice. I think it might be the nicest terminal in the country although if you want to see some good airports you’ve got to go to a major city in another part of the world like Europe or Asia. They’re amazing airports. They’re incredible and quiet. You’re not being assaulted by all this music. I don’t know when it was decided we all need a soundtrack everywhere we go. I was just in the bathroom upstairs and there was a soundtrack accompanying me at the urinal, I don’t understand. So I’m getting comfortable in my seat. I spent the extra $60 to get the extra leg room so I’m trying to get comfortable and we make altitude. And there’s a guy on the other side of the aisle in front of me and he pulls out his iPad to start watching stuff. I’m curious to see what he’s going to watch – he’s a white guy in his mid-30s. And I begin to realize what he’s done is he’s loaded in half a dozen action sort of extravaganzas and he’s watching each of the action sequences – he’s skipping over all the dialogue and the narrative. This guy’s flight is going to be five and a half hours of just mayhem porn.

I get this wave of – not panic, it’s not like my heart started fluttering – but I had this sense of, am I going insane? Or is the world going insane – or both? Now I start with the circular thinking again. Maybe it’s me. Maybe it’s generational and I’m getting old, I’m in the back nine professionally. And maybe my 22-year-old daughter doesn’t feel this way at all. I should ask her. But then I think, no: Something is going on – something that can be measured is happening, and there has to be. When people are more outraged by the ambiguous ending of The Sopranos than some young girl being stoned to death, then there’s something wrong. We have people walking around who think the government stages these terrorist attacks. And anybody with a brain bigger than a walnut knows that our government is not nearly competent enough to stage a terrorist attack and then keep it a secret because, as we know, in this day and age you cannot keep a secret.

So I think that life is sort of like a drumbeat. It has a rhythm and sometimes it’s fast and sometimes it’s slower, and maybe what’s happening is this drumbeat is just accelerating and it’s gotten to the point where I can’t hear between the beats anymore and it’s just a hum. Again, I thought maybe that’s my generation, every generation feels that way, maybe I should ask my daughter. But then I remember somebody did this experiment where if you’re in a car and you’re going more than 20 miles an hour it becomes impossible to distinguish individual features on a human being’s face. I thought that’s another good analogy for this sensation. It’s a very weird experiment for someone to come up with.

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Global Showbiz Briefs: Twitter Trouble In Cairo Over ‘Daily Show’ Link, WB’s Mexican Comedy Hit, Image Unit In China & More

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Friday, 5 April 2013 05:00 UKTags: Bassem Youssef, Nordisk Film, Nosotros Los Nobles, Pixomondo

U.S. Embassy In Cairo In Twitter Trouble Over ‘Daily Show’ Link
The U.S. Embassy in Cairo temporarily shut down its Twitter feed on Wednesday, deleting a missive it had sent linking to video of The Daily Show in which Jon Stewart defended Egyptian TV host Bassem Youssef. Youssef, aka “The Jon Stewart of the Arab World,” was called in for questioning by the public prosecutor over the weekend to face allegations of insulting Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi. The embassy tweeted a link to the video, but when Egyptian authorities said it was “inappropriate for a diplomatic mission to engage in such negative political propaganda,” the entire account was deleted then restored sans the offending link, The Associated Press reported. U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland scolded the embassy as well: “Embassies and consulates and their senior leadership manage the content that is on their feeds and they are expected to use good policy judgment in doing that. Earlier this week, Nuland said the warrant for Youssef’s arrest was “evidence of a disturbing trend of growing restrictions on the freedom of expression.” Egypt’s Freedom and Justice Party then condemned her “imprudent” remarks. Read More »

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Bravo Unveils Slate Of 17 New And 18 Returning Series, Announces Scripted & Unscripted Projects In Development

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Tuesday April 2, 2013 @ 9:31am PDTTags: Bravo, Rita
Nellie Andreeva

Bravo Media today unveiled what it says is its largest slate of original programming ever with 17 newly greenlighted and 18 returning unscripted series. That is a 15% increase over last year. Bravo also announced three new scripted and three unscripted projects in development. Bravo’s first scripted pilot, Rita, is now in production as the network is eying a launch of its first scripted series in the fourth quarter. (Bravo’s second scripted pilot, The Joneses, did not go to production.) Bravo logged its seventh consecutive year of ratings growth in 2012 and is currently running up vs. last year in total viewers and the 18-49 and 25-54 demographics. “Bravo’s ongoing investment in high-quality original content across every platform continues to drive our growth year-over-year,” said Frances Berwick, President of Bravo and Style Media. Bravo, which recently moved under the oversight of NBCU cable maven Bonnie Hammer, also is expanding its multi-screen initiatives and increasing the number of TV360 deals. The network’s slate introduced today indicates that creatively, Bravo is staying the course, at least for now. Here are the details on new and returning series and projects in development:

NEW SERIES GREENLIGHTS:

“Below Deck” – Summer 2013

Produced by 51 Minds with Mark Cronin and Courtland Cox as Executive Producers.

The upstairs and downstairs worlds collide when this young and single crew, known as “yachties,” live, love and work together onboard a privately owned extravagant yacht.  Working and tending to the ever-changing needs of their demanding charter guests is not always smooth sailing. Read More »

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Specialty B.O. Preview: ‘The Sapphires,’ ‘Gimme The Loot,’ ‘Hunky Dory,’ ‘Come Out And Play,’ ‘Starbuck,’ ‘New World’

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Thursday March 21, 2013 @ 11:02pm PDTTags: Come Out And Play, Gimme The Loot, Hunky Dory, My Brother The Devil, new world, Specialty Box Office Preview, Starbuck, The Sapphires

Brian Brooks is a Deadline contributor.

Only a handful of new specialty movies opened during the early part of 2013, but spring has brought an onslaught of indies and foreign titles. The Weinstein Company opens the Cannes debut The Sapphires this weekend, while two titles from last year’s SXSW, Hunky Dory starring Minnie Driver and Gimme The Loot from Sundance Selects, bow in select locations. Thriller Come Out And Play makes its way to theaters after a very unconventional production. Paladin’s My Brother The Devil enjoyed the support of Sundance but faced riots during its filming in London. Entertainment One brings a French-Canadian comedy that has already landed an English-language remake deal, and Well Go USA will launch New World, hoping once again to capitalize on past successes with Korean thrillers.

The Sapphires
Director: Wayne Blair
Writers: Tony Briggs, Keith Thompson
Cast: Chris O’Dowd, Deborah Mailman, Jessica Mauboy, Shari Sebbens, Miranda Tapsell
Distributor: The Weinstein Company

TWC picked up the biographical comedy/drama ahead of its Cannes Film Festival premiere in the Official Selection last year, picking up U.S. rights and other territories for low seven figures. “It’s a really, really strong film with great performances,” said TWC president of theatrical distribution & home entertainment Erik Lomis. “Chris O Dowd is terrific”, said Lomis. Set against a backdrop of racial strife in Australia in the late ’60s, the film centers on four Australian Aboriginal girls who form a group and head out to entertain U.S. troops in Vietnam, escaping the tensions and limitations of their rural community. “It plays well to an audience and hopefully will crack the formula,” said Lomis. “It’s not a four-quadrant movie, but it’s has appeal across the spectrum. It’s an audience pleaser and it has scored through the roof.”

TWC tested the feature in New York and in the Midwest where Lomis said audiences in both regions responded well. “The trick is getting them in,” he noted. “We’re hoping word-of-mouth will propel its theatrical run.” The Sapphires will have a traditional first weekend opening in New York and LA, playing at two locations in each city before expanding.
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Kids And Young Adults Drive Uptick In 2012 Movie Attendance: MPAA

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Thursday March 21, 2013 @ 4:15pm EDTTags: Box Office, MPAA

The MPAA‘s yearly report on theatrical box office trends, out today, is a little more buoyant than it’s been in recent years. It shows global box office rising 6.4% to $34.7B last year, with the U.S. and Canada + 5.9% to $10.8B. 3D movies accounted for $1.8B of the domestic sales, even with 2011. Just as important, it reports that total admissions increased 6.3% to 1.36B, reversing a two-year slide. Admissions per capita increased just slightly, to 4.1 per year from last year’s 3.9 — which is still far below a decade ago when ticket sales averaged 5.2 per person. About 68% of the population went to a theater at least once last year, stable with the last few years. The audience is becoming younger: The report shows that per capita attendance among kids 11 or younger increased to 3.3 (from 3.0) and among 18- to 24-year-olds increased to 7.8 (from 6.8). The numbers were down slightly for those over 50. Exhibitors may be most encouraged, though, to see an increase in the percent of the population that goes to the movies at least once a month: About 13% are classified as “frequent” moviegoers, up from 10% in 2011.

Related: China Outpaces Japan To Become World’s No. 2 Movie Market: MPAA

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Jesse Andrews Set To Script ‘Crazy U’ For Will Ferrell At New Line

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Thursday March 21, 2013 @ 11:06am PDTTags: Crazy U, Jesse Andrews, New Line, Will Ferrell
Mike Fleming

Jesse AndrewsEXCLUSIVE: New Line has set Jesse Andrews to adapt Crazy U: One Dad’s Crash Course In Getting His Kid Into College, an adaptation of the Andrew Ferguson book that is being fashioned as a star vehicle for Will Ferrell by producers Gary Sanchez and Kevin Misher. Andrews wrote the Black List script Me, Earl And The Dying Girl, which he adapted from his own novel. Dan Fogelman is producing that one Indian Paintbrush is financing, and Alfonso Gomez-Rejon is directing for a fall start.

Will FerrellMisher Films’ Kevin Misher will produce with Gary Sanchez’s Ferrell, Adam McKay and Jessica Elbaum. The book is about one father’s adventures trying to brave the cutthroat competition to get his son accepted into the perfect college. Obsessed with keeping his son from making that one wrong step that could dash the youth’s dreams, dad tries to get an audience with the most sought after and expensive private college consultant in the country, insinuates himself in helping his son past the SATs, and all the campus tours and stressful admissions interviews, all culminating in waiting for the fat envelope that will determine success or failure in getting into an elite school that will siphon off all dad’s savings.

Andrews is repped by WME and MXN.

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Carmike Q4 Revenues Beat Expectations As Admissions Top Industry Averages

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Thursday March 14, 2013 @ 4:15pm EDTTags: Carmike, Carmike Cinemas

Carmike CinemasThis is becoming a familiar theme in exhibition, although Carmike‘s Q4 numbers are complicated by its acquisition in November of 251 screens from Rave Reviews Cinemas as well as an $86.5M year-end tax benefit. With those factored in, Carmike had net income of $91.6M in Q4, up from $1.7M at the end of 2011, on revenues of $146.6M, +23.2%. The revenue number beats forecasts for $144.25M. The company reported EPS of $5.19; without one-time items, that comes to 43 cents vs an adjusted number for last year of 24 cents. Analysts expected the company to generate unadjusted EPS of 24 cents in Q4 vs last year’s 13 cents. Accounting complications aside, the basic numbers look solid: Admissions revenues rose 22.6% to $93.7M as the chain sold 13.2M tickets (+16.1%) at an average price of $7.10 a ticket (+5%). Concessions revenues were up 24.3% to $52.9M, with average sales per patron of $3.99. It was the 12th straight quarter of concessions growth. “The Company’s growing footprint expanded to approximately 2,500 screens as we took another step along our way to achieving Carmike’s next corporate milestone of 3,000 screens and 300 locations across ‘Hometown America’,” CEO David Passman says. “We will continue to actively target acquisitions and attractive build-to-suit opportunities.”

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Gloria Reuben, Enrico Colantoni & Marsha Mason To Co-Star In TNT’s Geena Davis Pilot

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Monday March 4, 2013 @ 11:00am PSTTags: Enrico Colantoni, Gloria Reuben, Marsha Mason, TNT
Nellie Andreeva

ER alumna Gloria Reuben and Marsha Mason are set to co-star opposite Geena Davis in TNT‘s untitled quirky bounty hunter drama pilot from Dean Devlin‘s Electric Entertainment, Ternion Productions and 3 Arts. I’ve learned that Flashpoint‘s Enrico Colantoni also has been tapped for a lead role in the project, penned by Scott Prendergast and Amy Berg. Inspired by the real-life story of bounty hunter Mackenzie Green, the drama stars Davis as Mackenzie “Mack” Green, an unconventional bail bondswoman and bounty hunter whose eccentric personality and unusual tactics give her an advantage in a tough and unpredictable business. Reuben will play Assistant D.A Kate Mickelson, a tenacious attorney with an honest and blunt relationship with Mack. Colantoni will play Wendell Hicks, Mack’s former accountant hired to run the financial desk at the bail bonds office. Mason plays Mack’s strong and independent mother Lloyd. (The character was written as male/female, with the decision to go with a mother vs. a father made during casting.) Devlin is set to direct the pilot; he and Berg will serve as showrunners and will executive produce with Prendergast, John Altschuler, Dave Krinsky, Tom Lassally and Michael Rotenberg. Davis serves as co-executive producer. Reuben, repped by  APA, Estelle Lasher at Principal Entertainment, recently co-starred in Lincoln and will next … Read More »

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Global Showbiz Briefs: Cinemark To Sell Mexico Screens, Ireland Boosts Film-TV Incentive & More

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Saturday February 16, 2013 @ 7:30pm PSTTags: Child's Pose, Cinemark, Global Showbiz Briefs, Ireland, Palace Films

Cinemark To Sell Theaters In Mexico
Texas-based Cinemark Holdings will sell its Mexico theaters to Grupo Cinemex and Cadena Mexicana de Exhibicion, the company announced. The Mexico circuit encompasses 290 screens in 31 theaters. Cinemark CEO Tim Warner said the sale would allow Cinemark to concentrate on its remaining Latin American theaters in Central and South America. Cinemark said its Mexico operation’s unaudited revenues for the 12 months ending September 30, 2012 were $73.7 million from 12.9 million admissions with a net income of $7.9 million. Sale of the Mexico theaters is subject to closing conditions and regulatory approval.

Ireland Reauthorizes Film & TV Incentive With 4% Increase
Ireland’s film and TV tax incentive has been signed into law and extended through to 2020. Value of the incentive commonly known as Section 481 will increase to 32% of qualifying expenditures from 28% from 2015. Minister for Arts Heritage and the Gaeltacht Jimmy Deenihan acknolwedged the new law during a visit to the set of Frank, which he described “an example of the excellent work the Irish film industry is producing.” Michael Fassbinder stars in Frank with Domhnall Gleeson and Maggie Gyllenhaal. The project centers on a band fronted by an eccentric leader Frank, played by Fassbender. Currently shooting in Dublin and Wicklow, it’s directed by Lenny Abrahamson and co-produced by Ireland’s Element Pictures and the UK’s Runaway Fridge Productions. Other big-budget projects to benefit from the incentive include The History Channel’s Vikings and BBC’s Ripper Street.
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Berlin: Studio-Produced Local-Language Comedies Tickle Germany’s Funny Bone; Fox Eyes Remake Of ‘The Break-Up Man’

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Thursday, 14 February 2013 11:21 UKTags: 20th Century Fox, Berlin Film Festival, Warner Bros Pictures

The Berlin Film Festival may be heavy on art-house fare this year, but over at the multiplex, two German-language comedies are burning up the box office. And, they’re both produced by the local arms of a pair of Hollywood majors in a reteam with multi-hyphenate German talent. I’ve learned that Fox is in development on a U.S. remake of its locally-made Schlussmacher (The Break-Up Man), starring and directed by Matthias Schweighöfer, which opened in Germany on January 10 and has taken about $21M to date. After five weeks of release, the film that was made for about $5M, was number three at the box office this past weekend, selling more than 2M tickets so far. It’s a rare film that crosses the 2M admissions threshold – when one does, it’s often a U.S. blockbuster. Schweighöfer also wrote and produced The Break-Up Man about a guy who specializes in helping couples separate. He previously had a role in Valkyrie and starred in Fox’s 2011 German hit What A Man, which he also wrote and directed.

Also making waves is Warner Bros.’ family comedy, Kokowääh 2, starring and directed by Til Schweiger. It was number one in its debut last weekend, selling about 600,000 tickets and landing it ahead of Django Unchained. The … Read More »

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BFI Reports Mixed UK Box Office & Production Statistics For 2012

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Thursday, 31 January 2013 14:46 UKTags: BFI, Skyfall, The Woman in Black

The British Film Institute has released box office and production stats for the UK in 2012 that offer up a mix of good, bad and unsurprising news. Box office was up just a touch after being dented by summer events that turned attention away from the multiplex. At the same time, investment from abroad dropped drastically after a record 2011 that included the shoots of The Dark Knight Rises, Dark Shadows, Skyfall, Prometheus, Snow White And The Huntsman, World War Z and Wrath Of The Titans.

The overall UK spend of features that started production in 2012 was £927M ($1.47B), a 29% drop on 2011’s record-breaking £1.29B. A total of 26 so-called inward investment movies, including Warner Bros.’ All You Need Is Kill, Red 2 for Lionsgate/Summit, Paramount’s Jack Ryan and Universal’s Fast And Furious 6 and Kick Ass 2, contributed £631M compared to the 34 films in 2011 which spent £1B. Simon Oakes, producer of 2012′s top indie, Woman In Black, thinks the trend is cyclical. “I don’t think this is a forever stat. We’ll probably see this year that it will come back up again. Look, if there was an intention not to spend money by the U.S. studios in the UK, Warner Bros. wouldn’t have spent money on Leavesden,” Oakes tells me about the £100M+ Warner invested on a London-adjacent studio facility after the end of the Harry Potter franchise. Read More »

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Exhibition Trends Are “Negative” But Chains Can Still Consolidate: Moody’s

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Tuesday January 29, 2013 @ 11:46am ESTTags: Movie Theaters, Theater Deals, Theaters

Theater owners and investors won’t find much encouraging news in the latest overview of the exhibition industry by Moody’s Investors Service. “Despite an increase of about 6% in US and Canadian movie theater admissions in 2012, the overall trend is negative,” the debt-rating firm’s Assistant VP Karen Berckmann says this morning. Last year’s increase shows that “appealing product will still draw people to theaters.” But attendance remains 15% lower than it was in 2002 when it came close to 1.6B. “Given alternatives for consumers’ leisure time — from video games to Netflix to web surfing — we do not expect a rebound in movie attendance,” she says. Exhibition chains also have discovered that if they continue to raise ticket prices then “they risk turning off customers and reducing attendance.” What to do? Theaters have fattened their bottom lines by improving concession offerings, selling more on-screen ads, showing alternative content (such as concerts and sports events) on slow nights, and generally cutting costs. The premium-priced tickets for 3D movies are probably a wash since they also come with higher licensing costs, but could provide some modest help as studios and theaters experiment with the format. Read More »

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