Search Results for: “imax”

Hot Trailer: ‘Metallica: Through The Never’

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Wednesday May 22, 2013 @ 10:03pm PDTTags: Dane DeHaan, Metallica Through The Never

The first trailer has dropped for Nimród Antal’s 3D concert-suspense pic Metallica: Through The Never. It features band members Lars Ulrich, James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett and Robert Trujillo along with Chronicle‘s Dane DeHaan as a crew member whose life is turned on its head during a show. There are pretty cool visuals in this first look along with some serious heavy metal music. The pic rolls out for a one-week IMAX run in North America on September 27 and expands October 4. Check it out:

Related: Cannes: Exclusive Media Rocks With ‘Metallica: Through The Never’

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Regal Execs Say Their Ticket Prices Will Rise Nearly 4% This Year

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Wednesday May 22, 2013 @ 6:27pm EDTTags: Amy Miles, Big Deals Film, Regal Entertainment

CEO Amy Miles seems confident that consumers will continue to flock to theaters, even with the higher admission costs. “Sometimes we joke and say we are an industry that has been dying for the past 50 years,” she told investors today at Barclays Global Technology, Media and Telecommunications Conference. But “as long as we continue to provide that great, affordable out-of-home experience…people are going to continue to go to the movies.” What’s “affordable” is in the eye of the beholder: Regal CFO David Ownby told the group that his company’s ticket prices for 2D movies “will go up in that 3% to 4% range” that’s been the pattern over the last few years. He notes that for IMAX movies Regal adds as much as $6.50 to the price of the basic 2D ticket. The chain’s own RPX large-screen venues have as much as a $5.00 upcharge while regular 3D films cost about $3.50 more than conventional 2D. This year’s potential blockbusters should help the cause. Read More »

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‘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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IMAX Hires Roger Pollock For International Marketing Post

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Thursday May 16, 2013 @ 9:55am PDTTags: IMAX, Roger Pollock

LOS ANGELES – May 16, 2013 – IMAX Corporation (NYSE:IMAX; TSX:IMX) today announced the appointment of Roger Pollock to the newly created role of Head of International Film Marketing. In this role, which will be based at the Company’s Entertainment headquarters in Santa Monica, Pollock will be responsible for directing the international marketing strategy and execution for IMAX DMR releases. A highly experienced film industry executive, Pollock was most recently Executive Vice President, International Distribution and Operations for London-based Paramount Pictures International. Previously, he was Senior Vice President and head of EMEA for United International Pictures.

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Cannes: Focus Features Re-Ups James Schamus, Promotes Andrew Karpen To Co-CEO Post

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Wednesday May 15, 2013 @ 7:01am PDTTags: 50 Shades Of Grey, Andrew Karpen, Cannes Film Festival, Cannes Wrap-Up, Focus Features, James Schamus
Mike Fleming

BREAKING: Since forming 11 years ago, Focus Features has been a relative bastion of stability. That will remain so as CEO James Schamus has re-upped for a new term, and Andrew Karpen, president since 2006, has been promoted to co-CEO. Schamus will remain a creative catalyst for the company, while Karpen  oversees the global business strategy for the company and will continue to spearhead the company’s digital initiatives. Together, they run all aspects of the company, including acquisitions and worldwide production, marketing, and distribution. Karpen continues to report to Schamus, who hatched the label with David Linde in 2002. Schamus reports to Universal co-chairman Donna Langley.

These are stand-up guys who come to the Croisette with the hottest project in Hollywood, and one which they are not selling here, at least not yet. That’s 50 Shades Of Grey, the adaptation of the steamy novel that has sold 70 million copies worldwide, and which Langley won in a huge multi-million dollar bidding battle, and then placed it with taste-maker label Focus, to be produced by Dana Brunetti and Michael De Luca. That project is still forming and while there might be some hot and bothered whispering here at the Croisette (it’s unclear whether its partner, Universal, will let any territories go), the focus here for International head of Distribution and Sales Alison Thompson is on Mike Leigh’s new film, which stars Timothy Spall as the painter J.M.W. Turner; the Asif Kapadia-directed docu on Amy Winehouse; and new Focus titles that the Michael Cuesta-directed fact-based thriller Kill The Messenger with Jeremy Renner, and the Andrew MacDonald-directed undersea adventure film Black Sea with Jude Law. FFI will also world premiere Ruairi Robinson’s thriller The Last Days On Mars, starring Liev Schreiber, Olivia Williams, and Romola Garai in the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight section. Read More »

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UPDATE: Sony Says Showbiz Units Not For Sale, But Welcomes “Dialogue” With Third Point

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Tuesday May 14, 2013 @ 5:15pm EDTTags: Big Deals Film, Big Deals TV, CBS, Daniel Loeb, Sony, Third Point

2ND UPDATE, 2:15 PM: Sony doesn’t slam the door on Third Point‘s proposal for it to sell up to a 20% stake in its entertainment assets — but doesn’t encourage the idea either. Sony “welcomes investment in the company,” SVP Corporate Communications Shiro Kambe says. But he adds: “We are focused on creating shareholder value by executing on our plan to revitalize and grow the electronics business, while further strengthening the stable business foundations of the entertainment and financial service businesses. As President and CEO Kazuo Hirai has said repeatedly, the entertainment businesses are important contributors to Sony’s growth and are not for sale, and we look forward to continuing a constructive dialogue with our shareholders as we pursue our strategy.”

UPDATE, 10:28 AM: The CBS speculation has taken on new life following this morning’s news that hedge fund Third Point wants the electronics company to create a public stock for its entertainment assets. Third Point proposed that Sony keep at least an 80% stake in the studio and music properties. Still, the plan “will concentrate investor attention” on the businesses and “the synergies that potential acquirers such as CBS might eventually realize,” says Pivotal Research Group’s Brian Wieser — who likes the idea. Sony shares are +10.5% in mid-day trading and CBS is +2.6%. Late last year Sony firmly rejected a sale after CBS’ Les Moonves mused that he “would want to look at them” if the properties were for sale. Sony execs might start to think differently if they take the movie, TV, and music assets public. The stock would give them a clearer sense of how much the properties are worth and, therefore, how much they could collect from a buyer. And Wiser believes that CBS could show that it would do a better job than Sony — which he says “has never bridged a significant cultural gap nor overcome its hierarchical bureaucracy to work better with the U.S.-centered operations.” CBS will be flush with cash soon as it prepares to sell and restructure its billboard ad properties. Read More »

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Cannes: Exclusive Media Rocks With ‘Metallica: Through The Never’

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Tuesday, 14 May 2013 17:00 UKTags: Cannes Film Festival, Cannes Wrap-Up, Exclusive Media, Metallica Through The Never

Metallica: Through The Never was the first release set by Bob and Jeanne Berney when they rebooted Picturehouse in January. Exclusive Media has now boarded international sales on the film from Predators and Kontroll director Nimród Antal. The 3D concert/suspense pic features band members Lars Ulrich (here in Cannes this week), James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett and Robert Trujillo along with Chronicle‘s Dane DeHaan as a crew member whose life is turned on its head during a show. Charlotte Huggins produces. Metallica: Through The Never rolls out for a one-week IMAX run in North America on September 27 and expands October 4.

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Hot Trailer: Sony’s 3D War Drama ‘Stalingrad’

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Monday May 13, 2013 @ 3:08am PDTTags: IMAX, Sony Pictures Releasing International, Stalingrad

Sony Pictures Releasing International will distribute Stalingrad in Russia, with a date to be set. The first Russian-made feature to go out in IMAX 3D is an epic love story set during the devastating WWII battle for Stalingrad that lasted more than six months and ended with the German army surrendering in 1943. Machete Kills‘ Alexander Rodnyansky produces with Sergey Melkumov for Non-Stop Production and Dmitry Rudovsky for Art Pictures. Inhabited Island helmer Fedor Bondarchuk directs from a script by Iliya Tilkin and Sergey Snezhkin. Here’s the trailer:

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Hot Trailer: Sandra Bullock & George Clooney’s ‘Gravity’

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Thursday May 9, 2013 @ 5:25pm PDTTags: George Clooney, Gravity, Sandra Bullock, Warner Bros

Warner Bros gave exhibitors a sneak peek at Gravity at CinemaCon but this is the first trailer for the space pic starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney in the two-hander about astronauts stranded in space after their space shuttle gets demolished during a spacewalk. The Alfonso Cuaron-directed movie will be released wide October 4 in 3D and IMAX after the studio pushed it back from its original November 2012 spot.

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Global Showbiz Briefs: India Censor Mulls Rules Changes, Jean Vigo Prizes Handed Out, Chile Tries Platform Diving

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Wednesday, 8 May 2013 05:00 UKTags: France, Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne

Indian Censor Eyes Relaxing Regs
Several movie theaters in northern India reportedly cancelled screenings of action crime drama Shootout At Wadala this week after a religious group objected to what it said was offensive dialogue. The film features John Abraham and 24’s Anil Kapoor and is based on the true story of the first so-called extrajudicial killing by the Mumbai police in 1982. News of the protest comes as India’s censor board is said to be considering a lighter touch when it comes to rubber-stamping films. The board has been known to demand cuts to Indian films for long kissing scenes, nudity, violence and scenes of rebellion against the government. But R. Singh, who oversees the issuance of certificates to Indian movies, recently told AFP: “The rules are old. We have to write them with a modern and honest outlook. The Indian value system has changed hence censor rules must change.” Last month, the Cut-Uncut Festival in New Delhi celebrated scenes from Bollywood movies that had previously been deemed too racy for Indian viewers. It was an attempt by the ministry of information and broadcasting to bolster a new, more open-minded approach to film. Singh added, “This whole business of brutally chopping scenes or forcing the filmmakers to alter the climax will have to end.”

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‘Star Trek Into Darkness’ Bow Moved Up

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Tuesday May 7, 2013 @ 9:08am PDTTags: IMAX, Paramount Pictures, Star Trek Into Darkness

Paramount Pictures just announced it is shifting the official wide-release date of JJ Abrams’ sequel Star Trek Into Darkness from Friday, May 17 to Thursday, May 16 noting that sellouts are being reported for IMAX’s sneak-peek 8 PM shows Wednesday. IMAX screenings offering up about 30 minutes of footage shot with IMAX cameras are sold out in LA, NY, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Seattle, Austin, San Francisco, Houston, San Diego and Minneapolis. The release date of the pic, from Paramount and Skydance, already had gotten a bump in the UK, where last month it was shifted up a week to May 9 in IMAX 3D, 3D and 2D cinemas.

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Big Media Pay: Who Were 2012′s Highest Paid CEOs?

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Monday May 6, 2013 @ 5:22pm EDTTags: Executive Compensation, Greg Maffei, Les Moonves, Marissa Mayer

Highest Paid CEOs 2012No surprise about who topped the list of 2012′s highest paid CEOs at the media companies whose compensation practices I track most closely. (See here for an explanation). CBS’ Les Moonves returns to the head of the pack with $62.2M, even though his package was 11.1% smaller than it was in 2011. That was an anomaly: The top 20 collectively made $542.7M, up from $416.6M in 2011, according to company proxy statements filed at the SEC. It took $25.9M to crack the Top 10 — last year Time Warner Cable’s Glenn Britt made it with $16.4M. The most notable change in this year’s list vs 2011 is the jump by Liberty Media’s Greg Maffei to No. 2 from No. 28 as his company adjusted stock options just in case the feds change the corporate deduction this year for performance-based compensation.

Related: Big Media Moguls With Out-Of-Whack Compensation

Yahoo’s Marissa Mayer also joins the top 10 following her move there from Google. Her appearance also highlights a quirk in this year’s list which has more CEOs than companies: Yahoo had three CEOs last year (Mayer is still there) and there were two apiece at Sirius XM (James Meyer replaced Mel Karmazin) and Cinemark (Tim Warner is now in charge). Also, remember that this list just includes corporate CEOs, not division chiefs or board chairs. I’ll be back soon with a list of the highest-paid media execs. The numbers on the right are the amount in millions of dollars for the total compensation as reported by each company.

Here’s our list of 2012′s highest-paid media CEOs: 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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‘Iron Man 3′ Breaks Records: $175.3M Sets 2nd Biggest Domestic Opening Weekend; Worldwide Totals Franchise Best $680.1M

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Sunday May 5, 2013 @ 8:15am PDTTags: Box Office, Disney, Iron Man 3, Marvel Studios

SUNDAY AM, 9TH UPDATE:  Walt Disney Company Chairman/CEO Bob Iger has his Wall Street earnings call on Tuesday and more good news to report with the stock already at an all-time high. Disney/Marvel’s 3D Iron Man 3 kicked off the North American summer movie season in 4,253 theaters with $68.3M Friday and a very good hold for $62.2M Saturday. With an estimated $44.7M Sunday, that $175.3M domestic weekend puts it on a path to the #2 biggest Friday-Saturday-Sunday opening ever (previously occupied by Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2 with $169.2M). But it’s behind Marvel’s #1 The Avengers and its $207.4M. Audiences gave Iron Man 3 a coveted ’A’ CinemaScore so word of mouth should stay strong. Exit polling showed that audiences mostly saw the film in 2D (55%) vs 3D (45%, including 9% IMAX), were overwhelmingly male (61%) and couples (52% vs  families 27% and teens 21%). The age breakdown was 2-11 (9%), 12-17 (13%), 18-25 (23%) 26-34 (26%), 35-49 (20%), 50+ (9%).

Pic’s international cume to date is $504.8M through Sunday for an updated global box office of $680.1M. Iron Man 3 has now passed the franchise total worldwide for Iron Man ($585M) and Iron Man 2 ($624M). Internationally, the 12-day run of the Robert Downey Jr-starring/Shane Black-directed actioner has passed the total international box office of Captain America ($192M), Iron Man ($267M), Thor ($268M) and Iron Man 2 ($312M). Overseas it played in 54 territories by the end of the weekend after beginning its international rollout on April 24, debuting #1 in every territory and setting the biggest opening weekend of all time in Latin America and Asia Pacific and the biggest opening of 2013 in Europe. This weekend’s box office take from Iron Man 3 means that Disney has now crossed the $1B box office threshold internationally and represents the fastest time that Disney has ever achieved this. Here are the new Iron Man 3 cumulative results after the weekend: China $63.5M, Korea $42.6M, United Kingdom $38.3M, Mexico $35.8M, Brazil $30.1M, Australia $28.4M, France $27.8M,  Russia $21.7M, Italy $17.4M, Japan $16.4M, Taiwan $15.1M,   Philippines $12.3M, Indonesia $10.6M, Hong Kong $10.5M, Malaysia $10.5M, Germany $10.5M, other markets $113.8M. Read More »

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Don’t Like The “Found Footage” Look? Tough, Says Paramount’s Adam Goodman

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Monday April 29, 2013 @ 12:31pm PDTTags: Adam Goodman, Digital Hollywood

David Bloom is a contributor to Deadline

The video look of fast-twitch films such as Cloverfield the Paranormal Activity franchise and Rachel Getting Married will be increasingly common in the future because filmmakers aren’t bothered by it and audiences get a visual jolt. “I believe it’s something that’s here to stay”, said Adam Goodman, president of the Paramount Film Group, during the Digital Hollywood conference today in Marina del Rey. “It’s a terrific medium for filmmakers. They don’t see the medium as a barrier to entry. They don’t care about shaky cameras. For whatever reason, it just makes for a much more visceral experience for the audience”. But if shaky videocam movies are too much for your tender orbs, you’re going to hate the widespread adoption of Google Glass, the eyeglass-like devices Goodman predicted will be used to capture first-person footage of skydiving or other action sequences. “I want to see the first Google Glass movie”, he said. Read More »

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UPDATE: Regal And AMC End Disney Renegotiation Dispute: Advance Ticket Sales Begin For ‘Iron Man 3′

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Thursday April 25, 2013 @ 2:42pm PDTTags: AMC Entertainment, Disney, Iron Man 3, Marvel Studios

2ND UPDATE 2:30 PM: The largest domestic movie theater chain Regal Entertainment says this post is going up on its Facebook page: “Regal has Iron Man 3! After some extensive talks with Disney, we’re glad to say that Tony Stark will definitely be in our theatres for Iron Man 3. We’ve got Fandango working overtime right now to place tickets back on sale at all Regal Cinemas, United Artists and Edwards Theatres.”

UPDATE 12:37 PM: AMC just released this pro forma statement. (Don’t you love how everybody is friends again?): “Iron Man 3 tickets are now on sale and we’re excited to welcome guests to the 9 PM debut and Marvel’s Iron Man Marathon at AMC, both on May 2. We thank our partners at Disney for working with us to achieve economical terms so we can present our guests with one of the biggest blockbusters of 2013 and solidly kick off the summer movie season.”

BREAKING… As I first broke the news on April 16th, AMC was one of the biggest theater chains refusing to put Iron Man 3 tickets on advance sale even though this summer’s hotly anticipated movie opens on May 3rd. That’s because Disney decided to leverage the film in order to renegotiate the studio’s future terms with the chains beginning with this humongous Marvel blockbuster. At one point AMC, Regal, and Carmike were among those holding out. On … Read More »

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IMAX Q1 Earnings Miss Forecasts Despite Strong Box Office Results

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Thursday April 25, 2013 @ 8:40am EDTTags: IMAX, Oz: The Great and Powerful

The main culprit appears to be a drop in joint revenue sharing deals as IMAX installed four new theaters under these arrangements in Q1 vs eight in the same period last year. All told, the company reported net income of $2.9M, +14%, on revenues of $49.9M, -10.3%. Analysts expected revenues of $54.2M. And earnings per share, at 8 cents not including stock-based compensation and a one-time tax benefit, were a penny shy of the Street’s consensus forecast. Helped by films including Oz The Great And Powerful, the gross box office for IMAX’s digitally remastered films was $128.7M, +5.8%, generating Q1 revenues of $14.4M, +4.3%. The company has announced 28 titles that it will run this year but says it “remains in discussions with virtually every major studio” for additional releases with a plan to match last year’s 35. Summer films including Iron Man 3, Star Trek Into Darkness, and Man Of Steel provide “a strong foundation for our full portfolio of films this year,” CEO Rich Gelfond says. The company had 738 theaters at the end of March, including 606 in commercial multiplexes, with plans to build or upgrade 283. The joint revenue sharing deals generated $9.4M in revenue in Q1, -19.7%. By targeting “underpenetrated international regions,” Gelfond says that IMAX will continue to promote itself as “a unique player in the global entertainment industry.”

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Warner Bros Dates Adam Sandler-Drew Barrymore Pic ‘Blended’, Shifts ‘Transcendence’

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Wednesday April 24, 2013 @ 2:59pm PDTTags: Blended, Transcendence, Warner Bros

Blended is the next starring vehicle from Adam Sandler, who is reuniting with Drew Barrymore for the romantic comedy about blended families. Warner Bros said today that the pic has landed a May 23, 2014, release date. Sandler’s Happy Madison and Mike Karz’s Gulfstream Pictures will produce the film, which had been at the studio since 2007 via an original script from Ivan Menchell and Clare Sera. Frank Coraci, who helmed past Sandler-Barrymore pic The Wedding Singer as well as Sandler vehicles Click and The Waterboy, is aboard to direct. The logline: After a disastrous blind date, Jim and Lauren — each with their kids from a previous marriage — find themselves stuck together in a resort for families. Despite everything they can do to resist, the attraction grows between the two, and their kids benefit from the burgeoning relationship.

Meanwhile, the studio shifted its release date for Wally Pfister’s directorial debut Transcendence, the pic that stars Johnny Depp, Paul Bettany, Rebecca Hall, Kate Mara and Morgan Freeman. It moves up a week from its original April 25, 2014, slot to April 18 and also will be shown in IMAX venues.

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‘Metallica Through The Never’ Pic Opens September 27 With IMAX Run

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Wednesday April 24, 2013 @ 9:27am PDTTags: IMAX, Metallica Through The Never, Picturehouse

Bob Berney’s rebooted Picturehouse has set the release pattern for its first distribution effort, the 3D feature starring Metallica’s band members and Chronicle‘s Dane DeHaan. Metallica Through The Never is written and directed by Nimrod Antal and marries groundbreaking concert footage and editing techniques with a feature film narrative, in which a band crew member (DeHaan) is sent out on a mission during Metallica’s roaring show. While out, he unexpectedly has his life turned completely upside down. Charlotte Huggins (Journey To The Center Of The Earth) produced. The pic will get an exclusive one-week IMAX run in North America beginning September 27 before expanding into more theaters October 4.

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