The tentpole drought, created by the pandemic’s post-production logjam, is officially over this weekend as Disney and Marvel Studios’ Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania makes its debut. The bow will open the floodgates for what is expected to be a consistent flow of event movies from this Friday until early September.
Early tracking four weeks ago indicated $120 million in U.S./Canada box office over the four-day Presidents Day holiday. Disney is hoping for at least $95M over three days and $105M-$110M over four at 4,300 theaters — either way a franchise-record start and a great 25% surge from the three-day opening of Ant-Man and the Wasp in 2018.
Tracking remains slightly unpredictable for big films even as the pandemic has eased, but with Jonathan Majors’ new mega-MCU villain Kang the Conqueror making his big-screen debut after his variant’s introduction in the Marvel/Disney+ series Loki, that could create a stampede of walk-up business this coming weekend. >>>China A Swing Market |
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Where's Ben's Film Been? - Coming into this week’s EFM, Ben Affleck action-thriller Hypnotic was barely on anyone’s radar. However, the movie was quietly one of the market’s X-factors. It’s rare, after all, for a big-budget, finished film with A-list talent and director to still be without a U.S. distributor. But the Robert Rodriguez-helmed project, which wrapped back in 2021, has had one of the more curious and challenging journeys for a big-budget independent film package in recent years. >>> Insurance Lawsuit
'Dream' Team For XFL Series - A 9-part docuseries directed by Peter Berg (of Friday Night Lights fame) will debut on ABC and ESPN2 in sync with this week's kickoff of the resurrected XFL. Player 54: Chasing the XFL Dream follows the moves of Dwayne Johnson and Dany Garcia, who led the acquisition of the pro football league out of bankruptcy after Covid interrupted its previous comeback attempt in 2020. >>> A Personal Story For Johnson
The Family Business - New Line has landed The Watchers, a project from Ishana Night Shyamalan which will mark her feature directorial debut and which she adapted from the A.M. Shine novel of the same name. The director's father, M. Night Shyamalan, and Ashwin Rajan will produce through Blinding Edge Pictures. Nimitt Mankad with Inimitable Pictures will also serve as a producer, and Jo Homewood will executive produce. >>> Her Credits
Non-Fiction Frisson - M&A in the non-fiction space is heating up as Boardwalk Pictures, the company behind long-running Netflix series Chef’s Table and Last Chance U, has struck a deal to sell a minority stake to investment firm Shamrock Capital. The deal is said to be in the nine-figure range. >>>Big-Ticket Deals
Remembering Bragman - Deadline's Michael Cieply writes that he will miss the recently passed crisis manager Howard Bragman "not because we were especially close, but because he had a gift for making every encounter kind of fun, and, often, more memorable than it was supposed to be." >>>Telltale Encounter
In Brief - The dramedy Wildflower with Kiernan Shipka, Jean Smart and Alexandra Daddario was acquired by Momentum Pictures...Monica Villarreal has joined Anonymous Content as a manager & producer...A series adaptation of Stone Cold Fox is in the works from Rachel Koller Croft, Julie Plec and Universal TV. |
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BY THE NUMBERS
92 million hours - Viewing total for the first week of Season 4, Part 1 of Netflix's 'You,' making the show the No. 1 title of the week (though far behind all-time draws like 'Bridgerton' and 'Wednesday') |
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More News 🏆 The TV Academy announced a new Emmy category and a jury prize for Emerging Media Programming. It has also revised the rules surrounding the submission of documentary programming. 👀 Rust, the indie Western on which cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was shot and killed by a prop gun fired by Alec Baldwin, is eyeing a spring date to resume production. Bianca Cline, whose recent credits include Marcel the Shell With Shoes On, has come aboard to replace Hutchins as cinematographer. ⚠️ Hong Kong regulators have ordered local free-to-air broadcasters to carry 30 minutes of national education and identity and National Security Law programming each week. Licensees must “broadcast no less than 30 minutes of programmes on national education, national identity and National Security Law per week,” the Communications Authority said. 🤝 Curtis ’50 Cent’ Jackson has signed a non-exclusive multi-project broadcast direct deal with Fox to develop scripted dramas, live-action comedies and animated series. 🚓 Police series On Patrol: Live will remain on the air through January after Reelz handed out a 90-episode renewal order. The show reached nearly 4M viewers each week across live+7 ratings. In Brief - Dungeons & Dragons directors John Francis Daley & Jonathan Goldstein’s GoldDay has inked a first look deal with Paramount Pictures... The Phantom Of The Opera is continuing its Broadway dominance with a $2.4M take at the box office this past week. |
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Hirings, Promotions & Exits
ITVS veteran Tamara Gould has been named Chief Content Officer for PBS SoCal, KCET and Link TV...Sony Pictures Television’s non-fiction group struck an overall deal with Unconventional Entertainment, the new label from former Lifetime exec Gena McCarthy...Longtime agent and casting director Marla Weber-Green has joined CESD as Director of the agency’s New York Animation Voice-Over Department. |
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Trending  Bruce Springsteen fans on the West Coast can rejoice after The Boss added 18 cities to the U.S. leg of his world tour, including L.A. and San Francisco.
🔻 Fox News and some if its top personalities — including Lou Dobbs and Maria Bartiromo — lost a legal challenge when a New York appellate court declined to toss out Smartmatic’s $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit against the network. |
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On the Radar
Wed - VES Awards, Roku earnings
Thu - Berlin Film Festival & EFM begin, Paramount Global earnings
Fri - AMC Networks earnings, Super Nintendo World opens at Universal Studios Hollywood
Sat - DGA Awards; Art Directors Guild Awards
Sun - BAFTA Film Awards; NBA All-Star Game
Mon - Presidents Day |
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My Funny Valentine - Director Todd Phillips unveiled the first look at Lady Gaga in character — she is reportedly playing Harley Quinn — opposite Joaquin Phoenix in Joker: Folie à Deux. "Happy Valentines Day," Phillips captioned the image on Instagram. |
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