LonePirate

WOM is/is not helping the film so much as an absolute lack of competition. Only two films released during its first month will finish above $50M. That’s a pathetic lack of competition during the holidays so the main film is able to maintain screens and suck up all sorts of business as there are no other options.

So two films grossed north of $30M this weekend and another was easily above $10M as well during January. Seems like the holiday season has not ended quite yet.

Since January 1 falls on a Sunday, governments, schools and non-retail businesses are closed on Monday the 2nd before returning to normal on the 3rd. New Year's weekend is another long weekend.

Robbie delivers a good performance; but the film is still awful. I blame Chazelle for that, though since he wrote and directed that garbage.

I saw Babylon this evening and apart from the first scenes on the movie set and the final few minutes, the movie is awful. Despite being roughly the same length as A2, the film felt like it was four hours long whereas A2 felt like it was two hours.. At least two storylines needed to be cut in their entirety. There were two scenes early in the film that were so disgusting and added absolutely nothing to the narrative that someone at the studio should have dragged Chazelle to the editing room to make sure they were cut. Then there was the unmitigated disaster that was all of the Tobey stuff. The premise of the film could have resulted in a good movie but the final product here is definitely not that. Avoid this trainwreck if you can.

It wouldn’t be an Avatar release without a major winter storm impacting its box office. Look for numbers on Thursday- Saturday to be a bit depressed due to a massive cold and snow system moving into the Midwest and east coast.

There were about a dozen people at my 3:00 pm showing today but with school in session, that's not surprising. A hefty Saturday increase and strong holds are coming as this film will play very well to families and people with a lot of free time on their hands over the holidays. The movie is a visual masterpiece and earns its ticket price for that alone, even if the writing is cringey and predictable at times. That being said, those whales were all that was needed to enlist audience members in the fight alongside Jake.

A 20 screen Regal complex near me is showing it 37 times across 11 screens on Friday. Only 4 of the 37 showtimes are in 3D, oddly. Those 4 shows are selling better than the 2D showings, though. Plenty of seats are available all day but with school still in session, Friday will be lighter than Saturday which I expect will be very busy. The 3+ hour run time will deter some repeat viewings. Perhaps Cameron should have split this up into Part I and Part II and released the back half around Memorial Day.

The AMC Dolby about a mile from me is oddly not showing this in 3D unless there is some sort of mix-up on the AMC app. The next closest AMC Dolby is showing it in 3D but it is a bit of a drive. The last Thursday preview showing starts at 12:30am so it would be 4:00am before it ends given the previews and commercials beforehand. Night owls rejoice!

Evidently there is a critics screening in NYC on Tuesday for the film. Not sure what time but some reactions may leak. Apologies if this has already been posted.

With ERC saying Glass Onion grossed $13M over the five days for a PTA north of $20K and BPWF on pace tp be Disney's biggest hit of the year so far, the holiday weekend was not a total disaster; but it certainly was nothing to celebrate, either.

Unless there is a turn around in the next few months in the volume or quality of movies released, we’re going to see a contraction within the exhibition business. Theaters simply cannot operate if most screens are only a quarter full on a holiday weekend.

Are there any Glass Onion estimates for yesterday?

Caught a 3 PM showing of Glass Onion. About 25-30 people in attendance. I thought the first 30 minutes or so were unnecessarily pretentious and even tedious. However things rapidly improve for the next 90 or so minutes before a slight dip at the very end. Janelle Monae is easily the stand-out among the cast as she is terrific. Craig is fine again and the overall mystery was engaging with a rewatch likely to make it a little more enjoyable. Netflix is stupid to keep this in theaters for only a week even if cinemas are not their primary marketplace.

It's playing at the Regal nearest to me. It has sold a total of 7 tickets so far for Wednesday even though adult-oriented and awards films usually perform quite well there. The Fabelmans does not appear to be benefitting from that. Oddly, Glass Onion also seems to be underperforming at this same Regal with the Wednesday sales heavily concentrated on the first prime time showing with hardly any tickets sold for the two matinee showings.. Both movies are doing a little better on Thursday but not by much. At present, I wouldn't have any trouble buying 4 good seats together for either film for any of their showings.

In the context of today's marketplace, Ticket to Paradise may be considered a hit or a success; but we need to be real here. Five years ago, this film would have had little trouble clearing $150M DOM, maybe even $200M due to its star power and accessible subject matter. However, it's going to need Thanksgiving weekend help to outgross Morbius for crying out loud. That is pathetic and I say that as someone who enjoyed Ticket to Paradise. Adult appeal films, not just rom coms, are really struggling right now.

The under-reported box office story continues to be the struggles of adult appeal movies. BPWF PTA beat out The Fabelmans PTA by about $1K despite playing in over 4000 more theaters. We’re still a couple of weeks from critics groups lists and awards but I doubt those are going to make much of a difference. COVID and streaming continues to punish films aimed at adult audiences.

Bassett was very, very good in the film. She commanded the screen with every scene. Her performance alone is worth the ticket price.

There were only 15 or so people present for the 11:30 am showing I attended today. However, there are 39 showtimes today at this theater so it's not going to be difficult to find a ticket. Oddly, there was no teaser/trailer for The Little Mermaid before my showing. The movie itself is enjoyable but it's not anywhere close being a classic like the first one. I did appreciate how there is nary a male protagonist in the film apart from Winston Duke's character. Unfortunately that is the one element of the film which will likely reduce its ability to attract repeat viewers. It also lacks a cool factor which the first one had. The four female leads were all outstanding, though.

The Regal nearest to me has tonight’s mystery movie playing in the largest auditorium displacing Black Adam. Was there a consensus on what it is?

More often than not, the closer review embargoes are to the release date, the worse the reviews are. An embargo date of the Tuesday of release week suggests the film is not going to receive the raves the first BP film received. Critical reception could very well be mixed if not worse.

That TÁR expansion is relatively weak given its likely 60+% PTA drop this weekend. It’s not filling screens in its new locations. TTP will have a PTA of over $2K more despite playing in roughly 3,400 more theaters.

Caught a 12:15pm showing of Ticket to Paradise today and there was a surprising number of Boomers in attendance along with a smattering of Gen Xers. Maybe 25 total people present when I was expecting maybe 10 or so. While the movie is nowhere near as funny as Bros, the movie is sufficiently amusing and charming. Roberts and Clooney continue to share incredible on-screen chemistry which is pretty much why most people will go see it. If it can attract younger audiences, the movie could certainly exceed expectations as older adult audiences are a sure thing.

This is simply absurd. TGM at #10 now has 21 weekends in the domestic Top 10. The rest of the Top 10 (#1 - #9) has a total of 28 weeks combined.

I’m sure there is a holiday effect at play here but Smile’s second Sunday being higher than its second Friday is simply absurd. $100M is looking really good even with Halloween Ends opening this week.