Old Spice

Ooooof.

Hopefully when the social reactions start coming in tomorrow afternoon the conversation will shift to the film's merits and away from all the BTS stuff. I can't imagine WB/NL would put it under the microscope like this if it didn't have the goods, but we'll see.

They also have Minions and Pets down around 33% on Friday week over week, but Minions up 32% FSS vs Pets being flat. I'm not buying that at all based on what I'm seeing out here.

Considering the past 12 mos for WB, whatever their PR team is getting paid, it's not enough.

National Cinema Day report from the Salt Lake Valley, Cinemark Sugarhouse and Cinemark West Jordan 24, 11:00 AM. Total Saturday presales vs. Friday presales at 8:30 AM. (1) Super Pets 967 (+959) (2) Top Gun 540 (+524) (3) Minions 469 (+469) (4) Bullet Train 415 (+405) (5) No Way Home 377 (+322) (6) Thor 352 (+350) (7) Invitation 323 (+311) (8) Crawdads 238 (+220) (9) Beast 217 (+217) Crazy bumps from yesterday, gonna be fascinating to see how this translates into $$$. P.S. I did these counts through the Fandango app because the Cinemark site was down when I got home. Now I see that they're up again and have an update telling you how long your wait in line will be. Can't remember one of those messages since The Force Awakens. They didn't see the hurricane that was coming!

When I saw Eternal Sunshine in the theater years ago, people who'd been expecting another Ace Ventura turn from Jim Carrey started to head for the exits about 40 minutes in, and all told probably two dozen- over half the crowd- just got up and left. I'd never experienced that at a movie before. It remains in my all-time Top 5.

Yikes, that Jaws % sold number. Pets, Thor, and Minions could have made good use of that space. Similar situation here in Salt Lake, though Pets has benefitted from a lot of screen additions over the past 48 hours. The number I will be reporting in about 90 minutes is pretty bonkers.

Honk for Jesus, Save your Money.

Good Lord, that's a recipe for disaster. I look at the seating charts for tomorrow and this reminds me more of Christmas than Labor Day!

Absolutely. Super Pets had 8 tix sold for today at the biggest Cinemark in the Salt Lake Valley as of 8:30 this morning, but is over 500 in presales for tomorrow. Minions and Thor had a combined total of 2, but together are over 400 for tomorrow. I'm pretty confident that after this weekend National Cinema Day is going to be a regular thing. Great for families and great for the theaters!

New openers here, even Spidey, look pretty tepid on Friday, and Honk needs an outright miracle, but I think Cinema Day itself is what makes this the most fascinating weekend we've had in a long time. I will be posting an update Saturday morning on how all the newbies and holdovers are shaping up for that day.

Salt Lake Valley Update for Cinema Day, Cinemark 24 @ Jordan's Landing, which I believe is the largest Cinemark in the state. Total tix sold as of Wednesday, 2:30 PM. (1) Super Pets 414 (2) Minions 233 (3) Top Gun 203 (4) Bullet Train 131 (5) No Way Home 110 (6) The Initiation 96 (7) Jaws 82 (8) Beast 57 Honk for Jesus is living up to its 4.7 Interest Score with 9 tickets sold currently.

Well, one place WB could go is to fully embrace the rich mythology of Superman. Even after all these films, which have been for the most part, Superman-downsized, we've still never gotten a look at the splendors of Krypton- the Jewel Mountains, the Scarlet Jungle, Kryptonopolis itself, etc- I would love to see some of that in told in flashback. Or how about the Bottle City of Kandor? The wonders of the Fortress of Solitude? Obviously, there are scores more villains to consider- Brainiac, of course, but how about The Parasite? Metallo? The legions of Kryptonian baddies like Jax-Ur still trapped in the Phantom Zone? And yes, the Silver-Age lover in me I wants some Mr. Mxyzptlk. But if there's one thing I DON'T want, it's dark, edgy, conflicted Superman. That's not the character. Give us something to aspire to, even if it seems anachronistic. God knows the world could use some more light right now. Directors: Kosinski, McQuarrie, Vaughn, Bird- I'd be thrilled with any of these guys.

As of today, a number of Cinemarks in the Salt Lake Valley are cutting their showtimes by 50-60% on the weekdays- just two screenings per film, late afternoon and early evening. Weekend is unaffected.

You obviously have a deep compassion for the artists who made these films, @Gokira2012, and that's great, but I don't think one day out of 365 is going to break anyone, and if it helps to reintroduce some people to theatergoing, or to catch a film they might have loved but wouldn't have seen at the regular price, well, then everyone- artists, exhibitors, studios, and the audience- wins, right?

Cinema Day is definitely having an early impact on sales here in the Salt Lake Valley. Among holdovers, Top Gun and Super Pets are showing the biggest increases, followed by Elvis, Minions, and Bullet Train. Not seeing any bumps yet in Dragon, Three Thousand, or Beast. NWH only has three Saturday showings at the theaters I checked, but they are selling briskly.

James Bond Homecoming. If Benedict Cumberbatch was closer to 40 than 50, he would be an intriguing candidate.

I'm surprised the awareness for both Don't Worry and Bros is so low this close to their release dates. I feel like I've gotten those trailers with almost every movie I've seen recently.

Bravo, Eric! 👏 Fantastic work. Saving this for future reference.

Idris not having a great end of August.

I wouldn't exactly call Jayne Mansfield a "star" (can anybody name a movie she was in without looking it up?), but she definitely brought a lot of cleavage to the table.

I liked Three Thousand a lot. Gets kind of meandery in the third act, but there's a strange beauty to it that overcomes a lot of the narrative deficiencies. Unfortunately, I comprised 1/3 of the audience at the first screening, so I doubt it's long for theaters.

My guess is $78-82, maybe could sneak into the mid 80's if the digital release doesn't hurt it too badly.

Back to back weekend openers for Idris with Beast and Three Thousand and so far they have sold a total of 3 tickets between them at my theater. Dragon is looking pretty decent currently with 57 tix sold for tomorrow night.

Same here. This plays out one of two ways: (1) Miller gets their shit together and the promotion for the film becomes one of repentance and redemption, which will be the first time that the vast majority of filmgoers even hear about all the drama, or (2) they don't, and the focus switches to Keaton, Affleck, and Sasha Calle. Either way, if it's as good a film as rumored, it will be successful, especially overseas where I expect it to easily blow past $350M. (Domestically, I'm expecting $200M+.)