WEEKEND AHEAD WON'T REWRITE PANDEMIC RECORD BOOKS, BUT MGM/UAR'S R RATED ACTION THRILLER "WRATH OF MAN" SHOULD OPEN TO MUCH BETTER THAN $1.8M FOR OPEN ROAD/BRIARCLIFF'S R RATED HORROR THRILLER "SEPARATION" LAST WEEKEND. EXHIBITORS EXPECT $6-8M FOR "WRATH" AT ABOUT 2,300 LOCATIONS. DIRECTED BY GUY RITCHIE ("THE GENTLEMEN"), IT STARS JASON STATHAM...
EXHIBS SEE STEADY STREAM OF R RATED FILMS AS KEY FACTOR IN SPRING BOXOFFICE RECOVERY SLOWING AFTER PG-13 "GODZILLA VS. KONG'S" SUCCESS. "WRATH" WILL BE FOURTH WIDE RELEASE R MOVIE IN LAST THREE WEEKS – FOLLOWING "MORTAL KOMBAT," "DEMON SLAYER" & "SEPARATION." R TITLES #5, #6 & #7 ALL OPEN 5/14 -- "THOSE WHO WISH ME DEAD," "SPIRAL" & "PROFILE." FIRST REAL FAMILY FILM ON DECK, UNIVERSAL/DREAMWORKS ANIMATION'S PG "SPIRIT UNTAMED," DOESN'T HIT THEATRES UNTIL 6/4...
NETFLIX'S R RATED ZOMBIE HORROR "ARMY OF THE DEAD" WILL INVADE THEATRES – ALREADY INCLUDING CINEMARK & MARCUS -- 5/14 FOR ONE-WEEK EXCLUSIVE THEATRICAL RUN BEFORE 5/21 STREAMING START. PER MARCUS CORPORATION CEO GREG MARCUS ON INVESTORS CALL: "WE ARE IN THE WORLD OF EXPERIMENTATION. OBVIOUSLY, IT'S A VERY SHORT WINDOW."...
DIRECTED BY ZACK SNYDER ("JUSTICE LEAGUE"), "DEAD" STARS DAVE BAUTISTA. FILM'S SHORT THEATRICAL WINDOW SHOULD BE FINE SINCE ZOMBIE TALE IS LIKELY TO HAVE VERY FRONT LOADED TICKET SALES – LIMITED AUDIENCE, BUT REALLY EAGER TO SEE IT...
"DEAD" DEAL COULD GIVE LIFE TO OTHER STREAMER/ EXHIBITOR MINI-WINDOW RELEASES BECAUSE IT'S WIN-WIN -- EXTRA TICKET SALES + CONCESSION BUSINESS FOR EXHIBS & VALUABLE MARKETING EXPOSURE FOR STREAMERS. EVEN ONE WEEK THEATRICAL RUN WILL HEIGHTEN AWARENESS OF STREAMING TITLES VIA ADVERTISING, PUBLICITY, REVIEWS & WORD OF MOUTH. "DEAD" WILL HAVE ENHANCED VALUE TO NETFLIX BECAUSE SUBSCRIBERS WILL ALREADY KNOW ABOUT IT...
AS EXPECTED -- DIDN'T TAKE LONG TO FILL 8/20 SLOT OPENED UP BY UNIVERSAL/AMBLIN'S TOM HANKS SCI-FI DRAMA "BIOS" EXITING FOR APPLE TV+ STREAMING LATER THIS YEAR (UNDER NEW TITLE "FINCH"). DISNEY STEPPED IN ALMOST IMMEDIATELY TO MOVE SEARCHLIGHT'S R RATED HORROR THRILLER "THE NIGHT HOUSE" FROM 7/16. IT'S GOOD FIT WITH: PARAMOUNT/NICKELODEON'S ANIMATED COMEDY ADVENTURE "PAW PATROL" & LIONSGATE/MILLENNIUM'S ACTION CRIME THRILLER "THE PROTEGE."...
NEW MARVEL STUDIOS SERIES "LOKI" WILL PREMIERE ON DISNEY+ 6/9 RATHER THAN 6/11. TOM HIDDLESTON PLAYS LOKI, BROTHER OF THOR, IN HIGH PROFILE SERIES SET POST-"AVENGERS: ENDGAME" EVENTS...
DISNEY+ ALSO JUST ADDED (5/4 PREMIERE) MUCH ANTICIPATED LUCASFILM SERIES "STAR WARS: THE BAD BATCH," REVOLVING AROUND GENETICALLY UNIQUE SQUAD OF ELITE & EXPERIMENTAL CLONES GOING BACK TO 2008 "STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS" ANIMATED TV SERIES...
