Hello everyone,
BOX OFFICE: The new movie “Five Nights at Freddys” STUNNED EVERYONE at the domestic box office. Although it opened in movie theaters AND on the Peacock streaming site, it made $80 million domestic. It knocked the Taylor Swift movie (that everyone thought would dominate Oct) down to #2 (it only made $15 million domestically on its 3rd weekend). It almost tied for the highest box office for a movie in theaters and streaming on the same day (“Black Widow” made $80.3 million).
Also, if you look at the per screen average Universal won AGAIN with the Focus Feature release “The Holdover” which was only playing in 6 theaters this past weekend but made an average of $33,000 a screen. “Five Nights at Freddys” made an average of about $21,000 a screen on approx. 3675 screens.
WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE: “Five Nights at Freddys” also stunned the worldwide box office making MORE that “Taylor Swift Eras Tour” made 3 weekends ago. It made approx. $50 million internationally for a $132 million worldwide opening (“Taylor Swift Eras Tour” only made $30 million internationally and $123.5 million worldwide opening weekend). “Taylor Swift Eras Tour” did pass $200 million worldwide mostly thanks to the domestic box office. Internationally, after 1 weekend “Five Nights at Freddy’s” ALMOST made as much as “Taylor Swift Eras Tour” has made in 3 weeks ($53 million total).
STRIKE NEWS: Although they had meetings on Sat and Sun during this past weekend (just like they did with the WGA at the end of Sept), the actors strike isn’t concluded yet. They’re scheduled to meet again tomorrow (Oct 31) so, unlike the writers strike in Sept, it doesn’t look like the strike will be over by the end of Oct (since it’s tomorrow).
Meanwhile, the ongoing strike has delayed more movie releases….
Disney has moved the next Pixar movie “Elio” previously scheduled for Mar 2024 to June 2025, the live action Snow White movie moves from Mar 2023 to Mar 2024, Fox Searchlight has removed the award hopeful “Magazine Dreams” from it’s Dec 8 release date (that is also probably due the trial for Jonathan Majors which starts on Nov 29 – he is one of the stars of the movie). Finally, an untitled Disney movie that was scheduled for Feb 2024 has also been removed (although there is an “untitled” Disney movie scheduled for April 2024)
Warner Bros has pushed back the upcoming “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” but only 2 days – from Wed Dec 20 to Fri Dec 22. They also postponed the movie starring Robert De Niro formerly titled “Wise Guys” and now titled “Alto Knights” from Feb 2024 to Nov 2024.
OTHER NEWS:
Apparently, some movie theaters decided that “Killers of the Flower Moon” was too long so they added their own intermission to the movie. Paramount and Apple quickly put a stop to that. They told the movie theaters that “they comprise a violation of the domestic licensing agreement for the project”. Editor Thelma Schoonmaker – the OSCAR WINNER who has edited everything for Martin Scorsese since the 1960s – was personally offended that some movie theaters changed the movie.
According to a couple news sites online, the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood where the Academy Award ceremony is held is up for sale. The company that bought the Hollywood and Highland project – and renamed it “Ovation” – in 2019 DIDN’T buy the Dolby Theater although the west side of the complex is part of the entrance to the theater. They even have the names for all the movies that have won the Academy Award for best picture listed on columns in the complex.
LITTLE BIT OF HUMOR:
Don’t worry! There’s a road that goes right by the front door of the house. The last time I was on the Universal Studios Hollywood tour (which was several years ago), the tram goes by the Bates Motel and then curves around and goes right by the front of the house (I’m not sure if they still do that but I’m guessing the road is still there). So – thankfully – there’s no need to go up all the steps.
LOS ANGELES FILM REVIEW 