Industry News
by saidiontheside

saidi’s take – 1/14/2025

Hello everyone,

BOX OFFICE:  Of course, the first new #1 movie at the domestic weekend box office is a sequel.  “Den of Thieves 2” was #1 this past weekend with approx. $15 million.  Since its distributor – Lionsgate – didn’t have any #1 new releases last year, it’s the first Lionsgate release to open at #1 at the box office since “Hunger Games Songbirds and Snakes” in late 2023.  “Mufansa The Lion King” was #2 with approx. $14 million down about 40% from the previous week.  “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” was #3 with approx. $11 million, down about 47%.  “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” domestic total just passed $200 million this past weekend.

The total domestic box office for the weekend was approx. $78 million, down approx. 25% from last week and down about 20% from the 2nd weekend of 2024 which was approx. $97 million.

Movie theaters are already looking to next month for the first major blockbuster of the year.  “Captain America: Brave New World” opens Presidents Day weekend next month but it’s already predicted to make $86-95 million over the 4 day holiday opening weekend.

WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE: Internationally, “Mufasa The Lion King” was the leader with approx. $28 million in foreign box office.  The total box office for the movie is now approx. $524 million.  “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” also did well with approx. $20 million and a worldwide total of $384 million.  “Moana 2” is inching closer to $1 billion box office total.  It made about $11 million in foreign box office so it’s worldwide total is slightly under $990 million. 

CHANGES DUE TO L.A. FIRES:  More things were postponed…sometimes postponed AGAIN… due to the L.A. fires still burning in the Los Angeles area. 

  • The American Society of Cinematographers have postponed their nominations announcement again.  It was first scheduled for Friday Jan 10, then rescheduled for today (Jan 13).  The new rescheduled date is not announced yet.
  • The Writer Guild has also postponed their nomination announcements to a new date in the future.  The new date has not been set yet.
  • The Producers Guild postponed their nominations a 2nd time.  They were postponed until Sun Jan 12.  Now they said they’ll be announced “sometime next week” (not sure if that’s this week or next week since they announced it on Sunday).
  • The Academy Awards nominations were also postponed again to Thursday Jan 23.  The postponement led to the annual nominee’s luncheon getting cancelled.  Also, the “Scientific and Technical Awards” – Scheduled for Feb 18 – has been postponed to an unspecified date.

MOVIE RELEASE CHANGES: Universal switched a couple release dates for next year (2026).  “Shrek 5” is now scheduled for right before Christmas 2026.  “Minions 3” is now scheduled for the previous release date of “Shrek 5” – July 2026.

LITTLE BIT OF HUMOR:

One day you’re by the swimming pool….the next day it’s gone (but the house isn’t)….and a few weeks later you’ll probably be by your swimming pool again.