Industry News
by saidiontheside

saidi’s take – 1/28/2026

Hello everyone,

BOX OFFICE: Due to the severe winter storms affecting over half of the country making over 400 movie theaters close, this past weekend was one of the lowest since the pandemic closed most movie theaters.  No movie made more than $11 million.  #1 was “Mercy” the new MGM/Amazon movie which made $10.8 million.  #2 was “Avatar Fire and Ash” which made $6.4 million.  #3 was “Zootopia 2” with $5.3 million.  “Zootopia 2” is still going strong on its 9th weekend in movie theaters.  Its total domestic box office is just slipped past $400 million.

Total domestic box office was $54.517 million.  A few weeks ago, ONE MOVIE made that much over a weekend.

WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE: This last weekend, “Avatar Fire and Ash” passed $1 BILLION for the total foreign box office, but with its $377 million domestic total it’s still a far away from reaching $2 billion.  “Zootopia 2” is approaching $1.75 billion.  The new movie “Mercy” made a worldwide total of $22 million.

OTHER NEWS:

Sony – the only major studio without a streaming channel – just signed a $7 billion deal with Netflix.  If you want to watch a Sony movie on a streaming service that’s where you should look.

The Academy Awards nominations were announced last week.  “Wicked” was completely shut out and “Avatar: Fire and Ash” only received a couple technical nominations (the previous 2 movies had best picture nominations but didn’t win).  “Sinners” was the big winner with a record breaking 16 nominations.  Except for Lead Actress, “Sinners” got a nomination in EVERY CATEGORY (not including documentary/animated/short/foreign film nominations where it wasn’t eligible).

The top nominations:

Best Picture

  • Bugonia (Focus Features)
  • F1 (Apple)
  • Frankenstein (Netflix)
  • Hamnet (Focus Features)
  • Marty Supreme (A24)
  • One Battle After Another (Warner Bros.)
  • The Secret Agent (Neon)
  • Sentimental Value (Neon)
  • Sinners (Warner Bros.)
  • Train Dreams (Netflix)

Actress In A Leading Role

  • Jessie Buckley (Hamnet)
  • Rose Byrne (If I Had Legs I’d Kick You)
  • Kate Hudson (Song Sung Blue)
  • Renate Reinsve (Sentimental Value)
  • Emma Stone (Bugonia)

Actor In A Leading Role

  • Timothée Chalamet (Marty Supreme)
  • Leonardo DiCaprio (One Battle After Another)
  • Ethan Hawke (Blue Moon)
  • Michael B. Jordan (Sinners)
  • Wagner Moura (The Secret Agent)

Actress In A Supporting Role

  • Elle Fanning (Sentimental Value)
  • Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas (Sentimental Value)
  • Amy Madigan (Weapons)
  • Wunmi Mosaku (Sinners)
  • Teyana Taylor (One Battle After Another)

Actor In A Supporting Role

  • Benicio Del Toro (One Battle After Another)
  • Jacob Elordi (Frankenstein)
  • Delroy Lindo (Sinners)
  • Sean Penn (One Battle After Another)
  • Stellan Skarsgård (Sentimental Value)

Directing

  • Chloé Zhao (Hamnet)
  • Josh Safdie (Marty Supreme)
  • Paul Thomas Anderson (One Battle After Another)
  • Joachim Trier (Sentimental Value)
  • Ryan Coogler (Sinners)


Speaking of the Academy Awards, it looks like this year it’s LEGAL to “predict” and “invest” in the Oscar winners (just don’t call it gambling).  If you go to the Kalshi website there are “prediction investments” for all the categories.  Right now, “One Battle After Another” has a 67% chance of winning best picture and 86% chance of winning best director.  Timothee Chalamet has a 74% chance of winning best actor.  Jessie Buckley has a 88% chance of winning best actress.

LITTLE BIT OF HUMOR: Again, speaking of the Academy Awards….

No, they weren’t doing that before because HOW DO THEY PROVE a voter watched all the movies??????