The future of cinema is a tough topic to discuss, especially when you’re talking to filmmakers. Many of them are upset about the ubiquity of streaming releases and how it takes away from the theatrical experience. And some, like Todd Phillips, believe there are things that theaters need to do to make the experience actually good. 

READ MORE: Quentin Tarantino Raves About ‘Joker 2’ & Says Joaquin Phoenix Gives “One Of The Best Performances I’ve Ever Seen”

Speaking to Empire recently, Todd Phillips was asked about what needs to change to make the theatrical experience special again and compete against people who are willing to wait to see films when they hit streaming.

Continue reading Todd Phillips Thinks Theaters Need To Stop Showing Commercials Before Screenings at The Playlist.

As if the opening weekend box office numbers were bad enough for “Joker: Folie à Deux,” the second weekend record that was set is even more embarrassing. Now, after a rough 10 days in theaters, there is now an estimate of how much money Warner Bros. is going to lose from Todd Phillips’ bomb. And it’s perhaps the most embarrassing of all. 

According to Variety, box office experts predict that “Joker: Folie à Deux” will lose somewhere between $150 million and $200 million by the time it leaves theaters.

Continue reading ‘Joker: Folie à Deux’ Could Lose Up To $200 Million From Its Theatrical Run at The Playlist.

Back at Sundance 2023, there was one movie that earned near universal acclaim with many talking about potential awards consideration but was shelved and never released— “Magazine Dreams.” For those that saw the film that year at Sundance, people just raved about its star, Jonathan Majors. But then he was arrested for assault and whatever plans there were to release the film were dashed. Now, it looks like it’s finally going to see the light of day.

Continue reading ‘Magazine Dreams’: Jonathan Majors’ Sundance Hit Is Finally Coming To Theaters In 2025 at The Playlist.

After decades of development and putting up $100 million of his own money to make it happen, Francis Ford Coppola’s “Megalopolis” is finally out in theaters for the world to see. Unfortunately, the film has been the subject of bad reviews and even more miserable box office. However, according to the filmmaker, this isn’t cause for concern. In fact, Coppola says he’s been through this before. 

READ MORE: ‘Megalopolis’ Review: Francis Ford Coppola’s Epic Is A Madman’s Fever Dream [Cannes]

In a new interview with Forbes, Francis Ford Coppola talked about the reactions people have had to his new film, “Megalopolis.” He’s aware that audiences aren’t really happy with the finished product (the film earned a dismal D+ CinemaScore).

Continue reading Francis Ford Coppola Says ‘Megalopolis’ Reactions Are “Very Similar” To ‘Apocalypse Now’ at The Playlist.

To say the recent remake of “The Crow” is a box office disappointment is an understatement. In its debut weekend, the film earned an abysmal $4.6 million. When you take into consideration the reported budget of the film is $50 million, you can understand just how bad things are. But not everyone is saddened by this news. In fact, one person is loving every second of it—Alex Proyas.

Continue reading Director Alex Proyas Is Having A Blast Trashing ‘The Crow’ Remake at The Playlist.

UPDATE: Well, apparently, the estimates were still too low. “Deadpool & Wolverine” actually earned $211 million domestically during its opening weekend, accounting for the sixth best debut in history. Wow. The original piece is below…

Everyone knew “Deadpool & Wolverine” was going to be a massive box office success. However, very few believed it could reach the heights it has reached in its first weekend. 

Continue reading “Deadpool & Wolverine” Shatters Records On Its Way To A $211 Million Domestic Opening [Updated] at The Playlist.

Well, that didn’t last long. After spending weeks talking about how his new film “Horizon” had to be seen on the big screen, it appears Kevin Costner is feeling the heat of a big bomb and changing course. 

READ MORE: ‘Horizon: An American Saga’ Review: Kevin Costner’s Sprawling Western With No End In Sight [Cannes]

According to THR, Kevin Costner and New Line have come to the decision to pull “Horizon: Chapter 2” from its August release date.

Continue reading ‘Horizon’: New Line & Kevin Costner Decide To Pull ‘Chapter 2’ Off The Release Schedule at The Playlist.

For some reason, there are quite a few film pundits out there who love to trash a film for having a big budget. Obviously, there are some instances where a huge budget isn’t a great thing—if the film’s budget ballooned over the course of the production. But there are quite a few times when a big budget is just the cost of doing business, such as with effects-heavy blockbusters. Lately, one of the films that has been getting trashed for having a high budget is none other than “F1.” And according to the two men with knowledge of the budget, the reports about “F1” being one of the most expensive films in recent memory are way off. 

Continue reading ‘F1’: Jerry Bruckheimer & Joseph Kosinski Deny Reports About The Film Costing $300 Million at The Playlist.

We are only about three weeks away from the release of Marvel Studios’ only 2024 film— “Deadpool & Wolverine.” As we get closer to the release date, we get a better idea about how much money the film is set to make. And three weeks out, it’s still looking like Marvel has a huge hit on its hands. However, not as big as what people expected a couple weeks ago. 

Continue reading ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Box Office Forecast Still Great But Falls From $200+ Million Early Predictions at The Playlist.

It’s no secret that theaters are struggling, and 2024 was shaping up to be another disappointing year. You know it’s a rough year when we’re already at the end of June, and “Dune: Part Two” is the highest grossing film worldwide ($711 million). Or should we say “was” the highest grossing film, thanks to the monster success of Disney/Pixar’s “Inside Out 2.”

READ MORE: ‘Inside Out’: Pixar CCO Pete Docter Confirms A Spinoff Series Will Hit Disney+ In 2025

That’s right, in only its second week of release, “Inside Out 2” has passed “Dune: Part Two” to become the biggest film, not only domestically, but worldwide as well.

Continue reading ‘Inside Out 2’ Has Record-Breaking Second Weekend & Has Already Passed ‘Dune 2’ As Biggest Of 2024 at The Playlist.

Ever since it was announced that Francis Ford Coppola was sinking in his own cash to make his passion project, “Megalopolis,” there was always a question about what studio would be willing to distribute the film. Then, when it was part of Cannes and got somewhat mixed (to put it nicely) reviews, the question about distribution came up yet again. Well, we now know the studio willing to stick its neck on the line with Coppola—Lionsgate.

Continue reading Lionsgate To Release Francis Ford Coppola’s ‘Megalopolis’ In The U.S. In September at The Playlist.

The unofficial start to Summer Box Office season kicked off with a massive action film, “The Fall Guy,” this past weekend. Unfortunately, the beginning of summer is more of a whimper than a bang, as “The Fall Guy” opened with an estimated $28.5 million over the three-day weekend. That’s not a huge number for a film that is said to have a production cost between $130 million and $150 million. Obviously, the film can’t be called a bomb yet–it could still have amazing legs and turn into a sleeper hit.

Continue reading Ryan Gosling Says A ‘Fall Guy’ Sequel Is Already Written: “The Sequel Sort Of Wrote Itself” at The Playlist.

Last week saw the global launch of Denis Villeneuve’s second “Dune” film, wrapping up the conclusion of the first novel adaptation while also leaving everything on a cliffhanger for a third movie that the filmmaker is co-writing with franchise screenwriter Jon Spaihts. Strong critical responses and audience word of mouth have paid off big time for the film as it has made some history over the weekend, becoming the biggest opening for the director and overperforming compared to the first part that was released back in September 2021.

Continue reading ‘Dune: Part Two’s Domestic Opening Of $82.5M Doubles ‘Dune’ Box Office Take With Spicy $179.5M Global Debut at The Playlist.

Sadly, for actor Iman Vellani, one of the stars of Marvel Studios’ latest feature, “The Marvels,” the discussion surrounding the release of the film has revolved around the box office performance. The film opened to the lowest debut for a MCU film ever, and its second weekend has experienced the biggest drop for the studio. This is a shame because Vellani, along with her co-stars Teyonah Parris and Brie Larson, weren’t able to go out there and give the film proper promotion before the release, due to the SAG strike, so now, they have to answer questions that really aren’t focused on what is still a fun MCU romp. 

Continue reading ‘The Marvels’ Star Iman Vellani Isn’t Worried About The Film’s Box Office: “That’s For Bob Iger” at The Playlist.

There’s no other way to put it. It’s not a good day for Marvel Studios as their third film of 2023, “The Marvels,” opened to just $47 million at the U.S. box office—the lowest-grossing opening weekend of any Marvel movie ever (yes, even lower than 2008’s “The Incredible Hulk” and lower than all of the 2021 pandemic-affected films like the poorly-received “Eternals”).

Continue reading ‘The Marvels’ Box Office Flops At $47 Million, Marvel’s Lowest Grossing Opening Film Ever at The Playlist.

Along with Gerta Gerwig’s “Barbie” and Beyonce’s “Renaissance Tour,” Taylor Swift‘s “The Eras Tour” was credited with contributing billions of dollars to the U.S. economy this year. Well, the Grammy Award winner isn’t done helping keep America out of a recession. On Thursday afternoon, the “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” concert film will debut in over 3,850 theaters and is on track to score an incredible $100-120 million opening in the U.S.

Continue reading ‘Taylor Swift: The Era’s Tour’ Looking At Massive $100+ Million Opening at The Playlist.

This year has been pretty wild as far as box office goes. We’ve seen massive successes, such as “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” “Barbie,” and “Oppenheimer,” but we’ve also seen some spectacular fails, such as “The Flash” and “Shazam! Fury of the Gods.” However, coming into 2023, it felt as if there were a few safe bets.

Continue reading ‘M:I – Dead Reckoning’ & ‘Indiana Jones 5’ Reportedly Could Lose Up To $100 Million At The Box Office at The Playlist.

UPDATE: In the first sign of this being correct, the release date for “Poor Things” changed from September to December 8.

Even as the fall film festivals begin announcing their lineups of star-studded features and studios continue to release trailers for films coming later this year, there’s a ton of uncertainty regarding the release schedule for the rest of 2023. The reason behind these questions is the SAG strike, which means the A-list stars (or any actors, for that matter) can’t promote the new releases when they arrive.

Continue reading Disney Reportedly Considering Fall Film Delays Due To SAG Strike at The Playlist.

Massive release date changes were fairly commonplace over the past few years, as we watched the COVID pandemic shift entire distribution strategies for film studios. Now, it appears the WGA Strike has finally shown its impact on film releases, at least over at Disney, as the studio delays some of the biggest films on its schedule including new “Avengers,” “Star Wars,” and “Avatar” films.

Continue reading Disney Delays Marvel Films, ‘Avatar’ Sequels & New ‘Star Wars’ Films Due To WGA Strike at The Playlist.

It really does feel like a lifetime ago when Warner Bros. defiantly said, during the beginning of the pandemic, that every film released in 2021 was going to hit theaters and streaming on the same day. That announcement caused all sorts of ripples throughout the industry, leading filmmakers to get upset and theater owners to wonder what the future of the business might look like. Now, just over two years later and with new leadership, Warner Bros.

Continue reading Warner Bros. Discovery Boss Says Studio “Does Not Believe In Streaming Movies” at The Playlist.

The marketing push for “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” has been an odd one, no doubt. The questions about the film’s future amid the soft reboot from new DC Studios co-CEOs, James Gunn and Peter Safran, dominated the discourse. The only thing people seemed to care about is whether or not a “Shazam 3” was in the cards.

Continue reading ‘Shazam 2’ Post-Credits Scenes Set Up A Sequel, But The Opening Box Office Paints A Grim Future at The Playlist.

When it was announced that AMC Theatres was going to adopt a new ticketing structure, dubbed Sightline, reactions were largely negative. (I might have ranted a bit myself.) Basically, the plan feels like a new way for AMC Theatres to punish its frequent customers by raising the prices on the “best” seats while offering a discount on what are clearly terrible seats that probably shouldn’t exist in the first place. Now, thanks to a quarterly earnings call (via Deadline), AMC Theatres CEO Adam Aron is attempting to justify the move and explain why it’s really the best-case scenario for everyone involved, including customers. 

Continue reading AMC Theatres CEO Defends Sightline Pricing Changes & Will Watch Customer Reaction “Very Closely” at The Playlist.

The theatrical industry is in shambles. There are really no two ways to say it. Ticket prices are going up (and AMC is trying to milk every last cent out of customers) and the only movies that are making any sort of big money are blockbusters like Marvel films and other franchise fare. So, to say that “Top Gun: Maverick” has somehow “saved” the industry because it’s another franchise film that earned a lot of money at cinemas is a bit… dubious.

Continue reading Steven Spielberg Congratulates Tom Cruise For Saving “The Entire Theatrical Industry” With ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ at The Playlist.

Let’s be honest folks, just because “Avatar: The Way of Water,” “Top Gun: Maverick,” and “Spider-Man: No Way Home” were able to become monster hits and earn well north of $1 billion each, the cinema chains are still struggling, mightily. Sure, franchise films and blockbusters can potentially do really well, but by and large, films are seeing diminished box office returns in an era where streaming is omnipresent and there are more choices than ever before.

Continue reading AMC Theatres’ New Idea To Make Money Is To Charge More For The Best Seats at The Playlist.

“Avatar: The Way of Water” has only been out in theaters less than a full month, and the film has already earned well over $1.73 billion worldwide. It’s an astonishing number and a total that will likely well exceed $2 billion in just a matter of a couple of weeks. Needless to say, James Cameron has to be celebrating his latest success, and at last night’s Golden Globes, he got the chance to do just that, while also taking a quick jab at streaming services.

Continue reading James Cameron Is Excited By People Going To The Theater To See ‘Avatar 2’: “Enough With The Streaming Already!” at The Playlist.