"MULAN" CAUSES 68% SPIKE IN DOWNLOADS OF DISNEY+ APP
WEEKLY FILM INDUSTRY NEWS DIGEST, UPDATED FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 11
'Mulan' release leads to 68% spike in Disney+ app downloads Sensor Tower, an app download research firm, tells Yahoo Finance that downloads of Disney+ spiked 68% from Friday, Sept. 4 through Sunday, Sept. 6, compared to one weekend prior. Consumer spending in the app also spiked 193%, which can obviously be attributed to customers paying the $30 ‘Mulan’ fee. (That fee is not for a one-time rental; the movie gets added to your Disney+ library for re-watching.)Interestingly, Disney+ app downloads jumped a bit more (79%) for the first three days of “Hamilton” hitting the service, July 3 to July 5. But Sensor Tower chalks that up to the fact that ‘Hamilton’ was free to stream for Disney+ subscribers. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/mulan-disney-plus-downloads-68-percent-weekend-194701349.html
#BoycottMulan Movement Gains Momentum in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand
A wave of coordinated social media activity in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Thailand over the weekend urged for filmgoers to skip the movie because of past comments made by its star, actress Liu Yifei, supporting Hong Kong's police force.
Disney CFO Admits Filming ‘Mulan’ in Xinjiang Has ‘Generated A Lot of Issues’
The corporation has come under fire for shooting portions of the live action epic in the northwestern region where an estimated one million members of the mostly Muslim Uighur ethnic minority have been placed against their will in internment camps...In its credits, the film gives “special thanks” to eight different Chinese government organs in Xinjiang, a number of which, such as the Turpan Bureau of Public Security, are directly involved in the campaign that critics have deemed a cultural genocide.
https://variety.com/2020/film/news/disney-cfo-filming-mulan-in-xinjiang-problematic-1234766342/
Tenet’ Drops But Stays Atop U.K. Box-Office Christopher Nolan' "Tenet" suffered a precipitous 60% decline, but stayed on top of the U.K. and Ireland box-office in its second week…The Warner Bros. release collected £2,151,490 ($2,832,782) from 613 locations and has now amassed £10,006,540 ($13,174,636) in the territory, according to final numbers released by Comscore. https://variety.com/2020/film/news/tenet-uk-ireland-box-office-2-1234761353/
China Box Office: ‘The Eight Hundred’ Beats ‘Tenet’ Each Day of Debut
The Chinese title bested “Tenet” each day of its three-day debut weekend. Despite already being in its third weekend in theaters, director Guan Hu’s patriotic retelling of a 1937 fight against the Japanese grossed $32.3 million to beat out Nolan’s critically acclaimed thriller, which debuted to just $29.6 million, (industry tracker and ticketer) Maoyan is currently projecting a $66.9 million total for “Tenet” in China, which would mean that the film has already earned about half its total box office from the first three days — showing a limited pull among Chinese audiences.Chinese cinemas initially allocated more screenings to “Tenet” than “The Eight Hundred” on its opening day, but then shifted more slots back to the latter as the weekend progressed. On Friday, “Tenet” accounted for 42.4% of screenings in China but only 33.8% of them by Sunday. Meanwhile, “The Eight Hundred” accounted for 38.1% of screenings Friday but rose to 41.8% by Sunday.
https://variety.com/2020/film/news/tenet-china-box-office-debut-eight-hundred-1234761053/
‘Tenet’ Finally Opens Stateside
Warner Bros. long-awaited Christopher Nolan movie Tenet finally opened in the US, and together with its Canadian run, which began last weekend, rang up $20.2M to date at 2,810 theaters. All-in, the time travel, 2 1/2 hour spy thriller has clocked almost $150M to date.There is no context for these numbers, as it’s not your typical Labor Day weekend release. We’re just beginning to realize what it’s like to see a tentpole opening in motion in a world where eight of the top ten theaters from Nolan’s last movie, Dunkirk, aren’t open, i.e. cinemas in Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York.Disney hasn’t reported Mulan Disney+ revenue figures, and I imagine they won’t until an earnings call, together with the pic’s overseas box office.
https://deadline.com/2020/09/tenet-opening-weekend-box-office-1234571662/
WarnerMedia Studios & Networks Boss Ann Sarnoff
“I’m bullish that all the models will survive and that theatrical will definitely be a huge part of our go-forward strategy, but I think there will be more flexibility in the windows going forward; the circuits have been willing to engage in that,”
