"TENET" STALLS IN US, "MULAN" UNDERPERFORMS IN CHINA
WEEKLY FILM INDUSTRY NEWS DIGEST, UPDATED THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 17
Box Office Recovery Imperiled: "Do You Take the Risk or Do You Punt?"
The U.S. box office recovery has been derailed as Christopher Nolan’s Tenet stalls domestically, key moviegoing markets such as Los Angeles and New York City remain dark and more studios delay their 2020 tentpoles out of concern that consumers aren’t ready to return to indoor cinemas...“There just isn’t enough volume of film to sustain any momentum. We are really looking toward November and December before there are big films again,” says Wall Street analyst Eric Handler of MKM Partners.
Mulan Muted In China
Disney’s Mulan ultimately settled for a $23.2M three-day opening in China, including previews. The movie from director Niki Caro ended up in the No. 1 spot for the session there, but was bested on Sunday by local title The Eight Hundred (now at an estimated $389M cume).The film stars homegrown talent such as Jet Li, Gong Li, Donnie Yen and Liu Yifei, and is based on a Chinese folk story. But, it has been hit with low social scores (7.6 on Maoyan and 4.9 on Douban — the latter slightly up today). And, of course, given the movie released on Disney+ a week ago elsewhere, piracy is an issue.
In the wake of several U.S. Senators and Congress reps calling out Disney’s cooperation with elements of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region’s security and propaganda authorities in the production of the film, there is also a reported blackout on local press covering the release.
Box Office: 'Tenet' Hits Tepid $29.5M in U.S. But Crosses $200M Globally
Christopher Nolan's Tenet is struggling in North America — where moviegoing remains off limits in Los Angeles and New York City — but continues to impress overseas for an estimated global gross of $207 million through Sunday....The tentpole is doing especially well on premium format screens. Imax locations alone have generated $23 million in ticket sales.
Imax CEO Rich Gelfond Sees Netflix & Streamers Softening On Windows
Imax CEO Rich Gelfond: “One of the reasons the streaming companies have resisted a theatrical run is because they didn’t want to wait for a 90-day window...Windows will become more compressed overall and some mid-level movies will end up going straight to streaming, he said. That has little impact on Imax, whose meat and potatoes are blockbusters.
Disney+ Global Rollout Continues
Disney+ continued its global expansion, adding Portugal, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Belgium and Luxembourg to its roster of countries....The streaming race is increasingly a global one. Most of Netflix’s 193 million subscribers are outside the U.S. Apple launched Apple TV+ globally last November. Earlier today, ViacomCBS announced the rebranding of CBS All Access to Paramount+ which will expand internationally in early 2021.
ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish Says "COVID Has Been a Tailwind for Streaming"
...better-than-expected customer growth for CBS All Access and his studio's other streaming platforms has been helped by consumers cocooning in front of video screens during the novel coronavirus pandemic. The ViacomCBS boss was talking about CBS All Access after its subscriber target for 2020 was raised to 18 million consumers now being set to rebrand as Paramount+ in early 2021….as it rolls out internationally.
Peacock Signups At 15 Million Vs 10 Million Six Weeks Ago
Comcast CEO Brian said Peacock signups have surged 50% in six weeks and the app is the second most popular on its OTT product Xfinity Flex behind Netflix, and number three on Xfinity X1 behind Netflix and YouTube.
Paramount ‘Love And Monsters’ Movie Heading To PVOD
From Oct. 16….The movie will be available on VOD platforms for a 48-hour rental period at a suggested rental price of $19.99 in the U.S. The film will also be available for early digital purchase for the suggested retail price of $24.99. The pic’s previous theatrical release date was Feb. 12, 2021.
