Paul Dergarabedian: Last News

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” emerged victorious at the box office, rolling $38.5 million from 3,855 North American theaters in its opening weekend. Buoyed by positive reviews and enthusiastic word-of-mouth, Paramount and eOne’s adaptation of the popular role-playing game landed on the higher end of expectations of $30 million to $40 million. And the ticket sales for the $150 million-budgeted film are expected to remain strong in the coming weeks. Inaugural audiences may be hardcore D&D players, but analysts believe it’ll appeal to broader audiences, who may not know as much about the game, as it continues its run on the big screen. “The opening weekend performance of ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ is just the first step in the journey for this well-reviewed film,” says Paul Dergarabedian, a senior Comscore analyst.

Gregg Goldstein Many are wondering about the state of the specialty film theatrical marketplace and how to save it. Talk to people in the industry and you’ll hear the same issues: too few new films, little market research data and theatrical windows so short that, by the time indies get to many art houses, they’re out on PVOD, cutting into box office. Longtime indie film chain Landmark Theatres has a novel idea for how to improve things: half-naked male dancers! How could Landmark top this? A cocaine bear at “Cocaine Bear?” Why, yes – on Feb. 18, 24 and 25 in Westwood and Pasadena, Ca., patrons took selfies with the titular bear and ate the “powdered” donuts he goes crazy for. Whether or not exhibitors will resort to actual strippers and cocaine in the future, it’s clear that there are signs of life, good ideas and ways to improve things that can be implemented right now.

“Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” set a new record over the weekend, but not for the reason Marvel would want.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” took a sizable hit in its sophomore outing at the box office. Ticket sales for the third Marvel movie starring Paul Rudd’s subatomic hero were down 69% from its $105 million debut, resulting in the biggest second-weekend drop in the franchise’s history. That fall has inspired plenty of debate among analysts and experts: Is the film’s performance a blip or an inflection point in Hollywood’s biggest property? The answer is likely somewhere in between, according to senior Comscore analyst Paul Dergarabedian. “As second weekend drops go, anything in the 70% realm is pretty significant,” says Dergarabedian. “But movies that open with over $100 million are generally front-loaded. In some cases, ‘the bigger they are, the harder they fall’ comes into play.”

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Despite 13 years passing since “Avatar” first hit theaters, moviegoers are apparently still dazzled by the striking world of Pandora. In anticipation of the sequel “The Way of Water,” which opens in December, Disney re-released James Cameron’s original science-fiction epic to promising returns. The film generated $10 million in North America and $20.5 million internationally over the weekend, a huge result for movie that opened more than a decade ago, even if that movie happens to be the highest-grossing global release in history. With this weekend’s returns, “Avatar” widens its lead as the biggest movie of all time with $2.85 billion worldwide.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter It’s been proven time and time again that Academy Award attention has little to do with box office glory. Just look at recent winners like “Moonlight,” “The Hurt Locker,” or “CODA,” the first streaming movie to land the Oscar’s top prize, all of which were more beloved than seen, at least by the general public. But during a year in which several commercial movies, including “Top Gun: Maverick” ($1.44 billion globally and counting), “Elvis” ($284 million globally) “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” (scheduled for Nov. 11) and “Avatar: The Way of Water” (scheduled for Dec. 16), look to find themselves in the awards race, film industry analysts believe the box office may play a part in keeping movies from major studios in the conversation.

The Viola Davis-led action epic “ The Woman King ” easily conquered the North American box office in its first weekend in theaters, against a crowded market of new releases. The film, directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood, surpassed expectations and earned $19 million in ticket sales, according to estimates from Sony on Sunday.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media ReporterJordan Peele, of all filmmakers, shouldn’t be surprised that the conversation around “Nope’s” box office performance has stirred up several hot takes.The director’s cerebral science-fiction thriller took in $44 million in its box office debut, easily leading domestic charts and impressively landing one of the biggest opening weekends in years for a film that’s not based on existing IP.And yet, there’s still debate about the film’s first weekend in theaters, with suggestions that initial numbers for “Nope” were “disappointing” or “lackluster.” Like any good Peele movie, there’s plenty to unpack about opening weekend revenues for “Nope.” And in fairness, the movie — starring Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer as siblings who discover something spooky around their family’s ranch — had a lot to live up to at the box office. “The bar has been raised so high,” says Paul Dergarabedian, a senior ComScore analyst.Peele can thank his last film, 2019’s doppelgänger horror story “Us,” for those sky-high expectations.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media ReporterBox office watchers were worried that family audiences had all but forgotten about movie theaters… until Gru and his mischievous yellow friends came along. As it turns out, parents with young kids weren’t abandoning their local cinemas.

Families went bananas for Minions this weekend at the movie theater. “ Minions: The Rise of Gru ” brought in an estimated $108.5 million in ticket sales from 4,391 screens in North America, Universal Pictures said Sunday. By the end of the Monday’s July Fourth holiday, it will likely have earned over $127.9 million.

With the box office’s rebound just as 5K attendees are reconvening at CinemaCon in Las Vegas, exhibition and studios can rest easy knowing that there’s a return to a theatrical window. For most studios with tentpole fare, that’s 45-days, and for those titles with less commercial appeal or aimed at specialty audiences, it’s 17 days.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorScoring tickets to the first BTS concert in three years may be next-to-impossible, but plenty of fans of the global K-pop group were able to catch the Seoul-set show at their local cinema.In a rare, one-night-only event, HYBE and Trafalgar Releasing brought the concert to movie theaters across the country to blockbuster results. At the global box office, the limited engagement of “BTS Permission to Dance on Stage: Seoul” raked in $32.6 million from 3,711 cinemas in 75 worldwide theatrical markets.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter“Spider-Man: No Way Home” has officially unseated director James Cameron’s 2009 science-fiction epic “Avatar” to become the third-highest grossing domestic release in history.After weeks of speculation over whether or not Peter Parker had the legs to bump the people of Pandora from bronze, “Spider-Man: No Way Home” collected the remaining $1 million on Monday to push “Avatar” — and its mighty $760.5 million at the North American box office — to fourth place in the record books.Sony’s latest Spidey adventure, a culmination to Tom Holland’s web-slinging trilogy, has grossed a stunning $760.9 million at the domestic box office since launching exclusively in theaters in December. Those ticket sales are three times as much as the next highest-grossing movie of the pandemic era, which is Disney and Marvel’s “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” with $224 million.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaMarvel’s “Eternals” achieved global domination at the box office.The latest entry in the MCU picked up $90.7 million internationally, which pushes its global total to a lordly $161.7 million. The film opened in several major markets, picking up $14.4 million in South Korea, $7.1 million in the United Kingdom, $6.7 million in France, $5.7 million in Mexico, $5 million in Australia and $4.6 million in Italy.

Gallery: The best serial killer movies ever made (Espresso)"Those Who Wish Me Dead," which finished the weekend in third place, wasn't the only new movie to open. "Spiral," a creepy addition to the terrifying "Saw" franchise, brought in $8.

Spiral: From the Book of Saw is on top at the box office.

Saturday AM Update: Godzilla vs. Kong is now up to $27.9M in three days after an $11.6M Friday at 3,064 locations, +73% over Thursday. The 5-day projection for the Adam Wingard-directed Warner Bros/Legendary title is $42M — far and away the best opening (3 and 5-day) we’ve seen at the domestic B.O. during the pandemic, meaning since mid-March of 2020.

Godzilla vs. Kong continued to roar Thursday at the domestic box office, earning $6.7 million from 2,409 reopened theaters for a two-day total of $16.3 million as the pic stomps into Easter weekend.

The 27 March release date has been postponed in China