Neon, along with A24, have carved out a niche for themselves feeding an appetite for intense independent horror, but the $910 million opening day total “Longlegs” earned from 2,510 theaters is catapulting the film to an opening weekend that is more than double the $7-9 million that trackers had projected. It is also more than triple the previous top opening weekend for Neon, which came this past March with the $5.3 million opening of Sydney Sweeney’s “Immaculate.”

Acquired by Neon at the 2023 European Film Market, “Longlegs” has enjoyed rave reviews from critics since its premiere at Beyond Fest in Los Angeles this past May. Those reviews have been boosted by a highly effective digital marketing campaign that shrouded Nicolas Cage’s appearance as the titular satanic serial killer in mystery while displaying the film’s chilling and relentlessly tense mood and playing lead star Maika Monroe’s actual heartrate when seeing Cage for the first time while the cameras rolled.

It is possible that “Longlegs” will have a frontloaded run, as opening night audiences are split on whether it lived up to the hype with a C+ on CinemaScore and a 68% audience Rotten Tomatoes score. But with a reported budget of less than $10 million, it is already a theatrical success.

“Despicable Me 4,” meanwhile, continues to lead the way with $44 million this weekend, dropping just 41% from the $75 million Fri.-Sun. total it earned last weekend. The Illumination film now has an estimated domestic total of $210 million as it pushes the lifetime grosses for the “Despicable Me” franchise past $5 billion worldwide, becoming the first ever animated franchise to reach that mark.

Less impressive this weekend is Sony/Apple’s “Fly Me to the Moon,” which is estimated for an opening weekend of just $10 million from 3,356 locations against an Apple-financed budget of $100 million. As with previous films like “Napoleon” and “Argylle,” this Greg Berlanti-directed period romantic comedy is the latest high budget film brought by Apple to theaters through a distribution partnership with a legacy studio.

By normal metrics, this opening would be the sign of a major bomb, but Apple has used its Silicon Valley largesse to throw down immense amounts of money on these theatrical releases in the hopes of drawing interest in seeing these films on Apple TV+, and the studio has kept its metric of success on that front extremely opaque.

As for “Fly Me to the Moon,” the silver lining is that audience reception for the film is considerably strong, earning an A- on CinemaScore to go with Rotten Tomatoes scores of 68% critics and 89% audience. There is still a possibility that the film might be able to save some face if older audiences, who are much more likely to see this film set during the space race of the 60s, turn out in later weeks.

The post ‘Despicable Me 4’ Is No. 1 Again, But ‘Longlegs’ Shines at the Box Office appeared first on TheWrap.

The announcement comes after the $940 million global box office run of “Minions: The Rise of Gru” in 2022, while “Despicable Me 4” has already grossed $147 million in its first week in theaters in the U.S. and Canada with a global total of $255 million.

Pierre Coffin, who has voiced the Minions since the first “Despicable Me” in 2010, will return as director, having helmed the first three “Despicable Me” films and the first “Minions” in 2015. Bryan Lynch, writer of the first “Minions” film and the “Secret Life of Pets” films, returns to handle the script with Illumination founder/CEO Chris Meledandri producing alongside Bill Ryan.

The “Despicable Me” and “Minions” films launched Illumination into the Hollywood animation landscape and have become its cornerstone franchise, with nearly $5 billion in lifetime grosses at the global box office.

“Minions 3” hits theaters June 30, 2027.

The post ‘Minions 3’ Sets 2027 Release From Universal and Illumination appeared first on TheWrap.

Internationally, where the film started its rollout last weekend, the film has grossed $107.6 million to bring its global cume to $230 million, with $73 million coming from overseas this weekend.

While not to the extent of Disney/Pixar’s “Inside Out 2,” several of the audience patterns that boosted that film were at play here, including heavy support from nostalgic Gen Z adults with 21% coming from the 18-24 demographic.

Estimates also slowly ticked up over the weekend thanks to substantial walk-up traffic driven primarily by Latino audiences, who comprised 39% of the opening weekend audience with 29% white and Black and Asian audiences coming in at 12% each.

At the start of the year, with so much uncertainty over the release slate due to strike-related delays, “Despicable Me 4” stood as one of the few surefire hits. It has fulfilled that promise as the lifetime grosses for the “Despicable Me” series now reaches $1.64 billion and will cross $2 billion as the film will ride its A CinemaScore and 90% audience Rotten Tomatoes score to long legs at the box office.

Elsewhere, “Inside Out 2” continues to blast up the all-time animation box office list, added $45 million to its domestic total over the extended weekend as its totals now stand at $533 million domestic, the third highest ever for an animated film, and $1.21 billion worldwide, the fifth highest for animation.

In the coming week, “Inside Out 2” will pass the $1.3 billion mark and in doing so will pass “Incredibles 2” to become Pixar’s highest grossing film of all time.

Paramount’s “A Quiet Place: Day One” is in third with $21 million grossed over the Fri.-Sun. period, bringing its two-weekend domestic total to $94.4 million. That’s approximately 37% ahead of the $69 million two-weekend total earned by “A Quiet Place — Part II” in 2021 as the spinoff is on pace for a new franchise high.

A24’s “MaXXXine” is in fourth with an opening weekend of $6.7 million, a solid start for a gory, R-rated slasher. Ti West and Mia Goth’s finale to their “X” trilogy has earned a B on CinemaScore, a solid result for a horror film. While skewing towards younger fans of niche horror, it is on pace to pass the $15 million grossed by “X” back in 2022.

Just behind “MaXXXine” is Sony’s “Bad Boys: Ride or Die” with $6.5 million. The Will Smith/Martin Lawrence action film has passed $175 million in domestic grosses and $360 million worldwide.

Outside the top 5, Kevin Costner’s “Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter 1” is still struggling to find a wide audience, adding $5.5 million in its second weekend as its domestic total reaches just $22 million against a $100 million production budget that covers both the first installment and “Chapter 2,” set to come out in August.

Finally, Angel Studios’ “Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot” opened on July 4th and earned a 4-day opening of $6.7 million. The inspirational film about a church community that adopts all the children in a foster care home specifically for victims of child trafficking.

While it is unlikely to match the breakout success of Angel Studios’ $250 million grosser “Sound of Freedom” last year, “Sound of Hope” will be a theatrical hit as it holds a reported budget of $8.5 million.

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Between the four films in the main series and the two “Minions” spinoffs, all six “Despicable Me” titles have opened to No. 1, passing “Shrek” for the most by a single animated franchise. Globally, the film is set to earn $225 million through Sunday.

Illumination has been consistently strong with family audiences, and “Despicable Me 4” is no different with an A on CinemaScore and a 90% Rotten Tomatoes audience score. The film will likely leg out well into July, even with Disney/Pixar’s “Inside Out 2” providing substantial holdover competition.

The other newcomer to the top 5 this weekend is A24’s slasher “MaXXXine,” the final chapter in Ti West’s “X” trilogy starring Mia Goth. Released in 2,450 theaters, the film earned a $3.1 million opening day on Friday and is projected for a $7.5 million opening weekend, consistent with pre-release projections.

Meanwhile, June’s big box office holdovers “Inside Out 2” and Paramount’s “A Quiet Place: Day One” are continuing to provide major support to theaters. “Inside Out 2” added $10 million on its fourth Friday, as it is set to add an industry estimated $45 million over five days to bring its domestic total to $534 million.

“A Quiet Place: Day One” is estimated to add just over $30 million over the extended weekend, giving the film an estimated total of $94.5 million through Sunday. That’s approximately 37% ahead of the $69 million that “A Quiet Place — Part II” earned in its first two weekends in 2021.

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With this start, the film is on course to meet box office projections of a $110-120 million 5-day opening weekend, slightly below the $123 million 4-day opening of “Minions: The Rise of Gru” two years ago.

Like four of the previous films in the “Despicable Me” series, this fourth installment earned an A on CinemaScore, continuing Illumination’s record of earning an A- or higher on all of its films.

Meanwhile, Disney/Pixar’s “Inside Out 2” added an estimated $7.3 million on Wednesday and will cross $500 million in domestic grosses on July 4. It will be the fastest animated film ever to reach that mark, doing so after three weeks in theaters.

More to come…

The post ‘Despicable Me 4’ Kicks Off Box Office Run With $27 Million Opening Day appeared first on TheWrap.

The first round of box office projections has arrived for Marvel Studios’ “Deadpool & Wolverine,” and they predict the highest-ever opening weekend for an R-rated film at $160 million-plus.

That would also mean that the “Deadpool” franchise would have all of the Top 3 R-rated openings as the original 2016 entry currently holds the record with $132.4 million, closely followed by its 2018 sequel “Deadpool 2” at $125.5 million.

Anything above $162 million would pass the opening weekend of “Barbie” and would be the highest opening weekend for any film since the $181.3 million start of “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” in November 2022.

Presales for “Deadpool & Wolverine” have been extremely high since they began in late May, and exhibitor sources say there’s potential for upside. With longtime comic book movie fans excited to see Ryan Reynolds’ character join the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Hugh Jackman play Wolverine again in a comic-accurate costume, the buzz surrounding the film is quite similar to “Spider-Man: No Way Home” in December 2021.

Of course, that film opened to a jaw-dropping $260 million, and “Deadpool & Wolverine” isn’t projected to get anywhere near that because this is still an R-rated movie that proudly displays its gory violence and raunchy jokes on its sleeve.

But “No Way Home,” along with many of the biggest post-shutdown hits, saw significant walk-up ticket sales that trackers could not predict. So, while trackers are keeping it safe and predicting a still-spectacular “Barbie”-level opening for this violent Marvel film, an opening above $200 million can’t be totally left off the table.

“Deadpool & Wolverine” hits theaters July 26.

The post ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Projected for New R-Rated Box Office Record With $160 Million Start appeared first on TheWrap.

That was before Disney/Pixar’s “Inside Out 2” blew past even the most optimistic expectations and became the fastest grossing animated film to top $1 billion worldwide. Now, with that film expected to add another $200 million or so to domestic totals in July, “Despicable Me 4” will look to fan the flames of this newfound momentum rather than ignite it.

All signs point to Illumination’s flagship franchise doing just that as it hits theaters on Wednesday, with trackers projecting an extended five-day Fourth of July weekend start of $110-125 million, close to the $123 million four-day total that the spinoff “Minions: The Rise of Gru” earned two years ago over the July 4 holiday period.

The simultaneous presence of two family films from the top animation houses in the world may limit the top end of their moneymaking potential. That’s why trackers are predicting a slight dip for “Despicable Me 4” compared to “Minions 2.”

But trailers for the film have been running in front of every screening of “Inside Out 2” for the past three weeks. And considering how Pixar’s unstoppable success has been fueled by both families eager to get out of the house and beat the summer heat — and by Gen Z moviegoers nostalgic for the films of their early 2010s youth — all signs point to “Despicable Me 4” capturing a sizable chunk of that energy, even if it doesn’t match the unexpected heights of its fellow summer sequel.

Elsewhere, a pair of films from indie distributors will look to find lower budget success in wide release. First is A24’s “MaXXXine,” Ti West’s trilogy capper to his pair of microbudget slasher films “X” and “Pearl,” which grossed a combined $24.5 million at the global box office.

Set in 1985 Los Angeles and inspired by the real-life serial killers that plagued the city like The Night Stalker, “MaXXXine” sports a higher budget and an ensemble cast that includes Elizabeth Debicki, Kevin Bacon and Giancarlo Esposito, who join series lead Mia Goth. The film is tracking for a $7 million extended opening from 2,200 theaters, topping the $4.2 million opening from 2,865 theaters that “X” earned in 2022.

Also hitting theaters is Angel Studios: “Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot,” a spiritual sequel to the studio’s breakthrough hit “Sound of Freedom,” which became one of the highest grossing indie hits of all time with $250 million grossed worldwide.

While receiving early praise from some critics — the film has a 100% Rotten Tomatoes score with 14 reviews logged — “Sound of Hope” is projected to gross only $4-6 million over the extended weekend, less than half of the $14 million that “Sound of Freedom” earned on its July 4 opening day alone.

Still, with a reported budget of just $8.5 million, “Sound of Hope” will be another low budget theatrical success for Angel Studios as it continues its plan to release four-five films per year on holiday weekends. Directed by Joshua Weigel and produced by Letitia Wright, “Sound of Hope” explores the crisis of child trafficking from a different perspective from “Sound of Freedom.” It tells the story of a church community in Possum Trot, Texas, that came together to ensure that the 77 children in a nearby orphanage dedicated to sheltering those rescued from traffickers would be adopted.

The post ‘Despicable Me 4’ Is Here to Keep the Box Office Red Hot appeared first on TheWrap.

Insiders at the studio say that the move is being done to help build word-of-mouth ahead of the critical holiday weekend, with fans of the “Wizard of Oz” prequel Broadway musical hopefully building post-release buzz that will draw in families and general audiences the following weekend and well into December.

“Wicked” will now hit theaters alongside Paramount’s “Gladiator II,” a film that is unlikely to have significant audience overlap with the musical as it is a sequel to Ridley Scott’s violent sword-and-sandals epic.

But more importantly, it gives the film distance from Disney’s “Moana 2,” which is looking more and more like it will be the sort of Thanksgiving hit that the animation studio provided in the late 2010s following the success of Pixar’s “Inside Out 2,” which proved that Disney could still drum up hype for its established IP as it became the fastest animated film to gross $1 billion worldwide.

Universal is putting heavy investment into its marketing campaign for “Wicked,” which began earlier this year with the debut of the film’s first trailer during the Super Bowl. At CinemaCon this past spring, “Wicked” served as the grand finale of Universal’s presentation to movie theater owners, with director Jon M. Chu and the film’s cast taking the stage to a colorful LED light show.

The cast is led by Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo as Glinda and Elphaba, the two young witches who will grow up to become the Good Witch of the North and the Wicked Witch of the West. It is rounded out by Jonathan Bailey, Michelle Yeoh, Peter Dinklage, Ethan Slater, and Jeff Goldblum.

The post ‘Wicked’ Moves Up 5 Days to Pre-Thanksgiving Weekend Release appeared first on TheWrap.

Released in 3,334 locations, the $100 million western epic – the first of a planned four films with the second chapter coming in August – grossed only $11 million this weekend, on target with its pre-release tracking that projected a $10-12 million start.

But more concerning for “Horizon” is the mixed word-of-mouth the film is receiving from audiences after getting a tepid 40% Rotten Tomatoes score from critics. The film received a B- on CinemaScore and an RT audience score of 69%, decreasing the likelihood that this opening weekend will springboard into a strong Fourth of July result in rural states that could allow it to leg out through the month.

Buying a ticket for “Horizon” isn’t the same as watching Costner on his hit series “Yellowstone” on linear or streaming TV. The early reception suggests that not everyone is buying in to Costner’s sprawling epic — “Horizon: Chapter 1” sports a three-hour running time.

While films like “Oppenheimer” and “Avatar: The Way of Water” have shown that long runtimes are not an insurmountable hurdle, Costner’s name recognition may not to get moviegoers on board for a cinematic saga that will have a miniseries-length time of 12 hours to play out if the star/director is able to complete it.

“It’s not like ‘Lord of the Rings’ which was based on a known book and got incredibly strong reviews,” Boxoffice Pro editor Daniel Loria said. “This is, at its core, an adult drama, and we’ve seen from ‘The Bikeriders,’ which has grossed $16 million through two weekends so far, just how much of an audience there is for adult dramas in theaters.”

Similar to how Francis Ford Coppola put his own money into his new film “Megalopolis” to bring it to fruition, Costner put down a reported $38 million of his own money for “Horizon: Chapter 1,” along with covering much of the film’s marketing costs. The rest of the film’s $100 million production budget came from a pair of anonymous investors and selling foreign distribution rights with assistance from sales company K5 International.

Domestically, Costner reached a deal with Warner Bros. to distribute the film prior to the Warner Bros. Discovery merger in 2022, a deal that post-merger motion picture group chiefs Pam Abdy and Michael De Luca maintained as it has worked to build Warner as a studio that works with top filmmakers like Denis Villeneuve, Tim Burton and Bong Joon-ho. But Warner Bros. isn’t paying for the marketing costs — that’s entirely on Costner.

Production has started on “Horizon: Chapter 3,” but Costner is still in search of funds to complete both that installment and keep cameras rolling for the fourth and final part. Putting his money and muscle where his mouth is, Costner has taken every effort to promote the film in the rural states that made “Yellowstone” a huge hit.

That includes a massive press tour, not just with the Hollywood trades and national publications, but local media in Utah, Texas, Wyoming, Oklahoma and other rural states. The hope is that the core “Yellowstone” audience – rural residents who skew older and male and who don’t always show up on opening weekend — will build buzz for the film that will help it endure outside of coastal location.

If it worked, that would be similar to how Angel Studios’ “Sound of Freedom” was championed by a portion of the country that didn’t feel catered to by what Hollywood is putting out.

Barring a completely unexpected Independence Day comeback fueled by word-of-mouth from those who did enjoy the film, “Horizon” is unlikely to get the sort of box office numbers that will probably be needed for Costner to convince financiers to put in the money to let him finish his planned four films.

Beyond the finances, there is one silver lining the “Field of Dreams” legend may take solace in. While Los Angeles remained the top performing city for “Horizon” due simply to the market’s size, the rest of the top five is significantly different than what is usually seen for summer studio films: Dallas, Phoenix, Houston and Salt Lake City.

Drilling down further into the top 10 performing theaters reveals a unique list: the top-grossing theater was the Larry Miller Pineview Stadium in St. George, Utah, followed by the Santikos Palladium in San Antonio. Three Harkins locations in Arizona are also on the list, with the only locations in the top 10 from major chains being a Regal Cinemas Warren theater in Moore, Oklahoma and the AMC Thoroughbred in Nashville, Tennessee.

All of these towns and states were areas where Costner heavily promoted the film — as Loria points out, “Horizon” also didn’t receive premium format support.

“From an exhibitor standpoint, the benefits that a film like ‘Horizon’ brings are only visible on a micro level rather than in the overall charts, but that doesn’t make it any less meaningful,” the Boxoffice Pro editor said. “Films like ‘Inside Out 2’ are huge for the theaters you see in the top 10 for ‘Horizon,’ no doubt. But Costner made a film that these rural theaters really benefit from because they appeal directly to their local audience.”

When Costner appeared before theater owners at CinemaCon this past spring to promote “Horizon” and receive a special award from the National Association of Theatre Owners, he spoke of how much he wanted to make this series specifically to be seen in theaters and to make the type of sweeping Western drama that he grew up watching on the big screen.

“Hopefully the people come and they keep coming and they binge your theaters,” Costner said. “There’s something in me that wanted to make this movie, and I never make one that I think won’t blow up.”

Costner received one of the loudest ovations of any of the stars that appeared at the exhibitor trade show. The detailed data for “Horizon” shows why. He has made a film that, while not doing big business on the charts, has contributed to the recent box office resurgence by bringing in moviegoers who might not be interested in films like “A Quiet Place: Day One” or “Despicable Me 4.”

That’s something for him to hang his Stetson on, even if his hopes of completing “Horizon: An American Saga” as he envisioned don’t end up being fulfilled.

The post Kevin Costner’s Big ‘Horizon’ Bet Falls Flat With $11 Million Opening Weekend appeared first on TheWrap.

Meanwhile, Paramount’s “A Quiet Place: Day One” provides theaters with exactly the variety it needs, earning a $53 million domestic opening weekend that tops its two predecessors in the horror franchise.

“Inside Out 2” earned $57.4 million domestically to take its third No. 1 weekend. While it will cede that top spot next weekend to Universal/Illumination’s “Despicable Me 4,” it is still on pace to pass “Incredibles 2” as the highest-grossing animated film ever at the North American box office and will have a strong chance of passing the $1.36 billion total earned by “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” last year.

Currently, “Inside Out 2” stands fifth on the all-time domestic animated films list with $469.3 million, while the international total stands at $545 million. It is the 11th animated film to cross the $1 billion mark, the eighth from Disney/Pixar.

“A Quiet Place: Day One” is setting its own franchise high with a $53 million domestic opening and $98.5 million worldwide. The domestic start surpasses the $50 million opening of the first “Quiet Place” before inflation adjustment, and excluding China, the global start is 20% ahead of that of “A Quiet Place — Part II” in 2021.

Like “Bad Boys: Ride or Die” before it, “A Quiet Place: Day One” is providing the box office with the critical secondary support needed for a healthy box office and should continue to serve as a solid alternative offering to the animated films on offer this long Fourth of July weekend. Audience reception for the film has been consistent with past “Quiet Place” films, earning a B+ on CinemaScore, 4/5 on PostTrak and 73% on Rotten Tomatoes.

The big misfire of the weekend is Warner Bros.’ “Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter 1,” which earned just $11 million from 3,334 theaters. Warner Bros. is only handling distribution on the film, which has a $100 million production budget financed by foreign sales and investors, along with $38 million directly from writer-director Kevin Costner.

That opening is consistent with pre-release tracking for “Horizon,” which is banking on strong word-of-mouth to let it leg out. But audience reception hasn’t been particularly strong, with a B- on CinemaScore and a 69% RT audience score. A second installment of “Horizon,” which Costner planned as a four-part saga, is set for release this August.

Sony’s “Bad Boys: Ride or Die” is in fourth with $10.3 million in its fourth weekend, passing $300 million worldwide as it stands at $165 million domestic and $332 million in global earnings. In fifth is the Indian Telugu film “Kalki 2898 AD” with a reported $5.4 million opening weekend. Released on Thursday, the film has earned $11.3 million over four days.

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