Screendollars

Action films continue to propel the U.S. box office, led this week by the debut of The Wrath of Man from United Artists Releasing. The R-Rated heist story starring Jason Statham took in $8.1M at 2,875 locations across North America, a respectable debut for the well-reviewed thriller.   FUNImation's Demon Slayer the Movie: Mugen Train followed in second place with $3.0M at 2,100 locations, adding up to an impressive three-week cume of $39.6M for the anime import.  Warner Bros.' tandem of Mortal Kombat and Godzilla Vs. Kong continue to attract adrenaline-seeking moviegoers, with results from this weekend of $2.4M and $1.9M respectively.

Our Boxoffice Buzz video continues our two-part series previewing the upcoming slate of Summer 2021 Movies.

We begin our weekly news summary with last week's announcement by Cinemark that it has struck agreements with all five of the major studios in Hollywood that update distribution terms, including the length of exclusive theatrical runs. We highlight the results reported by ViacomCBS on the status of the rollout of Paramount+, including the expansion of feature film offerings to consumers, in which Paramount will be matching Netflix and Disney with a pledge to release one new movie each week on the platform.

The analysts from Gower Street provide their Global Box Office Tracker report to break down the $1.1B generated by the global box office during April, up from last month's $0.9B. Significant new Hollywood releases led the surge, especially in the rebounding U.S. market.

In the Hollywood Report, Martin Grove, discusses the turmoil at the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, with the rest of the film industry increasing their pressure to effect a change in the association's makeup and practices.

Our Studio Release Calendar provides the schedule for film releases through early August. We conclude with a list of the most recent studio release changes, MPAA film ratings announcements and important new trailers released last week.