Screendollars

the week of February 10th. It's Oscar Night - we hope everyone delights in the red carpet arrivals outside the Dobly Theatre in Los Angeles and agrees (mostly) with the winners chosen by The Academy and announced inside.

For Oscar weekend, one new wide release opened in theatres - Warner Bros.' Birds of Prey starring Margot Robbie. The storyline for this superhero film comes out of the DC Comics Extended Universe, and is both a follow up to and spin-off from the successful Suicide Squad (2016). Birds of Prey brought in $33.3M in weekend ticket sales, an underperformance when compared with pre-release expectations which had been running at $50M or higher.  Sony's Bad Boys for Life continues to show strength, pulling in an additional $12M this weekend which now adds up to a 4-week total of $166.3M.  Universal's Oscar-favorite 1917 also continues with its long, successful run, tallying $9M this weekend, its seventh in theatres.

We begin our Industry News roundup by highlighting a report published last week of a survey conducted by Ernst and Young on the impact of streaming on theatrical movie going. The results show a parallel relationship between viewing content on streaming and going to theaters. In other words, a consumer who watches lots of films on-line is also likely to watch lots of films in theaters. We note an announcement by Showcase Cinemas of the appointment of company veteran Laura Correia to the role of Assistant VP of Film and Event Cinema. In the announcement, the exhibitor underscores the important opportunity for Event Cinema to drive movie going and revenue. We also cover articles about Disney and their approach to theatrical licensing and Netflix and an important aspect of their approach to content acquisition.

Gower Street's Rolling 8-Week Box Office Forecast now extends through the end of March 2020. They analysts at Gower are predicting two stellar $200M+ weeks to finish up March, based on the double whammy of Paramount's 3/20 opening of A Quiet Place, Part II and Disney's 3/27 opening of its live-action remanke of Mulan. In the Hollywood Report, Martin Grove identifies this year's abbreviated voting period for the Oscars as a key reason for the many "safe" choices that appear on track to win.  An abbreviated window between the date when nominations are announced and the date when votes are due back made it difficult for Academy members to see all the nominated films. 

We conclude with our regular film data and tables: the Weekly Film Calendar covering releases over the next six weeks, recently announced Studio Release Changes, a list of Upcoming Industry Screenings, the latest MPAA film ratings and a list of important new trailers released last week.

Screendollars helps exhibitors stay informed about the Hollywood film release calendar, industry news and how to maximize earnings from in-theater advertising. We encourage exhibitors to contact us to learn more about Screendollars in-theater advertising and marketing programs.