Overview of the US business for the week of June 15 Honoring Freedom Day 'Juneteenth'

Our roundup of Notable Industry News begins with an announcement by Marcus Theatres of their schedule to reopen their theatres.  Beginning on Friday, six Marcus theatres will re-open to the public, followed by all remaining 90 theatres by the end of July.   We report the anullment of the planned marriage between UK-based Cineworld, one of the largest exhibitors worldwide and parent company to Regal Cinemas, and Cineplex Entertainment, Canada's largest exhibitor. The merger was announced last December, but has become a casualty of the COVID-19 pandemic.  Cineworld claims that the increased debt that Cineplex has taken on during the shutdown has become a literal deal-breaker.   We link to an article from CNN Business on the continued experimentation by studios with straight-to-streaming releasing.  Last Friday, Universal released as a PVOD rental on streaming platforms its R-Rated comedy The King of Staten Island, starring SNL's Pete Davidson and directed by Judd Apatow. We also highlight a story from The Hollywood Reporter on how studio marketeers are using on-line media to promote their upcoming major theatrical releases during this time when the tried and true approaches of advertising on TV during live sporting broadcasts and in-theatre promotion are not available.

This week's Gower Street column explains the need exhibitors have for major new studio releases to bring audiences back to their theatres.  While some international markets have shown encouraging signs of recovery in movie going after re-opening, that enthusiasm is showing signs of fading in the absence of major new releases.

In the Hollywood Report, Martin Grove runs down the furious pace of change in studio releases, led on Friday by Warner Bros. announcement that it was pushing back Tenet by two weeks, moving from 7/17 to 7/31.  And the musical chairs began, as dates for a dozen or more major films from WB and other studios began to shift as well.   Perhaps, the more gradual ramp up in releases will lead to a more sustainable end result for studios and exhibitors.

We conclude with our regular film data tables. The Screendollars Weekly Film Calendar details studio releases for each week through the end of the summer.  We list the studio release changes this week, the MPAA's film ratings, and notable films premiering on VOD, Virtual Cinema and Streaming platforms. We also run down notable new trailers that dropped on-line this week.