The flop of the '18 season is 'Welcome to Marwen', it took a $50m loss as it bombed at the B.O.
'Marwen' was the worst wide-release to open in 2018 and gave Universal a double-take as the prior week 'Mortal Engines' tanked and is expected to lose $125m after all is said and done.
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| B.O. Bomb of 2018 |
Exhibs had warned Universal that 'Marwen' was a dog in pre-show reviews so it was no surprise. I think 'Marwen" will come off of marquees this week to make way for more screens running 'Aquaman', 'Mary Poppins Returns', and 'Bumblebee'.
Union Town
For all of its rampant liberalism, H'wood is just another blue-collar, union town - be it the blue-collars wear custom jeans and drive high-end buggies.
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| President of Local 399 |
A shinning example of this is the local casting Directors Union, Teamsters Local 399 (and affiliated Local 817 in NYC) which represents about 500 casting directors/agents. Last week Teamsters inked a three year deal with the studios and networks. The deal had been postponed, as a West Coast Master Contract, for the 40,000 strong member, International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, was negotiated.
Call it what you will: union, guild, alliance, H'wood is a union town through and through.
The Bright Side
Even before the holiday B.O. kicked-in, the pre X-mas U.S. gross tallied a record $11.4b and put 2018 as the highest grossing year in cinema history.
Ticket prices also broke the record, with the average at $9.38, while attendance was up 4% over 2017.
As of today, Christmas, Disney led the B.O. take with 5 of the top 10 grossers. The high-impact, super heroes led the way with 'Black Panther' and 'Avergers' followed by action-animation with 'Incredibles 2'. 'Jurassic World' and 'Dead Pool' rounded-out the top 5, which together grossed $2.43b.
Event Cinema - Just Do It!
Movie theatres are more and more looking to live events and one-night screenings to bolster the Sunday-Thursday movie dead-space time-frame.
For 2018, Event Cinema, is anticipated to generate over $351m in B.O. gross and continue with an expected growth rate of 6% for 2019.
Events offered up are the Met Opera, Turner Classic Movies, professional boxing, National Live Theatre, the Bolshoi, and rock concerts from Coldplay, Bon Jovi, and One Direction.
All exhibs., lg. and small, should be looking at Event Cinema and Live Nation Entertainment as a mid-week alternative to films. Just Do It!
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So, that's it for now and I'll be contacting you next week - have a great New Year!
Yours,
Seymour
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