Latest in Box Office

National Amusements, the Redstone family holding company, was placed on negative credit watch by ratings agency S&P Global after shares of ViacomCBS – which NAI uses as debt collateral – skidded so low over the past three weeks that the parent was in technical default on a bank loan. That’s a headache for NAI but also…

UPDATED with details of executive compensation plan: In an unusual move for a big public company and a bid to buck up the malingering stock, AMC’s 14 top executives including CEO Adam Aron agreed to slash their cash salary and bonuses for three years in exchange for stock that will only vest if the price doubles or…

Craig Ramsey, CFO of AMC Entertainment, addressed hot topics including the exhibitor’s flagging stock price and its outlook on the 2020 film slate, streaming and windows in an appearance at Citibank’s TMT West Conference. “Everybody’s been saying it’s not going to be as good a year” in 2020, Ramsey said. “Well, we’ll…

In an earnings call with analysts to discuss AMC Entertainment’s third-quarter results, CEO Adam Aron blasted National CineMedia’s new initiative placing advertisements closer to feature films. Starting last Friday, NCM began running a single 30- or 60-second “platinum spot” immediately before the “attached” one or…

In Cole Porter’s 1934 song Anything Goes, the composer noted, “In olden days, a glimpse of stocking/Was looked on as something shocking/But now, God knows/Anything goes.” Mr. Porter, meet Ryan Reynolds. Mimicking the grand old Hollywood tradition of congratulating a film for beating your box office record…

Cinemark CEO Mark Zoradi said what he called the “streaming craze” won’t hurt theatrical box office and recalls decades of previously perceived threats from the VCR and the internet. “I look back at history,” he said. “Even with all the technological changes, people adapt to them, they get used to them, they like…

Movie ticket prices fell 1% in both the second quarter and the first half of 2019, according to the latest figures from the National Association of Theatre Owners, but admissions and box office remain in the red. Average ticket prices came in at $9.26 in the second quarter, compared with $9.38 a year ago, with the…

When will the Sleeping Giant wake up? In the second half of every year for the past 10, the grown-up audience has opened its eyes, stretched its legs and gone to the movies in numbers big enough to make a certified hit of at least one non-animated, not-too-scary, non-sequel drama. If ascent to the year-end box office…

Shuffling past the beach trash cans lined with ads for Toy Story 4 (opening June 21), it was hard to avoid an idle thought: How long before the Producers Guild of America comes up with a spin-off to its annual Los Angeles and New York "Produced By" conferences, "Reproduced By"? Under way this weekend on the Warner…

A week and a half prior to the exhibitor-distributor love-in CinemaCon, the Motion Picture Association of America has released their annual entertainment industry report, showing that the theatrical and home ancillary sectors were vibrant at a record $96.8 billion in revenues in 2018, +9% over 2017. Global box office…

Every day, in every way, the movies are getting better and better. Or so you might think, based on a steady increase in RottenTomatoes.com critical scores for wide film releases during the past nine years. In a simple but intriguing exercise, movie marketing consultant David A. Gross recently calculated Rotten Tomatoes…

Lionsgate exceeded Wall Street forecasts for revenue in its fiscal second quarter, racking up $901 million, but saw profits hurt by charges related to shareholder litigation. On an adjusted diluted basis, earnings per share came in at 22 cents, which was also better than Wall Street estimates. But a net loss in the…