In what has become a tradition, Universal is kicking off the summer in the middle of April with its eighth Fast and Furious title in the 16-year-old franchise. The Fate of the Furious opens this weekend, and in regards to its theatrical debut, it will be a shot heard around the world with an opening between $375M on…

EXCLUSIVE: Bollywood actor Ali Fazal (Happy Bhaag Jayegi, Furious 7) has boarded Stephen Frears’ Victoria and Abdul opposite the previously announced Judi Dench in the Working Title-BBC-Focus Features pic. Fazal takes the role of Abdul Karim, the young servant from India who became an unlikely confidant and teacher to…

The Fast and the Furious, the film that started it all, will receive a limited release in about 1,500 theaters to celebrate the pic’s 15th anniversary on Wednesday, June 22. That’s the date when the Rob Cohen-directed movie opened in 2001. Universal made the news official this morning just as tickets are hitting the…

When it comes to evaluating the financial performance of top movies, it isn't about what a film grosses at the box office. The true tale is told when production budgets, P&A, talent participations and other costs collide with box office grosses and ancillary revenues from VOD to DVD and TV. To get close to that mysteri…

It says something about Abu Dhabi’s appeal that the emirate could attract two of the biggest franchises in film history to the Middle East at a time when the region is undergoing unprecedented upheaval. Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Furious 7 both filmed significant, and vastly different, sequences in the UAE’s…

The full list of winners from tonight’s People’s Choice Awards have been announced. The ceremony, broadcast live on CBS from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles and hosted by Jane Lynch, saw Furious 7 as the single biggest winner in the film category, with the Universal hit winning twice for Favorite Movie and…

Vin Diesel has long been the public face of Universal’s enormous Fast and Furious franchise, and that’s been especially true since the tragic death of Paul Walker over Thanksgiving weekend 2013. So it is that Vin Diesel was the one to give the acceptance speech when the latest film in the series, Furious 7, was twice…

Who were the top draws at the international box office in 2015 in terms of overall film grosses? Hint: a lot of them came from a single franchise. But there are some surprises in the mix. The data for the Top 20 was provided to Deadline by Box Office Analyst's Robert Mitchell. Departing from previous years, we’ve…

For the first time ever, the worldwide box office crossed the $38B mark in 2015. The record-setting year globally comes at the same time as the domestic box office hit a new high of $11.01B. And, as China ended 2015 with a 48.7% year-on-year increase to $6.77B. Rentrak reports that it culled data from more than 125K…

The Chinese government released official box office figures for the year late Thursday night, showing a 48.7% hike from 2014 to over 44B yuan ($6.77B). This is the highest percentage increase since 2011, media authority SAPPRFT said. Industry execs believe China will overtake North America as the world's biggest box…

EXCLUSIVE: Given the number of tentpoles and sequels the studios were churning out, we predicted two years ago that 2015 was going to be a stellar box office year. And now, the industry is poised to top $11 billion domestically for the first time. That’s noteworthy unto itself, but here is another incredible stat…

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has unveiled a list of 20 films in the running for the Best Visual Effects Oscar at the 88th Academy Awards. It’s the maximum number allowed for the VFX shortlist, under a new Academy rule. Seven of the 10 domestic top-grossing films of 2015 made the list, and three — In…