Latest in Hustlers

A column chronicling events and conversations on the awards circuit. “Thankful” reads the heading of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences’ latest email to members, the most recent in a series of messages being sent this month to urge members to see all the “great films, performances, and achievements of the…

A24’s Adam Sandler thriller Uncut Gems and Robert Eggers’ spooky black-and-white movie The Lighthouse led the Film Independent Spirit Awards nominations Thursday morning with five noms apiece, followed by Amazon’s Honey Boy scripted by Shia LeBeouf and based on his rocky childhood. For a fourth straight year, A24 lead…

At today's The Contenders L.A. panel on STX Entertainment's Hustlers, writer director Lorene Scafaria said Jennifer Lopez was the first choice to portray stripper Ramona in the film, based on a 2015 New York magazine story about a group of strippers who turned the tables on their corrupt Wall Street customers by…

4th Update, Sunday AM Final: w/chart You would think that in this day and age, the best place for a feature movie based on a popular TV series would be on a streaming service, right? But no, this weekend’s $31M opening of Focus Features and Carnival Films’ Downton Abbey continues to underscore the power of the big…

The naked breasts, erotic dancers and drugs being consumed in the film Hustlers have raised the eyebrows of the Malaysian Film Censorship Board, which has ruled that the scenes made the film “not suitable for public screening.” Malaysian distributor Square Box Pictures confirmed the ban on Instagram.  The film about…

We’ve been hearing for quite some time that the advance ticket sales for Focus Features’ big-screen take on the TV series Downton Abbey are just through the roof. On Fandango, presales for the Michael Engler-directed feature continue to best those of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again and The Gr…

U.S. box office hit Hustlers is heading to Germany and Austria after STXfilms struck a deal with the still-unnamed KKR-backed indie run by Fred Kogel. The German distributor is a merger between Tele München Group, Universum Film, i&u TV and Wiedemann & Berg Film. Pic will be released in Germany via Universum Film on…

UPDATE; writethru: New Line/Warner Bros' It Chapter Two had its second reading at the global and international box office this weekend, after screaming to the 2nd highest worldwide opening ever for a horror movie last session. With the sophomore frame's extra balloons, the franchise has now crossed $1B worldwide. The…

In the wake of a summer where Disney IP steamrolled over movies big and small, the industry wondered if we were truly living in a hell of haves and have-nots at the box office. Was it just all about event films succeeding on the big screen, with anything that was low-to-mid-budget counter-programming intended for…

2nd Updated writethru Sunday AM after 6:53 post: w/chart STX’s Jennifer Lopez stripper pic Hustlers is on its way to a $33.2M opening according to STX this morning, after a better then expected hold of $12.2M, -7%. Many forecasted that Saturday would be down 15% for Hustlers. As we saw a few weeks ago, and as we saw…

EXCLUSIVE: The buzzworthy stripper heist pic of sisterhood Hustlers will expand its reach to Spanish-speaking audiences thanks to the app TheaterEars. Theatergoers will be able to watch Jennifer Lopez and Constance Wu in the Lorene Scafaria-directed pic in Spanish by just using their smartphone and headphones…

The box office heat surrounding STXfilms’ Jennifer Lopez stripper crime pic Hustlers is real, and has been so since it hit tracking on August 22, with projections spotting that this could be the actress’ biggest live action opening with $25M-$30M since her 2005 comedy Monster-in-Law ($23.1M). That opening record would…