Lionsgate and Chinese online video platform iQIYI have entered a long-term output deal which will include the studio’s upcoming features as well as some library titles. The agreement is for SVOD, TVOD and AVOD streaming rights which iQIYI will have exclusively; it has also made a major promotional commitment. The pact…

UPDATED WRITETHRU, 10:42 AM: For the second frame in a row and following a sizable expansion, Fox's Ice Age: Collision Course leads the international studio weekend with $53.5M. Directed by Mike Thurmeier, the fifth film in the animated franchise took the total markets to 51 this session and brought the overseas nut…

UPDATE, WRITETHRU, Monday final 12:50 and 2:04 PM PST: Fox’s Independence Day Resurgence landed with a lesser than expected $100.1M start (down from the $102.13M Sunday estimate) overseas to take the No. 1 spot at the international box office this weekend. Roland Emmerich’s 20-years-later sequel invaded 58 markets and…

Lionsgate on Friday had its biggest opening day ever in China with Now You See Me 2, and is now looking at a record three-day. The sequel to the 2013 summer hit pulled $14.8M out of its hat yesterday in the Middle Kingdom — a magical increase of 790% in local currency and 679% in U.S. dollars versus the first film…

6TH UPDATE, Monday 5:16PM: Final weekend box office Warner Bros./New Line’s The Conjuring 2‘s actuals at the box office stayed in sync with its Sunday AM estimates of $40.4M. Several sources have told me inside and outside the studio that the film’s success can be attributed to director James Wan’s fanbase. The…

UPDATE, WRITETHRU, Monday, 4:47 PM: The full five-day China frame on Legendary/Universal’s Warcraft has come in at $156M (1.027B rmb). That sets a new Middle Kingdom opening weekend milestone, topping Avengers: Age Of Ultron and its 996M rmb start last year. Warcraft also set a speed record to 1B rmb — by a matter of…

The 2013 surprise hit Now You See Me was refreshing and fun and made lots of money for Lionsgate/Summit, so it’s no surprise that it has spawned a franchise with the arrival of the cleverly titled Now You See Me 2. If the movie magic that made the first one stand out has vanished with the new edition basically…

Starting with its June 10 release of Now You See Me 2, Lionsgate will no longer honor clearance requests from exhibitors on titles playing in a competitive zone. The distributor joins 20th Century Fox, Universal and Paramount — and even AMC Theatres — in this reformed booking practice. Essentially, if two exhibitors…

UPDATE, 4:55 PM: Las Vegas Metro police have given the all-clear at The Colosseum theater at Caesars Palace after a suspicious item prompted an evacuation during a screening of Now You See Me 2. Las Vegas Metro Police Officer Larry Hadfield told Deadline the suspicious item turned out not to be a threat. He did not…

A Tyler Perry sizzle reeled just played followed by the multi-hyphenate stepping on stage. He regaled the crowd how the idea was cracked for his Oct. 21 screening, Boo! A Madea Halloween. “In Chris Rock’s movie Top Five, he jokes about a Madea Halloween movie selling out with a line down the block. So I got a call…

Click here for full story about the evacuation of a screening of ‘Now You See Me 2’ at CinemaCon in Las Vegas

EXCLUSIVE: Fast-rising British actor Henry Lloyd-Hughes has been set to play tech whiz kid Allen Scott-Frank in Lionsgate’s heist sequel Now You See Me: The Second Act. Production is underway on the Jon M Chu-helmed pic that stars returning cast Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson, and Michael Caine along…