News

Exclusive: Fresh off acclaimed genre pic The Substance, Margaret Qualley has been set to star in psychological horror-thriller Victorian Psycho, which Anton is launching ahead of next week’s American Film Market.

It’s a strong premise for the in-demand Qualley. Set in 1858, the film will follow a young, eccentric governess named Winifred Notty (Qualley) who arrives at the remote gothic manor known as Ensor House. Winifred’s responsibilities include teaching the children table manners and educating them about their family’s history, all whilst hiding her psychopathic tendencies. As Winifred assimilates into life at Ensor House, staff members begin to inexplicably disappear, and the owners of the estate begin to wonder if there is something amiss about their new governess.

Zachary Wigon (Sanctuary) is directing from a script by author Virginia Feito (Mrs. March), based on her upcoming novel of the same name. Production is set to begin in...

Netflix customers will be able to add even more Universal movies to their queue with the studio’s live-action titles coming to the streamer in the U.S. starting with the 2027 slate.

Netflix and NBCUniversal’s Universal Filmed Entertainment Group announced a deal to renew their existing licensing deal for animated films from Illumination and DreamWorks Animation. Now, beginning with the 2027 slate, Netflix will have U.S. rights to live-action films from both Universal Pictures and Focus Features “no later than eight months” following their theatrical release.

After the Universal films’ initial premiere on NBCU’s Peacock, Netflix will have a 10-month window during which these films are available only on Netflix — before they return to Peacock. Netflix will also license rights to Universal’s full animation and live-action film slate for additional windows in subsequent years as well as rights to select titles from Universal’s film library, the companies said.

When Universal’s “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” opened in December 2022, the “Shrek” spinoff sputtered to a $12.4 million debut. Then, something miraculous happened. Thanks to TikTok and solid buzz, the animated adventure about the swashbuckling cat enjoyed nine lives on the big screen. Ticket sales barely declined week over week, and “The Last Wish” ended its run with $186 million domestically — 15 times its opening weekend — and $481 million globally.

Universal experienced this phenomenon again with Illumination’s “Migration,” which had a disappointing $12.4 million start around Christmas 2023. The cartoon tale about a family of mallards sustained momentum and flew to $127 million in North America — more than 10 times its debut — and nearly $300 million worldwide. (The average film has a 3 or 4 multiple — industry parlance for the ratio of final gross to opening weekend.) “Puss in Boots 2” and “Migration” hold the two highest animated multiples of the past 20 years.

Now, it’s happening once more...

Illumination founder and CEO Chris Meledandri is set to receive the Producers Guild of America’s David O. Selznick Achievement Award.

Meledandri will be honored at the 2025 PGA Awards, set for Feb. 8 at the Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles. The boss of the animation company behind the Despicable Me franchise is only the second animation producer to receive the Selznick Award after John Lasseter received the honor in 2009.

Earlier recipients of the David O. Selznick Award also include Steven Spielberg, Barbara Broccoli, Mary Parent, Charles Roven, Brian Grazer, David Heyman, Kevin Feige and, most recently, Martin Scorsese. Meledandri, who launched Illumination in 2007, in a statement paid tribute to the filmmakers that came before him and paved the way for his own career.

“Early in my career, I was fortunate enough to work with legendary filmmakers who taught me the intricacies of storytelling, production and connecting with an audience. Their...

Chris Meledandri, founder and CEO of the animation powerhouse Illumination, will be honored with the David O. Selznick Achievement Award at the 36th Annual Producers Guild Awards, the guild announced Thursday.

Meledandri’s credits include “Despicable Me,” the Oscar-nominated “Despicable Me 2,” “The Lorax,” “Minions,” “The Secret Life of Pets,” “Sing,” “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” and “Migration.”

“The extraordinary vision and innovation Chris brings to animated feature films has not only captivated audiences of all ages but also been instrumental in reshaping the entertainment landscape,” PGA presidents Donald De Line and Stephanie Allain said in a joint statement. “His hands-on, meticulous approach to producing has resulted in the rare accomplishment of record-breaking films and beloved franchises. We are proud to honor Chris with this prestigious award as a leader in both the animation industry and our industry as a whole.”

Meledandri stated, “Being recognized by my peers with the...

RankFilm (distributor)Three-day gross (Oct 18-20)Total gross to dateWeek 1. The Wild Robot (Universal) £3.1m £3.3m 1 2. Smile 2 (Paramount) £1.7m £2m 1 3. The Apprentice (Studiocanal) £643,434 £746,303 1 4. Transformers One (Paramount) £642,000 £2.8m 2 5. Terrifier 3 (Signature)

£561,752 £2.2m 2

Gbp to Usd conversion rate: 1.30

Universal animation The Wild Robot opened top of the UK-Ireland box office, with a £3.1m weekend.

Chris Sanders’ family feature, that has a voice cast including Lupita Nyong’o, Pedro Pascal and Kit Connor, played in 675 cinemas, taking a £4,591 site average. Including previews, the film has £3.3m. It is slightly down on the £3.6m start of another original Universal animation, Migration, from February this year.

Worldwide box office October 18-20 Rank Film (distributor) 3-day (world) Cume (world) 3-day (int’l) Cume (int’l) Territories 1. Smile 2 (Paramount) $46m $46m $23m $23m 63 2. The Wild Robot (Universal) $33.3m $196m $23.2m $94.3m 77 3. Joker: Folie a Deux (Warner Bros) $16.9m $191.9m $14.7m $135.5m 79 4. Terrifier 3 (various) $12.3m $44.8m $3m $8.6m 10 5. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (Warner Bros) $8.7m $434.6m $3.7m $150.6m 75 6. The Volunteers: To The War 2 (various)

$8.5m $154.5m $8.5m $154.5m 2 7. L’Amour ouf (Studiocanal) $6.6m $6.6m $6.6m $6.6m 1 8. The Substance (Mubi) $5.2m $42.1m $4.3m $28.7m 36 9. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets (Warner Bros) $4.7m $4.7m $4.7m $4.7m 1 10. Transformers One (Paramount) $4.6m $119m $2.6m $62.4m 71

Credit: Comscore.

Worldwide box office October 11-13 RankFilm (distributor)3-day (world)Cume (world)3-day (int’l) Cume (int’l)Territories 1. The Wild Robot (Universal) $37.5m $148.5m $24.1m $64.7m 56 2. Joker: Folie À Deux (Warner Bros) $29.8m $165.3m $22.7m $113.7m 78 3. Terrifier 3 (various) $23.1m $23.1m $4.9m $4.9m 8 4. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (Warner Bros) $11.7m $420.3m $4.6m $144.7m 77 5. The Volunteers: To The War 2 (various) $10.7m $139.7m $10.7m $139.7m 2 6. Transformers One (Paramount)

$13.8m $27.1m $13.8m $27.1m 71 7. Harry Potter And The Sorcerer’s Stone (Warner Bros) $6.6m $6.6m $6.6m $6.6m 1 8. The Substance (Mubi) $6.2m $33.4m $5.1m $21.8m 34 9. My Hero Academia: You’re Next (various) $5.4m $29.8m $2.4m $26.8m 67 10. Piece By Piece...

Refresh for latest…: After its sadly disappointing start last weekend, Warner Bros and Todd Phillips’ Joker: Folie à Deux is still a sad clown, adding an estimated $22.7M from 77 international box office markets this session (a 70.5% drop). The overseas running cume now stands at $113.7M and the worldwide total is currently $165.3M through Sunday. The outlook offshore is about a $150M final.

New this session was Japan where Joker 2 was the top U.S. title with $2.4M. The Top 5 overseas to date are the UK ($11.8M), Germany ($7.9M), Italy ($7.6M), Mexico ($7.4M) and France ($7.1M). China still has to release, but we’re not expecting firecrackers. The Imax total to date is $13.5M global, of which international is $7.3M.

Onward.

The wild run of Universal/DreamWorks Animation’s The Wild Robot continues as its staggered rollout added 19 markets including France, Spain, Italy and Brazil this session. The offshore...

The Perfect Couple shot to the top overall spot in Nielsen’s streaming rankings for its premiere week.

The murder mystery limited series, which stars Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber and Dakota Fanning, accumulated 1.91 billion minutes of viewing for the week of Sept. 2-8 (it premiered on Sept. 5). That’s the fifth highest total for any original series premiere week on the streaming charts this year, behind Fool Me Once (3.04 billion minutes), Fallout (2.9 billion), Bridgerton (2.76 billion) and Netflix’s live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender (2.56 billion).

The Perfect Couple was one of five titles to record more than a billion minutes of viewing for the week. The others are Netflix’s movie Rebel Ridge (1.11 billion), Family Guy (1.06 billion), Prison Break (1.05 billion) — which had been the overall No. 1 for the previous four weeks — and The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (1.02 billion), which was even with its season two premiere a week earlier.

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

In a year that has provided its fair share of disappointments at the box office, it's always nice when we get to talk about something good that happened -- if not something downright great, in this particular case. Indeed, DreamWorks and Universal's "The Wild Robot" debuted in theaters this past weekend, taking in $35 million at the domestic box office. That blew past industry expectations, in no small part thanks to the stellar reviews and word of mouth. It also set a new high-bar for non-franchise animation in the pandemic era.

That $35 million figure represents the very top end of the most optimistic projections heading into the weekend. "The Wild Robot" also pulled in $18 million overseas for a $53 million global start. To say that it is difficult to open a non-franchise animated film in the pandemic era would be an understatement.

Updated: We’re in a bit of a getting going/holdover situation for the studios this weekend at the international box office. There are two animated films continuing to roll out in the marketplace — both of which are highly scored, and performing to differing degrees.

To wit: Paramount/Hasbro’s Transformers One added $16.6M in 61 markets this frame, taking the offshore total to $32.8M. Globally, the animated movie is at $72M. Still to open are Germany, UK and France. Universal/DreamWorks Animation’s The Wild Robot also continued its staggered release to add 21 markets this session. In 29 total, the frame was $9.9M for an overseas cume of $18.1M and $53.1M globally.

Before we get into detail on those titles, the international winner this frame was Telugu action epic Devara Part 1 with an estimated $27.8M overseas and $32.9M globally, per comScore. Starring Ntr Jr, Janhvi Kapoor and Saif Ali Khan,...

Universal and DreamWorks Animation’s “The Wild Robot” landed in first place on box office charts, taking flight on the higher end of expectations with $35 million from 3,962 venues. Meanwhile, Francis Ford Coppola‘s sci-fi epic “Megalopolis” collapsed in its box office debut, collecting an anemic $4 million from 1,854 North American theaters.

Ticket sales for “Megalopolis” were less than initial projections of $5 million to $7 million, which would have been financially disastrous for the $120 million-budgeted film. By comparison, Kevin Costner’s mostly self-funded $100 million-budgeted passion project “Horizon: An American Saga – Part One” arrived to $11 million over the summer before tapping out with $36 million worldwide. As a result, plans to release “Part Two” were indefinitely paused.

With poor word of mouth (the film received a “D+” grade on CinemaScore), “Megalopolis” opened in sixth place behind three holdover titles and the Indian Telugu-language action film “Devara: Part 1.” Reviews have been wildly divisive with the...

“The Wild Robot,” Universal and DreamWorks Animation’s latest family-friendly, animated adventure, has made $1.95 million in Thursday previews at the box office so far.

Director Chris Sanders’ movie, about a lost robot on a planet overrun by wildlife, is on track to make between $24 million to $30 million in its opening weekend. That should be enough to claim the top slot from Warner Bros.’ spooky sequel, “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” which has been the No. 1 movie for the past three weeks. Tim Burton’s film should take second place in its frame week of release, with an estimated $13 million to $15 million this weekend. Last week’s newcomer, Paramount’s animated origin story “Transformers One,” will have to settle for third place, with a projected $12 million to $14 million after opening in second place last weekend.

“The Wild Robot” stars Lupita Nyong’o as the titular automaton, who is named Rozzum unit 7134 but better known as Roz.

You are reading an exclusive WrapPRO article for free. Want to level up your entertainment career? Go here for more information.

“The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” debuted its second season as Nielsen’s No. 2 most-watched streaming program in the last week of August.

The Prime Video series, which released the first three episodes of Season 2 on Thursday, Aug. 29, logged 1.015 billion minutes viewed across its 11 existing episodes during the interval of Aug. 26-Sept. 1, according to Nielsen. “The Rings of Power” stood as the most-watched original streaming show during the week, but was outpaced on the overall streaming list by “Prison Break.”

“Prison Break,” which has been gaining traction since it was added to Netflix in late July, continued its reign atop the overall streaming list for a fourth consecutive week, this time racking up 1.188 billion viewing minutes across Netflix and Hulu. Viewership for “Prison Break” saw a...

The second season of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power opened to big viewing numbers in the United States — just not as big as its first season.

The Prime Video series amassed 1.02 billion minutes of viewing in the United States for the week of Aug. 26-Sept. 1, good for first place among original series and second among all titles in Nielsen’s streaming rankings. Season two premiered on Aug. 29 with three episodes, and Nielsen says about 70 percent of the show’s weekly total was for those three, with the remainder devoted to season one. (Viewing totals on the ratings service’s charts cover all episodes of a series.)

The 1.02 billion minutes is down about 19 percent from season one’s opening week (1.25 billion) in August 2022. The Rings of Power ranks third among Prime Video series U.S. opening weeks this year behind Fallout (2.9 billion minutes) and The Boys (1.19 billion...

Francis Ford Coppola’s sci-fi epic “Megalopolis,” the director’s self-funded passion project, is tracking to a disappointing $5 million to $7 million box office debut.

The film, released by Lionsgate, is expected to play at 1,700 North American theaters in its opening weekend. A single-digit start would be underwhelming for a movie that cost above $100 million to produce.

Coppola has a lot riding on “Megalopolis” because the 85-year-old “Godfather” and “Apocalypse Now” director ended up independently financing the film for $120 million. After its Cannes Film Festival premiere, Lionsgate agreed to release and market the movie in exchange for a distribution fee.

“Megalopolis” is set in a futuristic America and follows an architect (Adam Driver) who clashes with the corrupt mayor (Giancarlo Esposito) in determining how to rebuild the metropolis of New Rome after a disaster. Reviews have been wildly divisive (it holds a 50% on Rotten Tomatoes), which could stoke interest in the film.

“Blink Twice” (Amazon MGM), actress Zoë Kravitz’s feature directorial debut with Channing Tatum as a tech billionaire who invites a cocktail waitress to his private island, was a modest performer in theaters last month. Its opening weekend only reached #4 at the box office, earning $7 million, with the full run amounting to $22 million.

Flash forward a few weeks, and it is #1 for its debut week in PVOD. It jumped to the top even as three other new releases (all weaker performers) also made at least one of the two top 10 lists below.

Netflix continues to find appeal for its recent originals, with four films in its top five. These though were trumped by “The Garfield Movie,” the latest Sony release to transition to the streamer four months after release. Azazel Jacobs’ “His Three Daughters” (premiering at Toronto Film Festival last year and garnering an excellent 84 Metacritic score) is top among...

Updated: Paramount/Hasbro Entertainment’s Transformers One is out of the gate with a $39M global start. From just 50 international box office markets (representing only 40% of the overseas footprint), the first animated Transformers movie in close to 40 years grossed $14M.

The Josh Cooley-directed origins story came in below projections domestically and international is off to a softer start than hoped.

While there are still major markets to come including Brazil, Italy, Korea, China, Germany, UK and France, it’s still a bit of a head-scratcher that the offshore opening wasn’t bigger given reviews, word of mouth and how much perceived anticipation there has been for the movie. A work-in-progress screening at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival had the room on its feet in June. However, we are hearing about general softness in the marketplace — and the back-to-school period can be a tricky one. The hope here is...

Optimus Prime and Megatron put up a fight, but in the end, the robots were no match for everyone’s favorite bio-exorcist.

After an unusually close box office race, “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” emerged victorious over newcomer “Transformers One” to retain the No. 1 spot for three consecutive weekends. The spooky Warner Bros. sequel added a strong $26 million from 4,172 theaters, bringing its tally to $225 million domestically and $329.7 million globally.

Meanwhile, “Transformers One” kicked off behind expectations with $25 million from 3,978 venues. It’s a meager start for Paramount and Hasbro’s animated movie, which cost $75 million and was targeting a start of $30 million to $40 million. It only brought in $14 million internationally for a worldwide total of $39 million. Chris Hemsworth, Brian Tyree Henry and Scarlett Johansson lead the voice cast of “Transformers One,” the franchise’s first theatrical animated film since 1986’s “The Transformers: The Movie.” That film was a box office disappointment, though its...

AMC made a bet earlier this year that licensing a number of its shows to Netflix would help them find more viewers. That bet appears to have paid off.

Two AMC shows, Dark Winds and A Discovery of Witches, are among the top 10 streaming titles for the week of Aug. 19-25. They were added to Netflix at the beginning of that week as part of a deal struck in July to place about a dozen AMC shows on the service, complete with branding as the “AMC Collection.” (The shows will be available for 12 months.)

It’s not new territory for AMC, which partially credited Netflix for a huge spike in ratings for Breaking Bad’s final season and has also licensed The Walking Dead and Better Call Saul, among others, to the streamer in the past.

Dark Winds drew 929 million minutes of viewing for the week, good for fourth place overall.

When Disney released its new version of “The Lion King” in 2019, the company was quick to describe it as the live-action version of the beloved 1994 original.

Director Jon Favreau, who made a Christmas classic in “Elf” and jumpstarted the Marvel Cinematic Universe with “Iron Man,” was covered by the Directors Guild of America, which afforded him insurance and incentives, along with profit participation. One reported estimate had the director earning $60 million from his involvement in the film, which grossed $1.66 billion worldwide.

But this version of “The Lion King” wasn’t live-action — it was fully animated. And directors of animated films are not traditionally covered by the DGA, hence the push to categorize this feature as “live-action.”

The DGA has long kept animation directors out of the guild. And the chasm between the benefits afforded to live-action directors and animation directors is a growing source of frustration within the filmmaking community.

Maybe there’s hope for quality Netflix originals apart from its awards contenders. “Rebel Ridge,” a topical thriller about an ex-Marine confronting a corrupt small-town sheriff, is #1 at Netflix. It stars Aaron Pierre — who stepped into the role after John Boyega walked off the production in June 2021. A respected actor and ascendant star, Pierre is not a household name like Mark Wahlberg or Adam Sandler or Eddie Murphy, all of whom recently took Netflix originals to #1.

Nor is it a flashy drama, or a big-budget production. Its director, Jeremy Saulnier, most recently directed “Hold the Dark” for Netflix in 2018 (along with a couple of episodes of “True Detective”). IndieWire has watched his career for years, but directors like these also have wound up at Netflix making films that lack edginess or creativity. This seems like a happy exception. Its success suggests that well-crafted stories driven by substantial characters can be popular,...

“Twisters” (Universal) wasn’t the biggest film of the summer. But it is becoming the comeback kid among the group, both theatrically and at home.

The tornado-focused special effects disaster film just had a very rare weekend in theaters. In its seventh weekend, losing 200 screens, its gross increased 17 percent. That comes in its third week at home on PVOD. And right at the same time, “Twisters” returned to #1 at iTunes, edging out the second weekend of “Inside Out 2” (Disney), 2024’s biggest hit.

The Pixar film retains its top spot at Fandango, with the advantage that its $24.99 rental cost gives it with that site listing by revenue earned, not transactions like iTunes does. In any event, the split decision this week continues a now multi-month trend of no film placing #1 at both for two consecutive weeks.

After a rare repeat at Netflix, where Mark Wahlberg and Halle Berry’s...

“Inside Out 2” (Disney), the biggest domestic movie since “Top Gun: Maverick” in 2022, finally arrived at home. Released in theaters June 10, it still ranked #10 at the box office last weekend — which is probably why it could debut with a $24.99 three-day rental and take first place at both iTunes (which ranks by transactions) and Fandango (ranking by revenue).

This week Netflix had three of its own original films among the top four, led by “The Union” starring Mark Wahlberg and Halle Berry. The secret agent comedy-thriller is #1 for the second week, uncommon among Netflix Originals.

VOD charts also saw Neon’s low-budget sleeper success “Longlegs” place third at both sites. This came after six weeks of strong theatrical success, with $73 million so far.

Unusually, iTunes and Fandango shared the same top four films. “Twisters” (Universal), last week’s #1, is second at both, while “Despicable Me 4” (Universal) is fourth.

‘Oddity’

Also...

If you're scrolling through your streaming services and think there's nothing good to watch, you're in luck. There's actually plenty of new movies and shows to watch on Netflix that might be a bit under your radar. To that point, there's also a slew of recent releases to catch up in case you've fallen behind thanks to school, work, or just life in general.

True crime documentary series American Murder: Laci Peterson remains the No. 1 show on Netflix going into the Aug. 23 weekend. The gripping docuseries arrived one week ahead of Peacock's own docuseries on the same case. For something a little lighter, Emily in Paris also remains in the top 10 following the release of the highly anticipated season 4 part 1.

Even more shows are burning up the top 10 ranking, including AMC titles like Dark Winds, A Discovery of Witches, and Anne Rice's Mayfair Witches and the latest part of That '90s Show.

Say what you will about big movies bypassing the theatrical experience, but this week's most-watched Netflix titles make one thing clear: star power still matters, even on streaming. Case in point: "The Union," a new Netflix Original movie starring Halle Berry and Mark Wahlberg that's been climbing the viewership charts since its release last week, according to streaming chart data site FlixPatrol.

Action rom-com "The Union" is currently beating away the rest of the competition on Netflix's top 10 most-watched list, which as of publication time is mostly made up of family films like "The Super Mario Bros. Movie," "Migration," and "Trolls Band Together." Kids who demand a dozen rewatches of their animated favorites clearly have nothing on grown-ups who have been itching to see Berry back in action for the first time in a few years, though.

Berry's only appeared in two other films since 2019's "John Wick: Chapter 3,...

It's officially August 2024, and Netflix has already released many new shows and movies on its platform this month. At the top of the month, the streamer released several family movies. We're talking new and old, licensed and original. These movies are perfect to watch when you want to spend quality time with the family.

If you and your family are having a hard time figuring out what to watch on movie night, you don't have to struggle any longer because we shared a list below of six family movies on Netflix that we believe the whole family will enjoy! Five of the films we're about to list were released on Netflix at the very beginning of August, while the last one is set to hit Netflix later this month.

Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie (2024)

Texas-loving squirrel scientist Sandy Cheeks finally got her own movie! In Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie,...

Netflix has several television and film selections from which to choose as we enter the last full month of summer. Several animated films like Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie (2024) and Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax (2012) provide a way to hold onto the season, especially with their focus on the ocean, summer sun and the environment.

Other films provide an escape from the back-to-school dread that some might be feeling, whether it be the Oscar-winning VFX in Godzilla Minus One/Minus Color or the antics in Migration, there are many options. Pearl even gives an early taste of all things spooky.

Below find the best seven movies streaming on Netflix in August 2024:

Godzilla Minus One Minus Color – August 1

‘Godzilla Minus One’ black and white Japanese poster

The Oscar-winning film stripped of its color will land on the streamer August 1. The visual effects of the film beat Guardians of the Galaxy 3, Napoleon,...

Sunday Update: Marvel/Disney’s Deadpool & Wolverine has shredded expectations, opening to $438.3M worldwide. The international box office portion is $233.3M with domestic at $205M.

As Anthony has reported, this is the biggest R-rated opening of all time domestically; it’s also tops globally, surpassing Deadpool ($264M in like-for-like markets excluding China at current rates), as well as internationally, overtaking Joker ($147M) on a like-for-like basis at current rates. Further, this is the biggest worldwide and international opening of the year, and tops since Avatar: The Way of Water in 2022.

The MCU has now surpassed $30B worldwide ($30.3B).

Overseas, where all markets opened, BFFs Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman front the No. 1 non-local movie everywhere. The start (excluding China where the previous films did not release) is 56% ahead of Deadpool and 50% above Deadpool 2. D&w is also 37% ahead of Joker.

In Germany, the UK, Australia, Netherlands, Hong Kong, Taiwan and many smaller markets,...

If Peak TV has flown the coop, nobody told Peacock.

Every major streaming service released less content during April-June 2024 than they did during the same period in 2023 except for Peacock, according to a HarrisX study performed for the media analysts at MoffettNathanson. The NBCUniversal streaming service released eight new, original seasons of TV in Q2 of 2024 — the same as it did in the second quarter last year.

Over the past three months, Netflix released 92 original seasons, down from 97 in the same period last year. Amazon released 34 seasons, down from 37; Hulu put out 14 seasons, down from 16; Max and Paramount+ both released 19 original seasons, down from 23 and 22, respectively.

The big decline came from Disney+, which put out 16 original seasons in Q2 2024, down from 30. You’re sleeping, beauties.

Anyway, the Peacock consistency seems to be working. The streamer enjoyed the quarter’s best penetration of U.S. households, growing 220 basis points to 21 percent.

UK-Ireland box office takings for 2024 were down 7% in the first six months of the year compared to the same period in 2023.

A strong Q1 from January to March saw takings up 9%, but that fell back in Q2 from April to June, when takings dropped 21%, according to figures supplied by Comscore.

The total UK-Ireland box office for the first six months of 2024 was £451.6m, compared to £486.6m in 2023.

Only three of the 10 highest-grossing titles in the first half of the year were released in Q2 – Disney’s Pixar animation Inside Out 2 (£34.8m in this time), action title Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes...

Stars: Jack Black, Awkwafina, Viola Davis, Bryan Cranston, James Hong, Ian McShane, Ke Huy Quan, Ronny Chieng, Lori Tan Chinn, Dustin Hoffman | Written by Jonathan Aibel, Glenn Berger, Darren Lemke | Directed by Mike Mitchell, Stephanie Ma Stine

Cuddly Kung Fu master Po the Panda returns to the big screen for a fourth instalment of the animated action comedy franchise, eight years after Kung Fu Panda 3. Unfortunately, it’s fair to say that the law of diminishing returns has very much kicked in, because while the film is entirely amiable, it doesn’t quite deliver the same punch, and frequently feels like it’s going through the motions.

The film begins in the Valley of Peace, where Po (Jack Black) is content with his life as the legendary Dragon Warrior, occasionally defeating the odd villain with his sweet kung-fu skills and using his standing in the community to open a tofu-and-noodle shop.

In the trailer for Prime Video’s Jackpot, John Cena and Awkwafina discover what it would be like if The Purge was real but only for people who play the lottery. Out Aug. 15, the film follows Awkwafina’s Katie — the proud owner of a winning lottery ticket with a bounty on her head — and Cena’s Noel, the amateur jackpot protector tasked with keeping her alive.

Jackpot takes place in 2030, only six years into the future, but it still feels a bit too close for comfort. Based in Los Angeles,...

In Despicable Me 4, the latest installment of Illumination Studio’s popular franchise, Gru (a winning Steve Carell) confronts the subtle villainy of suburban life. There’s something about the charmed aesthetics of Mayflower that doesn’t sit right. Maybe it’s the near-identical cottage-style homes, all painted the same shade of eggshell white and retrofitted with pristine pools; or perhaps it’s the residents, a wealthy and entitled bunch bent on excluding the unfamiliar. Whatever the reason, the vibes are certainly off.

Directed by Chris Renaud from a screenplay by The White Lotus creator Mike White and franchise stalwart Ken Daurio, Despicable Me 4 is a reliable follow-up for this financially dependable series. A new setting, new villain and new characters, including Gru and Lucy’s newborn Gru Jr., serve up enough fun and antics that will satisfy existing fans. The plot can sometimes feel like a chaotic melange stretched too thin,...

Clockwise from top left: Deadpool & Wolverine, Fly Me To The Moon, Twisters, Despicable Me 4, and DIDIPhoto: Focus Features, Melinda Sue Gordon (Universal Pictures; Warner Bros. Pictures & Amblin Entertainment), Apple

Continuing this year’s running theme, July is light on tentpoles and new releases. It’s still a byproduct...

The box office needed a hero, and that hero was Pixar. The storied animation house returned to the big screen this past weekend with its first sequel since 2019 in the form of "Inside Out 2." While tracking indicated that director Kelsey Mann's film was going to be a hit, the film ended up shattering expectations to instantly become one of the biggest hits of 2024. Not to get too ahead of ourselves here, but it now has a real shot at finishing the year as one of the three highest-grossing movies globally — if not the single biggest.

"Inside Out 2" opened to an estimated $155 million domestically to go with $140 million internationally, making for a whopping $295 million global start. That makes it not only the largest global opening of 2024, but it now ranks as the biggest global opening ever for an animated film. While Pixar's "Incredibles 2" had a higher domestic...

Mediawan Kids & Family is unveiling a raft of prestige animated feature projects at the Annecy Film Festival, including “Meow-woof” by Louis Clichy (“Asterix: The Secret of the Magic Potion”) and “Twisted” by Lino Disalvo (“Playmobil”).

Emmanuel Jacomet, who worked for over a decade alongside Aton Soumache and Dimitri Rassam on high profile IP’s such as “The Little Prince,” “Miraculous Ladybug” and “Playmobil,” took over the film division of Mediawan Kids & Family under a year ago with the ambition to develop a mix of mainstream franchise-based projects and auteur-driven 2D titles.

The executive, who lived in Los Angeles for a number of years, said also he aims at bringing together European and American talent and sensibilities on projects that are personal, yet boast an international appeal. Many of the filmmakers in business with the banner have a dual culture. Clichy, for instance, is French but previously worked for Pixar...

Nearly halfway through 2024 and it's crystal clear that we're staring down the barrel of a bad year at the box office that the industry can ill-afford. 2023 had just started to make it seem like there was some light at the end of the tunnel, with domestic ticket sales topping $9 billion. Unfortunately, the SAG and WGA strikes last year messed up the release calendar for 2024 and now, theaters are suffering once again. Now, Regal Cinemas and regional chain Harkins Theatres are rolling out a summer program that might help -- and it involves $1 movie tickets.

Regal is kicking off its Summer Movie Express at over 400 locations beginning June 11. Meanwhile, Harkins will roll out its Summer Movie Fun beginning June 3. In both cases, the chains are screening a selection of family-friendly movies aimed at kids from recent years, including "Trolls Band Together," "Sonic the Hedgehog," and "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem.

This is one of the lowest prices ever offered on Peacock, and it comes just weeks ahead of an announced price increase by the streamer.

Peacock just put an impossible-to-miss offer on the table. The Comcast-owned streaming service has already built itself up as a good value in the minds of customers with its varied programming options, but this deal takes the cake. For a limited time, new subscribers can sign up for a subscription to Peacock’s ad-supported Premium plan for just $19.99 for an entire year, a $59.99 value. Not only will this lock in the price of a Peacock subscription ahead of the streamer’s previously-announced July price increase, but it will allow you to stream every single event of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, exclusive NFL games, Peacock originals like “Ted” and so much more for 67% off the standard price!

How New Customers Can Get 1 Year of...

The finale of Shōgun pushed the series to its best showing so far on Nielsen’s streaming charts.

The FX-produced Hulu series had 608 million minutes of viewing time for the week of its finale, April 22-28. That’s a 45 percent jump from the prior week and Shōgun’s highest total in the nine weeks it has made the top 10. Its previous best was 513 million minutes for its premiere week, which featured the debut of two episodes.

Fallout claimed the overall No. 1 spot for the third straight week, the first such streak for a show on Amazon’s Prime Video. The series had 1.53 billion minutes of viewing, down by about 41 percent week to week. Its three-week total is now a little over 7 billion minutes.

Netflix’s water-cooler drama Baby Reindeer saw a 36 percent jump in viewing, climbing to 915 million minutes from 673 million a week earlier. Several original series also made...

Not exactly the opening weekend that dreams are made of.

Director John Krasinski’s “If,” a fantasy-comedy that promises your imaginary friends from childhood are real, fell slightly short of box office expectations with $35 million. Heading into the weekend, “If” was expected to bring in at least $40 million in its first weekend of release. Based on Friday’s turnout, it looked like “If” would open to $30 million but projections were revised up after Saturday’s strong showing. Ticket sales were enough for first place, but it’s a wobbly start for a PG family film that cost $110 million to make and many millions more to market. It collected an additional $20 million overseas for a global total of $55 million.

The good news for Paramount Pictures, which distributed “If,” is that audiences dug the film, giving it an “A” CinemaScore. Ideally, it’ll have staying power like recent original kid-friendly movies, including “Migration” and “Elemental,...

Netflix’s Baby Reindeer entered the streaming top 10 in mid-April, and given the continued buzz around the series, it’s likely to stay around for a while.

The show drew 673 million minutes of viewing for the week of April 15-21, according to Nielsen’s latest streaming rankings. That was good for third place among original series and ninth among all titles.

Prime Video’s Fallout had a second straight huge week, if not quite as big as its first. It had 2.62 billion minutes of watch time, off a slight 10 percent from its opening week, which was the best single week for a Prime Video show since Nielsen began its streaming rankings almost four years ago. It’s also the first show that doesn’t stream on Netflix to have back-to-back weeks above 2 billion minutes of viewing.

The former BBC America thriller Killing Eve made its first appearance in the acquired...

Gosling portrays a dashing Hollywood stuntman who finds himself embroiled in an all-too-real plot filled with big explosions and high-octane chases.

Ryan Gosling is making quite a career out of the “well-meaning beefcake” role. His newest performance in this category comes in “The Fall Guy,” the new action-comedy flick, co-starring Emily Blunt, from Universal that makes its official theatrical debut on Friday, May 3.

Key Details: “The Fall Guy” has secured an 84% thumbs-up rate on Rotten Tomatoes. As a Universal film, “The Fall Guy” will stream first on Peacock. Viewers will likely have to wait at least 90 days to stream the film with a Peacock subscription. Sign Up $5.99+ / month peacocktv.com

“The Fall Guy” stars Gosling as Colt Seavers, a Hollywood stuntman with years of experience. When he’s assigned to work on the directorial debut of his ex-girlfriend Jody (Emily Blunt), Colt sees an opportunity to potentially win back the love of his life.

Wonka & Shaitaan To The Ideas Of You – What To Watch This Weekend(Photo Credit –IMDb/Facebook)

Get set to jumpstart your weekend with an exciting lineup of movies and shows streaming now on Ott. With an impressive array of national and international movies, start your summer weekend and pick your favorites from a hot list of movies. Whether you’re yearning for suspenseful thrillers heartwarming family tales, or even a perfect summer rom-com, this list is perfect to hook you up with your first movie marathon this weekend. From the recent release, Heeramandi, Shaitaan to the popular ‘Wonka’, here are five must-watch releases guaranteed to shake off those weekday blues.

Wonka

Available On: Jio Cinema

Starring Timothée Chalamet as our beloved chocolatier, ‘Wonka’ is based on the classic children’s story featuring Willy Wonka and his chocolate factory. Winning the hearts of many, this new adaptation promises to be unique...

Sibling rivalry will hit Prime Video when Tomorrow Studios’ The Better Sister comes to the streaming platform. Based on the novel by bestselling author Alafair Burke, The Better Sister stars Emmy award-nominated actress Jessica Biel and Emmy award-nominated filmmaker Elizabeth Banks in a thriller that will have you looking over your shoulder.

Here’s the official synopsis for The Better Sister courtesy of Prime Video:

The Better Sister is an electric thriller based on the novel by bestselling author Alafair Burke, who will also be consulting on the series about the terrible things that drive sisters apart and ultimately bring them back together. Chloe (Biel) moves through the world with her handsome lawyer husband Adam and teenage son Ethan by her side while her estranged sister Nicky (Banks) hustles to make ends meet while trying to stay clean. When Adam is brutally murdered, the prime suspect sends shockwaves through the family,...

NBCUniversal is coming for your wallet as plans to raise the price of Peacock for the second time in two years get underway! The subscription price for the streaming service will increase by $2 this summer, ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics. The price hike starts in July, with Peacock Premium jumping to $7.99. Meanwhile, Premium Plus, the tier offering limited advertising, download capability, and live local programming, boosts to $13.99. Annual plans for Premium go up to $79.99, while Premium Plus increases to $139.99.

Woof! Peacock’s new pricing structure will go into effect on July 18 for new customers, and existing subscribers will be charged more at their next billing cycle (on or after August 17). The price increase comes as the 2024 Summer Olympics prepare to broadcast from July 26 to August 11. Plans to increase Peacock’s price come after the company said in a quarterly review that it collected more than $1.1 billion in revenue.

Despite Peacock...

Rank Film (distributor) Three-day gross (Apr 26-28) Total gross to date Week 1. Challengers (Warner Bros) £1.5m £1.5m 1 2. Back To Black (Studiocanal) £1.4m £9m 3 3. Kung Fu Panda 4 (Universal) £948,033 £19.7m 5 4. Civil War (Entertainment Film Distributors) £755,426 £5.2m 3 5. Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire (Warner Bros) £597,522 £13.7m 5

Gbp to Usd conversion rate: 1.25

Luca Guadagnino’s tennis drama Challengers scored a number one ranking on its opening weekend at the UK-Ireland box office, with a £1.5m first session.

Warner Bros title Challengers took a £2,197 site average from over 700 cinemas, and has £1.6m including previews.

The figure is a new record opening in the territory for Guadagnino,...

Updated with executive comments. Nearly four years since the launch of NBCUniversal streaming flagship Peacock, Comcast President Mike Cavanagh says the service is “seeing traction” with its blend of entertainment and sports.

The exec delivered the comment to Wall Street analysts after Comcast reported solid first-quarter financials, including Peacock’s $1.1 billion in revenue, narrower losses and subscriber count of 34 million.

Asked about Peacock’s original content spending outlook, Cavanagh replied in a qualitative rather than quantitative way.

“I think you can expect to see us having a very broad approach,” he said, without offering any specific figures. Sports and entertainment are “interplaying well with each other” on Peacock, he said. He noted the breakouts of Ted and Traitors Season 2 in the first quarter, which coincided with a record-setting NFL playoff telecast.

“It’s sports, it’s originals, it’s next-day airing of NBC content, it’s our library and it’s our pay-1 movies,...

The NBCUniversal streamer continues to make small, but steady climbs in its quest for streaming survival.

Comcast’s flagship streaming service Peacock has been on a slow but steady climb since launching in 2020. While still amongst the smaller platforms from major media companies, it is no longer an easily ignored also-ran, seemingly fighting for scraps as the streaming world threatened to leave it behind. Now boasting a robust offering of live sports, hit movies, and increasingly compelling original series, following the first quarter of 2024, Peacock added 3 million new customers to cap its year-over-year growth at 55%. During the same period in 2023, the streamer reported having 22 million paying customers, now that total sits at 34 million.

Key Details: Peacock added 3 million customers in Q1 and 12 million year-over-year. The streamer brought in $1.1 billion in revenue during the first three months of 2024. However, it is still operating at a $639M quarterly loss. Sign Up $5.99+ / month peacocktv.