The total for all revenues will come to around $55 million, which is 25 percent better than any weekend since theater closures began and ahead of March 13-15 last year, the weekend before exhibition shut down. It’s a significant step on the steep climb toward recovery. “Mortal Kombat” took in an estimated $22.5 million — more than “Tenet” grossed in its first eight days. That’s $6 million more than “Wonder Woman 1984” — over Christmas weekend, no less....

But not all insiders are cynical about the situation, and that includes independent film producer, marketer, and distributor Ira Deutchman. The Columbia film professor recently joined MSNBC to share his views on how theaters can evolve once a looming COVID-19 vaccine becomes available. Watch below. “At some point, [the pandemic] is going to end and people are going to be craving communal experiences, craving getting out of the house,” said Deutchman, who is also a member of the Arthouse Convergence dedicated to community-based and mission-driven exhibition....

In Lynch’s surreal neo-noir, Theroux plays hot director Adam Kesher, who’s circling a coveted new project, but that’s about all Theroux knew about his character and his motivations going into one of his key scenes, in which he discovers his wife cheating on him with the pool guy. “He’s a total outlier because he doesn’t answer your questions,” Theroux said of director Lynch, with whom he also worked on “Inland Empire” five years later....

Disney, other movie studios, and their Wall Street backers might beg to differ — but as IndieWire’s box office editor Tom Brueggemann and editor at large Anne Thompson point out in this conversation, NATO might not have done the best job in proving its point. TOM: The National Association of Theater Owners released a statement on Sunday that blamed the unusually high drop in grosses for “Black Widow” on Disney, which placed the film from the start on Disney+ (with an additional $29....

“Debris” definitely stands on the shoulders of legends and if you’ve enjoyed series like “The X-Files” and, especially, creator J.H. Wyman’s previous show, “Fringe,” then odds are this will similarly capture your attention. The series follows Bryan Beneventi (Jonathan Tucker) and Finola Jones (Riann Steele), two operatives for competing international government agencies. They’re investigating a series of mysterious debris falling down to Earth from a spacecraft encountered three weeks ago....

Blomkamp has long discussed wanting to create a sequel to “District 9,” but he spent the immediate aftermath of the film’s success developing new projects such as “Elysium” and “Chappie.” Blomkamp was also attached to an “Alien” movie that never made it past the development stage. Addressing fans during a 2017 Reddit AMA, the filmmaker said he was committed to making a “District 9” sequel but was waiting for the right time to start working on it....

Neon dipping into the market comes five months after A24 sold off a minority stake to the tune of a cool $225 million, with A24’s business overall valued at $2.5 billion. Neon has meanwhile tapped the merchant bank Raine to help explore sale options, according to the Times. Neon declined IndieWire’s request for comment. The tastemaking studio is looking ahead at a busy fall awards season with the festival rollouts of Cannes gems “Triangle of Sadness” (from “Force Majeure” director Ruben Ostlund) and the David Bowie documentary “Moonage Daydream” (from filmmaker Brett Morgen)....

The series is the latest from creator Darren Star, the showrunner behind “Sex and the City” and the Hilary Duff series “Younger.” And it’s easy to see Star’s fingerprints on this new endeavor. Collins plays the eponymous Emily, sent to Paris to work for a marketing firm as their American consultant. Along the way she gets to enjoy the best (men) France has to offer, as well as find herself....

The researchers estimate Netflix could generate $1.2 billion in U.S. advertising revenue by 2025, which is equal to just 4 percent of the company’s worldwide revenue last year. For the Disney+ ad-supported tier, MoffettNathanson sees more revenue, more opportunities to monetize content, and a greater share of subscribers who will choose AVOD. The analysts there forecast Disney+ will make $1.8 billion from ads in 2025. The Disney-controlled Hulu, the industry leader in ad-supported streaming revenue, is projected to make $4....

For the second week in a row, Netflix’s “Clickbait” drama series was the most-viewed original streaming television show of the week, per Nielsen’s latest report. The series was viewed for 1,460 million minutes from August 30 to September 5, garnering more than thrice the views of Netflix’s “Money Heist,” which was the second most-viewed title of the week, with 452 million minutes viewed. Per Netflix, “Clickbait” focuses on Nick Brewer (Grenier), a loving father, husband, and brother, who one day suddenly and mysteriously disappears....

Deadline reported on Thursday that HBO is developing three “ideas for new projects” that would be set in the same world as George R.R. Martin’s “Game of Thrones” series. The titles for the ideas are “9 Voyages,” also known as “Sea Snake,” as well as “Flea Bottom,” and “10,000 Ships.” The word “ideas” is key — all projects appear to be in the early stages, though Deadline reported that some progress has been made on “Sea Snake....

So for one particular sequence, it makes perfect sense that the cast of the upcoming Hulu show “Nine Perfect Strangers” was less than eager to stay in the moment the way their characters are asked to do. “When you’re surrounded like that, by all that dirt, it’s extremely confronting,” Bobby Cannavale said. “I will tell you that whenever we cut camera, every single person got out of those holes pretty quickly....

That said, the dominant title is Universal’s thriller “Nobody” starring Bob Odenkirk. It holds #1 spots on three of the charts (two based on total rentals, meaning even at $19.99 it outpaced all others) and is #2 on the fourth. The Universal film added PVOD after three weeks and remained #4 in theaters for the weekend. Odenkirk’s Nobody may be the next John Wick. “Promising Young Woman,” which went to PVOD in mid-January and has been available at standard pricing for more than a month, has been the best Oscar performer....

The show isn’t watched by many, but the winners do contribute momentum that steers various voting groups toward which movies matter most. This year, voters need all the help they can get. A new arrival on the awards radar is Gotham Best Actress winner Nicole Beharie, star of Sundance 2020 debut “Miss Juneteenth” (Vertical Entertainment). More may want to check it out. Anne Thompson Already racking up wins is Searchlight Oscar frontrunner “Nomadland....

The general entry categories submission deadline is Tuesday, November 15 for eligible films. The Oscar nominees will officially be announced on Tuesday, January 24. The 2023 awards show will air live on ABC and in more than 200 territories worldwide from the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood. With “Blonde,” “Elvis,” “Top Gun: Maverick,” and “The Northman” already making waves amid pre-awards season buzz, the race to Best Picture will undeniably be as competitive as ever....

While Jenkins did not disclose the original ending of 2017’s “Wonder Woman,” she did say it was far more pared down than what Warner Bros. forced her to include. The studio-mandated ending featured Diana (Gal Gadot) facing off against Ares (David Thewlis) in a VFX bonanza, but this climax was widely panned by film critics. Jenkins said it’s been disappointing to see so many critics and fans get so hung up on the ending when it’s not something she came up with herself....

“PSA: Please do not attempt to record the screen as it plays,” the theater added on social media. “Our team will be watching. Just sit back and enjoy the show.” “Licorice Pizza” (previously thought to be titled “Soggy Bottom”) is a coming-of-age movie set in the San Fernando Valley during the 1970s. The film finds Anderson returning to a similar setting as his breakthrough feature “Boogie Nights” (so it’s no surprise he’s attaching the trailer to a “Boogie Nights” screening in London)....

Also competing for for the Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures were “Being the Ricardos,” “Belfast,” “Don’t Look Up,” “Dune,” “King Richard,” “Licorice Pizza,” “The Power of the Dog,” “Tick Tick Boom,” and “West Side Story.” Among those, eight are also nominated for Best Picture; where the PGA gave nods to “Being the Ricardos” and “Tick Tick Boom,” the Academy opted to nominate “Drive My Car” and “Nightmare Alley....

“My neighbor, friend, and one of the wisest, most talented and kindest people I’ve ever met, Philip Baker Hall, died peacefully last night. He was surrounded by loved ones. The world has an empty space in it,” Framer wrote on Twitter. Hall was born in Toledo, Ohio in 1931 to Alice Birdene and William Alexander Hall. He attended the University of Toledo and served as a U.S. Army translator in Germany before launching his acting career in some small New York theater productions....

Krasner entered his role as D.A. with a mission: to end cash bail, something which results in defendants being jailed simply because they’re poor, and find other ways to reform an approach to criminal justice that has resulted in Philadelphia being the most incarcerated major city in the U.S. A few things seem like no-brainers: increase the amount of drugs an arrestee is carrying before major prison time is imposed, lighten the penalties against shoplifting, de facto decriminalize sex work (especially, lower the high arrest rate for sex workers)....