In this week’s episode of The Boxoffice Podcast, co-hosts Russ Fischer, Daniel Loria, Rebecca Pahle, and Shawn Robbins discuss the $75.5M box office gross for Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, a record for Labor Day weekend and the third-highest September release ever. In the feature segment, Daniel talks to Aron Gaudet and Gita Pullapilly of STXfilms about their R-rated comedy Queenpins, in theaters this Friday.

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Episode Resources:

• STXfilms
• Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings Shatters Expectations w/ Record-Smashing $71.4M 3-Day/$83.5M 4-Day Opening

What to Listen For

• 00:00 Intro
• 02:38 Shang-Chi made $90M on 4,300 screens
• 10:36 Major title release date changes
• 14:35 Tom Cruise franchise films getting pushed back
• 19:27 Expectations for Q4 in the box office
• 24:43 Queenpins was inspired by a true story
• 25:51 Production started in October 2020 during the height of the pandemic
• 27:03 How the pandemic impacted the filming
• 29:08 Production complications  
• 31:16 What’s the importance of a comedy film hitting the theaters?
• 34:04 Marketing tips for movie theaters

In this week’s episode of The Boxoffice Podcast, co-hosts Daniel Loria and Rebecca Pahle discuss the box office performance of Candyman and predictions for Labor Day weekend release Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings’, the first MCU film to debut exclusively in theaters since the start of the pandemic. In the feature segment, Daniel and Rebecca speak to Vanessa Amsbury-Bonilla, co-owner of Peterborough Community Theatre—the oldest theater in the state of New Hampshire—about how customer feedback led them to introduce vaccination-required screenings at their cinema.

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Episode Resources:

• Peterborough Community Theatre

What to Listen For

• 00:00 Intro
• 02:01 Positive box office weekend debuts
• 08:00 Independent cinemas have been innovative during the pandemic closures
• 10:02 The impact of proof of vaccination on cinemas
• 12:41 The Peterborough Community Theatre
• 14:51 Primary demographic wants the big screen
• 16:05 Survey response showed that people want proof of vaccination only screening
• 18:38 Safer Sundays brought in more ticket sales
• 21:00 There are nights with zero ticket sold
• 24:03 No discrimanation, just providing more choices for people
• 26:22 Knowing regular customers on a personal level
• 28:36 Numbers and data will tell the comfort level of the patrons

A recap of a busy final day at CinemaCon 2021, which included studio presentations from Lionsgate and Paramount, Tom Cruise riding a motorcycle off a cliff, and a major filmmaker slamming day-and-date releases.

The episode concludes with a pair of interviews with independent exhibitors: Rich Daughtridge, president of the Independent Cinema Alliance and John Vincent, president of the United Drive-In Theatre Owners Association. 

Full insights and analysis from Universal, Neon, Focus Features, and Disney’s studio presentations at CinemaCon. Followed by an interview with Dolby’s Jed Harmsen and exclusive audio of CinemaCon’s Executive Roundtable Panel, “Globally Speaking: A Look at the International Market,” featuring Mooky Greidinger (CEO, Cineworld & Regal), Alejandro Ramirez Magaña (CEO, Cinepolis), and Veronika Kwan Vanderburg (President of Distribution, Universal Pictures International).

Full insights and analysis from Tuesday’s State of the Industry speech and studio presentations from Warner Bros. and MGM/UA Presentation Recaps. Interview with Miguel Mier (COO, Cinepolis).

Opening day recap: global executive roundtable and Sony’s CinemaCon presentation. An interview with Rolando Rodriguez (Chairman, NATO & CEO, Marcus Theatres).

CinemaCon Preview and Interview with John Fithian (President & CEO, NATO) and Charles Rivkin (Chairman & CEO, Motion Picture Association).

In this week’s episode of The Boxoffice Podcast, co-hosts Daniel Loria, Rebecca Pahle, and Shawn Robbins discuss the opening weekend of Free Guy, next week’s upcoming events–both film releases and CinemaCon—and Disney’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings sticking to a 45-day theatrical exclusivity window. In the interview segment, Rebecca talks to Christie Marchese of Kinema—a platform that uses technology to deliver film, manage and reach  audiences, and provide marketing assets to screening hosts—about their goal to make booking of niche and demographic films seamless for local hosts.

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Episode Resources:

• CinemaCon Schedule
• Kinema
• Kinema Discover

What to Listen For

• 00:00 Intro
• 01:44 Free Guy opened above expectations
• 04:38 More titles coming out this weekend
• 08:12 Venom and Clifford the Big Red Dog’s theatrical release has been moved
• 11:33 Families respond well to private rentals
• 12:13 Shang-Chi sticks to a 45-day theatrical exclusivity window
• 18:50 Christie Marchese on creating Kinema
• 22:30 Aiming to help make booking films seamless for local hosts
• 23:54 Looking forward to individuals and space who are becoming regular screening hosts
• 26:09 Niche films have a hard time pulling in enough people for multiple-week run
• 30:17 Building relationships with repeat hosts and bookers
• 34:10 Currently at 20k hosts, 450 active on the platform 
• 35:07 How to find Kinema and join the community
• 37:54 The daily CinemaCon podcast next week

In this week’s episode of The Boxoffice Podcast, co-hosts Daniel Loria and Rebecca Pahle discuss the opening weekend of The Suicide Squad along with other top films in the box office. Brain Schultz of Look Dine-In Cinemas joins the team to talk about his new dine-in theater initiative, the changes the exhibition industry will deal with post-COVID, and the evolution of the dine-in space.

Sponsors: Spotlight Cinema Networks, Mondelez International

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Episode Resources:

• CinemaCon Schedule

What to Listen For

• 00:00 Intro
• 01:55 Two weeks away from CinemaCon
• 04:32 Recent box office numbers with The Suicide Squad’s opening weekend
• 08:36 New titles that will be exclusive to cinemas: Respect and Don’t Breathe 2
• 12:44 The panel for Rebuilding and Diversifying the Post-COVID Workforce and Cinemas topic
• 15:15 Brian Schultz’s first job in the exhibition industry
• 16:03 Passion for In-theater dine-in space 
• 17:55 Additional tests to continue to evolve and improve
• 18:57 Food preparations, picking staff, and choosing what film to screen has always been a challenge
• 21:16 Movies are a platform for opening perspectives
• 24:27 Cinemas with a distraction-free experience and focus solely on the film
• 28:29 Change management in larger organizations
• 29:49 What can the industry do to emerge from the pandemic?  
• 31:23 Spotlight Cinemas’ partnerships is both entertaining and informative

In this week’s episode of The Boxoffice Podcast, co-hosts Daniel Loria and Rebecca Pahle discuss Scarlett Johansson’s against Disney over the day-and-date release of Black Widow. Rebecca also recaps the latest edition of the WIE webinar series with insights from future leaders of exhibition. In the feature segment, Daniel and Rebecca discuss the newly announced proof of vaccine requirement for New York City movie theaters. The Boxoffice Company’s Romeo Duchene joins the podcast to talk about France’s experience in implementing proof of vaccination at cinemas, and how audiences and exhibitors have reacted to the new requirement.

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Episode Resources:

• NYC Follows France in Requiring Proof of Vaccination for Moviegoers

What to Listen For

• 00:00 Intro
• 01:05 Jungle Cruise opened at $35M in 4310 locations  
• 04:36 Women in Exhibition - the necessity of diversity in programming
• 09:12 Vaccine Passports, select areas will require vaccination pass
• 12:24 What does the Vaccine Passport mean for French audience?
• 15:18 Camelot’s nationwide premiere in France
• 16:26 Currently, the vaccine pass is creating confusion
• 18:19 The confusion continues and people are finding answers online
• 20:34 Implementation of vaccine passport caused a huge drop in moviegoing
• 21:26 Possible detrimental effects of unclear policies