This week on the CineEurope 2025 edition of the Boxoffice podcast, presented by Coca-Cola and Christie, co-hosts Daniel Loria and Russ Fischer review the latest industry news and preview the opening weekend of Elio and 28 Years Later. In the feature segments, Daniel Loria speaks to Dominic Donylal, the head of groupwide vending & autonomous retail at Coca-Cola HBC, to discuss frictionless vending and its impact on the cinema industry. Then Julien Marcel interviews Jérôme Seydoux, the chairman of Pathé, who has been honored as the International Exhibitor of the Year at CineEurope.

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What to Listen For

00:00 Intro

01:00 Box Office Round-Up: How to Train Your Dragon Debuts at $83.7M  

02:36 Audience Response to Dragon Remake  

03:53 A24’s ‘Materialists’ Opens at $12M  

05:15 Cast and Screen Count Strategy  

06:27 Disappointment for ‘Ballerina’ in Week 2  

08:12 Why ‘Ballerina’ Failed to Connect  

10:01 ‘Elio’ Tracking Dangerously Low for Pixar  

11:37 Risks of Reworking and Rescheduling Pixar Titles  

13:13 Pixar’s Shift Toward Safe Sequels  

14:11 Disney’s Franchise Fatigue Warning  

15:26 Preview: ‘28 Years Later’ Tracking Above $35M  

16:55 Legacy and Challenges of ‘28 Days Later’  

17:56 Digital Filmmaking Discussion: Collateral vs. 28 Days  

18:56 Cillian Murphy’s Rising Star and Cult Appeal  

19:40 Projected Surprise Performance for ‘28 Years Later’  

20:13 Heather Morgan Joins IMAX as Global Distribution Head  

20:33 CineEurope Retail Award: Audience Cinema Group & Pathé   

22:03 What is Frictionless Retail in Cinemas?  

23:08 Amazon Just Walk Out Tech Explained  

24:46 Impulse Buying & Customer Flow Benefits  

26:34 Applications in Schools, Universities & Cinemas  

27:19 Increasing Revenue Through Relaxed Browsing  

28:10 Steps to Adopting Frictionless Retail in Cinemas  

29:12 Flexible Setup Sizes for Any Location  

30:12 Self-Service Enhancing Guest Experience  

31:15 The Parent’s Cinema Struggle Solved  

32:04 Snacking During Long Movies Made Easy  

33:02 Using Idle Cinema Space for Retail Innovation  

34:10 Cost Considerations and ROI Timeline  

35:25 Early Success Cases in Retail Rollouts  

36:02 Exhibition Chains Exploring the Technology  

37:15 CineEurope Takeaway: Good for Guests = Good for Business    

39:01 Cinema is Capital Intensive – Premium is Key  

40:45 The Legacy of Pathé: A Century of Innovation  

41:55 Pathé’s Invention of the Rental Model  

43:00 French Windowing System and Its Role  

44:14 Optimism Rooted in Quality Films  

45:03 Great Movies Need the Big Screen