Box Office Candy
Good morning: In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:
A Cover Story on a Terrifying box office success. Plus, the beloved indie film that led the distributor to leave theaters for a decade.
In The Industry News, Box Office highlights/disappointments, a Legendary deal, and Hugh Jackman is singing again.
Actor Spotlight: Jodie Foster’s Private Life, Colin Firth’s Search for Truth, Talia Ryder In Memoriam.
Indie Filmmaker Spotlight/International: David Lowery’s owl and Sweden’s Last Journey.
Let’s go!
TERRIFIER 3
Cineverse’s Terrifier 3 got all the pre-Halloween candy this weekend.
Terrifier 3 bested Warner Bros. Joker 2 weekend box office gross by over 250%, making $18.3 M at the box office from a paltry $2 M production budget plus a $500 K marketing budget. It is projected to make $20 M - $21 M across the last four days (Fri - Mon).
So how did this indie clown horror happen to reign supreme during a weekend that included openings from:
Focus Features’ Piece By Piece
The last Lego movie opened to $34M
Sony’s Saturday Night
The origin story of the widely popular show SNL
The Apprentice
Cannes official selection
Earned a massive amount of press due to the controversial nature of the film
Terrifier 3’s success goes beyond the now ironclad rule in cinema that horror can asymmetrically earn against its skimpy budget, e.g., Neon’s Longlegs’ $108 M worldwide gross on a sub $10 M budget and IFC’s Late Night With the Devil.
Chris McGurk, CEO of Cineverse, the film’s distributor, leaned on two assets that he purchased to help his company market Terrifier 3:
Bloody Disgusting (Dedicated online horror news outlet)
ScreamBox (#2 horror streaming channel behind Shudder)
He noted:
“We have 30 bespoke channels with 800 million viewers we can market to. We have over 40 podcasts in our podcast network, and we had to leverage it as much as we could. We also built an ad sales team and technology we own ourselves that helps us identify where the fans are and how we can market to them in the most effective way.”
What’s even more interesting is him talking about how broken the typical model of marketing is for films:
“We kind of got out of the theatrical releasing business after we had this movie in 2013 called Short Term 12 [Dir: Destin Daniel Cretton, Cast: Brie Larson, Rami Malek and LaKeith Stanfield]... we released it theatrically and had to spend a couple million dollars to release it, and we lost a lot of money in the movie.”
Let that sink in. Short Term 12, which is widely regarded as one of the best indie films of the last 15 years, that actualized the director’s Hollywood career and turned its talent into high-profile stars, did so poorly theatrically that it lost the distributor enough money to get out of theatrical distribution.
McGurk continued:
“So we pulled out of theaters and pivoted to building up this streaming network, and it turns out, as Terrifier showed us, that we’re in a better position to release theatrically now because of the marketing and home platform structure that we have built up.”
It also helped that they had a pilot run with the release of Terrifier 2, which made $15 M off a $250K budget.
From the looks of it there may be 1-2 more Terrifier films in the future.
For More:
Terrifier 3 trailer… if you dare.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
Box office highlights/disappointments. Note that the weekend grosses are listed to the left of the film’s title:
$7 M [weekend gross] - Joker: Folie à Deux (Warner Bros.)
$51.6 M total domestic gross
$164.8 M worldwide
$200 M budget + $100 M marketing
$125 M - $200 M+ studio losses estimated
Week 2 drop: 81%, DC Studio’s biggest 2nd week drop ever
RT: 33%
$3.8 M - Piece by Piece (Focus Features)
Budget: $16M
Opened 66% lower than average animated films
Opened 75% lower than average music bios
RT: 81%
Week 1
$3.4 M - Saturday Night (Sony Pictures)
$4.5 M total domestic gross
$25 M budget
Week 1 of wide release
Week 3 of release
RT: 80%
Despite one of the top opening per-screen averages with its limited release, Saturday Night didn’t connect as well with the mainstream as recent films about Hollywood (such as The Fall Guy) are tending to underperform.
$1.5 M - The Apprentice
$16 M budget
Lowest per-screen average of the top ten films this weekend with $908/screen
The bottom line is that the film’s release is a minor miracle, given that six weeks ago, any release at all was far from a guarantee. It may pick up steam as it catches word of mouth. And the performances in the film are worthy of admiration.
The breakout was A24’s We Live in Time, which had the fourth-highest per-screen average of any release this year at $45 K/screen and took $225.9 K total from five screens.
A24 has been utilizing this strategy a lot this year, using the opening weekend to create a bunch of hype, showing the film on 4-5 screens. Many of their films have had some of the top per-screen averages of the year:
9th highest - $34,280/screen - Sing Sing (A24)
10th highest - $33,493/screen - Love Lies Bleeding (A24)
11th highest - $29,085/screen - I Saw the TV Glow (A24)
For a cherry on top, The Wild Robot took the #2 spot this weekend, grossing $13.4 M ($84 M domestic total), and is now getting a sequel!
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Scott Stuber, former chairman of Netflix Film, hired Nick Nesbitt as president of his new production company. That company will be involved in all projects released under United Artists. So that boils down to producing several films a year plus a first-look deal with his new company (still unnamed and un-launched), which will be housed on the MGM lot.
Nesbitt worked under Stuber at Netflix as VP of Studio Films where he oversaw:
Leave the World Behind (2023)
The Gray Man (2022)
Damsel (2024)
Stuber stated:
“During our many years working closely together, I’ve seen Nick consistently shepherd ambitious film projects, identify compelling stories for features, and develop trusted relationships with top talent”
Stuber has a top-notch track record for overseeing all of Netflix’s prestige studio projects (Roma, All Quiet on the Western Front, The Power of the Dog) that aligns with United Artists' reputation for producing some of the best of American cinema, The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), 12 Angry Men (1957), Apocalypse Now (1979) and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975).
Stuber is currently producing Deliver Me from Nowhere, which stars Jeremy Allen White as Bruce Springsteen and Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein.
Legendary buys itself back from China’s Wanda. The Chinese multimedia conglomerate had bought the Hollywood studio back in 2016 for $3.5bn.
The Legendary CEO Josh Grode stated:
“I think they were in a position where they needed some capital [and] the opportunity arose for us to buy Wanda’s interest at a valuation that would be very accretive to both management and Apollo.”
Apollo co-owns Legendary after investing $760 M with them in 2022. The asset management company Apollo currently has a net worth of over $80 bn and was, at some point this year, helping Sony make a bid for Paramount, although that fell through.
Legendary is now catalyzed to keep moving forward, especially after its massive box office wins this year: Dune 2 ($714 M worldwide gross) and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire ($518 M worldwide gross).
The best part? They see a rosy future, with Grode stating:
“We certainly have the bandwidth to increase our output on the theatrical side.”
Good news after a lackluster weekend at the box office probably scared some of the studio executives.
Keira Knightley is going undercover for Netflix. The streamer just dropped first look photos and a premiere date for the upcoming spy thriller series Black Doves starring Knightley and Bond’s Ben Whishaw.
Synopsis:
Helen (Knightley), who embarks on a passionate affair with a man who has no idea what her secret identity is. Caught in the crosshairs when her lover falls victim to the dangerous London underworld, Helen's employer's call in Sam (Whishaw) to protect her.
From creator Joe Barton, the news comes following the critical success of the stalker story miniseries Baby Reindeer and the recently renewed Guy Ritchie comedy, The Gentlemen, making Black Doves another project in a slew of high quality series to come from Netflix UK this year.
First look photos of Knightley and Whishaw:
Black Doves will premiere on the streamer on December 5th.
Hugh Jackman's Singing Again: After bringing back his iconic Logan in Deadpool and Wolverine, the star has turned his sights on to his true passion, the next big silver screen musical. He and Kate Hudson are set to star in Focus Features Song Sung Blue a musical about two hopeless romantics who start a Neil Diamond cover band. The Musical takes heavily from the previous documentary of the same name by Greg Kohs about real-life couple Mike and Claire Sardina, "Lightning & Thunder". The two midwesterners took their love of diamond and desire for a second shot, and turned it into local stardom in their small town.
Original Documentary (2008)
Though the premise sounds a little goofy, the documentary did very well in the festival circuit, achieving many accolades with a story of two goofballs in love and being swept up by local fame. It could be very refreshing to see a musical that, for once, doesn't take itself so seriously.
No word yet on the release date.
Lionsgate locks down a deal with Jurassic World actress Bryce Dallas Howard to direct a new feature, All of Her. Dallas Howard will also produce with her Nine Muses Entertainment, and while she is not expected to star, the studio is currently looking for a lead actress set to play “multiple roles”.
Taking after her father, the actress has sat in the director’s chair for the Apple TV+ feature documentary Dads (2019), and several episodes of Disney+ Star Wars series The Mandolorian and The Book of Boba Fett.
While the plot is being kept under wraps, the script is from Sarah Streicher, who wrote Turning Red (2022), and Colin Trevorrow, who directed Jurassic World (2015).
Tidbit:
Disney announces official premiere dates for two of their most anticipated upcoming movies both set for next summer:
Aug. 8th, 2025
The Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan long awaited sequel comedy over two decades since the original (2003)
May 23, 2025
Live action version of the Hawaii set 2002 animated classic from Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (2021) director Dean Fleischer Camp
The writer behind Hulu’s Little Fires Everywhere (2020), Liz Tigelaar, is teaming up with the streamer again to develop series adaptation of A Sociopath’s Guide to a Successful Marriage, the debut novel from M.K. Oliver. This competitive deal comes years before the dark comedy’s publishing date in 2026, with Tigelaar also serving as showrunner, producing through her Best Day Ever company with 20th Television also already attached.
Streaming Cancellations:
Canceled
Netflix’s Unstable after 2 seasons, (starring Rob Lowe)
Streaming - New Season Trailer:
Apple’s Silo - Season 2 trailer
Starring Rebecca Ferguson along with new cast: Tim Robbins and Common
First trailer released of A Thousand Blows, an upcoming period drama from Peaky Blinders creator, Steven Knight. The Hulu boxing show takes a close look at the criminal dealings and business behind the sport set in Victorian London (trailer). A Thousand Blows is set to premiere on Hulu and Disney+ (in select countries) in 2025. It stars Stephen Graham, a Peaky Blinders alum who just joined the cast of the movie.
Peter E. Strauss, longtime film exec has passed away at 83. Among his many accomplishments:
Lionsgate, former president
EVP, Mandalay Pictures for 25 years
Air (2023)
Pioneered foreign sales
He will be missed.
Beatles ’64 a new Documentary about the fabled Fab Four has announced a premiere date of November 29th on Disney+. Produced by Martin Scorsese and directed by David Tedeschi, The documentary features restored 4K footage of The Beatles' first U.S. tour. A vinyl reissue of seven Beatles albums will accompany the release.
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
Is there anything Jodie Foster can’t do? French filmmaker Rebecca Zlotowski (Other People’s Children) upcoming French murder mystery movie Vie Privée (Private Life) is deep in production with Foster as its lead.
Plot details: