The all-new Hollywood Reporter offers unprecedented access to the people, studios, networks and agencies that create the magic in Hollywood. Published weekly, the oversized format includes exceptional photography and rich features.
Deals Strauss’ Next Sell Veteran Disney marketer joins Apple TV+ p. 14 CES 2023 in Focus Hollywood’s technologists offer forecasts p. 10 Jeremy Zimmer The UTA chief is on an acquisition tear, buying boutique literary agency Fletcher & Co. to gain a bigger foothold in the market for top authors. Adam Aron As AMC Theatres stock declines, the CEO pledges to freeze top exec salaries and to not sell anymore shares “anytime soon” in an attempt to win back retail investors. Anthony Wood Wall Street initially greets Roku’s plan to manufacture its own TV line — starting in the spring — with optimism as the company halts a stock slide. Jantje Friese, Baran bo Odar The Dark creators took a swing with 1899, but plans for a second and third…
The ups and downs at the 2022 box office were certainly dramatic. Recovery from the COVID-19 crisis was in full swing during the summer, only to crash in the fall. There were high hopes for the year-end holidays, but the merriment didn’t quite materialize outside of Avatar: The Way of Water and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Throughout the pandemic era, such films have fared the best because they appeal to a broad swath of people, including those between the ages of 18 and 34, who were the most likely to return to the cinema. Families and older adults, however, may have become more discerning in terms of how they spend their leisure time — and money. Animated films, once a bankable staple for Hollywood, kept facing headwinds in 2022. And…
WINNERS SANDRA BULLOCK The Lost City faced plenty of hurdles. Not only are romantic comedies an endangered species, but older females are a difficult demo to reach. Yet it grossed an impressive $190 million globally. Domestically, it even came in ahead of Brad Pitt’s Bullet Train. MICHELLE YEOH The actress was the toast of 2022 after starring in the staggering success that was Everything Everywhere All at Once, which single-handedly proved that there is still a place at the box office for indie films. Yeoh also had a voice role in Minions: The Rise of Gru, last year’s biggest animated film. TOM CRUISE There was no stopping Top Gun: Maverick, which now ranks as Tom Cruise’s top-grossing film with $1.49 billion in global ticket sales (it’s also the first time…
2012 A mega slate of tentpoles — from The Avengers to The Dark Knight Rises to Twilight and Hunger Games installments — resulted in combined ticket sales hitting a new record. 2014 Domestic revenue dipped when no event pic grossed $350 million or more at the domestic box office. Guardians of the Galaxy, introducing a new team of heroes, led with $333 million. 2016 Combined ticket sales clocked in at more than $11 billion for the second year in a row. Finding Dory swam to the top of the domestic chart with an impressive $486 million. 2018 North American box office revenue hit an all-time high thanks to a trio of films earning $600 million to $700 million. Black Panther was No. 1, followed by Avengers: Infinity War and Incredibles 2.…
Matt Reeves’ The Batman, starring Robert Pattinson, was a needed hit for Warner Bros. So was the studio’s biopic Elvis, which was the most successful adult-skewing title of the year. Austin Butler plays the iconic Elvis Presley. The performance of the J.K. Rowling spinoff means that there likely won’t be a fourth Fantastic Beasts movie, even as Warner Bros. hopes to revive the Harry Potter franchise. The Bad Guys was among a string of solid hits for Universal. The CGI pic did big business in China, where it grossed nearly $50 million, while most Hollywood pics were shut out. Source: Comscore, Jan. 1, 2021-Jan. 2, 2022. *Still in release.…
Under Donna Langley’s leadership, Universal’s film empire — including Focus Features, Illumination and DreamWorks Animation — released 40 titles of all shapes and sizes, far more than its rivals. Disney ultimately kept its long-running lead in terms of market share, capped by Avatar: The Way of Water Source: Studios, THR research Another big headline was Paramount. The studio came in dead last in 2021 in terms of market share but made big gains in 2022 after nearly every film — such as Top Gun: Maverick and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 — clicked with its intended audience (the lone exception was Christmas release Babylon).…
