"Box Office Battle" is The Fly's weekly roundup of what movies topped the weekend's box office.
SUPER BOWL EFFECT: Studios largely steer clear of releasing new, large movies on Super Bowl weekend, fearing football fans won't go to theaters, and as such, it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy, according to Indie Wire. The report added that "fewer movie tickets will sell than any weekend this year. But ticket sales should still improve over last year."
OPENING THIS WEEKEND: MGM subsidiary United Artists Releasing's fantasy horror "Gretel & Hansel," based on the Grimm fairy tale, is opening this weekend at just over 3,000 theaters, and expected to earn around $8M domestically. ViacomCBS (VIAC) subsidiary Paramount Pictures' action thriller "The Rhythm Section," starring Blake Lively, is expected to earn about $5M and finish outside the weekend's top five earners.
STILL PLAYING: Now in its third weekend at theaters, and still expected to take the top spot, is Sony's (SNE) action movie "Bad Boys for Life," which is still playing at over 3,700 theaters. This third film in the "Bad Boys" franchise, all of which star Will Smith and Martin Lawrence as buddy cops, is expected to bring in around $12M this weekend.
OVERALL DOMESTIC PROJECTIONS:
Other publicly traded companies in filmmaking include AT&T (T), Comcast (CMCSA, CMCSK), Disney (DIS), and Lionsgate (LGF.A, LGF.B).
Use PARA
-0.5 (-1.46%)
Symbol now SONY
-0.97 (-1.36%)
AT&T
+0.05 (+0.13%)
Comcast
-1 (-2.27%)
Comcast
+ (+0.00%)
Disney
-0.34 (-0.25%)
Lionsgate
-0.53 (-5.17%)
Lionsgate
-0.45 (-4.68%)