The needle isn’t moving. Although there are signs of life and improvement,
the number keeps coming back to 501, 502, 502 (a week ago) and back to 501 this
week as the projected number of new theatrical releases for 2023.
The top-box number remains fixed at 63 “hit” films
for Hollywood to work with.
To put that into some sort of prospective, 2019 saw
777 new theatrical rollouts, with 89 scoring in the top two boxes ($25 million
plus; $100 million plus respectively).
2018 was even better. 839 new theatrical releases with 95 “hits.”
The fixation is still on streaming (and the monthly
multi-million dollar loses that go with it).
It short, “Hollywood” needs to step up.
As for new theatrical films making their way to the
home entertainment packaged media marketplace, Cocaine
Bear (Universal Pictures), Shazam!:
Fury of the Gods (Warner Bros. Discovery) and Ant-Man
and the Wasp: Quantumania (Disney) all got street-date
assignments this past week.
On the new theatrical release front, Paramount
Pictures’ Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
pulled in $37.2 million in its opening stanza, while John Wick:
Chapter 4 (Lionsgate) cruised to $123
million (and still climbing).
No movement on Avatar:
The Way of Water, except on the “helper” release
front.