🎬 Shopping Spree

👋 Good morning! Ever wonder how long that standing ovation at Cannes really was? Recalling the first screening of his film at the Cannes Film Festival, a young Steven Spielberg noted that while the media's retelling had the applause for ‘E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial’ growing longer each time, he clocked it at about six and a half minutes. By the time he returned to L.A., it had miraculously stretched to 20 minutes! Spielberg humorously remarked, "I’m happy with six. I never even had a two-minute ovation." 🤣 This tradition of inflating ovation times has been a marketing hook for years.

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🎞 Here’s what’s on the reel today:

• Cannes Day 7

• IMAX’s Blockbuster Doc Plan Takes Off

• Sony Set to Take a Look at the Books

• Last Looks: 👀 Bite-sized scoops on developing stories/projects

• Video Village: The latest trailers

• Martini Shot 🍸

But first, let’s take a look at what happened at the box office this past weekend!

LAST WEEKEND’S
🎟️ BOX OFFICE BREAKDOWN 🎟️

1. 🧚 IF: Paramount's family comedy debuts with $35M domestically and $55M globally, buoyed by strong Saturday sales despite mixed reviews.

2. 🦍 Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes: Holding strong with $26M in its second weekend, the film's domestic total climbs to $101.2M, with a global haul of $237.5M.

3. 🎭 The Strangers: Chapter 1: Lionsgate's horror entry scares up $12M domestically, marking the year's highest horror debut and a solid start for the planned trilogy.

4. 💪 The Fall Guy: Dips 38% to $8.45M in its third week, bringing its domestic total to $62.99M, maintaining a steady run.

5. 🎾 Challengers: Slips 33% with $2.94M, reaching a domestic total of $43.51M in its fourth week, showing some endurance.

6. 🎤 Back to Black: Amy Winehouse biopic opens poorly in the US with $2.85M, but performs better internationally, especially in the UK, for a total of $36.58M globally.

7. 🔮 Tarot: Falls 41% to $2M in its third weekend, with a domestic total of $15.43M, struggling to maintain momentum.

8. 🦖 Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire: Drops 35% to $1.71M, pushing its domestic total to $194.41M after eight weeks, inching closer to the $200M mark.

9. ✈️ The Blue Angels: Amazon MGM's documentary flies into the top ten with $1.31M from an IMAX-exclusive release, ready for Prime streaming next week.

10. 🎸 Unsung Hero: Drops 57% to $1.1M in its fourth weekend, with a domestic total of $19.07M, losing its initial audience rapidly.

Cannes Day 7
Highlights & Reviews

Market Update

As Cannes enters its 7th day, top distributors are going shopping. Here are the latest deals:

• A24 acquired two-time Palme D’Or Winner Ruben Östlund’s next movie ‘The Entertainment System Is Down,’ starring Keanu Reeves. (more)

• Mubi acquired Magnus von Horn's competition entry ‘The Girl With the Needle.’ (more)

• Focus Features acquired worldwide rights to Yorgos Lanthimos' next film ‘Bugonia,’ reuniting him with Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons. The film is an English remake of the South Korean sci-fi comedy ‘Save the Green Planet.’ (more)

• Neon acquired the rights ‘The Unknown’ from ‘Anatomy of a Fall’ writer Arthur Harari, ‘The Seed of the Sacred Fig’ from Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof, and an adaptation of Stephen King’s ‘The Monkey’ starring Theo James.

Competition

A24, Neon, Mubi, and Searchlight have each arrived with at least one contender in competition. All hoping for a Palme D’Or. 🏆🤞

Okay, now let’s look at some of the films that have premiered in the last few days:

🤠 Horizon: An American Saga

• Kevin Costner’s three-hour film is the first of a four-part series, and stars a stellar cast. Warner Bros will be releasing Chapter 1 in theaters on Jun. 28, followed by Chapter 2 on Aug. 16.

• The film has earned mixed reviews at Cannes. 🫤 Hollywood Reporter called it “a muddled Western epic.”

• Standing Ovation Meter: 11 minutes 👏

🎵 Emilia Pérez

• French filmmaker Jacques Audiard is back at Cannes with ‘Emilia Pérez,’ a musical crime comedy about an escaped Mexican cartel leader undergoing gender-affirming surgery. Yep, you read that right.

• The film is a top contender for the Palme d'Or, with enthusiastic reviews highlighting its daring and earnest execution.

• Standing Ovation Meter: 9 minutes 👏

🎬 Kinds of Kindness

• Yorgos Lanthimos’ anthology film featuring three loosely connected storylines, with Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Willem Dafoe, and Margaret Qualley playing different characters in each segment.

• Searchlight Pictures is positioning this as their big summer movie, competing against the new ‘Quiet Place’ prequel.

• Reception: Mixed reviews 🫤 with critics noting its "seriously disturbed but thoroughly entertaining" nature.

🩸 The Substance

• Demi Moore made her Cannes debut with ‘The Substance,’ a blood-splattered horror thriller directed by Coralie Fargeat. The plot revolves around a transformative product with a sinister twist.

• The film received was met with thunderous applause and enthusiastic praise from the audience, marking a significant night for Mubi, which acquired global rights to the film ahead of the festival.

• Standing Ovation Meter: 13 minutes 👏 (the longest thus far at this year’s festival )

Other ICYMI Highlights:

• Studio Ghibli receives an honorary Palme d’Or. (more)

• Nicolas Cage’s psychological thriller ‘The Surfer’ earned a six-minute standing ovation, captivating audiences with its wild, mind-bending narrative and Cage's eccentric performance. (more)

• Paul Schrader's ‘Oh, Canada’ received a four-minute standing ovation at Cannes, with Schrader tearfully accepting. (more)

🎬🛫 IMAX's New Documentary Blockbuster Plan Takes Off: IMAX is launching a new plan for "documentary blockbusters" with the release of ‘The Blue Angels,’ a 94-minute film about the U.S. Navy's flight squadron. This marks the beginning of IMAX's strategy to blend documentary storytelling with blockbuster appeal, leveraging its immersive technology. Featuring a top-tier production team, including J.J. Abrams and Glen Powell, the film uses cutting-edge cameras for stunning aerial cinematography. This comes as top-quality documentaries from Netflix and Amazon grow in popularity. Future projects include ‘Stormbound,’ produced by Adam McKay, set for a 2025 release. If successful, this could reshape the documentary landscape, making it as commercially viable as Hollywood hits.

🤝🤔 Sony Set to Take a Look at the Books: Sony Pictures and Apollo Global Management are getting closer to a deal with Paramount. They’ve signed nondisclosure agreements to look at Paramount's financial details, but they've backed away from their initial $26B all-cash offer. Instead, they’re exploring other ways to acquire Paramount's movie studio, TV production divisions, and content library, while leaving CBS, Paramount+, and channels like MTV for potential deals. Paramount's ongoing talks with Charter about a new agreement for CBS and its cable networks could impact its value. This comes at a tricky time as Paramount's CEO recently stepped down, and three executives are temporarily in charge. With Paramount's annual meeting on June 4, all eyes are on how these negotiations will play out.

Development 🗒️

• Laura Dern and Margaret Qualley will star in and executive produce the Netflix limited series ‘Forever, Interrupted,’ based on Taylor Jenkins Reid's novel, with A24 producing. (more)

• Vince Vaughn is in talks to star in 20th Century's buddy action comedy ‘Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice,’ directed by BenDavid Grabinski. (more)

• Focus Features has acquired international rights to Aneil Karia’s modern adaptation of ‘Hamlet,’ starring Oscar winner Riz Ahmed. (more)

• Bill Nighy, Noah Jupe, George MacKay, and Matt Smith will star in Pablo Trapero's English-language debut '& Sons,' with a script by Oscar-winner Sarah Polley, launching at the Cannes market. (more)

• The BBC's hit show ‘Motherland’ gets a spinoff, ‘Amandaland,’ starring Lucy Punch and Joanna Lumley. (more)

• Aaron Eckhart returns in the sequel ‘Muzzle: City of Wolves,’ directed by John Stalberg Jr. (more)

• Vertical acquires U.S. rights to ‘Elevation,’ a post-apocalyptic sci-fi thriller starring Anthony Mackie, Morena Baccarin, and Maddie Hasson, directed by George Nolfi. (more)

Other News 🚨

• IATSE West Coast negotiations paused without a deal, with talks on wages, AI, and working conditions to resume in June. (more)

• The ‘Young Sheldon’ series finale hit a four-year audience high with 8.95M viewers, marking the most-watched episode since 2020. (more)

• CNN will allow other networks to simulcast its Jun. 27 presidential debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, aiming to increase overall viewership. (more)