‘Dumbledore’ Draws Female Moviegoers, But Threequelitis Sets In With $40M-$44M
RelishMix DOTS (DUMBLEDORE and FATHER STU): Social analytics firm RelishMix would disagree, seeing that the pic’s fans on social media are missing Depp as Grindelwald; the actor replaced by Mads Mikkelsen in the role.
RelishMix said that pre-weekend buzz on Dumbledore ran “intense and mixed, with loving enthusiasm for the franchise to questions about the chemistry of the cast. There were also countless references from fans and super-fans of Johnny Depp and his ‘cancellation’ — and how he’s ‘irreplaceable’. With the film open in the UK, Europe and China — spoiler alert warnings are abound with a range of response to relationships, deeps dives into the ‘Wizarding World’ and debates over the current Depp trial that’s concurrently underway.
RelishMix measured that Dumbledore‘s social media universe reached 214.7M, under the awareness stats of Grindelwald back in November 2018, and trailing on social by 34% primarily with Facebook video views. The new installment includes a new push into TikTok with 3.2M video views and 3.1M views on Twitter. The campaign is stretching Warner’s YouTube muscles across international channels from Indonesia, Brazil, Ireland UK, Spain and more sectors with 125.1M views and strong viral reposting rate of 18:1.
FULL STORY: https://deadline.com/2022/04/box-office-fantastic-beasts-3-
‘Sonic The Hedgehog 2’ Beats Weekend Opening Of First Movie With $71M
SONIC 2: Social awareness for Sonic 2 per RelishMix before the weekend stood at 468.6M and 29% above the social media universe of family-live-action movies across Facebook, Twitter, YouTube Instagram and TikTok. And, it also runs in-line with the first installment of Sonic which opened two years ago, just before the pandemic, and exceeded predictions for that opening weekend at $58M. Included, is the 11.7M social/digital kick from the Super Bowl pre-game spot and social pages for the movie at 568K which is strong. The franchise based on the 31 year old video game, has social cross-promotional integration from the Sega game platform (4.3M) and the Sonic The Hedgehog social media (13.1M). RelishMix noticed that the word of mouth was positive for Sonic 2 and that “expectations and love for Jim Carrey as Dr. Eggman, and concerns as to whether this this will be his ‘last film’ are building interest even more.”
FULL: https://deadline.com/2022/04/sonic-the-hedgehog-2-ambulance-weekend-box-office-2-1234997180/
‘Morbius’: Sony Marvel Jared Leto Movie Sinking Teeth Into $40M+
Social media monitor RelishMix noticed ahead of opening that “fans have impatiently awaited the theatrical drop” of Moribus, with “chatter enthusiastically plucking moments from materials to compare the vampire movie to DC’s Batman. Then, threads run over to Spider-Man, and the potential for Marvel MCU cross-overs storylines, most all of which suggests that popcorn should be well-stocked for this event.”… more
Full story: https://deadline.com/2022/04/morbius-box-office-1234992429/
‘The Lost City’ Seeing Record Pandemic Opening For Female Driven Comedy With $30M
Ahead of opening, social media monitor RelishMix spotted positive conversation for Lost City, with those online “making unending comparisons to Romancing the Stone and The Jewel Of The Nile — with enthusiasm for the playful onscreen chemistry of Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum, and boiling screams of joy for Brad Pitt.” Total reach across Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok combined is 125.3M social media followers, “exceeding genre norms for action-adventure-comedy,” says RelishMix, with Tatum posts spiking with a super Instagram post at 3.1M views, plus a solid stack of YouTube materials driving 56.6M views.
Tatum is the social media champ here for the pic, engaging 45.6M fans, and driving cast activation on the film at 96%, while also repping 36% of the pic’s entire SMU reach. Other cast members Bullock, Daniel Radcliffe, and Brad Pitt are hot topics in social chatter, but are socially off-the-grid…. more…
FULL STORY: https://deadline.com/2022/03/box-office-the-lost-city-sandra-bullock-channing-tatum-2-1234986860/
‘The Batman’ Powers To $238M+ U.S. Cume By Sunday; Pic Already At $400M WW
Warner Bros.’ The Batman, as expected, is leading the weekend box office in what is expected to be a three-frame No. 1 streak with a very healthy hold of -51% and $66M on its way to $238.5M by Sunday. Already the Matt Reeves directed movie is over $400M WW. Yesterday clocked $18.7M, -47% from last Friday (-67% if you compare against pic’s first Friday+previews).
RelishMix noticed the post-social chatter on the DC movie, reporting that it “runs positive as doubts are extinguished with cast choices applauded for Robert Pattinson’s performance as an all-time best Batman performance, while fans continue to adore Nirvana’s music in the film, which was inspiration for Matt Reeves as he was writing the film.” YouTube videos popped most on social digital adding 20.6M views for studio owned and earned materials over the week. Official social pages for the film added 282K new fans, notably on Instagram with Twitter and Facebook pages now totaling 1.3M for The Batman.
Zoe Kravitz super Instagram has surged up to 7.4M fan adding 617K fans over the week with images from the spicy new Ellen Von Unwerth photo Wonderlandmagazine, with portraits of the actress and Pattinson. In a further promo boost for the pic in theaters, Kravitz is hosting SNL tonight.
‘The Batman’ Signals Another Big Return To Moviegoing Post ‘Spider-Man’ With $120M+
As movie theaters continue to pine for a rebound after being closed from 2020-2021, and desire more moolah post-Spider-Man: No Way Home, the domestic opening for Warner Bros.’ ninth Batman movie (tenth if you include Justice League) is nothing to complain about, with a $120M weekend.
RelishMix reports that The Batman social media universe swelled over the last two weeks, rising to 644.1M, above superhero movie norms. YouTube views was the driver, with 515.5M from a lean-and-mean four-owned trailers and spots, which were going viral “at an exceptional rate of 102:1.” While Spider-Man: No Way Home touted an SMU of 1.23 billion ahead of opening, the noticeable difference was Zendaya’s 150.2M social reach and the cast’s overall 253.9M followers. Spider-Man YouTube views were at 792.5M views, with a hefty stack of 14 videos.
Says RelishMix, “Social cast activation levels ran surprisingly moderate overall — with well-activated Andy Serkis at 1.2M and Jeffrey Wright at 426K. Most notable is the well-managed Zoe Kravitz Instagram with 11 posts now at 6.8M fans, adding 97K new fans per week — while Robert Pattinson, Paul Dano, Colin Farrell, and John Turturro are off the grid — noting that director/writer/producer Matt Reeves has an activated 388K fans.”
Chatter for The Batman was overall good ahead of opening, but had its cynics, per RelishMix, with “fans wondering how much darker The Batman can be from Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Night — with obvious comparisons to the tone of Christian Bale and how the visuals of the trailers feel closer to modern day and less of a fantasy world. The Nirvana song choice ‘Something In The Way’ is resonating well in convo, as materials deliver a spoiler-free storyline, but glimpses of Catwoman, The Riddler, and The Penguin, with hopes of a Joker cameo. On a big tentpole, chatter covers enormous ground, with intensely mixed highs for a return to normal post-Covid popcorn life — to skeptical, expectedly snarky nit-pickers, overall tracking mixed-leaning-positive. Date/date debates are nearly non-existent, along with complaints about vaxxing and masks. Robert Pattinson as the Caped Crusader and Zoe Kravitz onscreen moments are spiking chatter positively.”
FULL: https://deadline.com/2022/03/the-batman-box-office-1234970969/
‘Uncharted’ Soars To $51M 4-Day, ‘Dog’ Barks $18M+ At Presidents Day Weekend Box Office
Social media firm RelishMix spotted online promo power from Holland with 68.4M across his social media handles, and that doesn’t even include Facebook. Wahlberg engaged his 45.9M fans as well as Antonio Banderas who counts 9.1M fans. Holland’s Instagram views for Uncharted posts ranged from 6M all the way up to 15M, this being his highest:
RelishMix notes that online frenzy 24 hours after the Big Game reached 522.3M for Uncharted across Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Twitter, far exceeding the awareness for an action-adventure movie social reach by 4X. Cross-promotions from the Sony PlayStation social channels were at 104.5M before weekend opening, while the film’s social channels at 407K built strong momentum from 42 Facebook videos at 40.9M and 24 YouTube videos at 104.6M . The campaign also reaped 12.5M off of its two Super Bowl spots.
RelishMix reports that Dog‘s social digital awareness hit 81.9M across Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram before opening. Tatum reps 91% of the cast awareness with 45.6M fans and 55% of the entire film. The digital efforts honed in on moviegoers, fans of Tatum and dog movies, along with military and faith audiences while broadening out to high impact takeovers across social including TikTok TopView Video and a Snapchat Lens.
‘Death On The Nile’ Charting $12.7M, ‘Marry Me’ $8M In Valentine’s Day Weekend Where Hollywood Pines For Female Auds
Two major studios this weekend took a bold swing and decided to go after the challenged older female demo over Valentine’s Day weekend in a continued pandemic, and while the results were in line with projections, they wouldn’t be anything to brag about in a pre-pandemic marketplace. It’s also the hardest weekend for moviegoing with Super Bowl on Sunday.
RelishMix shows a social media reach of 217.9M “at social norms for a campaign that began 18 months ago in August 2020 and wrestled with Covid re-dates and other headline news such as Armie Hammer.” Gadot has a social media reach of 95.1M, but she hasn’t been tub-thumping the film.
RelishMix observed that social media momentum ran strong for Marry Me with a huge reach of 546.5M before the weekend, pumped by Lopez’s fanbase of 313.3M. “The film was clearly promoted on the day/date multi-platform release on a very crowded Olympics, Super Bowl, Peacock channel and in theaters as a Valentine’s weekend counter program to Super Bowl, with all stars aligned for NBCU,” observed RelishMix, “The content stack was well fed into Universal channels with 45 Facebook videos at 9.2M views and 11 YouTube videos at 68.4M views into the Jennifer Lopez Vevo YouTube channel with 15.1M subs.”
“Even without the JLo social factor, which is 233M, Marry Me tracks in-line with other social musicals, including West Side Story at 211.8M, The Greatest Showmanat 313.2M, and Bohemian Rhapsody at 242.1M,” adds the social media analytics firm in their latest report.
‘Scream’ Hitting Loud Pitch With $36M 4-Day, ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Surging Past ‘Black Panther’
SATURDAY AM UPDATE: We can complain about omicron. But I wouldn’t necessarily complain that the variant is spoiling the top films at the box office, as Paramount/Spyglass Media’s Scream had a robust first day of $13.3M (including $3.5M Thursday previews) on its way to a $31.5M 3-day and $36M 4-day at 3,664 theaters.
Social Media corp RelishMix beams about the advance weekend buzz for Scream, “With a date that was set in stone, unchanged and locked from one year ago, Screamopens solo with positive leaning convo to a potential Covid-proof audience. Fans are shouting on social for Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Ghost Face and David Arquette’s character Dewey as fans are ready for a wild and entertaining distraction into the New Year of cinematic madness. Negative and Covid related chatter runs thin.”
The pic’s campaign across Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram counted nine video drops in a week, with YouTube materials clocking close to 60M views. From the last installment 11 years ago, the social media universe for Scream is now at 126.4M which is 27% above the horror genre norm. By comparison, Halloween Kills had a SMU of 145.1M (opened at $49.4M) and The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It counted a SMU at 131.1M (opened at $24.1M). “In other words, social stats are in the ballpark of recent horror films,” reports RelishMix.
Scream‘s actors are well activated on social media with Cox at 15.6M followers, Dylan Minnette at 7.9M, Jenna Ortega at 6.8M, Melissa Barrera with over 1M, David Arquette at 468K, and Neve Campbell at 418K. “All are indexing exceptionally well, as fans can see how much fun the cast is having in promotion as well as making the film,” assesses RelishMix.
Barrera gets a call from Cox, this video earning over 2.5M views on the Friendsalum’s Instagram:
‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ To Cross $666M U.S. & Sink ‘Titanic’; ‘The 355’ Not Arresting With $4M+
RelishMix says about the social media chatter, “Convo for The 355 swings mixed-negative, as fans feel like they’re being served a bit of a cliché cookie-cutter action package in the spirit of Charlie’s Angels or ‘James Bond’s daughters’ with a diverse mix of kick-ass, super-charged women. Fans of Jessica Chastain, Lupita Nyong’o, and Penelopé Cruz are super-supportively cheering for success. But amidst the Covid-resurge, moviegoers are tapping their finger for Peacock or another streaming service drop date.”
RelishMix says that due to 355‘s re-date after a year-long pause, there’s “scattered activity for digital materials,” but a “strong reach by the all-star cast.” The social media universe across YouTube views, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter was close to 120M before opening, with the cast’s social media handles repping 38% of that push, with Nyong’o at 14.5M fans, Chastain at 6.5M, Sebastian Stan with a strong Instagram at 8.4M, Edgar Ramirez at 5.3M, Bingbing Fan at 4.1M.
FULL: https://deadline.com/2022/01/weekend-box-office-spider-man-no-way-home-the-355-1234906089/
‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Third-Best Christmas Ever With $31.7M US; Domestic At $467M+ & $1.05B (Sing 2, Matrix, King's Man)
For all the headlines about Omicron, in many ways the Christmas box office isn’t unlike others pre-pandemic, where one film is driving the majority of business. With the 3-day for all films estimated to ring up around $154M, Sony/Marvel’s Spider-Man: No Way Home is driving 53% of that figure. It has a 3-day of $81.5M, with only one other event film expected in the long run, that being Illumination/Universal’s Sing 2, which is notching a $41M 5-day start.
SPIDER-MAN NO WAY HOME/Sony - UPDATE: 12-19-12 - Activity on key performance indicators for Spider-Man are maintain exceptional levels with over 100k views per day on top trailers with an added 32.2M YouTube views since opening and added 412K fans on Instagram, 102k on Twitter and 84k on Facebook for the film. Zendaya has added 2M more fans on her Instagram as she’s popping back over to promote Euphoria on HBO, but still driving tons of engagement to her 1 post for the film of Tom Holland with 14M likes. Yes. And Tom Holland? He’s added 3M fans to his IG and 200K on Twitter.
SING 2 - RelishMix says that the voiceover cast of Sing 2 are driving 31% of its 100.1M social media reach across Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, led by Reese Witherspoon at 33.6M, Nick Roll at 2.7M, Matthew McConaughey at 18.5M and a non-activated Halsey at 27.6M. Overall social media universe, including YouTube for the Illumination sequel, stands at 393.1M, 24% above norms for pre-Covid family animation, and higher than recent releases Encanto (272.6M), Addams Family 2 (236.6), Tom & Jerry (159.2M), Sprit Untamed (111.1M) and Croods: A New Age (238.5M). Illumination Studios feeds YouTube owned materials to 3M subscribers and cross-promoted to Universal channels.
THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS - It’s not like fans weren’t aware of Matrix Resurrections. The fourthqel counted over 600.6M followers across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube, per RelishMix. HBO Max grew 4X over the last year, up to a near 6M social media universe, next to Warner Bros. Pictures SMU at 57.4M, with a studio YouTube channel now crossing 10M subscribers. “All of these stats run 2X over the norm for the genre as far as awareness and reach,” says RelishMix, which noticed excitement for the sequel heading into the weekend, with fans asking on social “‘What took so long?’ and questions swirling about Neo’s return and the original Morpheus.” We’ll see the Samba TV numbers tomorrow as to whether all that excitement translated into HBO Max viewers.
THE KING’S MAN - The King’s Man skewed 65% men, 54% between 18-34, and 40% over 35. Advance social media buzz was mixed for this prequel, according to RelishMix, and while a social media universe state of 155.2M was on par for the genre, “re-dates have distracted fans,” says the analytics corp. Further pouring water on any buzz for The King’s Man is that it doesn’t boast a cast with social media handles, the exception being “a well activated Djimon Hounsou with 1.1M fans” says RelishMix.
‘Encanto’ & ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’ Split Families, ‘House Of Gucci’ Best Opening For Drama In Two Years
ENCANTO: Animated and dubbed internationally, video materials are being actively reposted on YouTube, over indexing at an EOR viral rate of 21:1 and SMU social media universe of 272.6M across Facebook, Instagram Twitter and YouTube. The entire 22 part soundtrack was dropped into a YouTube playlist this week on the Disney Music channel as a kid friendly experience. Within the Disney social media universe, most activity is driven by the Disney Animation feeds with the Beatles Get Back intermixed and coming soon to Disney+. The entire 22 part soundtrack was dropped into a YouTube playlist this week on the Disney Music channel as a kid friendly experience.
Online chatter here for Encanto, according to RelishMix, “picked apart elements of the film regarding ‘representation’ by a South American country. Mentions are positive overall for a protagonist who’s not a princess, but a girl in glasses.”
Encanto with a premiere in Bogata Columbia:
HOUSE OF GUCCI: RelishMix reports that House of Gucci had a powerful social media pull of 415.4M across Twitter, Instagram, YouTube views and Facebook with the cast pulling in over 234M on their own social media accounts. Lady Gaga counts 188.7M followers (across Twitter, Instagram and Facebook) with Salma Hayek at 22.7M and Jared Leto at 21.2M. “The cast totally worked it,” said Lomis about how Gaga, Leto, Hayek, Al Pacino and Adam Driver all came through in tubthumping the movie across several talk show and screening appearances.
As Oscar season heats up, Gaga lovers, fans of Adam Driver and excitement for Jered Leto’s on-screen transformation — fans are committed to Gucci as the big-screen exclusive event. Plus the bold costuming and production design, many are enthusiastic about Ridley Scott’s body of work.
Fans were inspired for a Halloween look this year.
RESIDENT EVIL: WELCOME TO RACCOON CITY: Heading into the weekend, RelishMix noticed mixed-to-negative chatter about Raccoon City, reporting it as being “Cautious, skeptical” from fans who are a “super critical horror audience questioning the logic, the look of the effects, and comparing the film to the game’s CGI. Also, fans are missing Milla Jovovich in this incarnation. Tough crowd.”
Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City rides in the social wake of Sony’s hit Ghostbusters and drafting is way to 128.8M social media universe which falls below the norm for the genre of horror sci-fi. The franchise feeds are solid at 10.1M fans with daily activity just on par. Constantin Film social in English and German is cross promoting Sony materials.
‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’ Calls Up $44M Opening Weekend
GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE: In regards to promotion, social analytics corp RelishMix reports that Ghostbusters: Afterlife dropped its first trailer on Dec. 9, 2019 and began to build momentum to the July 2020 date only to hit the Covid pause button. For the next full year until this past April, the studio dropped weekly clips into the movie’s Facebook pages as the industry re-set. Afterlife, has 105 videos for 7.6M predominately organic views “which is strong” says RelishMix. On YouTube, 11 videos reposted with a viral rate of 41:1 have amassed 94.3M views “with an exceptional load of review spots.” Sony’s 40.9M social media universe is cross promoted with the movie at 3.2M fans and Playstation at 104.2 fans which are all rolled into the sequel’s total social media universe of 275.6M.
Conversation for Ghostbusters: Afterlife leans positive “with enthusiasm for new cast members Finn Wolfhard and Paul Rudd — and joyous references of the original from 1984 with the return of Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, Ernie Hudson, Sigourney Weaver and Annie Potts,” says RelishMix. “The second redo is intensely nostalgic for fans and their memories of New York in the 1980s and feeling that Ghostbusters are here to save the day. Wolfhard fans are pointing out the obvious connection when the cast of Stranger Things dressed up as Ghostbusters in an episode. Gozer the Gozerian and the Stay Puff man along with chatter about the video game also leads to cross promotions which are seen within the PlayStation universe. Skeptics touch on the first reboot from 2016 and now, with a kids driven episode and how that will play.”
The pic’s social media stars include Dan Aykroyd with 1.8M fans, McKenna Grace at 1.6M. and Wolfhard with 20.9M on Instagram. Jason Reitman counts over 228K between his Instagram and Twitter handle.
Grace with the Ghostbusters:
jasonreitman - In 1984, Ghostbusters played the Chinese Theater. We’re back! And in@imax!
KING RICHARD: While Smith has promoted the film to his 176M-plus fans across Twitter, Instagram and his YouTube channel per RelishMix, some awards marketing sources have critiqued they’d like to see him out there pushing the film a bit more; the actor currently pushing his new book Will. Fans exclaim, “Oscar” for Will Smith’s performance and adore the Williams sisters in the promotional/BTS materials which give an added thrust to the authenticity of the project.
Will Smith selfie video introducing a trailer with the Williams sisters and a track by Beyoncé.
Despite Global Box Office Glory & $71M Domestic Debut, Why ‘Eternals’ Is A Wake-Up Call For MCU
Disney was able to keep Eternals intact throughout the weekend hitting a $71M opening amid mediocre audience exits, and the worst reviews for an MCU title of all-time. But know that when this film first landed on tracking four weeks ago, many had it in the $80M-$85M three-day range.
All in worldwide, Eternals counts $161.7M. That’s the 2nd best opening for a Hollywood movie during 2021 behind F9‘s $163M, which saw $136M from China (Eternals won’t have China). The global start for the MCU title is also the best during the pandemic for an original, new piece of IP, 26% ahead of Shang-Chi ($128M) and 8% ahead of Black Widow‘s $150M in like-for-like markets.
In the wake of this, RelishMix noticed that before Eternals’ opening, “conversation ran mixed with MCU die-hards. With low critical reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, some fans were vexed and others certain that Eternals would be a masterpiece.”
Salma Hayek’s 22.5M fans are well activated, mainly on IG with co-star Angelina Jolie’s 3-month old social page on IG too with 11.2M fans, although, only for her social causes. Harry Styles (uncredited as Eros) posts his music and fashion show images has 76.9M although not activated, unfortunately. Kumail Nanjiani at 4M and Richard Madden at 3.4M are fully onboard.
‘Dune’ $40M+ Domestic Opening Is Best For Warner Bros HBO Max Day/Date Title & Denis Villeneuve
DUNE: Dune has easily become Denis Villeneuve’s biggest domestic opening at the box office and the best start for Warner Bros. and an HBO Max day-and-date title with $40.1M. Business was actually better than many had anticipated for Saturday, -22% from Friday with $13.7M sending the Frank Herbert feature adaptation ahead of tracking’s opening forecast of $30M-$35M. This is also the 8th film from Warners to open at No. 1 this year.
RelishMix says that Dune‘s social media across YouTube views, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram stood at 474.1M before opening, “2X the genre norm, fueled by re-starts of campaign — plus the effect of the well activated cast at 41% of the reach”. On Facebook, Warners took an organic approach to video engagement by posting 41 trailers and clips for 2.5M views which began on Sept. 8, 2020 pausing and then rebooting 13 weeks ago. Over on YouTube, the 8 views have clocked a healthy 206.7M views and a viral rate twice the norm too, at 40:1. Added to the triangulation of WB Pictures at 57.8M and HBO Max at 4.1M is the robust Legendary studios’ social media universe of 2.4M which runs strong activity with trailers in the wake of Godzilla vs. Kong — and strong international engagement with an added set of 5 YouTube videos. Not only were the cast posting Dune materials, but below the line folks as well, i.e. composer Hans Zimmer with a #DuneMovieDuet challenge on TikTok. In the mix across YouTube are 21 Zimmer soundtrack components which were dropped 4 weeks ago on the Warner Bros’ WaterTower channel. DP Greig Fraser shot loads of stills seen on his Instagram to 68K fans mixed in with The Batman.
“Casting impact scores solid points at 199.2M with 41% of the social media awareness with both Zendaya at 147.3M and Timothee Chalamet at 15.4M, who are off-the-charts in terms of fan engagement on their carefully timed posts of trailers, posters and red carpet moments in the range of 2-7M likes per post,” says RelishMix.
“Impressively for Zendaya, while she has significant fashion deals, she still supports her film projects across here social network. Dune reunites Villeneuve with Dave Bautista at 15.1M after their journey in Blade Runner 2049. Also activated are Jason Momoa at 16.1M, Josh Brolin at 3M, Rebecca Ferguson at 402K and David Dastmalchian at 298K. Villeneuve is non-social,” adds the social media analytics corp.
Any fan starving for a Dune videogame, well, you can find it over on Fortnite which the studio partnered with:
Chalamet celebrating the openings of Dune and French Dispatch this weekend:
RON’S GONE WRONG: Social awareness for Ron’s Gone Wrong across social run under family animated norms for reach at 92.2M SMU and engagement under KPI norms as well. Ed Helms drives the Ron’s cast with 3.4M fully activated channels to fans and a total of 15.3M fans — plus postings from Jack Dylan Grazer at 4.5M and Marcus Scribner at 1.3M. more…
‘Halloween Kills’ Stabbing Lots Of Green With $47M+ Opening
RelishMix reports that Halloween Kills skewed under 25 on social media with awareness stats well above horror norms by 34% at 145.1M total across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube with 57.8M views and a strong viral rate of 33:1. Universal pulled 30.3M fans on Facebook for the film while Blumhouse social media counts 1.2M fans.
Halloween Kills has super-social Jamie Lee Curtis stoking the flames with 6.6 million fans along with co-stars Kyle Richards at 5.8M, Judy Greer at 1.1M, Thomas Mann at 106K, Andi Matichak at 67K, and Anthony Michael Hall at 50K.
As far as the online chatter goes, RelishMix reports, “With a franchise across a generations, a horror picture that has family appeal, stirs mentions of the strength of the enduring characters and how well Halloween has held up, many notes about story structure and cliff hangers. Fans scream warnings on social for Michael to ‘Give up, the whole town is against you.’ And, what’s funny, are fans who in general, hate that reviews are posted with spoilers before films are released.”
‘No Time To Die’: MGM & Eon Line Up $150M Promo Brand Campaign That Shakes & Stirs
One thing is clear after we’ve endured a 19-month pandemic: The world now, more than ever, needs James Bond.
And not just movie theaters, and concession industries, but an assortment of brands from Madison Avenue which have seen sales curtailed during lockdown, in particular the auto industry which continues to see production slowed due to a chip shortage with car dealers’ new auto lots seeing inventories at 30% less their pre-pandemic numbers.
In what is one of the year’s most prolific motion picture cross-promotional campaigns valued at $150 million from over 14 brand partners is that of MGM/United Artist Releasing/Eon’s No Time to Die. While it’s not a record promo campaign for a 007 movie (that belongs to 2012’s Skyfall which repped the franchise’s 50th anniversary), it’s definitely up there and well ahead of the $120M promo brand push for 2002’s Die Another Day, the last Bond film to be strictly distributed by MGM before Sony took over the last four Daniel Craig movies. Next to some Disney/Marvel promo brand campaigns, No Time to Die is on par with Avengers: Infinity War, and ahead of Spider-Man: Homecoming ($140M) and Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 ($80M), but behind Avengers: Endgame‘s pre-pandemic $200M partner cross promotion.
No Time to Die struts what is a traditional Bond line-up of uber-luxurious products including Aston Martin cars, Omega watches, Smirnoff vodka, Chopard jewelry, and Michael Kors, which jibe with the spy’s haute sensibility. Bond’s taste for the finest goes all the way back to Ian Fleming’s original 14 novels and short stories which referenced real world products and brands like Gordon’s Gin, Smirnoff Vodka, Bentley motorcars, Taittinger champagne and Rolex watches name-checked throughout the pages. These brands fleshed out the world Fleming was creating, so that it was more believable to his readers. When Fleming was accused of including brand names for the purpose of receiving compensation, he retorted, as quoted in Andrew Lycett’s biography of the author: “My books are spattered with branded products of one sort of another as I think it is stupid to invent names for products which are household words”. The only time any company sent anything to Fleming in response to being included in his books was Floris, who sent him some soap.
However, this promo campaign for Bond is quite special, standing the test of time throughout the pandemic, as No Time to Die endured four release-date changes. It speaks to Eon and MGM’s finesse in keeping their partnerships intact, and the advertisers’ patience and class in waiting for the 25th Bond. That’s a testament to the 007 franchise’s power, not to mention its ability to yield sales for fellow advertisers.
“It’s been great that these brands have really stuck with us through all these multiple movies,” MGM Chief Marketing Officer Stephen Bruno tells Deadline.
Below Michael Kors’ spot:
‘Venom: Let There Be Carnage’ Gobbling Up $71M+ Weekend, Second Best Friday During Pandemic With $37M+
If there were any exhibitors out there who were irate about Sony sending nine of their movies straight to streamers and skipping theaters during the pandemic, consider this weekend’s Venom: Let There Be Carnage as a big, wet kiss and make-up.
Word of mouth before opening on social, according to RelishMix, was no doubt positive with “chatter for Venom 2 sprinkled by fans though-out Sony Pictures trailers over the Covid shutdown (Escape Room, Ghostbusters, Don’t Breathe 2), with many exclaiming that the Marvel follow-up will be the ‘first movie to get me back in a theater'”.
Venom 2 exceeded the social media universe average for action sci-fi movies with 389.8M followers across YouTube views, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. The first Venom hit 754.6M, but included Eminem in the soundtrack, who delivered 134.2M followers, plus music. YouTube views “are exceptional,” per RelishMix, at 290.8M and 44.6M on Facebook for 35 videos with owned pages for the film at 1.5M (1.1M Facebook, 442K Instagram, 174K Twitter) and brisk Venom 2 activity on the Sony Facebook, which counts 29M fans.
Social media champs for Venom 2 include Tom Hardy, with one social channel on Instagram at 7.3M fans, who is using it very effectively to promote his projects and partners with per-post engagement running from 80K up to 1.5M. Woody Harrelson counts 5.3M and is nicely activated, as well as director Serkis at 1.2M. Naomie Harris (who’s in Venom this week and No Time To Die next week) with 461K, plus soundtrack artist Skylar Grey at 2.3M.
‘Shang-Chi’ Becomes Highest Grossing Movie At Domestic B.O. During Pandemic, As ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ Weeps
Social Media analytics corp Relish Mix, gauged online sentiment toward Dear Evan Hansen as a 5.5 out of 10 on its meters, reporting, “Convo quality runs the gamut — from joyous praise of the power of the theme coming from the Broadway play as a post pandemic story of hope and inspiration with the musical soundtrack that runs deep into our culture, celebrated by audiences. On the cynical side, threads over the last four months touch on questions about Ben Platt being cast as a high school student given the fact that he’s 27. In defense of Ben Platt on social, rolling into the feature film, fans of the play are piling on in vigorous support of his continuation his role in the film and question the intent and ‘to suspend their disbelief to get more out of life’.”
Due to the momentum of the Broadway’s plays publicity over the last five years, RelishMix counts the social media universe for Dear Evan Hansen at 459.5M (which is above Pitch Perfect 3 at 317.7M and A Star Is Born at 301.1M) across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube. However, minus out the Broadway musical YouTube video views of 356.2M and the social media awareness for the film drops to 103.3M “which is at the lower end of the genre in the range of Rocketman‘s 114.5M and La La Land‘s 48.3M” says RelishMix.
The Dear Evan Hansen cast has 10.7M activated across social, primarily on Instagram with Ben Platt and Julianne Moore each at 2.9M, Amandla Stenberg with 2.4M and Amy Adams at 784K.
‘Shang-Chi’ Ruling Box Office In Third Weekend With $21M+ Over 'Cry Macho', 'Copshop' and 'The Eyes of Tammy Faye'
There’s really not a lot to brag about in regards to the rest of newcomers on the chart, largely aimed at skittish older adults during the pandemic. That said, none of them are really lighting rods in regards to generating chatter on social media. However, Searchlight’s The Eyes of Tammy Faye did have a pulse. Tammy Faye and Open Road’s Copshop have theatrical windows, but Warner Bros’ Cry Macho does not given its day and date availability on HBO Max.
CRY MACHO: The enduring strategy in campaigning of Cry Macho remains well in-tact — ‘Clint’. Metrics are moderate and cast is leaving the work up to the studio who is dropping emotionally engaging materials late in the run-up. Spaghetti fans hear the Ennio Morcconne soundtrack in the trailer as they well with tears for Eastwood’s immortality and bulletproof persona at 91 years old as this nickname the film Gran Torrino 2, who declare, “This made my day.”
COPSHOP: RelishMix notes, “Awareness on social runs moderate at 34% of the genre norm for action thriller, with a light content load of late boosted trailers on YouTube and on Facebook, and moderate activity across key performance indicators. With a film market-style genre film and with a target audience that have clear expectations, chatter tone and volume runs light and mixed for an ultra-violent, ultra-action romp and plugs for the recent Joe Carnahan Boss Level over on Hulu.” Joe Carnahan and Frank Grillo have done their part to spread the word with the former inviting superfans to meet him to talk about movies:
THE EYES OF TAMMY FAYE: That said, RelishMix noticed prior to opening that out of the three wide entries, Tammy Faye had some movement, and that’s because you have to give it up to Chastain who has been a relentless promoter for the movie. Not just now because she’s starring in it, but also in its ramping up as she produced the movie. Chastain counts 6.2M on her social media channels, and has been giving fans a preview of the pic, from BTS to its splash at TIFF. Overall, a social media universe across Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube views of 62M+ per RelishMix which is “normal for indy drama” with “content cadence quickening” before the pic’s opening. Chastain’s Instagram post for the NYC premiere, garnering just under 300K views:
