Deadline's blockbuster blockbuster tour is back. As studios during Covid wildly embraced the day-and-date theatrical model when theaters closed, they soon realized that there was nothing more profitable than a theatrical release and the downstream streams that come with it. Either way, theatrical is advertising a film's longevity in subsequent home entertainment windows. Entering the conversation in 2023 are broadcasters, like Apple, who have also realized the need for theaters to eventually stream their movies. Financial data is gathered here for Deadline's Most Valuable Blockbuster Tour it is taken from experienced and reliable sources.
FILM
Anyone but you
Sony/Columbia Pictures
Net profit: $103 million
Sony development executive Maia Eyre brought this Will Gluck-Ilana Wolpert project to the studio. Mixing in the genius and hot pairing of EUFOR star Sydney Sweeney and Top Gun: MaverickGlen Powell and you get a month long break for Sony in this romantic comedy revival. Although streaming has hollowed out the genre, Sony believed that dated movies still existed. Anyone but you opened under the radar over the four-day Christmas weekend to $8 million and delivered over a 10x domestic box office haul of $88 million plus and $219 million worldwide. Sony pulled a page from it Spider-Man: No Way Home playbook and had Sweeney and Powell do their interviews and social media stunts together, highlighting their chemistry and banter. Sweeney's social reach at the time of the photo shoot was close to 17 million. Marketing costs were low for this one at $65m global given the big push on digital and social, particularly on TikTok, where the following parts took off: the duo lip-syncing to Natasha Bedingfield's “Unwritten” (approx. 28 million views) and “Dirtiest Choice”. -Up Lines” bit (close to 25M). Pic's payment is through Sony's rich deal with Netflix.
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FILM
Undercover: The Red Door
Sony/Blumhouse/Phase 6 Films
Net profit: 92 million dollars
Despite the bumps in the road during the production of this fifth horror film, Sony Motion Picture Group chairman and CEO Tom Rothman remained confident that Undercover: The Red Door stick to a post-July 4th weekend release date sandwiched between Disney/Lucasfilm's Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny and of Paramount Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One. The Red Door surprised, upset Indiana JonesThe second weekend for place no. 1 with a $33 million domestic haul, this latest film was flayed by bad-mouth from its Cannes premiere. The Red Door also marked the second-best start for the franchise behind Undercover: Chapter 2 ($40.2 million). While the film district and focus features discussed earlier Secretly released at the box office, Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group has always had North American rights since it bought the first title from TIFF Midnight Madness in 2010 for less than $1 million. James Wan, who directed the first two Secretly movies, came up with the idea for The Red Door to Blumhouse in 2018 to keep the franchise alive with another string that includes the Lamberts' son Dalton, who starred in Undercover 1, 2 AND 4. The idea was to reunite all the original cast including Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Ty Simpkins, Secretly architect Leigh Whannell and Lin Shaye. Wilson was able to accomplish that feat and assemble the cast, with Aquaman the actor making his directorial debut here. Sony co-president Josh Greenstein built a campaign that included the “What's Behind the Red Door?” stunt, an outdoor stunt in various cities that went viral thanks to social media influencers.
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FILM
Life II
New Line/Atomic Monster
Net profit: $85 million
This is proof of how the power of a brand works at the box office through thick and thin. While several films were pushed out of the fall and into late August due to the actors' strike with performers unable to promote, New Line kept continuation of his highest profit Awakened movie, nuns ($366 million), on the calendar. People went, with the sequel about a demon-shunning nun opening to $32.6 million in the post-Labor Day frame for Warner Bros. hot horror pictures and $86.3 million domestically and $269.5 million worldwide. Director of photography Michael Chaves was scouted by New Line execs Walter Hamada and Dave Neustadter and set to lead in 2019. The Curse of La Llorona (Title of the little film, big money from that year's Biggest Blockbuster Tour), was invited to take the reins here.
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Scream VI
Spyglass/Paramount
Net profit: $60 million
After rebooting bawl franchise in 2022 ($81.6 million domestic, $137.7 million global) with stars from the original franchise plus up-and-comers and genre filmmakers Radio Silence in the director's chairs, a sequel was quickly ordered. What sent this into another stratosphere was the halo effect of its star Jenna Ortega, who was coming off Netflix's most-watched series ever. Wednesday. The knife action saw him and bawl 2022 star Melissa Barrera heads to NYC for the first time in the franchise. Fans liked it enough to a B+, the same high grade as the previous one bawl and still the best for the franchise. The strong participation from Latino and Hispanic viewers at 38% gave the 27-year-old series the biggest opening with $44.4 million domestically, giving it $108.2 million domestically and $169 million worldwide, the second-highest bawl movie after the 1996 original. Spyglass is rebooting this movie again for part 7, with Ortega gone and Barrera fired for her online comments about the Gaza War. Original franchise writer Kevin Williamson will direct, with series OGs Neve Campbell and Courteney Cox in talks.
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FILM
Dead evil rises
The New Line
Net profit: 46 million dollars
What happens when you take exciting movies and bring them from broadcast to theaters? You make money. This New Line reboot of the Sam Raimi franchise was slated to go to HBO Max, commissioned during the Jason Kilar-WarnerMedia era, when they were raking in millions on original movies for the service. Warner Bros. Discovery chief David Zaslav has steered the studio away from that strategy (for the most part—yes, there are exceptions to the contrary, e.g., New Line's Stephen King Salem's tear transition from theaters to Max), with Dead evil rises being one of those titles. Warner Bros. distribution and marketing executives noted how the trailer for Dead evil rises was electrified at CineEurope and decided to give the film a local release; first lighting it up from SXSW. The picture received a B CinemaScore, higher than the 2013 reboot The Evil Dead which carried a C+. Every horror movie had a marketing hook that resonates and is creepy, re: the masked guy in the Black Phone or evil people smiling at Smile. Here's the bad mom and the trailer where she's stuck in the elevator. Dead evil rises opened to a solid $24.5 million state in the face of a market that was still being dominated by Super Mario Bros on the third weekend. The final take was $67.2 million domestically and $147 million worldwide.
