by Conan Simmons – May 25, 2021 – 4:36 am
After the previous rumors and announcement of WarnerMedia merging with Discover+, Hollywood is still in anticipation of if Jason Kilar, CEO of WarnerMedia, will step down as Discovery+ takes the lead.
This seems to have spurred many other announcements over the last week as Hollywood finds itself in another period of transition with multiple major studios announcing or rumored to merge in the coming months.
MGM, the famed studio which was led by Louis B. Mayer from 1925 through the 1940’s, is being bought up by streaming powerhouse Amazon. The official announcement of the deal is expected later today. MGM is currently the home of the 007 James Bond franchise along with the Rocky/Creed franchise and many more favorites from decades of being one of the top studios in Hollywood.
There is also heavy speculation that NBCUniversal will buy up ViacomCBS. If so, it would be a major deal that not only merges the NBC and CBS networks but also Universal and Paramount studios. Naturally it will have to be scrutinized for any potential antitrust monopoly law violations. Any deal may be denied in accordance with those laws. Though it would be the clearest sign yet that Hollywood has changed forever if the deal did go through, proving once and for all that the streaming giants (e.g. Amazon and Netflix) have the final victory.
As all that is going on in Tinseltown, the theaters are enjoying the increasing return to normal. Mask mandates are being relaxed as vaccinations are helping bring down the pandemic. Likewise many businesses are being allowed to return to full capacity which is the best news in a year for movie theaters.
The Weekend Box Office Top 5 stayed mostly the same from its previous weekend as no new releases broke through.
‘Spiral’, starring Chris Rock, once again took the top spot. Disney’s ‘Raya and the Last Dragon’ moved up a spot in its 12th week in the Top 5, making it the second longest running animated pic at the box office during the pandemic after ‘The Croods: A New Age’. ‘Godzilla vs. Kong’ popped back into the Top 5 even as it saw a small decline in ticket sales.
Next weekend is expected to pop up pretty good with the Disney release of the live action ‘Cruella’ starring Emma Stone. From now on it’s starting to look like a real box office summer.
WEEKEND BOX OFFICE TOP 5 (May 21-23, 2021)
- ‘Spiral’ – $4.6 million – horror (down $4.1 million, 47% decline)
- ‘Wrath of Man’ – $3 million – action (down $700k, 19% decline)
- ‘Those Who Wish Me Dead’ – $1.9 million – action (down $900k, 32% decline)
- ‘Raya and the Last Dragon’ – $1.7 million – animated (no change)
- ‘Godzilla vs. Kong’ – $1.4 million – fantasy (down $100k, 6% decline)
Total for the Weekend Box Office Top 5 comes to $12.6 million. It is a decline of 32% for a $6 million drop from last weekends total of $18.6 million.