Following a strong box office showing for “A Quiet Place Part II” over Memorial Day weekend, industry analysts are encouraged that the box office may well be on its way back. The $57 million opening for the sequel satisfied director John Krasinski and star Emily Blunt, and the couple is now backing off their complaint that Paramount wasn’t offering a long enough theatrical window for their film.
Upcoming movies will provide interesting test cases as more of the country opens up. The next “Conjuring” movie and “In the Heights” will both stream on HBO Max the same day they open in theaters. Warner Bros. is leaning hard into the marketing telling viewers to see “In the Heights” in theaters, though they’re also hoping for an HBO Max subscription boost from the Lin Manuel Miranda film.
In other news, Endeavor, the parent company of talent agency WME, held its first earnings call since going public. While the entertainment firm was hit hard by the pandemic, Endeavor’s top leadership was bullish about the economy bouncing back and especially the return of live events, where the company has made huge investments in recent years.
The president of Endeavor, Mark Shapiro, also said they were having conversations upfront with movie studios on how films will be released — whether it’s theatrical only or straight to streaming or some kind of hybrid model. But regardless, studios would be “paying for that flexibility.”