Free Guy Delivers Surprising Success

Late August has never been the best time for the cinema circuit. Combined with day-and-date releases that bring premium titles to streaming immediately and the reared head of the delta variant, no one was expecting wonders from this weekend’s Box Office. Against this generally listless backdrop, however, Free Guy has delivered a surprisingly joyous performance. Brandon Blake, entertainment lawyer Los Angeles, dives deep into the figures for us.


A $28.3M debut represented a surprising success for Free Guy, carrying on into a strong, if not exceptional, $14M performance over the next few days. A nearly $35M five-day marker is nothing to be sneered at. While the overall box office for the weekend of August 16-18 is still lagging behind the 2019 figures widely being used as benchmarks, the three new openers- Free Guy, Respect, and Don’t Breathe 2- actually outperformed the new openers for the same 2019 weekend. Free Guy not only outperformed expectations but also brought in a 2.65x multiplier, a solid enough showing for a sub-$125M live-action original even pre-pandemic. Could it have done better without the current climate? Maybe, but live-action originals haven’t performed at the top of the market for the last decade, and Ryan Reynolds himself hasn’t been exhaustively bankable outside the Deadpool franchise. Let’s just take it for what it is- a very encouraging sign in a weary month.


Free Guy will move onto Chinese screens as of August 27th, too. In a market with a significant Hollywood backlog and with Black Widow not even guaranteed the same, that’s nothing to sneeze at, either.


Free Guy may not be a drawcard at the level of Marvel, but one thing is for certain- it’s a charming and fun film proving to be a remarkable ‘little engine that could’ at a time where bigger hits have done far worse, and that’s an encouraging sign for theaters and the overall movie market, no matter what. Let’s hope that momentum keeps rolling.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is Kung Fu Panda 4 the Key to a Reinvigorated 2024 Box Office?

Image
 With Dune: Part Two having finally powered up the 2024 box office, it's time to build on that impetus if the wider box office recovery is to continue. There could be another strong contender lurking in the wings for this weekend’s releases- but it will doubtless surprise you to learn that this hope lies with the fourth installment of the animated Kung Fu Panda saga! Blake & Wang P.A. entertainment attorney Los Angeles , Brandon Blake, has more on this ironic twist for us.                                                                          Brandon Blake Two $40M Grosses on the Cards For the first time since July 2023 and the Barbenheimer dual release, we have a chance at not one, but two, films grossing over $40M this weekend. In fact, those figures may top $50M! While Dune: Part Two...
Read more

Netflix Ad Tier Turns in Fantastic Growth

Image
 What a difference half a year can make! With Netflix’s ad-supported subscription tier first launched only 18 months ago, the streamer has managed to nearly double its subscriber base since the start of 2024. Blake & Wang P.A. entertainment lawyer , Brandon Blake, fills in the details. Brandon Blake Impressive Subscriber Gains Netflix’s total subscribers for the ad-supported tier now number 40 million monthly active users. In January 2024, it was 23 million. The streamer was understandably gleeful to reveal this news at its first in-person Upfronts presentation in New York earlier this month. At its first-ever Upfronts presentation, which was held digitally in 2023, the ad tier had 5 million monthly active users.   Additionally, we were told that 40% of active signups now opt for the ad-supported plan, in countries where it is currently available. Of course, much of this can be attributed to a rather kind price ($7 domestically) for this tier, well below most of ...
Read more

Hulu on Disney+ is Officially Here

Image
While the Hulu on Disney+ Beta bundle has been live since last year, we have officially reached the point of full integration. Intriguingly, much of the executive focus on the new bundle has been around the technical advancements needed to unite the two platforms. You could take a look at entertainment lawyer Brandon Blake, from Blake & Wang P.A., looks in more depth at the united offering.                                              Brandon Blake Technical Advancements While few viewers are likely to know (or care, frankly) about the backstage technology that powers their viewing experience, Disney executives have been keen to hammer home the potential for happier, healthier subscriber engagement and retention with the new tech shift. They have gone as far as to call it the “most extensive technical advancement” since launch. At this point, it is clear that they ...
Read more