Entertainment Lawyers

Easter is always a great time for family-focused films at the box office, and this year has certainly delivered. With The Super Mario Galaxy Movie breaking a slew of records, and Project Hail Mary continuing to woo audiences, we have Blake & Wang P.A., entertainment attorney , Brandon Blake, with all the details. Brandon Blake A Galaxy of Records Broken Now sitting pretty with an estimated $372.5M in takings globally, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is now the top opening of the year, by far. Having brought in $190.1M domestically over the 5-day weekend, it has also managed $182.4M from over 80 markets.  This echoes the successful release pattern of its predecessor, which managed a 5-day domestic debut of $204M, one of the best showings of all time for a holiday. The Super Mario Bros Galaxy Movie will now join it on that list. Add to the kitty the year’s biggest 3-day opening in North America and globally, the 5th biggest opening for an animated title, and the 4th biggest for ...

  In recent years, box office success has lain with family-friendly animations. In fact, the first Super Mario Bros movie kick-started this swing back in 2023. With another Super Mario title ready to leap onto the silver screen, could we be looking at another animated success for Illumination/Universal and Nintendo? That’s the question Brandon Blake, Our best Entertainment Attorney with Blake & Wang P.A., is ready to answer for the looming Easter stretch.                                                                         Brandon Blake Predicted 5-Day Domestic Opening April 1 may be best known for its jokes, but it will also be the day that The Super Mario Galaxy Movie opens, and the 5-day predictions for the Easter holiday period are no joke. Even the most conservative estimates peg this one f...

  With two new releases performing as anticipated, and Avatar still powering up numbers, it’s another good January weekend for the box office. Here’s a look at the last weekend’s box office, from Brandon Blake, USA based entertainment attorney Los Angeles with Blake & Wang P.A.                                                                           Brandon Bake Winning Streak   Avatar: Fire and Ash may bring no surprises with its success, but there’s certainly plenty of victory in its current numbers. Ending the January box office in No. 1 for the fourth weekend in a row, it managed to bring in $21.3M over 3,700 screens. That brings its total cume to date to $342.6M in the US. It’s a little behind the first 2 films, but given the film made it to the coveted $1B mark in just thr...

  Armed with its 6th consecutive Cannes Palme d’Or winner, Neon is ramping up its awards season bid with a surprisingly successful limited screening. Brandon Blake, our best entertainment lawyers in los angeles in the know from Blake & Wang P.A., takes a look at the film’s chances ahead of the major awards events.                                                                               Brandon Blake Neon: Not an Accident It Was Just An Accident took $68k over a single weekend and three screens, for a $115k total over five days. It’s clear they’re hoping the film will join its stable of award winners, including Parasite’s 2019 success and a four year winning streak since 2021 with Titane, Triangle of Sadness, Anatomy of a Fall, and Anora , and its recent Cannes victory ce...

  Fubo shareholders have voted to approve a planned merger with Hulu + Live TV, which will form a larger company under Disney’s control. We have Brandon Blake, entertainment lawyer at Blake & Wang P.A, with all the details.                                                                               Brandon Blake Subject to Governmental Green Light Fubo is a niche streaming platform, focusing on over-the-top sports streaming. The Disney deal has been in the works since January this year. Live sports programming has been a real growth area for streaming over the last few years, and Disney has been making considerable inroads into their sports offerings in a bid for greater share of the market.   For Fubo, the shareholder vote will be the final step before the merger heads to ...

  There’s a new little slice of LA in Manhattan: Sunset Pier 94 studios. Sunset Studios has a long history of managing purpose-built soundstages in Los Angeles, with their latest portfolio expansion now bringing one to New York, too. We have Brandon Blake, entertainment law firms los angeles at Blake & Wang P.A., with the news.                                                                           Brandon Blake Two-Year Long Dream Sunset Studios, a joint venture between Hudson Pacific Properties and Blackstone, has now officially opened its first purpose-built Manhattan soundstage. Initially headed by Vornado, the project eventually came to life as a private-public partnership including the New York City Economic Development Corp. New York is, itself, in the midst of revitalizing its tax...

  South Korean cinema  has become a household name for creativity and excitement. With this in mind, what lessons can we take home from the Busan Film Festival? We have the news from Brandon Blake, best entertainment lawyers in los angeles at Blake & Wang P.A.                                                                      Brandon Blake 30th Anniversary This year, the Busan International Film Festival returned ready to celebrate its third decade as one of Asia’s largest film showcases. The festival has helped the world discover many now-iconic Korean directors, from Bong Joon-hoo to Park Chan-wook. While it has had its share of flops, and even a scandal or too over the years, the festival still thrives under new leadership, with several changes introduced to this year’s program.  What to Kn...

 There’s some good news (finally) for both Sony and Crunchyroll as we see one of the most successful anime openings to date from Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle . With all the details about this new win, we have Brandon Blake, the top entertainment law firm Los Angeles at Blake & Wang P.A.                                                                    Brandon Blake A New Record Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle saw a magnificent opening weekend, bringing in somewhere in the range of $70M over its opening weekend. This also earned it the 6th best opening for September, the best on record for an anime movie. It’s also the best opening Sony has seen in the last two years, as well as a first for Crunchyroll. It’s estimated that 4.5M people have seen the film to date.   It’s a particularly impressiv...

 It’s that time of the month again- Nielsen’s latest round of streaming ratings are in. It’s always interesting to see what’s hot (and what’s not) on the streaming charts, so Brandon Blake, our entertainment lawyer Los Angeles in the know from Blake & Wang P.A. is here to unpack this week’s top streaming titles.                                                                             Brandon Blake You Remains on Top, but The Four Seasons Has a Strong Start Netflix’s comedy, The Four Seasons , opened on streaming this week, and managed to rack up 1.3B minutes of watch time, even without a full week to attract viewers. This took it straight into second place.   However, it was still beaten out by You for the number 1 spot, which was also the top performer in the prior set...

 Samsung, already a leader in sheer volume for FAST channels, is now introducing a broadcast network-style central platform to anchor its dominance in this growing market. Unveiled at their NewFronts presentation last week, there could be interesting shifts ahead. Brandon Blake, entertainment lawyer Los Angeles at Blake & Wang P.A., takes a closer look.                                                                            Brandon Blake Introducing Samsung Television Network Ambitiously calling it the “broad-FAST channel of the future,” the new FAST “network” will incorporate live sports offerings alongside key library fare such as late-night stalwarts. Letterman himself made an appearance at the NewFronts event to talk more about the show’s new channel.   We’ve seen cons...

  Lionsgate Shareholders Weigh in on Looming Split from Starz As we approach the final formalities in the separation between Lionsgate and its Starz arm, we’ve finally seen regulatory processes close and the split head to shareholders for a final vote. With further details, we have entertainment lawyer Los Angeles , Brandon Blake, at Blake & Wang P.A.                                                                        Brandon Blake Overwhelming Investor Support During a special shareholders meeting last Wednesday, Lionsgate shareholders gave their overwhelming support to the planned split between the two entities. This will see Lionsgate rebrand as Lionsgate Studios Corp, and Starz reformed as Starz Entertainment Corp. Other necessary proxy resolutions, including the new board of director...

 FAST streaming services have become a critical cornerstone of the streaming ecosystem, if an often forgotten one. While Roku holds the crown in the FAST arena, Samsung’s recent advances in the space have certainly created some competition for them— and may have actually claimed the crown. Brandon Blake, our expert entertainment attorney in Los Angeles from Blake & Wang P.A., looks for a winner in the battle of the FAST providers.                                                                           Brandon Blake The Battle of the FAST Platforms Samsung is certainly happy to claim the FAST crown, and with 700 FAST channels now open in the US market under their banner, they may have a point. As with Roku, they had a natural entry into the FAST ecosystem, in this case through their Smart T...

  LA’s production-related woes are hardly news at present. With a dire need to encourage more TV series and films to choose LA as their filming destination, hoping to offset the 30% plunge in production we’ve seen over the last 5 years, there could well be reason to believe mid-budget movies will be returning to the LA area. Brandon Blake, entertainment lawyer Los Angeles at Blake & Wang P.A., shares the news.                                                                          Brandon Blake   New Plans   We’ve already seen some major proposed overhauls to the city’s tax incentive plans, which would bring LA back into line with some of the more compelling local and international location destinations. However, a small local group, including some LA City Councilmembers, ar...

  The quiet and often under-considered success of the Roku Channel may be leaving its own mark on the entertainment landscape. Last week, NBCUniversal announced a partnership with LG Smart TVs that will see 40 new FAST channels launch. Our entertainment lawyer in the know, Brandon Blake of Blake & Wang P.A., unpacks this exciting new development for us.                                                                            Brandon Blake   New FAST Offerings   These new FAST channels will cover a broad range of subjects, from “standard” entertainment to sports, news, true crime, and even a dedicated Spanish channel. The deal includes key live event shows like Dateline 24/7, NBC News, and Today All Day alongside their extensive TV show library and films from the Univer...

  As the post-pandemic box office recovery accelerated over the past 2 years, we’ve seen over and over again how a smart theatrical release can drive extra value and marketing for streaming releases. After one of the longest theatrical windows of the modern entertainment era, A24’s Babygirl is finally shifting over to streaming on Max. To tell us more, we have Brandon Blake, best entertainment lawyers in Los Angeles at Blake & Wang P.A.                                                                               Brandon Blake   121-Day Window   Although there is, strictly speaking, no set modern theatrical window as we once saw, with 90 days being the then-standard, we have seen the post-pandemic period slowly default to either 45-day runs or 31-day runs in genera...

 The Chinese New Year box office has launched what may be the world’s next biggest animation success. As Ne Zha 2 continues to blow through local Chinese records, it’s also beginning to make its name on the global stage. Brandon Blake, entertainment lawyer Los Angeles at Blake & Wang P.A., shares this exciting news.                                                                     Brandon Blake Bigger than Inside Out 2 ? It is thoroughly remarkable to be talking about global records around a film that has yet to release outside of the Chinese market. Ne Zha 2 will only open this week in North America, New Zealand, and Australia. However, with takings now topping $1.37B from its Chinese run alone, Ne Zha 2 has already knocked The Super Mario Bros. Movie out of its spot on the Top 3 animated films of...

 The record-breaking Thanksgiving box office was a win for blockbusters. However, while the shattered records and beefy takings are certainly impressive, let’s not let it overshadow the many success stories we saw from the indie arena as well. Brandon Blake, entertainment attorney Los Angeles at Blake & Wang P.A., shines a spotlight on some Thanksgiving indie success stories.                                                                            Brandon Blake A Fantastic Weekend for All Even with the powerful performances from Moana 2, Wicked, and Gladiator 2 , speciality films left their own mark on this past weekend’s box office, with 3 indie movies managing to find a spot in the Top Ten.   A24's latest release, Queer , made a strong debut with $188,800 on seven screens...

  Despite being a two-and-a-half-decade-old franchise, it seems that Gladiator , the massive Roman epic by Ridley Scott, still has pulling power with modern audiences. After a spectacular international debut, the film will head to domestic screens this weekend. Brandon Blake, our entertainment lawyer Los Angeles and insider from Blake & Wang P.A., shares this success with us.                                                                            Brandon Blake Best Start for Ridley Scott Gladiator 2 opened in 63 international markets last weekend, with the US debut this coming weekend. It has accumulated almost $90M in its first weekend, aligning well with pre-release projections. Incidentally, this also makes it Ridley Scott's best overseas start as director.   Nor do Pa...