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☆ Marvel's 'Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania' scores $104 million during domestic debut
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-19 | by ( Sarah Whitten | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Paul Rudd is Scott Lang, aka Ant-Man, alongside Johnathan Majors as Kang the Conqueror in "Ant-Man and the Wasp in Quantumania." Disney and Marvel Studios' "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" scored an estimated $104 million at the domestic box office during its opening weekend. "Quantumania's" domestic haul is nearly double what the first standalone Ant-Man film opened to in 2015 and marks the 31st consecutive MCU release to debut at number one at the domestic box office. Internationally, "Quantumania" took in $121 million, bringing its estimated global haul for the three-day spread to $225 million. "'Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania' sets into motion what looks to be week after week of solid moviegoing and creates momentum for a solid summer movie season."

☆ AMC Theatres shouldn't be charging more for the best seats — it should be getting rid of the empty ones
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-11 | by ( Travis Clark | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

AMC Theatres announced this week that it would charge more for the best seats in its auditoriums. Here's what it looks like on the AMC Theatres website for a screening at a New York City location:What the new seat pricing looks like on the AMC Theatres website. "This new initiative by AMC Theatres would essentially penalize people for lower income and reward for higher income." AMC's seat-pricing plan isn't going to help the theatrical business. Patrick Corcoran, spokesman for the National Association of Theatre Owners, told Insider in September.

☆ Iger may be looking for a partial investor in ESPN, says Needham's Laura Martin
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

In this videoShare Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailIger may be looking for a partial investor in ESPN, says Needham's Laura MartinLaura Martin, Needham senior media analyst, joins 'The Exchange' to discuss Disney's restructuring and plan to reinstate its dividend.

☆ How Netflix leaders, including its new co-CEO, are thinking about a fast streaming service that could supercharge its ads business
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Lucia Moses | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Netflix said it's open to adding a free, ad-supported streaming service. A FAST offering could help Netflix scale its nascent ads business, which has been slow to take off. Could Netflix launch a free, ad-supported service? A FAST channel — free, ad-supported television — is a linear stream, a model media companies are increasingly using to complement traditional TV and paid streaming services. For Netflix, a FAST could be a quick way to scale its ads business.

☆ Disney CEO Bob Iger has 'very little room for maneuver' as he tackles layoffs, budget cuts, a company reorg, and questions over the future of Hulu and ESPN
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Claire Atkinson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Disney chief Bob Iger will speak Wednesday on his first quarterly earnings call since returning as CEO. Wall Street wants to see how Disney plans to boost profitability this year and whether it will trade ESPN or Hulu. Aside from a quick visit to Disney World in January, Bob Iger has been lying very low. Media investor Ross Gerber told Insider that Iger would get back to focusing on content rather than on the distribution mechanism. Iger tweeted a photo of himself at Disney World, dressed in a relaxed green cardigan and gray slacks as he posed with cast members on January 19.

☆ More than half of all 'Avatar: The Way of Water' tickets have been for 3D showings
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( Sarah Whitten | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

For comparison, all other movies released in 2022 — not including "The Way of Water" — saw less than 14% of ticket sales from premium showings, averaging $15.76 a ticket. Bolstering box office numbers for the film is the push from Disney and Cameron for 3D showings. Since its release, the "Avatar" sequel has seen more than 56% of its tickets sold for 3D showings. The original 2009 "Avatar," which is the top grossing film of all time, also did well with 3D and premium tickets. To be sure, "The Way of Water" has not reached its historic box office just because of surcharges for 3D and premium format screenings.

☆ Publicis Reports 9.4% Organic Revenue Growth for Fourth Quarter
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Megan Graham | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +4 min

Publicis Groupe SA said Thursday that organic revenue grew 9.4% in the fourth quarter as its data and technology services continued to capture a shift in client spending. The growth in the quarter ending Dec. 31 brought Publicis’s full-year 2022 organic revenue growth to 10.1%. The results beat the average analyst estimate of 5.3% growth for the quarter and 8.8% for the year, according to FactSet. Publicis said it expects organic revenue growth of 3% to 5% in 2023. Organic growth refers to the change in net revenue excluding the impacts of acquisitions, disposals and currency fluctuations.

☆ Dotdash Meredith's CEO explains why its $2.7 billion acquisition of Meredith has been tough as the ad industry gets creamed
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Lauren Johnson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

CEO Neil Vogel said an ad market slowdown and culture challenges have been hard. IAC-owned Dotdash Meredith is about a year into its $2.7 billion acquisition of magazine giant Meredith, and a rough ad market has made the transition to become a big player for advertisers tough. "The market is hard," said Neil Vogel, CEO of Dotdash Meredith. Dotdash Meredith owns more than 40 brands including People, The Spruce, and Food & Wine. At the same time, the ad market soured last year as advertisers reigned in spending.

☆ Netflix is thinking about a free streaming service to boost its ads business, insiders say
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Lucia Moses | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

☆ 'Avatar: The Way of Water' is the third James Cameron movie to gross $2 billion
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-22 | by ( Sarah Whitten | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Disney 's "Avatar: The Way of Water" has topped $2 billion at the global box office, making it the third James Cameron film to reach this benchmark. As of Sunday, "The Way of Water" had tallied $598 million from domestic ticket sales and $1.426 billion from foreign markets. "The film has now joined that very exclusive box office club and has made it look almost effortless," said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore. As the industry rebounds, films like "The Way of Water" have proven that moviegoers are eager to return for big blockbuster spectacles. Correction: This story was updated to reflect that "The Way of Water" is the third James Cameron movie to gross $2 billion at the global box office.

☆ Box office haul for 'Avatar: The Way of Water' tops $2 billion
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-22 | by ( Lisa Richwine | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/3] Director James Cameron arrives at the world premiere of 'Avatar: The Way of Water' in London, Britain December 6, 2022. "The Way of Water" debuted in late December, 13 years after the original "Avatar" introduced the lush world of Pandora and became a worldwide phenomenon. Box office sales for "The Way of Water" totaled $2.024 billion on Sunday, according to Disney estimates. Roughly $1.4 billion of ticket sales have come from international markets outside the United States and Canada. A third "Avatar" movie, which Cameron has already filmed, is scheduled to debut in December 2024.

☆ After Indiana Univ. stabbing, Asian American students say they haven’t received enough support from school
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Kimmy Yam | Kimmy Yam Is A Reporter For Nbc Asian America. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +7 min

Since the incident, a sense of shock has rippled through the school’s Asian community. The students say that conversations around the incident have been active among the Asian Americans on campus. Karen Cheng, a senior at the university and the president of the school’s Asian American Association, noted a similar sense of fear. As an Asian American woman, she said, public safety concerns predate the tragedy. But the community is also flanked by some areas with white supremacist activity, something many Asian American students are aware of, Cheng said.

☆ Disney's Marvel movies are returning to China after almost four years with 'Black Panther' and 'Ant-Man'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Michelle Toh | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” will open in China on February 7, roughly three months after its global debut, while “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” will open on February 17, Marvel Studios announced on Chinese social media Tuesday. Since then, Marvel’s last eight movies have not been shown in the country, though that will drop down to seven with the upcoming “Black Panther” release, Dergarabedian said. Stars of Marvel Studios' "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" attending the film's European premiere in London on Nov. 3, 2022. “This likely played a part in this welcome shift in playability for Marvel films in the country.”China’s box office generally rakes in billions of dollars a year. That put North America’s box office ahead once more in 2022, generating more than $7.5 billion compared with China’s $4.4 billion, according to Comscore data.

☆ Netflix with ads got off to a slow start, but the streamer could still win at advertising
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Lucia Moses | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Analysts are eagerly anticipating updates on Netflix's ads tier during its 4Q earnings call January 19. Netflix Basic with Ads has gotten off to a slow start, initially missing viewership targets. Subscriptions to the ad tier are expected to grow once the streamer cracks down on password sharing. The stock initially fell 9% on reports that Netflix was letting advertisers take money back after some ad campaigns fell far short of their viewer targets. And Netflix's Basic with Ads was the least popular tier in its first month, according to an Evercore ISI survey.

☆ I saw 'Last of Us' on a big screen. Here's why more blockbuster TV shows should be shown in movie theaters.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-15 | by ( Travis Clark | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

More blockbuster TV shows like "Last of Us" should be shown on the big screen. It raised the question: Should more TV shows be put on the big screen? That event earned nearly $5 million, according to Fathom Events CEO Ray Nutt. The airings earned $2 million from just 205 theaters, according to The Los Angeles Times, and the episodes had already aired on HBO. Meanwhile, blockbuster shows like "House of the Dragon" and "The Rings of Power" had premiered on the small screen.

☆ 3 mental 'checkpoints' to help you meditate the right way
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Aditi Shrikant | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

In other words it's hard to know if you're "doing it right." And if you are doing it right, how is that supposed to feel? There is no specific feeling you are supposed to have while meditating, says Weston, who has been practicing for 15 years. "You're supposed to feel whatever you actually feel. Still, there are questions you can ask yourself which serve as "checkpoints" to help you monitor whether you're meditating correctly, Weston says.

More than a decade later, those that heeded this advice went on to become game-changing tech behemoths, including CNBC Disruptor 50 companies Block , Pinterest , Slack, Twilio , and Cloudera. Seed rounds had a record deal value in 2022, and valuations continued to grow even as late-stage venture companies nearer to the public market suffered. Venture funds raised a record amount of money in 2022, with $162.8 billion closed across 769 funds, according to PitchBook and the NVCA. We've seen companies struggle as public companies and then skyrocket, so a lower value-IPO is not the end of the road." "But when you can generate new share in a difficult market, when the market does turn, they are in a perfect position to capture more market share and customers."

☆ 'Avatar' sequel eclipses $1 billion at global box office, even with Covid weighing on China business
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( Sarah Whitten | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

James Cameron's "Avatar: The Way of Water" has passed the billion-dollar mark at the global box office, but sluggish sales in China could weigh on the film's final haul. Worldwide ticket sales for the Disney film now stand at $1.03 billion, the combination of $317 million in domestic sales and $712 million from international markets. That places the film among the top five fastest movies to reach $1 billion in box-office sales. Still, industry experts are concerned by muted ticket sales from China. Through Tuesday, China has accounted for just $108 million in ticket sales for the film.

☆ 'Avatar: The Way of Water' makes more money in its first 10 days than the original film, suggesting the sequel has 'staying power'
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-26 | by ( Sam Tabahriti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Avatar: The Way of Water took more at the box office in its first 10 days than the original film. On its opening weekend, the sequel failed to live up to studio expectations for ticket sales. The $253 million box office take suggests the film will maintain momentum into the new year. "Avatar" made $212.7 million in its first 10 days in 2009 and went on to become the highest-grossing film of all time, taking more than $2.9 billion. The sequel is estimated to have made $56 million in North America over the weekend, compared with $134 million on the opening weekend – lower than the $150 million to $175 million projections.

☆ ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ nears $900 million globally
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-25 | by ( Sarah Whitten | Whitten Is A Social Media Writer For Cnbc. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

Disney and James Cameron’s “Avatar: The Way of Water” snared an estimated $56 million during its second weekend in theaters, a 58% drop from its debut. A decline in ticket sales is common for blockbuster titles, with most seeing a 50% to 70% slip. Box office analysts noted that cold winter weather and storms during the Christmas weekend likely led to slower ticket sales domestically. Additionally, international ticket sales continue to thrive. “The Way of Water” has generated $855 million in global ticket sales since its Dec. 16 release — $254 million domestically and $601 million from international markets.

☆ 'Avatar: The Way of Water' nears $900 million globally, boosted by international ticket sales
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-25 | by ( Sarah Whitten | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Disney and James Cameron's "Avatar: The Way of Water" snared an estimated $56 million during its second weekend in theaters, a 58% drop from its debut. A decline in ticket sales is common for blockbuster titles, with most seeing a 50% to 70% slip. Box office analysts noted that cold winter weather and storms during the Christmas weekend likely led to slower ticket sales domestically. Additionally, international ticket sales continue to thrive. "The Way of Water" has generated $855 million in global ticket sales since its Dec. 16 release — $254 million domestically and $601 million from international markets.

☆ Three Marvel sequels are the most anticipated movies of 2023, according to Fandango
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Rebecca Picciotto | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

A trio of upcoming Marvel movies − the newest installments of the Guardians of the Galaxy, Spider-Man and Ant-Man franchises − are the top three most anticipated films for 2023, according to a new survey by Fandango. Many of the most-anticipated films are prequels, sequels or films otherwise connected to a well-known franchise. 2023's Top 10 Most-Anticipated Movies Across Categories 1. "The Super Mario Bros. Movie" (Universal )Among the top 10 overall most anticipated films, only "The Super Mario Bros. Movie" isn't part of an established movie series. Last year, 80% said they wanted to see a minimum of five movies in theaters.

☆ How Silicon Valley and Madison Avenue are remaking the world of advertising
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( Cnbc.Com Staff | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

The Covid years led many organizations to finally understand just how important digital transformation was to their business future. But now, there's a rebalancing taking place in the advertising business, with firms merging the best of digital with the physical world of customer relationships that remains critical. But use of technology and greater emphasis on digital marketing has led firms like ServiceNow to find new and better ways to reach customers through a journey, so to speak. AI in advertisingAs digital immerses the world of marketing, it can be applied to physical events and that's something ServiceNow learned firsthand through a series of conferences it hosts. Look outside ad industryPark advises companies to look beyond his experience, or any advertising-specific case study, for new ideas.

☆ ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ gives James Cameron his first $100 million domestic debut
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-18 | by ( Ramishah Maruf | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

New York CNN —The highly anticipated “Avatar: The Way of Water” took in $134 million at the US box office, giving director James Cameron his first $100 million opening weekend — despite falling short of analyst predictions. “Avatar: The Way of Water” has so far earned $435 million at the global box office. Though Cameron hasn’t revealed exactly how much it cost to make the “Avatar” sequel, one answer isn’t in doubt: a lot. In 2009, “Avatar” earned $77 million in its opening weekend and collected 80% of its gross from 3D showings. “The Way of Water” notched the second highest all-time IMAX global opening weekend and the biggest IMAX December global opening ever.

☆ 'Avatar: The Way of Water' opens to $134 million, just missing box office expectations
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-18 | by ( Sarah Whitten | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Internationally, "Way of Water" tallied $300.5 million, bringing the film's opening weekend haul to $434.5 million. The Chinese box office contributed around $265 million to "Avatar's" global tally a decade ago, but the market has grown significantly since. Since cinemas reopened in the country, it has been one of the fastest markets to recover and generate box office success. Box office analysts aren't concerned with the movie's smaller-than-expected domestic box office, particularly because of how it has played internationally. "It's premature to qualify the film's degree of success at this stage, especially with Cameron's history of long runs at the global box office," Robbins added.

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