It's the end of an era in the Australian screen industry with the departures of Jo Bladen, Disney’s general manager, studios and live entertainment, and Marc Wooldridge, Fox Film Distributors MD for Australasia.
Andrew Cripps, Chris Aronson, Heather Phillips, Mike Dunn and Greg Meidel are among the first wave of senior layoffs at 20th Century Fox following the Walt Disney Co’s $US71.3 billion purchase of Fox’s crown jewels .
After a terrible start to the year with grosses down 12 per cent on the same period last year, Australian exhibitors had something to cheer about last weekend thanks to Disney/Marvel’s 'Captain Marvel'.
Three Academy Awards including best film and for supporting actor Mahershala Ali gave 'Green Book' a sizable bounce in Australian cinemas last weekend while the best actor Oscar for Rami Malek has helped prolong Bohemian Rhapsody’s marathon run.
British audiences embraced 'Stan & Ollie', not least because the charming biopic of comic duo Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy is set in the UK, while US moviegoers were far less enthused.
Australian box office takings last year totaled $1.245 billion, up 3.6 per cent on the previous year, as a record 758 titles flooded the market
Warner Bros’ 'Aquaman' now ranks as the studio’s third highest grosser of all time after crossing the $US1 billion threshold worldwide last weekend.
Warner Bros’ 'Fantastic Beasts' sequel worked its magic on moviegoers last weekend, ringing up $253.6 million worldwide as the Australian opening outshone the US debut.