‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,’ Finally on PVOD: Where Are the New Movies?
It has to be tempting for Lionsgate’s ‘”John Wick: Chapter 4,” Amazon’s “Air,” and Universal’s “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” to accelerate their PVOD releases: The home market is dying for something new to watch.
After 60 days in theaters, Disney released “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” today and it immediately went to #1 at iTunes; expect other charts to follow suit. For now, “Avatar: The Way of Water” (Disney) repeated as #1 at Vudu and Fandango for a third week, with recent releases “65” (Sony), “Creed III” (MGM), and “Shazam: The Way of Water” (Warner Bros. Discovery) rotating second through fourth spots on all three charts, all at $19.99. The only new title is “The Jesus Revolution” (Lionsgate), for sale at $19.99.
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©Lions Gate/Courtesy Everett Collection
Lionsgate release windows follow no set pattern. “Jesus” had seven weekends in theaters before home release, but “John Wick 4” was offered for pre-sale to great success parallel to its March 24 theatrical debut.
“Super Mario Bros.” grossed $92 million last weekend, its second, which poses a new question for Universal’s PVOD policy. Its standard practice is films get PVOD after 17 days unless the opening weekend exceeds $50 million. What happens when the second (or third) weekend does, too?
“Air” fell 46 percent in its second weekend in theaters. That’s not bad but its opening was decent, not great. The hope was its audience would stabilize based on word of mouth and the normal trend of older audiences being slower to attend new movies. Amazon confirmed that it plans to go PVOD before streaming on Prime, with date TBD. “Creed III,” a much bigger hit, under Amazon’s MGM banner like “Air,” came out after 28 days.
With a repeat of last week’s top four on all charts, Nicolas Cage-Pedro Pascal comedy “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent” (Lionsgate) was the sole other title to make all three lists — presumably driven by opening-weekend awareness of Nicolas Cage-Nicolas Hoult comedy “Renfield” (Universal). Awareness doesn’t always drive revenue; the $65 million Dracula-inspired movie managed only $8 million in theaters. Perhaps PVOD (expected after its third weekend), driven by Cage’s home-viewing fanbase, will mitigate the loss.
At Netflix, “The Last Stand” briefly ranked #1 last week. The 2013 Lionsgate release starring Arnold Schwarzenneger and Johnny Knoxville replaced Jonás Cuarón’s “Chupa,” a Netflix original and last week’s #1. Both now place just behind another Netflix original, medieval action movie “The Last Kingdom: Seven Kings Must Die.” Also new this week is “Hunger,” another Netflix original. It’s a Thai thriller set in the restaurant world.
iTunes and Google Play rank films daily by number of transactions. These are the listings for Monday, April 17. Distributors listed are current rights owners. Prices for all titles are for rental.
iTunes
1. Avatar: The Way of Water (Disney) – $19.99
2. 65 (Sony) – $19.99
3. Creed III (MGM) – $19.99
4. Shazam! Fury of the Gods (WBD) – $19.99
5. Plane (Lionsgate) – $5.99
6. A Man Called Otto (Sony) – $5.99
7. The Whale (A24) – $4.99
8. Missing (Sony) – $5.99
9. The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (Lionsgate) – $5.99
10. The Jesus Revolution (Lionsgate) – $19.99
Google Play
1. Avatar: The Way of Water (Disney) – $19.99
2. Creed III (MGM) – $19.99
3. 65 (Sony) – $19.99
4. Shazam! Fury of the Gods (WBD) – $19.99
5. The Whale (A24) – $4.99
6. A Man Called Otto (Sony) – $5.99
7. Cocaine Bear (Universal) – $19.99
8. Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (Universal) – $5.99
9. The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (Lionsgate) – $5.99
10. Missing (Sony) – $5.99
Vudu
Vudu ranks by revenue, not transactions, elevating Premium VOD titles. This list covers April 10-16.
1. Avatar: The Way of Water (Disney) – $19.99
3. 65 (Sony) – $19.99
2. Shazam! Fury of the Gods (WBD) – $19.99
4. Creed III (MGM) – $19.99
5. The Jesus Revolution (Lionsgate) – $19.99
6. Cocaine Bear (Universal) – $19.99
7. M3GAN (unrated) (Universal) – $
8. Champions (Focus) – $19.99
9. Plane (Lionsgate) – $5.99
10. The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (Lionsgate) – $5.99
Netflix Movies
Most viewed, current ranking on Netflix’s daily chart on Monday, April 17. Originals include both Netflix-produced and acquired titles it initially presents in the U.S. Netflix publishes its own weekly top 10 on Tuesdays based on time viewed.
1. The Last Kingdom: Seven Kings Must Die (Netflix British original)
2. Chupa (Netflix original)
3. Last Stand (2013 theatrical release)
4. Matilda (1996 theatrical release)
5. Murder Mystery 2 (Netflix original)
6. The Lorax (2012 theatrical release)
7. Inside Man (2006 theatrical release)
8. Shrek Forever After (2010 theatrical release)
9. Hunger (Netflix Thai original)
10. Shark Tale (2004 theatrical release)
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