These numbers are an improvement over previous tracking numbers which had the “Smile 2” opening at around $20M. No doubt word of mouth spread throughout the weekend, and numbers kept improving from Friday on. It’ll be interesting to see how it holds next weekend.

NEON’s exclusive six theater rollout of Palme d’Or winner, Sean Baker’s “Anora,” has turned into a major success. We’ll see how it does in the coming weeks, as it continues to expand nationwide, but these numbers are major.

In 2019, Roman Polanski premiered one of the best films of his career. He even won the Grand Jury prize at Venice for it. A few months later it was nominated for 12 French Cesar awards, and it later won Polanski the Best Director award. Yet the film still hasn’t been released in the US and UK.

Coming off his Golden Lion winning “The Room Next Door,” Pedro Almodóvar, who turned 75 in September, is already prepping his next film. It's titled "Bitter Christmas" and will be his return to Spanish Cinema.

It turns out that Haneke has retired from filmmaking, at least according to Isabelle Huppert who took part in a masterclass session at the Lumiere Film Festival alongside Cannes chief Thierry Fremaux.

Ridley Scott’s “Gladiator II” had its first screening at the Paramount Studios lot in Los Angeles, where critics, media and industry got a first look at the film.

The filmmaker behind “American History X” is back. It’s been 13 years since Kaye’s last film, “Detachment,” was released — it was ignored by the public, that is until a cult following soon caught on to it.

It turns out that Clint Eastwood’s new film, Juror #2,” out November 1, was originally intended as a streaming-only release on Max, but at the last minute, Warners decided to bump it up to a limited theatrical release.

Luca Guadagnino keeps piling up the projects. This might be his most bewildering one of all. Guadagnino is reportedly set to direct a remake of “American Psycho.”

I’m being told that Richard Linklater’s “Nouvelle Vague” is eyeing a world premiere at next year’s Cannes Film Festival. Not that surprising given what the film is about, and the filmmaker behind it.

Another new live-action ‘Lord of the Rings’ movie is in the works. ‘The Hunt For Gollum’ won’t be split into two films, despite previous reports. Instead, they are developing another LOTR movie at the same time.

While ‘Mission: Impossible 8’ is still filming, it’s going to be a very busy next few months for Tom Cruise as he has booked two films, set to shoot in 2025, and they’re both non-IP films.

Parker Finn’s “Smile 2” is having a slow start at the box-office, having only earned $2.5M in Thursday showings. It’s not looking like it’ll match the original’s numbers. I can also confirm that the film cost a little under $30M to produce.

Why is Bong Joon-ho’s “Mickey 17” being released in January 2025? That’s the question everybody seems to be asking. Positioning a film during the dumping grounds of January does not hint at much confidence on the part of Warner Bros.

“I’m in the writing zone right now,” Vileneuve tells Deadline, referring ‘Dune: Messiah.’ He adds that the main actors on the third film will be Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Florence Pugh and Anya Taylor-Joy.

I trust Paul King — mostly because he’s the man behind the first two ‘Paddington’ movies — but I'm struggling to think of anything interesting that he could do with a “Prince Charming” movie.

Some promising casting news as Josh Brolin (“No Country For Old Men”) is set to play the villain in Edgar Wright’s “The Running Man” remake. Glen Powell, Katy O’Brian and Daniel Ezra were already part of the cast (via Deadline)

“The Day the Earth Blew Up” is the first proper Looney Tunes movie in years, but Warner Bros. wanted nothing to do with it. In August, Warners brokered a deal with Ketchup Entertainment to distribute the film in theaters.