That “Stranger Things” finale did gangbusters at the New Year’s Eve box office, earning $25M+ in ticket sales. A big win for Netflix, even if they get $0 in profits from this.
You see, TV shows like “Stranger Things” can screen episodes in theaters, but due to how deals are structured, they’re “free” events tied to concession purchases, creating a loophole: no official ticket revenue means no box office gross, avoiding union residuals.
As for “Avatar: Fire and Ash,” that’s the one we’re really keeping an eye on. It made $17M on Thursday, which is a strong hold and could result in a $50M third weekend. However, now that the numbers are becoming a little clearer, it does look as though ‘Fire and Ash’ won’t be hitting the same numbers as ‘Way of the Water,’ which ended up with a $2.34 billion tally.
‘Fire and Ash’ is set to hit $300M domestic by Saturday, $900M worldwide this morning, and $1 billion by Saturday. That’s very good, and its run is far from done, but hitting $2 billion as the first two installments did? Not happening. Current projections have the final tally anywhere between $1.6–$1.8 billion.
So, the audience for these ‘Avatar’ movies is indeed shrinking, but we expected that. Still, in the current state of theatrical—and with many proclaiming $800M as the new $1 billion for movie success—Disney will take the W …
Why wouldn’t they? Stats indicate that to break even, “Fire and Ash” needed to make $1 billion, and now that it’ll hit that milestone over the weekend, anything beyond that will be raw profit, meaning the Mouse House is looking at $500M+ in earnings on this sequel.
As for ‘Marty Supreme,’ its numbers are still not reported, but I’ll be updating this post once they do come in. A24 is hoping for a strong hold when it comes to this film, which opened with $30M last week. Signs are pointing towards a 50% dip.