Coming 2 America Drops One Day Early
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“Coming 2 America,” the long-awaited sequel to Eddie Murphy’s 1988 “Coming to America,” has released early on Amazon Prime. Originally, the pic was set to drop on the streaming service on Friday.
The sequel to John Landis’ hit comedy follows Prince Akeem (Murphy), who is set to become the king of the fictional country of Zamunda, an African kingdom untouched by colonialism, and finds out he has a son he never knew about a street-savvy Queens native, Lavelle. To honor the former king’s (James Earl Jones) dying wish to raise his grandson as the crown prince, Akeem, and Semmi (Arsenio Hall), once again leave for America. The star-studded cast also includes Leslie Jones, Wesley Snipes and Shari Headley.
Sinclair Broadcast Group Lays Off 5% of Workforce Due to Profound Impact of Pandemic
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Sinclair Broadcast Group is shrinking its workforce by 5%, letting go of several hundred employees as a result of the “profound impact” of the pandemic, said the company in a statement. The company employs over 9,211 people, meaning that approximately 460 staffers were affected by the downsizing.
“The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to be felt across all sectors of the economy, something that can have a profound impact on a company as diversified as ours,” according to a statement from a Sinclair spokesperson. “From local businesses and advertisers to distributors and partners, no component of our business’s ecosystem has been fully shielded from the impact of the global pandemic. In response to this, we are currently undergoing enterprise-wide reductions across our workforce, including corporate headquarters, to ensure we are
Imax Revenues Get Lift From China Moviegoing Revival, but COVID-19 Takes a Toll
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Imax’s quarterly revenue beat Wall Street’s expectations even as its losses were steeper than expected. The theater company reported revenues of $56 million, a 55% drop from the prior-year quarter’s revenues of $124.3 million. It also logged a net loss attributable to common shareholders of $21.2 million, or 36 cents per diluted share. That’s down from a profit of $18.2 million or 29 cents per share in the prior-year period, a time before coronavirus upended moviegoing.
Imax was projected to record a loss of 20 cents on revenue of $47.14 million. The company attributed its stronger than expected sales to the return of moviegoing in China and Japan. Movies like “Detective Chinatown 3” have done huge business in China, fueling a box office revival in the country and potentially setting the stage for positive news in an industry that has been batt
Peter Rabbit 2 Hops Into Theaters Earlier Than Expected
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Running time: 1 hour 33 minutes
In a sign of optimism, Sony Pictures plans to release “Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway” on the big screen earlier than anticipated.
The animated sequel, which was originally scheduled for June, will now arrive in movie theaters on May 14.
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Though the U.S. box office has been slow to return amid the pandemic, films geared toward family audiences have been among the most commercially successful. “Tom and Jerry,” an animated kids movie from Warner Bros., debuted to $14 million last weekend, ranking as the second-best opening of the coronavirus era. Universal’s “The Croods: A New Age” has also been a popular draw, generating $52 million to date. Disney is unveiling “Raya and the Last Dragon,” a cartooned fantasy adventure, in theaters and on Disney Plus for a premium price on March 5.
Epic Games Acquires Fall Guys Studio Mediatonic
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“Fortnite” creator Epic Games has acquired Tonic Games Group, the parent company of “Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout” studio Mediatonic, the companies announced on Tuesday.
The companies did not disclose numbers behind the deal. A blog post on Mediatonic’s website, however, confirmed that the game will remain purchasable on Steam and PlayStation, and the previously announced plans to bring “Fall Guys” to Nintendo Switch and Xbox are still moving forward.
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Mediatonic also said there are no plans to make “Fall Guys,” which costs $19.99, free-to-play, as was the case with “Rocket League.”