May 2024’s blockbuster season kicks off with a star-studded action-comedy featuring Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt
As summer draws near, it signals the start of the blockbuster season for movie enthusiasts. Already, the season is heating up with major hits such as Dune: Part Two ($667.5M), Kung Fu Panda 4 ($419.5M), and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire ($367.5M), all making substantial gains at the box office. With these successes paving the way, the stage is set for the arrival of the year’s most anticipated releases.
Starting in May, the summer lineup promises an exciting cinematic journey with a diverse range of films to suit various preferences. From adrenaline-pumping action flicks and heartwarming family stories to spine-chilling thrillers, here’s a look at some of the upcoming blockbusters in May:
The Fall Guy – 02 May 2024
Genre: Action, Comedy, Drama
Cast: Emily Blunt, Ryan Gosling, Aaron – Taylor Johnson
The Fall Guy follows Colt Seavers, an out-of-work stuntman, who is asked by his ex-girlfriend(movie director) to help with stunts for a troublesome action star. When the actor disappears, Colt sets out to rescue him, facing the darker side of Hollywood. Along the way, he hopes to win back his ex, rescue the film, and prove himself as the best stuntman.
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire – 02 May 2024
Genre: Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy
Cast: Carrie Coon, Mckenna Grace, Annie Potts
The new rendition of the beloved horror fantasy franchise, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire introduces a new villain and the Ghostbusters, old and new, as they unite to save the world from an ancient evil threatening a second ice age.
Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2 – 02 May 2024
Genre: Horror, Thriller
Cast: Scott Chambers, Craig David Dowsett, Chris Cordell, Nikolai Leo
The sequel to the horror parody of A.A. Milne’s children’s story, Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey 2, picks up shortly after the first film’s events. The new movie will continue the murderous rampage of the residents of the Hundred-Acre Wood.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes – 09 May 2024
Genre: Action, Sci-Fi
Cast: Freya Allan, Kevin Durand, William H. Macy
Decades after Caesar’s sacrifice, a new ape society grapples with a power struggle. “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” rewrites the future in an epic clash for dominance. Will peace prevail, or will humanity rise again?
IF – 16 May 2024
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Family
Cast: Ryan Reynolds, John Krasinski, Cailey Fleming
A young girl sees the forgotten imaginary friends of grown-ups! With Ryan Reynolds as her guide, she embarks on a heartwarming adventure to reunite lost friends and reignite the magic of childhood.
The Strangers: Chapter 1 – 16 May 2024
Genre: Horror
Cast: Madelaine Petsch, Gabriel Basso, Rachel Shenton
Is your home truly safe? “The Strangers: Chapter 1” rips open the idyllic facade of a quiet evening. Prepare for a night of bone-chilling terror as masked intruders turn a dream getaway into a desperate fight for survival.
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga – 23 May 2024
Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Cast: Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth, Charlee Fraser
War rages across the Wasteland. Before she became the Imperator, Furiosa clawed her way to freedom. Witness her origin story in “Mad Max: Furiosa.” Anya Taylor-Joy ignites the screen in a high-octane prequel filled with sand, fury, and the fight for a future.
The Garfield Movie – 23 May 2024
Genre: Animation, Adventure, Comedy
Cast: Chris Pratt, Samuel L. Jackson, Hannah Waddingham
Garfield is about to go on a wild outdoor adventure. After an unexpected reunion with his long-lost father – the cat Vic – Garfield and Odie are forced to abandon their pampered life to join Vic in a hilarious, high-stakes heist.
Tarot – 30 May 2024
Genre: Horror
Cast: Avantika, Olwen Fouéré, Jacob Batalon
Don’t peek into your future…it might stare back. “Tarot” unlocks a deck of nightmares. A group of friends dabble in forbidden rituals, unleashing a terrifying entity. Can they escape the chilling fate foretold in the cards?
For brands seeking to engage their target audience in a captivating and immersive setting, the summer season offers an unmatched opportunity to create lasting impressions and foster meaningful connections. Click here to start your cinema advertising journey.
Download our Screentalk Movie Planner to explore all the blockbuster releases coming in Q2 2024!
From Scream VI to Fast X, Super Bowl 2023 saw a string of enticing new trailers
The Super Bowl 2023 brought us more than just an epic football game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles, it also gave us a sneak peek into some of the most anticipated movies of the year. Major movie studios including Sony Pictures, Universal Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros. and Disney all paid big bucks to promote their hottest titles.
From big-budget blockbusters to captivating dramas and spine-chilling thrillers, this year’s Super Bowl was a showcase of what’s to come from Tinseltown. Whatever genre it is you fancy, there was something for everyone during the trailer segment of the Super Bowl 2023. Here’s a rundown of all the movies that got a promotional boost during this year’s event.
Creed III
Release Date: 2 March 2023
30-second spot from Creed III at Super Bowl 2023 showcases more of the training and rivalry between Michael B. Jordan’s title character and Jonathan Majors’ Damian Anderson.
65
Release Date: 2 March 2023* (*Could be pushed to 9 March 2023)
Sony Pictures promoted 65 – a science-fiction thriller starring Adam Driver as a pilot who crashes and becomes stranded on Earth 65 million years ago. Written and directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, the film also stars Ariana Greenblatt and Chloe Coleman.
Scream VI
Release Date: 9 March 2023
Courteney Cox, Jenna Ortega, and Melissa Barrera headline this new minute-long Super Bowl 2023 spot that offers a longer look at one of the thriller’s set pieces briefly glimpsed in the previous trailer.
Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
Release Date: 20 April 2023
The Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves Super Bowl 2023 trailer goes a long way to promise how action-packed it will be. Though brief, the teaser is a fast-paced, breathless montage of multiple action set-pieces, mythical creatures and even a titular dragon.
Air
Release Date: 6 April 2023 (International Release)
Ben Affleck’s next directorial offering sees Matt Damon play the man whose brainchild saw the birth of Nike’s Air Jordans. The first trailer for Air was revealed before Super Bowl LVII, with a big game spot along for the ride.
Guardians of Galaxy Vol. 3
Release Date: 4 May 2023
Disney used the Super Bowl broadcast to spotlight the third installment of Guardians of the Galaxy starring Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldaña, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Vin Diesel and Bradley Cooper as the titular band of Marvel superheroes.
Fast X
Release Date: 19 May 2023
10 main movies in, it’s impossible not to know what you’re getting with the Fast & Furious franchise. The Super Bowl Fast X teaser and the full trailer released before it showed off all of the best parts: a new ostentatious villain in the shape of Jason Momoa, returning heroes and anti-heroes, major set-pieces, ludicrous physics and some good old-fashioned racing.
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts
Release Date: 08 June 2023
There’s more than just a sneak peek in this Transformers: Rise of the Beasts TV spot, because it’s not only a short promo for the film, but also an ad for Porsche, which is what Autobot Mirage transforms into in the trailer.
The Flash
Release Date: 15 June 2023
The first trailer for The Flash not only gives us a pretty good idea how the story might play out, but also reveals Michael Keaton in the Batsuit (and his Batmobile), Michael Shannon’s Zod, and Sasha Calle’s Supergirl, among other things. We also got a shorter minute-long TV spot for the film containing a lot of the same footage.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
Release Date: 30 June 2023
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, the fifth installment of the hit Indiana Jones franchise featuring the return of Harrison Ford as the titular swashbuckling archaeologist.
Click here to check out the leading brand commercials that aired during Super Bowl 2023.
Think cinema for effective advertising! Contact us.
Source: Empire, Variety
The cinema industry successfully ushered global audiences back into theatre in 2022 largely owing to the steadier flow of blockbusters in comparison to 2021, with Top Gun: Maverick, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and Avatar: The Way of Water leading the long list of successful titles this year.
While 2021 was a dress rehearsal for the future of cinemas, 2022 has proved that cinema is back for real. This was especially evident in Saudi Arabia, when the country overtook Italy in annual box office revenue (in US$ terms), highlighting the prominence of cinema in the region.
Box office in 2022 had its first test with Scream which grossed nearly US$1M in the UAE alone and marked the successful return of the horror genre in the region since the pandemic. This was followed by the chartbuster performance of Matt Reeve’s The Batman, which earned a combined US$12M in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, and Marvel’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which earned US$6.7M in the UAE.
Summer blockbusters highly contributed to the recovery of the global box office in 2022, with Tom Cruise’s Top Gun: Maverick grossing a combined US$21.2M in the UAE and Saudi Arabia and over US$1.5 billion globally. Jurassic World: Dominion and Minions: The Rise of Gru also performed well, grossing over US$1.7M and US$1.64M in UAE and Saudi Arabia, respectively.
August to October was a challenging phase for cinemas in the region due to a weaker movie release schedule owing to pandemic-related delays. The year however ended on a high note with the release of James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water, which earned close to US$10M in the UAE in its opening weeks. Arabic titles such as Bahebek, 3amohom, and Men Agl Zeko also topped the 2022 charts across GCC.
Here’s our 2022 wrap-up featuring the top movie releases in the eight countries we cover, the most watched genres across the region, the top 15 cinema ads booked through us that lit up the big screen, and last but not least, the new cinema locations added to our circuit and our milestones:
UAE
Saudi Arabia
Egypt
Oman
Kuwait
Bahrain
Qatar
Lebanon
The 15 blockbuster ads (in no particular order) – booked through Motivate Val Morgan, that lit up the big screen in 2022 (also featured in Campaign Middle East):
Brand: Mercedes-Benz Burmester
Title: Innovations by Mercedes-Benz: Dolby Atmos
Media Agency: OMD
Brand: NEOM
Title: Trojena – Journey To New Heights
Media Agency: Starcom
Brand: Emirates
Title: Gerry the Goose Flies Better
Media Agency: UM MENA
Brand: Rolex
Title: Rolex & Cinema – The Path
Media Agency: Mindshare
Brand: Sephora
Title: Amna Al Qubaisi – Emirati F3 Driver – Redefining Beauty with Sephora
Media Agency: Spark Foundry – Publicis Media
Brand: Malabar Gold
Title: Brides of India
Brand: Hermès
Title: Terre d’Hermès
Media Agency: Havas Media
Brand: Thailand Tourism
Title: Amazing Thailand
Media Agency: Media Republic
Brand: Hayatna
Title: Grow Your World With Hayatna
Media Agency: Hearts & Science
Brand: Riyadh Book Fair
Media Agency: Blue Horizon
Brand: Infiniti QX60
Title: Take the Wheel
Media Agency: OMD
Brand: Jindal Shadeed
Media Agency: United Media Services
Brand: Theeb
Brand: Yas Island
Title: Yas Yas Baby
Media Agency: Initiative Media
Brand: Al Nahdi Pharmacies
2022 saw our cinema circuit expand with several new locations:
Our dedicated cinema buying platform – CinePlan and CineMeasure, was launched, which enables data-driven, audience-based buying across our network of cinemas in the Middle East. The platform was also recognized as one of Campaign Middle East’s Top 10 Media Milestones of 2022.
Get ready for an exciting year at the movies in 2023! Here are the top 20 movies to look forward to over the year ahead:
For more on the movies coming out in 2023, be sure to check out our sizzle reel
How many action movies would you say had that one one well choreographed and epic fight scene? Here are our top five picks of the best action scenes from Hollywood!
At the core of any action film should be that one truly impressive action-sequence… one which isn’t just about the action, but so much more. The sequence itself should have a story, with elements such as timing, level of impact and how the characters embody that scene.
But what are the key ingredients at play beneath all the punches, kicks, and bloodshed?
Here are five of our favourite action sequences from Hollywood that bowl us over and leave us in awe, even today!
1. Opening Freeway Attack – Deadpool
Deadpool’s hilarious opening battle on the freeway sets the tone of the film. It works on its own as an independent action scene, but with the wit and fourth-wall shattering wisdom of Deadpool overlaying the action, it gives a fitting introduction of the movie to its audience. Deadpool also makes creative use of the vehicle’s cigarette lighter as he counts down his bullets with manic glee.
2. Superheroes Face Off – Civil War
The superhero battle at the airport in Civil War is the realization of every comic book fan’s lifelong dream. Complimented by exceptional CGI and character performances, this scene is one of the most entertaining fights ever put on film. Civil War offers a thrilling fight, where one finds themselves rooting for both sides.
3. The Bank Vault – Fast and Furious Five
The scene where Dom and Brian pull the bank vault through the streets, while using it as a weapon against crooked cops is fun, destructive, unique and thrilling – all at the same time! What makes this installment of the Fast & Furious franchise a cut above the rest is the filmmaker’s ability to successfully craft the scene in a manner where each character knows exactly how to own specific moments of that scene.
4. Jack Sparrow vs. Will Turner Sword Fight – Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
There is a finesse to the sword fight scene between Jack and Will. The amalgamation of the witty banter and commendable choreography – the use of loose floorboards, improvised weapons and emphasis on every twist and reversal, complements each other and keeps audiences hooked from start to end.
5. Zero G Hallway Scene – Inception
The rotating hallway dream fight in Inception is pure creative choreography by Christopher Nolan and the team., for it is one of the few modern action sequences to rely solely on camera effects. The intense sequence which sees the actors fighting against time and gravity has us sitting on the edge of our seats, wanting more.
Action scenes might be the most exciting to watch , but they are also some of the most complicated to shoot. Capturing a fight on film requires carefully executed techniques in order to make it exhilarating, realistic, and safe for all involved. Below is a list of action films slated for release in 2021, which we believe have epic action sequences to offer:
Godzilla vs. Kong (March), Mortal Kombat (April) , Sooryavanshi (April), Fast and Furious 9 (June), Top Gun: Maverick (July), K.G.F: Chapter 2 (July), No Time To Die (October), Ghostbusters: Afterlife (November) and Spider-Man: No Way Home (December)
Contact a member of our sales team for advertising opportunities alongside these upcoming action blockbusters!
Sources: Wikipedia, YouTube, IMDB, Amex Essentials and Screen Rant
