What’s Buzzin Behind The Screen – Industry News – October 2021

In this edition of ‘What’s Buzzin Behind the Screen’, we bring you the latest industry news – everything you need to know about what’s happening behind the scenes in Hollywood. From the latest trailer releases, to box office collections and movie announcements, here’s the October 2021 update:

1. Venom: Let There Be Carnage passes Black Widow at U.S. box office, after only a month in theaters, to become the second biggest 2021 movie. The Tom Hardy starrer has currently earned $184.1M in the US (according to Forbes), surpassing Black Widow ($183.7M), and now stands second to Shang-Chi ($221.5M).

2. October’s stellar performance in box office led by No Time To Die, Dune, Venom 2 and Halloween Kills has prompted leading analytics firm Gower Street to up its forecast for 2021 worldwide box office revenue from $20.2 billion to $21.6 billion. That would be 80 percent ahead of 2020.

3. Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch posted the top opening theater average of the pandemic era. The Searchlight Pictures movie grossed $1.3 million from 52 cinemas in 14 U.S. markets. This represents a victory for Art House cinemas, which have generally suffered during the pandemic due to the reluctance of older audiences visiting theaters.

4. In further industry news, the official The Matrix Resurrections Twitter account has joined in on the online jokes about Facebook’s virtual reality-based rebranding as Meta. This film poster, originally featuring the tagline “The Choice Is Yours,” has been parodied to include “Now, based on real events,” alongside the hashtag #Meta, referencing the recent announcement by Facebook.

5. Despite the dual threat of the COVID-19 pandemic and Warner Bros’ day-and-date release plan, Denis Villeneuve’s Dune achieved the best domestic opening weekend of his career with $41 million. The Filmmaker also received the greenlight for Dune: Part Two from Warner Bros., with a guarantee of an exclusive 45-day theatrical window.

6. Good news for all Korean Cinema fans as The Korean Film Council (KOFIC) is underwriting discounted cinema tickets worth KW6,000 ($5.14) from November 1 to entice South Korean audiences back to cinemas after months of pandemic precautions.

7. Genre-bending horror franchise Scream will be going through a reboot with new directors and main character such as Sidney Prescott herself (Neve Campbell) along with Dewey Riley (David Arquette) and Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox) returning to the franchise. Paramount has announced that the movie will release in January 2022.

8. Pixar released teaser trailer of Lightyear, the origin story of one of the most loved characters – Buzz. The original feature film is set to hit theatres in June 2022. The teaser rocketed to 83M views in the first 24 hours, ahead of Eternals, and is the second best for a Pixar movie.

9. Jake Gyllenhaal, one of Hollywood’s most in-demand actor will star in Guy Ritchie’s action thriller The Interpreter. The timely story centers on a US sergeant who returns to a war zone to rescue the interpreter who saved his life. Ritchie will co-write the script, together with Ivan Atkinson and Marni Davies who he collaborated in many of his previous projects.

10. After her brief appearance in No Time To Die, Ana De Armas is now circling a role that should offer her more screen time and the chance to be a bigger baddie. She is dubbed to be starring in the upcoming John Wick spin-off – Ballerina. The new movie will focus on the Ballerina character glimpsed briefly in John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum. Director Len Wiseman – best known for Underworld, will direct the film.

Stay tuned for the latest industry news in our November 2021 edition.

Source: Screen Rant, The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, Rotten Tomatoes and Cinema Blend