Progress! 
After being stuck in limbo for a solid month at a projected 501 or 502
new theatrical releases for 2023, the needle moved — at last — to the 510 level
this past week.

The projection for the top two boxes ($25 million
plus; $100 million plus) inched up one to 64 for the year.   Still nowhere near the pre-2020 averages, but
progress just the same.

The numbers play out in a somewhat predictable pattern.   So many weeks, so many theatres, so many
seats available on Friday and Saturday nights … and so many films released from
all sources.  

When you remove large-budget film productions from
the mix and take them direct to streaming — bypassing a theatrical release — the
result is a depression in the new theatrical release counts, which have a
ripple effect.

There is double-whammy at work that has upset the
applecart.   The pandemic, which went on
way too long, coupled with the focus on studio streaming platforms (at the cost
of both money and reason), have deeply impacted the new theatrical release trends.   Recovery has been slow.

Add to this the delivery of pristine masters to
studio “helpers” (remember, we no longer refer to them as pirates) and you end
up with skewed release results in the DVD and Blu-ray marketplace.

This past week, the Super
Mario Bros. Movie stormed onto the scene with a
first-week box office haul of $203.6 million.  
That’s wonderful news.

Meanwhile, the “helpers” and “void-fillers” began
taking pre-orders for Creed 3
(Warner Bros. Discovery) and Shazam! Fury of the Gods
(also Warner Bros. Discovery), plus Ant-Man
and Wasp: Quantumania (Walt Disney) and Jesus
Revolution (Lionsgate) got home
entertainment packaged media product-offerings from alternative sources.