In today’s Box Office Corner on the “Daily Variety” podcast, Variety’s Rebecca Rubin reflects on the opening weekend of Steven Spielberg’s “Disclosure Day.” Then, Todd Spangler explains the surprising news of Fox’s acquisition of Roku.
Regarding his performance in “Disclosure Day,” Rubin pointed out that Spielberg’s home base is Gen X fans who grew up on his films.
“If you look at the domestic audience turnout, 60% were over 35, which suggests that it’s really the older audience that turned out in large numbers. They’re the ones who grew up on Spielberg’s movies. And think of him as one of the greatest directors of all time. So it would be interesting if they could expand this movie to younger audiences,” Rubin says. “CinemaScore gave it a B rating, so it’s somewhere in the middle. It’s not a clear thumbs-up, but it’s not a rejection either. One thing to note, though, is that Spielberg’s films tend to have pretty sustained box office success, so it wouldn’t be surprising if ticket sales dropped completely.”
In terms of box office receipts, the summer season so far has tracked very closely to 2019’s numbers, the last summer season before the pandemic and a key benchmark for the film industry. With the release of Toy Story 5 this week, box office watchers are cautiously optimistic.
“Momentum should continue over the next few weeks,” Rubin said. “If a movie like Toy Story 5 can really shatter expectations, the gap could close even further. And Toy Story 5 will be followed by a sequel, Minions and Monsters, a spin-off of Despicable Me.” There’s also Supergirl, Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, and Spider-Man: Brand New Day. And there are plenty of heavy hitters who could potentially break this record later in the summer. ”
On the Roku front, Variety Business Editor Todd Spangler breaks down Fox’s rationale for spending $22 billion to acquire the digital channel aggregator. It’s a subscription business rooted in an area Fox knows well.
Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch said the deal “will be transformative,” Spangler said. “Roku is used by more than 100 million households. That’s a very powerful relationship point to draw attention to because we sell advertising on the content that’s streamed on the Roku platform and we get a cut of the transactions that also occur on the Roku platform.”
(Photo: “Disclosure Day”)
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