Friday: Film Stock Free Fall; Minecraft Movie Mania; Who Won CinemaCon?
Film stocks crashed for the second day in a row today as China retaliated against the U.S. with a 34% tariff on all goods imported from the U.S.
Today's Headlines
A Minecraft Movie opened to a Record-breaking preview on Thursday, according to the Hollywood Reporter. The movie earned $10.6 million, topping the previous video game adaptation record (Five Nights at Freddys). Our take: Warner Brothers might have a hit on its hands, as almost every kid in the country is going to want to see this over Spring break.
Film stocks crashed for the second day in a row today as China retaliated against the U.S. with a 34% tariff on all goods imported from the U.S., according to CNBC. Our take: We're a non-partisan newsletter so don't expect us to take sides. Also, global economic policy is way above our pay grade. However, it's never good to see so many movie studios, theater chains and streaming services getting crushed like this. We have more in the MNP sector fund analysis below.
CinemaCon highlighted the Tensions between the studios and the theater chains, according to variety. Our take: Fights over theatrical windows dominated the conference.
Matthew Belloni has a great piece on CinemaCon over at Puck, handing out his Unofficial, highly subjective CinemaCon Movie Awards. Our take: Okay, time to give credit where it is due - Matthew Belloni has the best take on what's happening in the business right now.
Box Office Rankings: Thursday, April 3rd
1) A Working Man
2) Snow White
3) The Chosen: Last Supper
4) The Woman In The Yard
5) Black Bag
What Changed: No movement other than Black Bag bumping Princess Mononoke out of the top 5. SLOW time at the movie theaters right now. Yet another reason we think A Minecraft Movie might outperform over the weekend.
MNP Streaming Index (Friday April 4th - Market Close)
Current Value: $88,442.15
Today's Change: $-5612.80
Total Gain/Loss: -$11,557.85 (-11.83%)
What's Happening: More carnage as the streamers get hit on the threats of a global trade war. Netflix was down −6.67% on the day and Roku was down −8.26%.
Current Holdings: Apple, Amazon, Comcast, Disney, Fox, Alphabet, Netflix, Paramount, Roku, Warner Brothers Discovery.
Our Take: There's a saying on Wall Street: "Never try to catch a falling knife". This is a story that might still be in the first act, so let's wait and see what happens next.
MNP Studio Index (Friday April 4th - Market Close)
Current Value: $88,628.05
Today's Change: -$5181.45
Total Gain/Loss: -$11,371.95 (-11.47%)
What's Happening: Disney was hit −5.98% on the day and Lionsgate fell another −6.59%. Sony dropped −6.67%.
Current Holdings: Amazon, Comcast, Disney, Lionsgate, Paramount, Sony
Our Take: See above.
MNP Theater Index (Friday April 4th - Market Close)
Current Value:$89,761.75
Today's Change: -$4209.55
Total Gain/Loss: -$10,238.25 (-10.34%)
What's Happening: A bad day, but Cinemark only slipped −1.64% and AMC actually closed up on the day +0.38%. Imax dropped −5.48% however.
Our Take: While the theaters generally took a big hit, it's interesting that they outperformed the other two indexes today. Could be the CinemaCon bounce.
Film Festivals/Conferences Today
Cleveland International Film Festival, March 27-April 5
Miami Film Festival, US - April 4-13
Qumra, Qatar - April 4-9
Visions du Reel, Switzerland - April 4-13
Watch This Tonight
Carol (2015), directed by Todd Haynes
An exquisite film featuring legendary performances by Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara.
Disclaimer/Transparency
MovieNewsPro is a film industry news monitoring service. All stories have been previously reported elsewhere and are not exclusive stories to MNP. All information is believed to be accurate at the time of reporting. MovieNewsPro uses a full array of technology to gather information, including machine learning, automation and artificial intelligence throughout its business monitoring, editing and reporting process. MovieNewsPro sector indexes (Streaming, Studio and Theater) are virtual indexes - there are no actual funds invested. Sector index total value dollar amounts are based on an initial hypothetical investment of $100,000 on March 17th, 2025. We are not licensed investment advisors and our information should not be used as investment advice.
