Wednesday: Remembering Val Kilmer; Once Upon a Time In Hollywood Sequel; Lionsgate Signs Paul Feig
Actor Val Kilmer has passed away at the age of 65, according The Hollywood Reporter. The official cause of death was pneumonia.
Good morning, it's Wednesday, April 2nd. Here's the news you need to know.
Today's Headlines
Actor Val Kilmer has passed away at the age of 65, according The Hollywood Reporter. The official cause of death was pneumonia. Kilmer has struggled with health issues for quite some time, as documented in the film Val. Our take: The star of such films as The Doors, Top Gun and Batman Forever will be greatly missed.
The Hollywood Reporter has the scoop on Lionsgate Signing director Paul Feig to a first-look film producing deal. The deal was announced by Lionsgate chair Adam Fogelson at CinemaCon. Our take: The Bridesmaids director has several projects in the works. This appears to be a smart signing by Lionsgate.
Director David Fincher is directing a Sequel to Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time In Hollywood according to Variety. The project will star Brad Pitt and be written by Tarantino. Our take: Oddly, this is being made by Netflix (Fincher has a first-look deal there), so it will interesting to see how the release is scheduled.
Marketing exec Josh Line is leaving Paramount for Yahoo. Line will be Yahoo's new Chief Marketing Officer, according to Reuters. Our take: This is a head scratcher for us. Line was behind the launch of Paramount+, so perhaps Yahoo has streaming aspirations? Stay tuned.
Deadline has the inside scoop as Warner Brothers highlighted CinemaCon with glimpes of two upcoming films: Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Bride and Paul Thomas Anderson's One Battle After Another. Our take: Both look to be potential hits. Warners is wisely focusing on quality director's with solid scripts.
Box Office Rankings: Monday, March 31st
1) Snow White
2) A Working Man
3) The Chosen: Last Supper
4) The Woman In The Yard
5) Captain America: Brave New World
Our Take: Death of a Unicorn drops off the charts, and Captain America sneaks back in. Snow White wins the day (barely) with a lowly 1.3 million on the day. Really slow times at the theaters right now.
MNP Streaming Index (Wednesday, April 2nd, 11:06 AM EST)
Current Value: $100,868.07
Today's Change: $245.62 (0.25%)
Total Gain/Loss: $$868.07 (0.89%)
What's Happening: Decent day for the streamers so far, Netflix is up 1% on the day.
Current Holdings: Apple, Amazon, Comcast, Disney, Fox, Alphabet, Netflix, Paramount, Roku, Warner Brothers Discovery.
Our Take: Stocks are in a holding pattern as everyone awaits the White House's announcements regarding tariffs.
MNP Studio Index (Wednesday, April 2nd, 11:06 AM EST)
Current Value: $98,201.54
Today's Change: -$61.66 (-0.06%)
Total Gain/Loss: -$971.16 (-0.98%)
What's Happening: Lionsgate is popping slightly (currently up 1.8%), due to positive coverage on their CinemaCon announcements (see above).
Current Holdings: Amazon, Comcast, Disney, Lionsgate, Paramount, Sony
Our Take: Lionsgate needed this bounce. Other holdings in the index are flat as of press time.
MNP Theater Index (Wednesday, April 2nd, 11:06 AM EST)
Current Value:$97,512.48
Today's Change: +$119.93(0.12%)
Total Gain/Loss: -$2,487.52 (-2.51%)
What's Happening: Cineverse is trading up almost 3% today as of press time.
Our Take: Cineverse had been lagging (down 13% since March 17th) so this is a welcome sight.
Film Festivals/Conferences Today
Cleveland International Film Festival, March 27-April 5
Cinemacon, Las Vegas - March 31- April 3rd
Watch This Tonight
Big Night (1996), Directed by Stanley Tucci and Campbell Scott
A gem of an indie, this "small movie" from the 1990's is an acting tour de force for Stanley Tucci, Ian Holm and Minnie Driver.
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.
