LOS ANGELES — Warner Bros. managed only a 4.7% share of domestic movie-ticket sales over the summer. By that measure, it was Warner’s worst performance since analysts started to compile seasonal box office data in 1982.
A haze of despair had settled over the studio by mid-August. Warner Bros. Discovery, the studio’s parent company, had announced yet another round of layoffs. Then it botched the renewal of a crucial television rights deal with the NBA, prompting investors to flee. Shares were trading in the $6 range, down 90% from March 2021.
So the horror comedy “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” which arrived in theaters from Warner on Sept. 6, in some ways became a flash referendum on the studio’s future. Some people in Hollywood were starting to wonder aloud if there would even be one, at least without a merger with a competitor.
Talk about the undead: “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” collected $111 million in its first weekend in North America, one of the best results on record for September. The PG-13 sequel, directed by Tim Burton, has now been No. 1 for two weeks in a row. It took in another $52 million over the weekend, for a 10-day domestic total of roughly $190 million.
Worldwide ticket sales will total about $264 million through Sunday, according to box office analysts. The film cost $99 million to make.
“Dancing in the hallways, smiles on faces,” said Michael De Luca, one of Warner’s top film executives. “There is really nothing better for morale than a hit.”
All of a sudden, the studio’s summer misfires, including “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” and “The Watchers,” were distant memories.
De Luca and Pamela Abdy became co-chairs of the Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group in June 2022. Because films take so long to make, “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” was the first big-budget project that came together entirely on their watch, from green light to release. The pair have several films coming up with ticket-selling promise, including a Broadway-esque musical sequel to “Joker,” a courtroom thriller from 94-year-old Clint Eastwood and a secretive original project from Ryan Coogler (“Black Panther”).
“We have a lot of work ahead of us, but I feel really excited about our lineup,” Abdy said.
De Luca, admired by Hollywood talent for his brashness, put it differently. “It’s a crapshoot,” he said of movie picking. “It always will be. I think that’s part of the excitement.”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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