International Insider: Way of the Box Office; World Cup Crescendo; “I hate Suzie too” interview

Welcome back Insiders. Jesse Whittock here. Christmas is around the corner, but the news doesn’t stop. Let’s get started.

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To a cinema near you: Much has been said about people’s tendency to return to cinemas now that the world has emerged from the Covid-19 pandemic and that will be put to the test this coming weekend Avatar: The Way of Water global opening. According to a series of analysis pieces by our Box Office gurus Nancy Tartaglione and Anthony D’Alessandro, 13 years after its record-breaking predecessor, James Cameron’s sequel is on target to earn $525 million for Disney’s biggest worldwide release ever, spanning over 52,000 screens. more than Avengers: Endgame. Reminder: the first avatar grossed $2.9 billion worldwide, which remains the highest grossing release of all time to date. Things are very different these days and Anthony points this out in an article The path of the water On Thursdays, fans flock to the film by appointment, which means the film plays from weekend to weekend. “See movie goers avatar 2 want the perfect pace, the perfect time, the perfect layout,” he writes. It is well known that premium format viewings in LA, NYC and Phoenix are hard to come by. Of that $525 million, about $350 million is expected to come from abroad, including $100 million in China. With Covid-19 restrictions finally eased after a series of major protests, China is pushing the film hard, re-releasing a limited promotional run of Cameron’s first film. avatar to get people in the mood, remastered in up to 80 theaters across the country. Definitely one to watch. And for Deadline, Peter Bart, editor-in-chief, has his say titanic Dedication to the photo, click here.

Global projections: So it’s time for Nancy to release her annual Box Office Forecast Review from Gower Street Analytics this week, with top line numbers predicting a 12% gain to $29 billion over the next year. Last year continued to show a post-pandemic recovery, but there were teething problems in the form of a deeply depressed China, a cost-of-living crisis and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which prevented American studios from releasing films in Russia set. If the early 2023 forecast is accurate, Gower says, it would indicate the industry will have to wait until at least 2024 to fully return to pre-pandemic global levels, but progress is still being made. Dive deeper here.

World Cup crescendo

Messi situation: The excitement surrounding the World Cup in Qatar has died down as the controversial tournament has progressed, but on the pitch the stories have been loud, passionate and often sensational. We saw arguably the latest World Cup appearance from Piers Morgan’s friend Cristiano Ronaldo, who spent most of his match frowning and banishing his Portuguese team-mates, and further evidence of the incredible skill of French superstar Kylian Mbappé, whose The performance to record-breaking television viewers leads figures in France. In Britain, France’s 2-1 win over England drew 21.1 million viewers for a year. But it’s the swan song of Lionel Messi, almost certainly the greatest soccer player of all time, that has everyone glued to the TV. The Argentine striker, now 35, carries the weight of history and his entire country on his back, but he has been nothing short of spectacular, carrying his team to the final where they face Mbappé’s France on Sunday . We’ll report on the winner over the weekend and bring you more ratings analysis next week as the first World Cup in the Middle East draws to a breathless end.

Suzie is back

Prebble, Prebble: Max had a conversation with Lucy Prebble, successor Writer and creator of the rather brilliant Billie Piper drama i hate sissybefore the Susie‘s return next week on Sky and HBO Max. It’s been two years since the first season landed with a real bang, with Doctor who Star Piper uses her former life as a pop star to play a dysfunctional singer on a downward spiral. Fear, fame, family, disability and drugs were considered and the new course, I hate Suzie toopromises more of the same, with Piper’s character Suzie Pickles attending one Dancing with the starsStyle dance competition series to earn money. The show has switched from an eight-part format to three hours, but Prebble has promised it will be “funnier and angrier” and that while the format is “more traditional … the content is bolder,” with “brighter highlights and darker low points” .” .” . Prebble has grown to become one of Britain’s brightest and most powerful writers, but she tells Max it comes at a price. Work on Jesse Armstrong season four continues successor, she found little time to do anything other than write the two HBO shows. “It’s basically destroyed every other life of mine in the past year,” she said. Don’t worry Lucy, you have to take a few days off over Christmas and no one works on New Years. More here.

Bectu and Pact reconcile… Finally

Intensive negotiation: Britain is feeling a bit fractured at the moment, with nurses, postmen and railway workers all on strike in the run up to Christmas and beyond, but one small industrial dispute that is being resolved with a happy ending is in the world of television drama. Broadcasting union Bectu and independent trade organization Pact have been in intense negotiations over Britain’s TV drama deal for almost a year since Deadline revealed in February a breakdown of a deal covering areas such as working conditions, working hours and benefits. After three votes, open letters and several series, some of which ended up in the media, 60% of Bectu voters accepted the terms on Monday and the deal will now be finalised. Sources on both sides struck a positive note in talks with Deadline, saying a compromise was reached that gave freelancers the extra flexibility and power they wanted while drama production remained stable. Read Max’s summary here.

Scandinavian disruptors

Enchanting landscape: I sat down with Isidoor Roebers and Lea Fels, partners at Dutch producer Scenery, to learn how this small, doc-focused producer is making waves in Hollywood and doing business like Netflix. They explained how soft fundraising expertise allowed them to retain more rights and why working with co-owner Banijay offers a path to creative freedom for aspiring European filmmakers. Read on. And for my insight into the indie’s new documentary about the United Ukrainian Ballet Company, see here.

The essentials

🌶️ Hot: What Wu Tang’s RZA Says city ​​of god Did filmmaker Fernando Meirelles and DJ Jayda G have something in common? They work together on the environmental documentation Blue Carbon.

🌶️ hot hot hot: English language debut film by Michela Scolari Sicilian holidays wrapped his shoot, according to the Mel’s Exclusive.

🎡 Running carousel: Former HBO Max executive Christian Wikander became Global Head of Scripted at Banijay when Lars Blomgren moved to Media Res to head international.

🚪 Leave: Simon Dickson, co-founder of the BBC hospital Producer Label1 is leaving the indie he founded in 2015.

🚫 Conditional sentence: Cineworld CEO Mooky Greidinger was given a six-month suspended prison sentence and a fine for antitrust violations.

❄️ On ice: Channel 4 documentary series about earlier Daily mail Editor Paul Dacre, who was due to be introduced last year.

🏪 Set up shop: YouTuber Brandon B’s Studio B clapboard and YouTube chat format This interview will self destruct. Max had the shovel.

🏪 Create another store: Emmy-nominated casting director Julie Harkin has partnered with casting director Nathan Toth to form Harkin & Toth Casting.

⛺ Festivals: Pete Doherty checked into Les Arcs Film Festival and made a surprise appearance according to Mel’s report.

🏆 awards last: The Banshees by Inisherin and Everything everywhere at once leads the nominations for the 12th edition of the AACTA International Awards.

🎥 follower: Israeli-American comedy starring Henry Winkler Chanshi by newcomer Aleeza Chanowitz.

Max Goldbart contributed to International Insider this week.