Samwise Film & TV Marketing Newsletter
Wednesday, April 15, 2026
Super Mario Galaxy Movie Claims 2026 Box Office Lead After Dominant Second Weekend
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie earned $68.1 million in its second weekend from 4,284 theaters, pushing its domestic cumulative to $307.2 million and surpassing Project Hail Mary as 2026’s top domestic earner. The Universal and Illumination sequel posted a 48% drop — a solid hold — buoyed by strong family turnout and repeat viewership. Globally, the film crossed $629 million, the fastest video-game adaptation to that milestone. Analysts project a $700 million-plus global finish. The campaign’s gaming-community activation and short-form social strategy is being studied across the studio system as a franchise marketing model.
CinemaCon: Warner Bros. Screens Dune: Part Three Footage, Debuts Clayface Teaser
Warner Bros. dominated CinemaCon Day 2 with director Denis Villeneuve screening seven minutes of Dune: Part Three footage for theater owners in Las Vegas. Villeneuve described the third chapter as “a thriller — more action-packed and emotional,” confirming a 17-year time jump between films. The studio also debuted a body-horror Clayface teaser starring Tom Rhys Harries as the shapeshifting villain, and Tom Cruise appeared to introduce his war drama Digger. Warner Bros. additionally announced Clockwork, a new prestige label for adult-skewing theatrical films debuting in 2027, signaling the studio’s commitment to theatrical-first distribution strategy heading into a loaded 2026 summer.
Sources: DiscussingFilm, Gold Derby
Spider-Man: Brand New Day Trailer Hits 1 Billion Views, Sony Leads CinemaCon With Franchise Blitz
Sony Pictures opened CinemaCon 2026 announcing that the trailer for Spider-Man: Brand New Day crossed 1 billion views in four days — the most-watched trailer in recorded history. Tom Holland appeared via hologram to introduce footage revealing Peter Parker living in isolation after erasing himself from everyone’s memories. The film opens July 31, 2026. Sony also unveiled footage for Insidious: Out of the Further and Jumanji: Open World, the latter bringing Dwayne Johnson, Jack Black, and Kevin Hart into the real world alongside their game avatars for the first time in the franchise. Chairman Tom Rothman called 2026 the studio’s strongest theatrical slate in over a decade.
Sources: Variety, Hollywood Reporter
Sony Chairman Tells Theater Owners to Cut Pre-Show Ads: “Get Off the Ad Crack”
Sony Pictures chairman Tom Rothman challenged theater chains at CinemaCon 2026 to dramatically shorten pre-show advertising that now runs 30 minutes or longer before a film. Rothman argued that experienced moviegoers arrive late specifically to avoid ads — meaning trailers play to empty seats. He called on exhibitors to enforce longer exclusive windows, offer cheaper tickets to price-sensitive audiences, and restore the cinematic experience as a premium product. The remarks drew wide attention because they came from a studio chief whose own marketing budgets fund those same pre-show placements, highlighting the structural tension between studio and exhibitor revenue priorities at a pivotal moment for theatrical distribution.
TikTok Launches Box Office Lift Badge to Give Studios Measurable Proof That Campaigns Sell Tickets
TikTok introduced the Box Office Lift badge, a measurement tool within its marketing partners program that links TikTok ad exposure to verified theatrical ticket purchases. Inaugural partners are Samba and LiveRamp. A U.S. Samba study of 38 TikTok film campaigns found that audiences exposed to TikTok ads were 172% more likely to buy tickets, with 60% of those buyers unreachable by linear TV. A LiveRamp U.K. study found TikTok drove a 23.5% average increase in box office sales across 34 campaigns. The badge gives marketers a defensible ROI metric for social video spend, formalizing what studios have long observed: TikTok fan engagement converts directly to opening-weekend attendance.
Sources: Variety
Michael Jackson Biopic Premieres in Berlin, Eyes Record Music Biopic Opening on April 24
Antoine Fuqua’s Michael, the Lionsgate biopic about Michael Jackson, held its world premiere in Berlin on April 10, 2026, with U.S. wide release set for April 24 in IMAX and premium large format. The $155 million production stars Jaafar Jackson — the pop star’s nephew — in his film debut, opposite Colman Domingo and Miles Teller. The film’s teaser trailer generated 116.2 million views in 24 hours, the largest launch in Lionsgate history and the most-viewed music biopic trailer ever. Early tracking places the domestic opening between $80 million and $90 million, which would surpass Bohemian Rhapsody’s $51 million debut as the biggest music biopic opening in box office history.
Sources: Deadline, Hollywood Reporter
Comcast Adds Disney+, Hulu, and HBO Max to Xfinity StreamSaver, Offering Bundles Up to 45% Off
Comcast expanded its Xfinity StreamSaver bundle to include Disney+, Hulu, and HBO Max alongside Peacock, Netflix, and Apple TV+. The cable giant now offers eight bundle configurations ranging from $18 to $35 per month — discounts of up to 45% versus standalone pricing. For studios and distributors, the expansion reshapes streaming marketing strategy: Disney+, HBO Max, and Hulu content now competes for algorithmic visibility alongside Netflix within a single subscriber dashboard. Marketing theatrical-to-streaming releases requires accounting for bundle-interface discovery as a primary audience acquisition channel. Comcast’s move follows its original 2024 StreamSaver launch with three services, growing it into a six-platform aggregation hub that reaches millions of Xfinity subscribers.
2026 Box Office Hits $2.18 Billion Through April 13, the Strongest January-April Start Since Pre-COVID
The U.S. domestic box office collected $2.18 billion from January through April 13, 2026 — up nearly 20% over both 2025 and 2024, and slightly ahead of 2023’s $2.14 billion post-pandemic high. The Super Mario Galaxy Movie and Project Hail Mary together account for over $560 million domestically. Wide release count rose from 91 titles in 2025 to a projected 113. Marketing budgets have shifted sharply: social video now accounts for 27% of total promotional spend, up from 11% in 2021. CinemaCon executives credit improved slate diversity and social-first campaigns, but caution that sustained recovery depends on a strong summer led by Avengers: Doomsday and Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
Sources: Hollywood Reporter, MediaPost
Box Office — Weekend of April 10–12, 2026
| # | Title | Release | Weekend | Cumulative |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Super Mario Galaxy Movie | Apr 3 | $68.1M | $307.2M |
| 2 | Project Hail Mary | Mar 20 | $24.1M | $256.2M |
| 3 | The Drama | Apr 3 | $8.7M | $30.8M |
| 4 | You, Me & Tuscany | Apr 10 | $7.8M | $7.8M |
| 5 | Hoppers | Feb 27 | $4.2M | $157.2M |
| 6 | BTS World Tour ‘Arirang’ (Live Viewing) | Apr 10 | $2.4M | $2.4M |
| 7 | Faces of Death | Apr 10 | $1.6M | $1.6M |
| 8 | Exit 8 | Apr 10 | $1.4M | $1.4M |
| 9 | A Great Awakening | Apr 3 | $1.3M | $4.9M |
| 10 | Reminders of Him | Mar 13 | $999K | $47.5M |
| 11 | Ready or Not 2: Here I Come | Mar 20 | $863K | $22.0M |
| 12 | Beast | Apr 10 | $806K | $806K |
| 13 | Dhurandhar The Revenge | Mar 20 | $671K | $27.4M |
| 14 | Hunting Matthew Nichols | Apr 10 | $600K | $600K |
| 15 | They Will Kill You | Mar 27 | $531K | $10.4M |
| 16 | Scream 7 | Feb 20 | $456K | $121.5M |
| 17 | GOAT | Feb 6 | $282K | $103.1M |
| 18 | Hamlet | Apr 10 | $185K | $185K |
| 19 | Undertone | Mar 13 | $136K | $19.7M |
| 20 | Palestine 36 | Mar 20 | $101K | $436K |
Source: Box Office Mojo · Weekend estimates, Apr 10–12, 2026
Curated by JD · samwise.agency