Boxoffice - May 2019

lavender”). Point Grey’s comedy Long Shot, starring
Rogen and Charlize Theron, screened at the end of
the Lionsgate presentation.
A fight sequence from John Wick: Chapter 3—
Parabellum earned a rousing response, preceded
by director Chad Stahelski introducing an actor
new to the franchise, Halle Berry. Berry noted,
“Lionsgate is a studio that is always very close to
my heart. They did a little movie I was in called
Monster’s Ball, which changed the trajectory of my
whole life!” Berry called her physical training for
the film “the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my
entire life.” She reported that she’s now “in the best
shape of my life, but I also learned skills that I can
really use in my everyday life. I feel like if someone
attacked me on the street, God bless them. Because
I know some shit now that will fuck them up!”
Berry ended her remarks with a warm tribute
to the exhibitors in the room: “I can’t think of a
better forum to watch two hours of a filmmaker’s
vision than in a movie theater with other people
sharing an amazing experience. I pray it never, ever
goes away, because it’s magic.”
Faith-based films have become reliable performers
at the box office, and Lionsgate is embracing
that audience segment via a new deal with Kingdom
Studios, founded by Jon Erwin, Andrew Erwin,
and Kevin Downes, who thanked exhibitors
for their support of their 2018 $83 million success,
I Can Only Imagine. “We believe in creating a rush
of hope for our audience,” Jon Erwin said. “And
you can’t really create that in isolation on an iPad.
That experience can only happen in a packed-out
movie theater.” The trio’s next project is I Still
Believe, based on the life of Christian music star
Jeremy Camp, who performed the title song for
the Vegas crowd. K.J. Apa of TV’s “Riverdale” will
play Camp in the film.
Just before the main feature, a vivacious Jamie
Lee Curtis came out to introduce footage from
her Agatha Christie–style murder mystery Knives
Out, whose great ensemble cast also features
Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Toni Collette, Michael
Shannon, Lakeith Stanfield, Ana de Armas, and
Christopher Plummer. Joining Curtis onstage were
de Armas and director Rian Johnson (Star Wars:
Episode VIII—The Last Jedi), who said, “With any
of the movies I make, the end goal is always the
same: It’s to put it up in front of the most ampedup
crowd possible on the biggest, most beautiful
screen possible.”
JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 3 – PARABELLUM’S HALLE BERRY AND DIRECTOR CHAD STAHELSKI
HELLBOY STAR DAVID HARBOUR
PHOTO: MATT WINKELMEYER/GETTY IMAGES
PHOTO: MATT WINKELMEYER/GETTY IMAGES
MAY 2019
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