MOVIE THEATERS BET ON FAMILIES: Almost half of the country’s movie theaters have reopened, and theaters are betting on long runs for Croods: A New Age and Raya and the Last Dragon to help them get back on their feet. Family films have been bright spots for a weak box office, observers say, with Croods 2 outgrossing Wonder Woman 1984, with $53.6 million versus $44.4 million respectively. Croods 2 even has a shot at passing Christopher Nolan‘s Tenet ($58 million) to rank as the top-grossing pic of the pandemic, at least domestically.
HBO MAX AVAILABLE TO COX CUSTOMERS: WarnerMedia is making HBO Max accessible to Cox Communications’ Contour customers with set-top boxes. Cox has an estimated 3.65 million customers. WarnerMedia has about 41.5 million HBO Max and HBO subscribers, up 20% year-over-year.
POWERPUFF GIRLS PILOT CASTS CHLOE BENNET, DOVE CAMERON, YANA PERRAULT: The live-action Powerpuff Girls set for The CW has rounded out its cast, with Chloe Bennet, Dove Cameron, and Yana Perrault all joining the show.
HIGHER GROUND RAISES BROW: Barack and Michelle Obama‘s Higher Ground are raising brows with a few new projects. The pair of recent movies, Worth, a 9/11 drama, and Fatherhood, from Kevin Hart, are seen as head-scratchers, with Worth garnering little buzz when it bowed at Sundance, and Hart’s resurfaced tweets have raised objections. “It had no buzz when it debuted and has sat on the shelf for 13 months,” one buyer who screened Worth told The Hollywood Reporter. “That’s never a good sign.”
