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Fresher films such as “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” fueled summer movie ticket sales this year.
The summer movie season, which ranges from the first Friday in May through Labor Day, tallied $4 billion domestically.
“Barbie” generated $612.3 million between its July 21 release and Labor Day, representing 15% of the total summer box office.

A scene from “Barbie.”
Courtesy: Warner Bros.

Hollywood bet big on blockbuster franchise sequels to revive its summer cinema business, but it was fresh fare such as “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” that fueled the industry’s haul of $4 billion, a 19% jump from last year.
Starting the first Friday in May and running through Labor Day weekend, the summer movie season, on average, represents 40% of all movie ticket sales for the year. Studios typically pad this part of the release calendar with superhero spectacles, franchise sequels and action-packed flicks in an effort to capture audience attention during the hottest months of the year.

Fall is looking gloomy, however.
Movie theaters are already contending with less content than previous years. Missing titles such as “Dune: Part Two” will exacerbate that issue. The industry got some good news in the form of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour concert film, arriving in theaters in October. Expectations are set high for its debut, with many box office analysts expecting a $100 million opening. Swift won’t be able to balance the scales by herself, however.
Still recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic, Hollywood has entered a chaotic period of recovery. As studios are desperately trying to lure moviegoers away from their couches, they are also contending with dual labor strikes that have limited their ability to market their slate.

Top summer movies of 2023, domestic

Warner Bros.’ “Barbie” — $612.3 million
Sony’s “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” — $381.2 million
Disney’s “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” — $358.9 million
Universal’s “Oppenheimer” — $310.6 million
Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” — $298.1 million

Source: Comscore

Summertime gladness

Following pandemic-related shutdowns, Hollywood has fewer titles to offer up to theaters. This summer, there were 10 fewer wide-released films than in 2019, a nearly 24% decline. Still, the 2023 summer box office managed to trail pre-pandemic levels by just 5.9%, or a little more than $200 million, according to data from Comscore.

“Perhaps the most notable aspect of the summer movie season of ’23 was its volatility,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore.
Costly franchise installments, which were supposed to tap into audience nostalgia, fell flat.
Paramount’s Tom Cruise vehicle “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One,” Warner Bros.′ DC Comics tentpole “The Flash,” Universal’s “Fast X” and Disney’s “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” all fell flat at the domestic box office. Each generated less than $200 million in the U.S. and Canada.
Instead, cinema patrons opted for original storytelling, leaning toward the bubblegum pink “Barbie” and dark and intense “Oppenheimer.”
“Barbie,” a partnership between Warner Bros. and Mattel, generated $612.3 million between its July 21 release and Labor Day, representing 15% of the total summer box office.
In addition to titles from major studios, the summer haul was fueled by ticket sales for “Sound of Freedom” from Angel Studios, which became a surprise hit with audiences. It has generated nearly $200 million since its July 4 release.

Fall pall

Timothee Chalamet and Rebecca Ferguson star in Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation of “Dune.”
Warner Bros.

The summer season also showed a growing desire from audiences for tickets to premium format showings, said Shawn Robbins, chief analyst at BoxOffice.com. He said the industry can learn a lot from the performances of titles such as “Barbie,” particularly the appeal of grassroots communal experiences in cinemas.
“The caveat, however, is that the release calendar has thinned out slightly due to the ongoing strikes,” he said. “While this could create an opportunity for certain studios and films, it’s a headwind that nonetheless presents an increasing number of challenges for theater owners and audiences who don’t want to see more delays of movies they’re looking forward to.”
Over the longer term, it would become an increasing worry for next year as productions remain halted, Robbins added.
It comes as the theater industry is reigniting, with the overall box office from January through Labor Day up about 25% from last year.
However, it still lags from 2019 levels by 13%, and the fall movie season looks to be a tepid one, even with Swift’s concert movie on the calendar.
Already, films such as Warner Bros. and Legendary Entertainment’s “Dune: Part Two” and Sony’s “Kraven the Hunter” and the “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” sequel have all departed for 2024 as writers and actors strike against studios.
Disclosure: NBCUniversal is the parent company of Universal Studios and CNBC. More

AMC was widely expected to sell additional shares after the successful conversion of the preferred APE shares into AMC common stock in August.
AMC said in the filing that it will sell the new shares through “at-the-market” offerings, without a specific time frame.
Citigroup, Barclays, B. Riley Securities and Goldman Sachs are listed as sales agents in the filing.

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Aug. 22, 2022.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters

Shares of AMC Entertainment fell sharply on Wednesday after the theater chain said in a filing that it plans to sell up to 40 million new shares to raise cash.
The stock dropped 36.8%, bringing it to $8.62 per share. On a split-adjusted basis, that is AMC’s lowest close on record, according to FactSet.

Stock chart icon

AMC’s stock fell sharply on Wednesday.

AMC was widely expected to sell additional shares after the successful conversion of the preferred APE shares into AMC common stock in August. It followed the settlement of a lawsuit objecting to the move.
The theater chain sold millions of shares of common stock in recent years after becoming one of the so-called meme stocks popular with retail traders. The sales helped AMC stabilize itself after the Covid pandemic effectively halted the theatrical movie business.
However, AMC used up its allotment of stock and needed shareholder approval to issue more. The company issued the preferred APE shares as part of a strategy to change its corporate voting structure and get shareholder approval to sell additional common stock.
AMC said in the filing Wednesday that it will sell the new shares through “at-the-market” offerings, without a specific time frame. Citigroup, Barclays, B. Riley Securities and Goldman Sachs are listed as sales agents in the filing.
The U.S. movie business remains below pre-pandemic levels, and the ongoing strikes in Hollywood have clouded the release slate for the rest of 2023 and 2024. AMC and pop star Taylor Swift announced last week that the theater chain is serving as the distributor for a concert movie of The Eras Tour to be released in October. More

Streaming company Roku announced another round of layoffs will affect 10% of its workforce, or 360 people.
In addition to other cost-cutting measures, the company raised its guidance for its third-quarter revenue and EBITDA.
The company cut about 200 employees in March and then another 200 employees in November.

Roku products arranged in Hastings-On-Hudson, New York, July 25, 2023.
Tiffany Hagler-Geard | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Roku said it will lay off 10% of its workforce, or about 360 people, as the streaming software company looks to slash expenses.
In a regulatory filing Wednesday, the company said the cost-cutting measures aim to bring down its year-over-year operating expense growth rate.

The company added that it expects adjusted third-quarter revenue of between $835 million and $875 million, up from a prior forecast of $815 million. In addition, Roku raised its third-quarter guidance for adjusted EBITDA to a range of negative $40 million to negative $20 million compared to a prior estimate of negative $50 million.
Shares of the San Jose, California-based company closed about 3% higher Wednesday.
The layoffs are part of an array of cost-cutting actions the company will take. Other actions include consolidating office space, slowing the pace of new hiring and reducing outside services expenses.
Roku expects impairment and restructuring charges in the third quarter of up to $330 million, including a range of $160 million to $200 million related to office facilities, and $45 million to $65 million related to the job cuts.
Moreover, Roku said it expects an impairment charge of $55 million to $65 million related to the removal of select existing licensed and produced content on its TV streaming platform, as part of a “strategic review of its content portfolio.” 

Roku anticipates the layoffs will be mostly complete by the end of its fiscal fourth quarter. The company had 3,600 full-time workers as of December 2022, according to FactSet.
This is Roku’s third round of layoffs over the past year as it scales back after a period of investment. The company cut about 200 employees in March and another 200 employees in November.
On CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street,” Jim Cramer said the layoffs and other cost-cutting measures should help the company pivot toward profitability and attract additional investors. More

Comcast and Disney have modified their agreement to officially begin the process of deciding Hulu’s future ownership to late September, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said Wednesday at an investor conference.
Comcast owns 33% of Hulu after reaching a deal with Disney five years ago that initially was set to run through January 2024.
The deal set the floor valuation for Hulu at $27.5 billion, which Roberts believes the platform has surpassed since then.

Rafael Henrique | SOPA Images | LightRocket | Getty Images

The timeline to decide Hulu’s ownership fate has been moved up, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said Wednesday.
Comcast and Disney are set to begin those discussions on Sept. 30, months earlier than the initial January 2024 deadline. The talks will include an appraisal process.

Under the original 2019 agreement, Comcast can force Disney to buy, or Disney can require Comcast to sell, that remaining 33% stake in January 2024, at a guaranteed minimum total equity value of $27.5 billion.
“We are excited to get this resolved,” Roberts said Wednesday at Goldman Sachs’ Communacopia and Technology conference. “And the minimum $27.5 billion that people have bandied about, that was a hypothetical that we picked five years ago because Disney has control of the company. The company is way more valuable today than it was then. ”
Roberts called out Hulu as a great streaming business, second only to industry giant Netflix, which he noted has a market cap of $200 billion. 
The deal between Disney and Comcast has set up, in essence, the first-ever sale of a streaming service of this magnitude, Roberts said Wednesday. The two companies will each have their own appraiser, and if their valuations are far apart, a third will likely be brought in.
When valuing Hulu, there’s more to consider than just the streaming app itself, Roberts said. A valuation would include the platform’s content, much of which is supplied by Disney. The parties will also assess that Hulu is sold in a bundle with fellow Disney services Disney+ and ESPN+, lowering the likelihood of so-called churn or consumers who drop their subscriptions. 

He also noted that synergies could be worth “a couple billion dollars” to a buyer of Hulu.
“Just that — the synergy and churn benefit, could be worth $30 billion,” Roberts said. 
“I think, if you were selling all this as is, there would be a line of bidders around the block to buy all the content, all the bundling of Hulu. That business, we’ve never seen,” Roberts said.
A representative for Disney didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
Discussions between the two companies regarding Hulu’s valuation have been ongoing in recent years, CNBC has previously reported.
Roberts and Disney CEO Bob Iger have faced questions about the future of Hulu for some time now.
In May, Roberts said at an investor conference that Comcast would likely sell its 33% stake in Hulu to Disney at the beginning of 2024. He suggested the final price for Hulu would likely be higher than that initial valuation.
As the deadline has neared, Comcast’s NBCUniversal has removed content — including series such as “Saturday Night Live” that appeared the day after airing on traditional TV — from Hulu and put it on its own fledgling streaming platform, Peacock.
Although Disney+ is the flagship streaming service of the mouse house, Hulu is its adult-oriented content platform known for series such as “Only Murders in the Building.”
While Iger said on CNBC earlier this year that “everything is on the table” regarding Hulu, he changed his tune shortly after, announcing in May that Hulu content would be added to Disney+. The content crossover is part of Disney’s push toward offering a “one app experience” in the U.S., Iger had said.
The move to add Hulu content to Disney+ came as Disney focuses on its ad-supported Disney+ option to attract more subscribers and advertising revenue. Iger had called it a “logical progression” for its streaming options that gives more opportunities to advertisers.
The one-app platform is expected to be rolled out by the end of this year.
Disclosure: Comcast owns NBCUniversal, the parent company of CNBC. More

Southwest, Alaska and United reported higher fuel costs this summer.
Prices have spiked some 30% since early July.
Airlines are scheduled to report full results in October.

A bird flies by in the foreground as a Southwest Airlines jet comes in for a landing at McCarran International Airport on May 25, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Ethan Miller | Getty Images

Major U.S. airlines warned about a spike in jet fuel prices, adding to costs during the busy summer travel season.
Jet fuel in Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles and New York averaged $3.18 a gallon on Tuesday after the Labor Day holiday weekend, up more than 30% compared with July 5, according to industry group Airlines for America.

Fuel and labor are airlines’ biggest costs. A spike raises questions about how much of the increase carriers have been able to pass along to customers this summer after fares fell from last year.
The higher cost forecasts come as Southwest Airlines narrowed its unit revenue outlook for the current quarter. The Dallas-based carrier said it expected unit revenue to fall 5% to 7% from last year in the three months ending Sept. 30. In July, Southwest said revenue could drop as little as 3% this quarter from last year.
“While August 2023 close-in leisure bookings were on the lower-end of the Company’s expectations, modestly impacted by seasonal trends, overall leisure demand and yields continue to remain healthy,” the carrier said in a securities filing.
Southwest said that it expects fuel to average $2.70 to $2.80 a gallon this quarter, up from its earlier estimate of up $2.55 to $2.65. It maintained its forecast for capacity to rise 12% from 2022.
Other carriers warned increased costs could affect their results.

Alaska Airlines said higher fuel prices will eat into its pretax margin this quarter.
United Airlines maintained its revenue forecast, but said it expects fuel prices of as much as $3.05 for the quarter, up from its July estimate of no more than $2.80 a gallon.
Airlines are scheduled to report quarterly results in October. More

More than 73 million Americans plan to wager on the NFL season, a nearly 60% increase from last season, according to a survey from the American Gaming Association.
Fourteen percent plan to place their bets online as betting becomes legal in more states.
The NFL has embraced sports gambling after initially opposing it, but is still dealing with growing pains as it navigates betting by players and staff.

Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen (17) runs the ball during the AFC Divisional Round playoff game against the Kansas City Chiefs on January 23rd, 2022 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri.
William Purnell | Icon Sportswire | Getty Images

As legalized sports gambling expands across the U.S., a record 73.5 million Americans plan to wager on the NFL this season, according to the American Gaming Association’s latest survey on Americans’ betting plans released Wednesday.
Last year, an estimated 46 million people bet on the NFL in the U.S., according to the AGA.

The association said its survey found 19% of American adults plan to place a bet online, at a casino or with a bookie this year, up 56% from a year ago. Out of all U.S. adults, 35.1 million people or 14% plan to bet online, while 13.6 million or 5% plan to bet at a physical sportsbook.
Self-identified NFL fans are expected to place more bets than ever this season, with 37% projected to place a wager. That’s up 42% from last year.
Sportsbooks anticipate a boon as the first NFL game of the season kicks off Thursday.
“We expect this to be the most bet NFL season in BetMGM’s history,” Seamus Magee, trading team lead at BetMGM, told CNBC in an email.

NFL warms on gambling

The NFL was once a staunch opponent of sports gambling. But the league changed its tune when the Supreme Court in 2018 paved the way for states to legalize sports betting.

Sports betting is now legal in 34 states and Washington, D.C. In four more states, it’s legal but not yet operational.
The growth of legal gambling, and the ability for Americans to place wagers on their phones, has brought a flood of users to major players like DraftKings, FanDuel, Caesars and BetMGM. The space has proven crowded for companies, including with the entry of ESPN, but has left leagues with no shortage of business partners.
In 2021, the NFL signed five-year deals worth an estimated $1 billion combined with DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars to become the league’s official sportsbook partners.
Then came sportsbooks at stadiums. The Washington Commanders have a physical sportsbook within their stadium. The Arizona Cardinals, who hosted last year’s Super Bowl, have one just outside their venue, as do the New York Giants and Jets outside of their shared MetLife Stadium.
NFL owners voted this year to allow sportsbooks to operate on game days in states where sports betting is legal, starting with the coming season.
Recently, the league struck a deal with Aristocrat to allow NFL-branded slot machines on casino floors across the country. And in another example of the synergies, FanDuel’s latest promotion is offering fans $100 off the NFL’s “Sunday Ticket” just for placing a small wager.
After changing its stance on gambling, the NFL appears to have found wagering on the game engages longtime fans in new ways, increases loyalty among casual viewers and establishes new revenue streams.

Gambling poses new challenges

As the league adapts to the new normal for gambling, it has also experienced growing pains. Player confusion over the league’s betting rules has led to multiple suspensions.
Over the past two years, at least 10 players have been suspended for violating the NFL’s gambling policy.

Where the money’s going

The Kansas City Chiefs are the favorites to win the Super Bowl this year, and bettors are backing them to cover the point spread in the Week 1 opener, according to BetMGM.
The sportsbook said the most bet on teams to win the Super Bowl also include the Cincinnati Bengals, Philadelphia Eagles, Buffalo Bills and Detroit Lions.
BetMGM said one bettor placed a $100 bet on the Cardinals to beat the Houston Texans in the Super Bowl in a matchup of two teams expected to finish among the league’s worst this year. If the bettor is right, that gamble would win $1 million.
At FanDuel, the Eagles receive the most bets to win the Super Bowl at 14%, followed by the Chiefs with 10%.
Philadelphia quarterback Jalen Hurts is receiving almost a quarter of the bets for MVP. More

The NFL season begins Thursday with the Kansas City Chiefs playing the Detroit Lions.
More football games will be streamed exclusively on services such as ESPN+ this year than ever before.
Media companies are offering more exclusive content in hopes of locking in long-term customers.

Aaron Rodgers, #8 of the New York Jets, warms up prior to the game against the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, Aug. 26, 2023.
Mike Stobe | Getty Images

On any given Sunday, there will be more National Football League games available on streaming services than ever before — some even exclusively.
The NFL season kicks off Thursday with the Super Bowl champions Kansas City Chiefs hosting the Detroit Lions. Since the season opener is considered a “Sunday Night Football” game on the schedule, NBCUniversal will air the game on both its broadcast network and streaming app, Peacock.

This more aggressive shift toward streaming comes after several seasons of companies such as Paramount Global, Comcast’s NBCUniversal and Disney’s ESPN showing games simultaneously on streaming services and traditional TV. Now, media companies are bulking up their streaming platforms with more exclusive content in hopes of not only signing up more subscribers, but also locking them in as long-term customers.
Later in the season, Peacock, along with Disney’s ESPN+ and Amazon, will have games that will be streamed only. Google’s YouTube TV and the NFL’s streaming service will also become bigger players in the streaming game.
Streaming may also play a bigger role in NFL viewership as Disney’s networks have gone dark for customers of cable-TV provider Charter Communications, which could coax football fans to opt for internet TV bundles such as Fubo.
When media giants signed NFL media rights deals in 2021, valued at more than $100 billion, more of those deals included the rights to streaming games. Plus, in this past year, the NFL sold the media rights to its “Sunday Ticket” to Google’s YouTube TV for about $2 billion annually, shifting access to the package of out-of-market games to a streaming-only audience.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell had pushed for a streaming-only home for “Sunday Ticket,” saying in the months ahead of closing the deal that he thought it was “best for consumers at this stage.”

Who’s streaming the NFL?

More and more NFL games are being offered through streaming services in addition to their broadcast and pay-TV homes, but this season will see more games exclusively available outside the traditional TV ecosystem.
“I don’t think simulcasts had a material impact on streaming services, which is why they’re pushing so much more exclusively to these platforms,” said Daniel Cohen, executive vice president of global media rights consulting at Octagon.
Two exclusive games will air on NBCUniversal’s Peacock this season. NBCUniversal earlier started simultaneously airing “Sunday Night Football” on NBC and Peacock. Its first-ever regular season game on Peacock happens late in the season in December when the Buffalo Bills take on the Los Angeles Chargers.
The first-ever NFL wild card playoff game to be solely streamed occurs shortly after that on Jan. 13 on Peacock.
“Expanding the digital distribution of NFL content while maintaining wide reach for our games continues to be a key priority for the league, and bringing the excitement of an NFL playoff game exclusively to Peacock’s streaming platform is the next step in that strategy,” Hans Schroeder, executive vice president and chief operating officer of NFL Media, said in a release earlier this year.
The NFL has been a vehicle for attracting more Peacock subscribers, Comcast executives have said on recent investor calls. Peacock had 24 million subscribers as of June 30.

The Kansas City Chiefs’ Skyy Moore celebrates scoring a touchdown, Feb. 12, 2023.
Brian Snyder | Reuters

“Sunday Night Football,” the top-rated prime-time show on TV, averaged nearly 20 million viewers last year, and its Peacock audience has been slowly growing in the single-digit percentage range.
Paramount+ also airs games on both broadcast network CBS and its Paramount+ platform, although it doesn’t have any exclusive offerings. Fox Corp., which also owns the rights to Sunday NFL games, doesn’t stream games other than through its authenticated app, which requires a pay-TV subscription.
Disney, which holds the rights to “Monday Night Football,” will air an international NFL game exclusively on its ESPN+ platform for the second time since last season.
Other than this, games that exclusively air on Disney’s broadcast network ABC will also be on ESPN+, as well as some “Monday Night Football” games that air on ESPN. ESPN+ had 25.2 million subscribers as of July 1.
More people may opt into streaming services to watch “Monday Night Football” this season depending on how long the carriage blackout between cable company Charter and Disney drags on. Disney alerted Charter customers they can subscribe to internet TV bundles such as its Hulu + Live TV.
Meanwhile, Amazon’s Prime Video, which enters its second season as the home of “Thursday Night Football,” will exclusively stream the first-ever Black Friday game after Thanksgiving this year, which will see the New York Jets host the Miami Dolphins.
Amazon’s inaugural “Thursday Night Football” game last season attracted more than 13 million viewers, the most streamed game ever, according to Nielsen. During that same game, Amazon saw a record amount of Prime signups during a three hour period during its debut game.
On top of this, those who want to watch out-of-market games on “Sunday Ticket” will have to subscribe to YouTube TV, shifting the package away from satellite-TV provider DirecTV for the first time ever.
The league’s own NFL+ will also become a beefed up offering this year, offering access to the NFL Network and NFL RedZone channels.
But will these exclusive games be enough to move the needle? It depends, Cohen said.
“One of three things will happen,” Cohen said. “Fans will not care enough to dig into their wallet for a subscription, or they will sign up for a free trial subscription and cancel after the games, or they will pirate the game.”
Disclosure: Comcast owns NBCUniversal, the parent company of CNBC. More

Moderna’s new Covid vaccine generated a strong immune response against BA.2.86, a highly mutated omicron variant that health officials are watching closely, according to clinical trial data the biotech company released Wednesday.
Moderna, Pfizer and Novavax are slated to roll out new vaccines targeting another omicron strain, pending potential approvals from the FDA.
Moderna’s new trial results suggest that the company’s jab will still be effective against newer variants of the virus, even as XBB.1.5 declines nationwide.

Artur Widak | Nurphoto | Getty Images

Moderna’s new Covid vaccine produced a strong immune response against BA.2.86, a highly mutated omicron variant that health officials are watching closely, according to clinical trial data the biotech company released Wednesday. 
The updated shot produced an 8.7-fold increase in protective antibodies against BA.2.86, which has been detected in small numbers nationwide. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention previously said the strain, also known as “Pirola,” may be more capable of escaping antibodies from earlier infections and vaccinations, but new research also suggests that the variant may be less immune-evasive than feared.

Moderna is the first out of the companies producing updated Covid jabs to release data on how its shot fares against BA.2.86. Moderna, Pfizer and Novavax are slated to roll out new vaccines targeting another omicron strain called XBB.1.5 within weeks, pending potential approvals from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Moderna’s trial results suggest that the company’s jab will still be effective against newer variants of the virus as XBB.1.5 declines nationwide. Last month, Moderna also released clinical trial data suggesting that its new shot provides protection against the now-dominant EG.5, or “Eris,” variant and another rapidly spreading strain called FL.1.5.1. 
“Taken together with our previously communicated results showing a similarly effective response against EG.5 and FL.1.5.1 variants, these data confirm that our updated COVID-19 vaccine will continue to be an important tool for protection as we head into the fall vaccination season,” said Moderna President Stephen Hoge in a statement.
New vaccines are set to arrive as Eris and other Covid variants fuel a rise in cases and hospitalizations across the country.
Covid hospitalizations jumped 18.8% during the week ending Aug. 19, and 87% over the past month, according to the latest data from the CDC. But those metrics remain below levels seen when a surge strained hospitals last summer.

Eris accounted for 21.5% of all cases in the U.S. as of Saturday, while FL.1.5.1 accounted for 14.5%, according to the latest data from the CDC. 
Last week, the CDC indicated BA.2.86 has been found in four U.S. states, but it’s still so rare that it’s not listed as a standalone strain on the CDC’s variant tracker. More