Box office: Everything old is new again?
LeMusique

If you thought movie theaters had gone quiet on new releases over the past few weeks, wait till you see what the long weekend has in store.
Only one new film is getting a wide release over the Labor Day holiday, and it's a low-profile one: Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul (NASDAQ:CMCSA) has some solid names attached to a story about a scandalized megachurch, but it will be hampered by a simultaneous release on streaming service Peacock. It's also screening in 1,879 theaters, rather than a more blockbuster-level 4,000.
What's a theater-goer to do if they want to see a film this weekend? Take in a re-release or holdover.

Many of the premium screens in the country this weekend have being eaten up by a film considered by many to be the "first summer blockbuster": 1975's Jaws (CMCSA), which gets a wide re-release to more than 1,200 screens - notably including 3D and IMAX (NYSE:IMAX) locations.
The film terrorized audiences nearly 50 years ago en route to a worldwide gross of $471.4M, a total it can add to if it scares up additional patrons this weekend. (Adjusted to 2022 dollars, Jaws' $260.8M domestic gross comes out more like $1.2B, or the seventh-highest total of all time.)
Jaws is more likely to give way to a re-release of a more recent hit, though. Spider-Man: No Way Home (NYSE:SONY) dominated theaters eight months ago, and a new run against weak competition means it might do so again. It's heading back into 3,850 theaters with 11 minutes of extra footage.
After a debut Dec. 17, 2021, it was 2021's top film, landing so far at $804.8M domestically (the third-highest total of all time) and $1.9B worldwide (sixth-best of all time on that count).
There's a wild card in the equation. The top film of 2022, Top Gun: Maverick (NASDAQ:PARA) (PARAA), keeps doing steady business on a truly remarkable run; it pulled in $4.72M last weekend, its 14th in theaters, just $2M behind the weekend's top film, The Invitation (SONY). It's entirely possible that a surge of fans could mean Maverick is flying high again over Labor Day.
And a note that may drive up attendance while holding down overall grosses: Saturday is National Cinema Day, where movie tickets in the majority of theaters (more than 3,000) will run at $3, down sharply from a more typical $9 average. Exhibitors are looking to the day to help pack theaters (and sell customers concessions) during a film release period that has been the weakest in more than a year.
Riding out the movie storm as always are those exhibitor stocks: AMC Entertainment (AMC); Cineworld (OTCPK:CNNWF); Cinemark (CNK); (IMAX); Marcus (MCS); Reading International (RDI); Cineplex (CGX:CA); National CineMedia (NCMI).