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Universal Pictures two-part Wicked gamble continues to defy gravity at the box office. Just a year after part one brought droves of audiences to movie theaters around the country, even more people bought opening weekend tickets to see the epic conclusion, Wicked: For Good. According to studio estimates on Sunday, Wicked: For Good earned $150 million from North American theaters in its first days in theaters and $226 million globally. Not only is it the biggest opening ever for a Broadway musical adaptation, unseating the record set by the first films $112 million launch, its also the second biggest debut of the year behind A Minecraft Movies $162 million. The results are just fantastic, said Jim Orr, who heads domestic distribution for Universal. Some films can deliver a false positive when tickets go on sale early but these results speak for themselves.” Universal began rolling out Wicked: For Good in theaters earlier this week, with previews on Monday ($6.1 million from 1,050 theaters) and Wednesday ($6.5 million from 2,300 theaters). By Friday, it was playing in 4,115 North American locations and had raked in $68.6 million. IMAX showings accounted for $15.5 million, or 11%, of its domestic haula November record for the company. IMAX CEO Rich Gelfond said in a statement that the strong market share shows, our momentum carries into demos and genres beyond our traditional core, including families. As with the first film, women powered the opening weekend, making up around 71% of ticket buyers according to PostTrak exit polls. Critics were somewhat mixed on the final chapter, but audiences werent: An overwhelming 83% of audiences said it was one they would definitely recommend to friends. As far as foot traffic is concerned, the box office tracker EntTelligence estimates that about two million more people came out for Wicked: For Good‘s first weekend than for Wicked‘s.” Jon M. Chu directed both Wicked films, starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande. The first film made over $758.7 million worldwide and received 10 Oscar nominations (winning two, for costume and production design). The question is how high Wicked: For Good can soar. Combined, the two films cost around $300 million to produce, not including marketing and promotion costs. The first film paved the way, Orr said. It’s really become a cultural event I think audiences are going to be flocking to theaters for quite some time to come. Two other films also opened in wide release this weekend, but further down on the charts behind a buffet of holdovers. Searchlight Pictures opened its Brendan Fraser film Rental Family in 1,925 theaters, where it earned $3.3 million. The Finnish action film Sisu: Road to Revenge, a Sony release, also played in 2,222 theaters. It earned an estimated $2.6 million. Second place went to Now You See Me: Now You Dont with $9.1 million in its second weekend, followed by Predator: Badlands with $6.3 million in weekend three. The Running Man followed in fourth place with $5.8 million, down 65% from its debut last weekend. Although this weekend the box office was more of a winner takes all scenario, Wicked: For Goods success is vitally important for the exhibition industry as a whole as it enters the final weeks of the year. It sets up a very strong final homestretch of the year, said Paul Dergarabedian, Comscores head of marketplace trends. After the slow fall season, the Thanksgiving blockbusters could not arrive soon enough. Early next week, Zootopia 2 enters the mix and is also expected to drive big crowds to the cineplex over the holiday break. Thanksgiving is often one of the biggest moviegoing frames of the year, Dergarabedian said, and both Wicked 2 and Zootopia 2 will benefit. Last year Wicked, Moana 2, and Gladiator II helped power a record five-day frame. The running domestic box office is currently hovering around $7.5 billion, according to Comscore. Before the pandemic, the annual box office would regularly hit $11 billion, but the post-pandemic goal has lessened to $9 billion. The big question now is whether titles like Wicked: For Good, Zootopia 2, and Avatar: Fire and Ash can push the industry over that threshold. Top 10 movies by domestic box office With final domestic figures being released Monday, this list factors in the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore: 1. Wicked: For Good, $150 million. 2. Now You See Me: Now You Dont, $9.1 million. 3. Predator: Badlands, $6.3 million. 4. The Running Man, $5.8 million. 5. Rental Family, $3.3 million. 6. Sisu: Road to Revenge, $2.6 million. 7. Regretting You, $1.5 million. 8. Nuremberg, $1.2 million. 9. Black Phone 2, $1 million. 10. Sarahs Oil, $711,542. Lindsey Bahr, AP film writer
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Novo Nordisk’s closely-watched Alzheimer’s trials of an older oral version of its semaglutide drug failed to help slow the progression of the brain-wasting disease, the firm said on Monday, a blow to the obesity drug giant that sent its shares sliding. The trials, which Novo had previously called a “lottery ticket” to underline its highly uncertain outcome, were testing whether the medicine could slow cognitive decline in patients. The setback scuppers hopes for Novo that Alzheimer’s could open a major new market for GLP-1 medicines such as semaglutide, as it faces rising competition to its blockbuster drugs in its core treatment areas of obesity and diabetes. Erik Berg-Johnsen, portfolio manager at Novo shareholder Storebrand Asset Management, told Reuters that the trial failure was likely “a nail in the coffin” for using its products against Alzheimer’s. “The fact that the study was discontinued after two years, despite a planned third year extension, suggests that semaglutide offers virtually no benefit in slowing Alzheimer’s progression.” Novo’s trial was being closely watched as an indication about whether GLP-1 drugs – used by millions for diabetes and weight loss – might slow disease progress. The drug tested was Rybelsus, a pill approved only for type 2 diabetes. Like Novo’s blockbusters Ozempic and Wegovy, it contains semaglutide. ‘LOTTERY TICKET’ LOSES OUT The company’s Executive Vice President for Product and Portfolio Strategy, Ludovic Helfgott, had described the Alzheimer’s trials as a “lottery ticket” in September, referring to its uncertain prospects yet huge potential. Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias affect more than 55 million people globally. There is no cure. “While semaglutide did not demonstrate efficacy in slowing the progression of Alzheimer’s disease, the extensive body of evidence supporting semaglutide continues to provide benefits for individuals with type 2 diabetes, obesity, and related comorbidities,” Chief Scientific Officer Martin Holst Lange said in a statement. The results from the two trials of early-stage patients, called EVOKE and EVOKE+, are another setback for the Danish drugmaker and new CEO Mike Doustdar, which had seen booming success, driven by Ozempic and Wegovy, before slowing sales growth and a tumbling share price prompted a CEO change and mass layoffs. The setback reinforces analyst scepticism about Novo’s Alzheimer’s ambitions, with UBS having estimated just a 10% probability of success. Henrik Hallengreen Laustsen, Jyske Bank analyst, said however that a 10% share price fall on Monday looked like an “overreaction”. Sydbank analyst Soren Lontoft Hansen said that the failure was not a surprise for Novo, which has had a tough year with slowing sales of its key weight-loss drugs, management overhaul and rising competition from U.S. peer Eli Lilly . “The share’s reaction is probably more due to the bad sentiment around the Novo Nordisk shares and the negative news flow over the past year – perhaps there was hope for a little tailwind from this study.” PARTICIPANTS AGED 55 TO 85 Shares of Biogen jumped about 5% premarket following news of Novo’s Alzheimer’s trial failure. Biogen and partner Eisai’s Leqembi and rival Eli Lilly’s Kisunla are the only approved treatments for Alzheimer’s in the United States. Both drugs require infusions or injections and can cause significant side effects. “There was some fear that Ozempic might reduce the opportunity for Leqembi and other Alzheimer’s drugs by preventing progression of disease. So these data lift a potential competitive overhang,” said Cantor analyst Eric Schmidt. The Rybelsus trials, covering a combined 3,808 patients, were the first large trials for patients with early stage Alzheimer’s. The trials used a ratings system to assess clinical changes in areas such as memory and how patients were able to care for themselves over a two-year period. The studies aimed for a 20% slowing of cognitive decline, trial details show. Wall Street analysts viewed the trials as high-risk, high-reward, and had said the data would determine if Novo’s Alzheimer’s programme could become a future growth driver. Stine Jacobsen, Maggie Fick and Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen, Reuters
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Old Brick Farm, where Larry Doll raises chickens, turkeys and ducks, was fortunate this Thanksgiving season.Doll’s small farm west of Detroit had no cases of bird flu, despite an ongoing outbreak that killed more than 2 million U.S. turkeys in the last three months alone. He also avoided another disease, avian metapneumovirus, which causes turkeys to lay fewer eggs.“I try to keep the operation as clean as possible, and not bringing other animals in from other farms helps mitigate that risk as well,” said Doll, whose farm has been in his family for five generations.But Doll still saw the impact as those diseases shrank the U.S. turkey flock to a 40-year low this year. The hatchery where he gets his turkey chicks had fewer available this year. He plans to order another 100 hatchlings soon, even though they won’t arrive until July.“If you don’t get your order in early, you’re not going to get it,” he said. Thanksgiving costs vary The shrinking population is expected to cause wholesale turkey prices to rise 44% this year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Despite the increase, many stores are offering discounted or even free turkeys to soften the potential blow to Thanksgiving meal budgets. But even if the bird is cheaper than last year, the ingredients to prepare the rest of the holiday feast may not be. Tariffs on imported steel, for example, have increased prices for canned goods.As of Nov. 17, a basket of 11 Thanksgiving staples including a 10-pound frozen turkey, 10 Russet potatoes, a box of stuffing and cans of corn, green beans and cranberry sauce cost $58.81, or 4.1% more than last year, according to Datasembly, a market research company that surveys weekly prices at 150,000 U.S. stores. That’s higher than the average price increase for food eaten at home, which rose 2.7% in September, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.Datasembly showed a 2% decline in the retail price of a 10-pound turkey as of Nov. 17. Pricing out Thanksgiving meals isn’t an exact science, and the firm’s tally differed from other estimates.The American Farm Bureau Federation, which uses volunteer shoppers in all 50 states to survey prices, reported that Thanksgiving dinner for 10 would cost $55.16 this year, or 5% less than last year. The Wells Fargo Agri-Food Institute, using NielsenIQ data from September, estimated that feeding 10 people on Thursday using store-brand products would cost $80 this year, which is 2% to 3% lower than last year’s estimate. Tempting turkey prices Grocery chains are also offering deals to attract shoppers. Discount grocer Aldi is advertising a $40 meal for 10 with 21 items. Kroger said shoppers could feed 10 people for under $50 with its menu of store-brand products.Earlier this month, President Donald Trump touted Walmart’s Thanksgiving meal basket, which he said was 25% cheaper than last year. But that was because Walmart included a different assortment and fewer products overall this year.“We’re seeing some promotions being implemented in an effort to draw customers into the store,” David Ortega, a professor of food economics and policy at Michigan State University, said.That’s despite a sharp increase in wholesale turkey prices since August. In the second week of November, frozen 8-16 pound hens were averaging $1.77 per pound, up 81% from the same period last year, according to Mark Jordan, the executive director of Leap Market Analytics, which closely follows the poultry and livestock markets.Avian viruses are the main culprit. But another reason for turkey’s higher wholesale prices has been an increase in consumer demand as other meats have gotten more expensive, Jordan said. Beef prices were up 14% in September compared to last year, for example.“For a big chunk of the population, they look at steak cuts and say, ‘I can’t or I don’t want to pay $30 a pound,'” Jordan said.That’s the case for Paul Nadeau, a retired consultant from Austin, Texas, who plans to smoke a turkey this week. Nadeau said he usually smokes a brisket over Thanksgiving weekend, but the beef brisket he buys would now cost more than $100. Turkey prices are also up at his local H-E-B supermarket, he said, but not by as much.“I don’t know of anything that’s down in price since last year except for eggs,” Nadeau said. Tariffs and weather Trump’s tariffs on imported steel and aluminum are also raising prices. Farok Contractor, a distinguished professor of management and global business at the Rutgers Business School, said customers are paying 10 cents to 40 cents more per can when companies pass on the full cost of tariffs.Tariffs may be partly to blame for the increased cost of jellied cranberry sauce, which was up 38% from last year in Datasembly’s survey. But weather was also a factor. U.S. cranberry production is expected to be down 9% this year, hurt by drought conditions in Massachusetts, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.In Illinois, where most of the country’s canning pumpkins are grown, dry weather actually helped pumpkins avoid diseases that are more prevalent in wet conditions, said Raghela Scavuzzo, an associate director of food systems development at the Illinois Farm Bureau and the executive director of the Illinois Specialty Growers Association. Datasembly found that a 30-ounce can of pumpkin pie mix cost 5% less than last year. Farm to table Back at Old Brick Farm, which has been in his family since 1864, Doll walked among his turkeys the week before Thanksgiving, patting their heads as they waddled between their warm barn and an open pasture. In a few days, he planned to deliver them to an Amish butcher.Doll sold all 92 turkeys he raised this year, with customers paying $6.50 per pound for what many tell him is the best turkey they’ve ever tasted. He enjoys a little profit, he said, and the good feeling of supplying a holiday meal.“I just love it, to think that, you know, not only are we providing them food, but the centerpiece of their Thanksgiving dinner,” he said. Associated Press Video Journalist Mike Householder contributed. Dee-Ann Durbin, AP Business Writer
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