This week on the CineEurope 2025 edition of the Boxoffice podcast, presented by Coca-Cola and Christie, co-hosts Daniel Loria and Russ Fischer review the latest industry news and preview the opening weekend of Elio and 28 Years Later. In the feature segments, Daniel Loria speaks to Dominic Donylal, the head of groupwide vending & autonomous retail at Coca-Cola HBC, to discuss frictionless vending and its impact on the cinema industry. Then Julien Marcel interviews Jérôme Seydoux, the chairman of Pathé, who has been honored as the International Exhibitor of the Year at CineEurope.
What to Listen For
01:00 Box Office Round-Up: How to Train Your Dragon Debuts at $83.7M
02:36 Audience Response to Dragon Remake
03:53 A24’s ‘Materialists’ Opens at $12M
05:15 Cast and Screen Count Strategy
06:27 Disappointment for ‘Ballerina’ in Week 2
08:12 Why ‘Ballerina’ Failed to Connect
10:01 ‘Elio’ Tracking Dangerously Low for Pixar
11:37 Risks of Reworking and Rescheduling Pixar Titles
13:13 Pixar’s Shift Toward Safe Sequels
14:11 Disney’s Franchise Fatigue Warning
15:26 Preview: ‘28 Years Later’ Tracking Above $35M
16:55 Legacy and Challenges of ‘28 Days Later’
17:56 Digital Filmmaking Discussion: Collateral vs. 28 Days
18:56 Cillian Murphy’s Rising Star and Cult Appeal
19:40 Projected Surprise Performance for ‘28 Years Later’
20:13 Heather Morgan Joins IMAX as Global Distribution Head
20:33 CineEurope Retail Award: Audience Cinema Group & Pathé
22:03 What is Frictionless Retail in Cinemas?
23:08 Amazon Just Walk Out Tech Explained
24:46 Impulse Buying & Customer Flow Benefits
26:34 Applications in Schools, Universities & Cinemas
27:19 Increasing Revenue Through Relaxed Browsing
28:10 Steps to Adopting Frictionless Retail in Cinemas
29:12 Flexible Setup Sizes for Any Location
30:12 Self-Service Enhancing Guest Experience
31:15 The Parent’s Cinema Struggle Solved
32:04 Snacking During Long Movies Made Easy
33:02 Using Idle Cinema Space for Retail Innovation
34:10 Cost Considerations and ROI Timeline
35:25 Early Success Cases in Retail Rollouts
36:02 Exhibition Chains Exploring the Technology
37:15 CineEurope Takeaway: Good for Guests = Good for Business
39:01 Cinema is Capital Intensive – Premium is Key
40:45 The Legacy of Pathé: A Century of Innovation
41:55 Pathé’s Invention of the Rental Model
43:00 French Windowing System and Its Role
44:14 Optimism Rooted in Quality Films
45:03 Great Movies Need the Big Screen