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Behind the US/Worldwide Weekend Box Office – 4.21.2024

Posted April 21, 2024 by Mitch Salem

  OPENINGS:  ABIGAIL (Universal) launched at the low end of expectations with $10.2M, lower than the $11.8M for Night Swim and virtually the same as the $9.9M for Imaginary.  Those films are respectively at $32.5M and $28M in the US, which is the likely range for Abigail.  However, the new film reportedly cost $28M before […]

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Behind the US/Worldwide Weekend Box Office – 4.14.2024

Posted April 14, 2024 by Mitch Salem

  OPENINGS:  CIVIL WAR (A24) marked its studio’s biggest swing to date, with costs that will approach $100M for production and worldwide marketing.  (A24 limited its risk by pre-selling some overseas territories to subdistributors.)  The early results were promising, with a studio-record $25.7M weekend, alhough tepid audience surveys and the fact that the audience was […]

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Behind the US/Worldwide Weekend Box Office – 4.7.2024

Posted April 7, 2024 by Mitch Salem

  OPENINGS:  MONKEY MAN (Universal) walked an odd path to theaters, originally being targeted for a Netflix release.  While the result earned strong reviews (87% on Rotten Tomatoes), there was no storybook ending at the box office, as Dev Patel’s film was below expectations at $10.1M.  Nor did Monkey Man stir much excitement overseas, with […]

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Behind the US/Worldwide Weekend Box Office – 3.24.2024

Posted March 24, 2024 by Mitch Salem

  OPENINGS:  GHOSTBUSTERS: FROZEN EMPIRE (Columbia/Sony) played as a family movie, with a Saturday afternoon bump, and that enabled it to match projections at $45.2M, slightly higher than the $44M start for 2021’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife.  However, Frozen Empire cost $25M more than Afterlife, so a 3% increase at the box office may not cover the […]

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Behind the US/Worldwide Weekend Box Office – 3.17.2024

Posted March 17, 2024 by Mitch Salem

  OPENINGS:  ARTHUR THE KING (Lionsgate) was clearly hoping to emulate the sleeper success of 2022’s Dog, which ran a $14.9M opening into $61.8M in the US.  However, the Mark Wahlberg vehicle came up very short with a $7.5M start.  Production/marketing costs are reportedly $60M, which will make for a tough road to profit.  Arthur […]

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Behind the US/Worldwide Weekend Box Office – 3.10.2024

Posted March 10, 2024 by Mitch Salem

  OPENINGS:  KUNG FU PANDA 4 (DreamWorks Animation/Universal), the first new all-ages animated release since the holiday season, arrived at the high end of projections with $58.3M, impressively above the $41.3M start for 2016’s Panda 3.  (And at a reported production budget 40% lower than its predecessor.)  It faces no direct competition for months, and […]

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Behind the US/Worldwide Weekend Box Office – 3.3.2024

Posted March 3, 2024 by Mitch Salem

  OPENINGS:  DUNE: PART TWO (Legendary/Warners) landed at the high end of projections with $81.5M.  Comparisons with the 2021 Dune have little meaning, since that film was part of the studio’s controversial year of premiering simultaneously in theaters and via streaming, but compared to recent blockbusters, Dune 2 was below Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania […]

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Behind the US/Worldwide Weekend Box Office – 2.25.2024

Posted February 25, 2024 by Mitch Salem

  OPENINGS:  In what Hollywood hopes will be the last weekend of drought for a while, the TV episodes packaged as DEMON SLAYER:  KIMETSU NO YAIBA – TO THE HASHIRA TRAINING (Crunchyroll/Sony) led the newcomers with $11.6M, a bit better than the $10.1M for last year’s Demon Slayer episodes.  In addition, the film earned $13.7M […]

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