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Behind the US/Worldwide Weekend Box Office – 10/16/16

Posted October 16, 2016 by Mitch Salem

  OPENINGS:  The biggest arrival of the weekend is still 2 weeks away from reaching the US.  INFERNO (Columbia/Sony), the latest in the DaVinci Code/Angels & Demons franchise, opened in 53 markets comprising about 2/3 of the world with $50M.  That’s a solid start, but suggests that when the movie goes worldwide (except for France) […]

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EARLY FRIDAY BOX OFFICE: “Fate of the Furious” Loses Speed But Zooms Past Competition

Posted April 15, 2017 by Mitch Salem

  How big is big enough?  It’s a question that comes up on giant franchise installments, and the latest is THE FATE OF THE FURIOUS (Universal), the 8th in its series.  According to preliminary numbers at Deadline, its opening day earned $45.5M (including $10.4M from Thursday night), a huge number, but down 33% from Furious […]

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Behind the US/Worldwide Weekend Box Office – 5/3/15

Posted May 3, 2015 by Mitch Salem

  OPENINGS:  Can the 2d-biggest US opening of all time fairly be considered a mild disappointment?  Certainly AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON (Marvel/Disney), for all its giant $187.7M start, underperformed compared to widespread expectations, not only failing to beat the $207.4M opening of The Avengers, but coming in $20M below that mark despite 5 more hours […]

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EARLY FRIDAY BOX OFFICE: “Office Christmas Party” Solid, “La La Land” Starts Huge

Posted December 10, 2016 by Mitch Salem

  With a marketplace starved of adult comedy after the failure of Bad Santa 2, and the holiday deluge of product not quite here, this weekend is proving to be good timing for the arrival of OFFICE CHRISTMAS PARTY (DreamWorks/Paramount).  According to preliminary numbers at Deadline, Office had a $6.7M Friday (including $950K from Thursday night), and depending […]

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EARLY FRIDAY BOX OFFICE: “Mission: Impossible – Fallout” Blows Up “Christopher Robin,” “Spy Who Dumped Me” & “Darkest Minds”

Posted August 4, 2018 by Mitch Salem

  Despite a trio of new arrivals, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – FALLOUT (Skydance/Alibaba/Paramount) will ride strong reviews and word of mouth to an easy second consecutive weekend crown.  Preliminary numbers at Deadline have Friday at $9.8M, down 57% from last week, and better than the 60% drop for the 2nd Friday of Rogue Nation.  With that […]

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EARLY FRIDAY BOX OFFICE: “Dunkirk” Battles “The Emoji Movie,” “Atomic Blonde” Non-Explosive

Posted July 29, 2017 by Mitch Salem

  The box office race is likely to be tight this weekend, with contenders at either end of the quality spectrum.  THE EMOJI MOVIE (Columbia/Sony) drew first blood with a $10.2M opening day (including $900K from Thursday night), according to preliminary numbers at Deadline.  That’s $2.2M better than the first day of Captain Underpants last […]

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EARLY FRIDAY BOX OFFICE: “Wonder Woman” Becomes Summer’s Superhero; “Pirates” Collapses

Posted June 3, 2017 by Mitch Salem

  WONDER WOMAN (RatPac/Wanda/Ten Cent/DC/Warners) is proving to be exactly what its studio–and the summer box office in general–needed.  For Warners, it’s giving the embattled DC mega-franchise its first taste of critical praise since the days of The Dark Knight, which is important in itself, and that’s paying off in ticket sales.  Preliminary numbers at […]

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OPENING NIGHT BOX OFFICE: The Age of Ultron Begins

Posted May 1, 2015 by Mitch Salem

  AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON (Marvel/Disney) blasted off with $27.6M from Thursday night screenings, handily beating the $18.7M for the first Avengers, although that blockbuster began its showings at midnight, while Ultron started its run at 7PM.  Ultron was also far above the $15.8M earned by Furious 7 in its Thursday night debut.  Sequels are […]

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