The real world, in the form of terrible reviews and dim word of mouth, caught up with BATMAN V. SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE (DC/RatPac/Warners) on Friday.  Actually, the signs had been there since midweek, although Warners and its box office pets had obscured the fact for a few days by comparing the daily results […]

  The marketing department did its job, and BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE (DC/RatPac/Warners) had its massive opening day, currently estimated by Deadline at $81.3M (including $27.7M from Thursday night).  If that number holds till morning, it will be the #5 opening day ever, behind only Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Harry Potter & […]

  The failure of ALLEGIANT (Summit/Lionsgate) puts its studio in an unusually awkward position.  Even though Lionsgate may be able to put the 3rd Divergent movie on its books as a profit (most of the international rights were pre-sold, providing revenues that can off-set the oncoming US losses), the economics are going to get much […]

  OPENINGS:  The Saturday bump for 10 CLOVERFIELD LANE (Bad Robot/Paramount) was 8%, a solid number for its genre that indicates good word of mouth.  That gave it a $25.3M weekend, a bit higher than Friday indicated, although still not where it might have gotten had the Cloverfield connection (or relative lack thereof) been clearer.  […]

  Word of mouth was great for ZOOTOPIA (Disney), which according to preliminary numbers at Deadline fell a soft 36% from last week’s opening day to $12.5M, setting up a $50M weekend that will put the smash over $140M by Sunday.  That compares to a 45% drop for the 2d Friday of The Lorax, the […]

  Pixar is still Pixar, but the Disney Animation division of the studio (also headed by John Lasseter) is proving that it’s a formidable creator of animated features as well, following Frozen with the smashingly imaginative ZOOTOPIA (Disney).  Based on preliminary numbers at Deadline, Zootopia had a $18M Friday (including $1.7M from Thursday night), and […]

  GODS OF EGYPT (Summit/Lionsgate) has been sitting around for so long that Gerard Butler managed to make next week’s London Has Fallen in the interim, and its own studio has been bleating about how the downside had been limited through tax rebates and foreign pre-sales, so the ensuing thudding flop isn’t much of a […]

  None of the weekend’s openings were expected to come near last week’s blockbuster opening, and none will.  The target Christian audience is turning out for RISEN (Affirm/Columbia/Sony), with preliminary numbers at Deadline putting it at $4.25M for Friday.  Given its demographics, Risen should hold well through the weekend, particularly on Sunday, which could give […]