With what appears to be the exception of a sensational hold for Argo, this weekend is looking fairly lackluster, according to preliminary Friday numbers at Deadline.  PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 4 (Paramount) of course, will dominate the weekend, and because of its bargain-basement cost, it will reap plenty of profit for the studio.  But at $15M […]

  Neither THE HEAT (20th) nor WHITE HOUSE DOWN (Sony) is expected to turn many heads at the box office this weekend (Mitch Metcalf’s predictions are here), and that was reflected in their early Thursday night and midnight Friday results.  White House, which started its screenings at 7PM, earned $1.35M, while The Heat, which waited until […]

  So much for tracking.  Defying all expectations, LONE SURVIVOR (Universal) is romping with what might be called the Duck Dynasty audience that goes underreported in pre-opening surveys, and according to preliminary numbers at Deadline, its Friday may be as high as $14M, which could give it a $35M+ weekend.  Peter Berg’s film only cost […]

  There was plenty of new blood at the multiplex on Friday, but much of it was being spilled, as holdovers TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES (Paramount/Nickelodeon) and GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY (Marvel/Disney) held back a trio of new releases.  According to preliminary numbers at Deadline, both Turtles and Guardians were in the $7M range on […]

  Seth MacFarlane’s moment, it seems, has passed.  The three years that followed the triumphant opening of the original Ted included his missteps as Oscars host and as live action star of A Million Ways to Die In the West, and it seems to have taken its toll on TED 2 (MRC/Universal), which according to […]

  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 […]

  Franchises have been dropping like flies this year, but one brand name that still works is Marvel.  Its latest extravaganza DOCTOR STRANGE (Marvel/Disney) had an opening day of at least $32M according to preliminary numbers at Deadline (including $9.4M from Thursday night), which should give it a $80M+ weekend.  As the kick-off to a […]

  Its studio did everything in its corporate power to keep the quality of TRANSFORMERS: THE LAST KNIGHT (Huahua/Paramount) from infecting ticket sales, preventing any reviews from appearing until the projectors had started on the movie’s first paid screenings.  But audiences knew what was coming, and in the US, Transformers 5 will be by far […]