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THURSDAY NIGHT BOX OFFICE: “Elysium” Starts Slow

Posted August 9, 2013 by Mitch Salem

  ELYSIUM (Sony) got off to a very moderate start with $1.7M from 10PM Thursday night shows.  That’s better than the Thursday nights for 2 Guns ($1.2M) and White House Down ($1.35M), but nowhere near the $3.6M for Pacific Rim, suggesting that Elysium may skew older than the usual sci-fi epic–or that there’s limited audience […]

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EARLY FRIDAY BOX OFFICE: “Rio 2″” Wins Battle of Sequels

Posted April 11, 2014 by Mitch Salem

  RIO 2 (20th) has leaped out to a Friday lead, according to preliminary numbers at Deadline, one that it should be able to sustain for the weekend.  The Rio sequel has $11.5M on Friday, about 10% ahead of the first Rio‘s $10.3M opening day.  That film made $39.2M for the weekend, and Rio 2 […]

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Wednesday Box Office: “Hobbit” Opens Big, But…

Posted December 18, 2014 by Mitch Salem

  THE HOBBIT:  THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES (New Line/MGM/Warners) opened on Wednesday to $24.5M, which is both the 12th-highest opening Wednesday ever (and 3rd-highest in December) and the lowest opening day for a Peter Jackson Tolkien adaptation since The Fellowship of the Ring ($18.2M) back in 2001.  The Armies start was below the Wednesday […]

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EARLY FRIDAY BOX OFFICE: “Pan” & “The Walk” Fall Out of the Sky, “The Martian” & “Steve Jobs” Soar

Posted October 10, 2015 by Mitch Salem

  The  preliminary numbers at Deadline confirm the expected:  PAN (RatPac-Dune/Warners) is a box office catastrophe in the making.  Its $5.2M opening day (which includes $650K from Thursday night) is less than half the first day of Fantastic Four ($11.3M), and although as a family-oriented movie it may bounce back a bit on Saturday (and […]

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EARLY FRIDAY BOX OFFICE: “Finding Dory” Locates Record Audiences, “Central Intelligence” OK

Posted June 18, 2016 by Mitch Salem

  In its time of need, Hollywood looked to Pixar for salvation, and FINDING DORY (Pixar/Disney) is delivering.  According to preliminary numbers at Deadline, its opening day was $53M (including $9.2M from Thursday evening), more than any animated film has ever made in a single day, ahead of the $47.1M that Shrek The Third earned […]

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EARLY FRIDAY BOX OFFICE: “LEGO Batman,” “50 Shades Darker,” “John Wick 2″” All Solid

Posted February 11, 2017 by Mitch Salem

This is a well-designed weekend for Hollywood, with a trio of sensibly-budgeted franchise titles all drawing audiences from their mostly separate target demos.  The Friday winner, according to preliminary numbers at Deadline, was FIFTY SHADES DARKER (Universal), with $20M ($5.7M of it from Thursday night).  That’s about 2/3 of the $30.3M opening day for Fifty […]

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EARLY FRIDAY BOX OFFICE: “Blade Runner 2049″” Slow, “My Little Pony” & “Mountain Between Us” Moderate

Posted October 7, 2017 by Mitch Salem

  BLADE RUNNER 2049 (Alcon/Sony/Warners) was a high-risk bet, with roughly $300M in production and worldwide marketing wagered on an extremely serious 164-minute sequel to a 35-year old film that only became legendary after it was itself a sizable flop in theatres.  Reportedly, the bulk of that investment rested with Alcon, while Sony (international) and […]

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EARLY FRIDAY BOX OFFICE: “Jurassic World: Fallen KIngdom” Drops But Holds Lead, “Sicario 2″” & “Uncle Drew” Start OK

Posted June 30, 2018 by Mitch Salem

  After a significantly lower start, JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM (Legendary/Perfect World/Universal) is having a sharper drop in its 2nd weekend than its predecessor.  According to preliminary numbers at Deadline, Friday was down 70% from last week to $17.4M, compared to a 63% drop for the first Jurassic World on its 2nd Friday.  The number […]

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