THE AVENGERS, having trampled over the opening weekend record, will easily take its second weekend in a row.  According to Deadline, it’s heading for a $29M Friday, the highest 2d Friday ever, and it should easily eclipse the Weekend 2 record currently held by Avatar with $75.6M.  Disney is estimating a $100M weekend, which […]

> 1:45AM UPDATE:  Deadline has updated its numbers, and the news keeps getting worse for THE THREE MUSKETEERS:  it now appears that the film won’t even get to $3M for Friday, meaning a dreadful $8M or so for this $90M budgeted bust.Most holdovers are doing very well, with FOOTLOOSE, DOLPHIN TALE, MONEYBALL, REAL STEEL, IDES […]

> So what just happened, and what’s likely to happen next?  Here’s a quick look at what’s new in Panem: FINAL NUMBERS:  It turns out THE HUNGER GAMES wasn’t such a hit after all, earning a measly $152.5M in its first 3 days of release, instead of the estimated $155M.  Actually the discrepancy was pretty […]

  It appears as though Hollywood is going to have some good news at the boxoffice this weekend, for the first time since mid-summer.  According to preliminary numbers at Deadline, the surprisingly sprightly HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA (Sony) is off to a big start with a $11M Friday that should mean around a $38M weekend.  That number […]

  In midnight shows last night, MAN OF STEEL (Warners) grossed $9M, a fine but hardly exceptional result for a mega-movie opening.  (Nowhere near the $18.7M for The Avengers, let alone the $30.7M for The Dark Knight Rises or the $22-43M earned by various Harry Potters and Twilights.)  However… earlier on Thursday, Man took in […]

  Preliminary numbers at Deadline present a Friday box office in which few titles moved more than 10% from Thursday, typical for the Christmas-to-New Year’s period.  The top 2, once again, were FROZEN (Disney) and THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG (Warners/MGM), although with the first moving up around 7% and the other declining by […]

  There was general glee last weekend when Guardians of the Galaxy overperformed to a record-breaking degree, proving that audiences could appreciate a blockbuster that was a cut above the rest.  The rejoicing is likely to be more muted this weekend, as the surprise smash this time is the latest incarnation of TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA […]

  With Melissa McCarthy as solo lead, SPY (20th) isn’t opening at quite the level as The Heat, which featured a McCarthy/Sandra Bullock combo, as preliminary numbers at Deadline show a $10.6M opening day (including $1.5M from Thursday) compared to Heat‘s $13.7M.  Still, that puts Spy in line to win the weekend with around $32M […]