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EARLY FRIDAY BOX OFFICE: “Deadpool” Flings Aside “Risen,” “The Witch” & “Race”

Posted February 20, 2016 by Mitch Salem

  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 […]

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EARLY FRIDAY BOX OFFICE: “Deadpool” Slays “Zoolander 2,” “How To Be Single” For Valentine’s Day

Posted February 13, 2016 by Mitch Salem

  Are Americans tired of superhero movies?  There were whispers to that effect after The Avengers: Age of Ultron underperformed a bit and Fantastic Four outright flopped last year, but clearly the answer is Hell, No.  DEADPOOL (Marvel/20th) puts a new R-rated satiric spin on the genre (very carefully:  its jokes are aimed at Fox’s […]

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EARLY FRIDAY BOX OFFICE: “Hail, Caesar!” Mild, Jane Austen “Zombies” and “Choice” Crash On Un-Super Weekend

Posted February 6, 2016 by Mitch Salem

  The occasional piece of youth-oriented counterprogramming aside, the studios don’t bring out their big guns for Super Bowl Weekend, since Sunday is destined to be deflated.  Even by those standards, though, this is looking like a dim few days. The decision to hold the Coen Brothers’ star-studded HAIL, CAESAR! (Universal) out of 2015 awards […]

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EARLY FRIDAY BOX OFFICE: “Kung Fu Panda 3″” Easily Tops “Finest Hours,” “50 Shades of Black”

Posted January 30, 2016 by Mitch Salem

  As will be noted endlessly by the studio and its mouthpieces all weekend, KUNG FU PANDA 3 (DreamWorks Animation/20th) is the first in the series to open in January, after June and May openings for the previous chapters.  Nevertheless, DWA and 20th didn’t choose that day with the idea of earning less, and the […]

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EARLY FRIDAY BOX OFFICE: Holdovers Lead “Dirty Grandpa,” “The 5th Wave” On Snowy Weekend

Posted January 23, 2016 by Mitch Salem

  This was never going to be much of a box office weekend, and the east coast snowstorms certainly won’t help.  According to preliminary numbers at Deadline, all 3 of the newcomers are closely packed with $3.5-4M Fridays and probable $9.5-11M weekends, so word of mouth could put any of them ahead. The early leader, […]

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EARLY FRIDAY BOX OFFICE: Subdued Ride Along 2 Takes Lead Over Revenant, Star Wars, 13 Hours

Posted January 16, 2016 by Mitch Salem

  Behaving much like recent high-profile sequels Spectre and Mockingjay Part 2, RIDE ALONG 2 (Universal) appears to be heading for an opening weekend around 20% below its predecessor.  According to preliminary numbers at Deadline, Ride 2 had a $11.8M Friday, compared to $14.4M for the original Ride Along.  That suggests a 4-day holiday weekend […]

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EARLY FRIDAY BOX OFFICE: “The Revenant” Fights Off The “Star Wars” Bear

Posted January 9, 2016 by Mitch Salem

  THE REVENANT (Regency/20th) is showing impressive strength in its first day of wide release, after 2 strong weeks at NY/LA arthouses.  Preliminary numbers at Deadline give it $14M+ on Friday, putting it surprisingly into 1st place and confirming that Leonardo DiCaprio is one of the few “movie stars” these days who actually sells tickets.  […]

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EARLY CHRISTMAS BOX OFFICE: “Force Awakens” Towers Over, But Doesn’t Crush, New Competition

Posted December 26, 2015 by Mitch Salem

  For Hollywood, Christmas really is the most wonderful time of the year, because it doesn’t come but once:  with the exception of a New Year’s Eve dip, every day between December 25 and January 2 will perform like a Friday.  That’s great for the box office, but it makes any analysis of “comps” and […]

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