> It seems like only yesterday that we were reviewing the records for midnight openings (actually, it was March 23, when The Hunger Games opened with a 7th-highest $19.7M Thursday midnight–the highest ever for a non-sequel).  Now we’re just a few hours away from the US arrival of THE AVENGERS, which… is it a sequel?  […]

  It’s impossible to know at this point how the unspeakable events in Newtown on Friday will affect family behavior over the weekend, and even though this tragedy, unlike the Aurora massacre in July, has no direct connection to movies or theaters, the crowds that might have attended matinees of a four-quadrant event like THE […]

  Based on preliminary numbers at Deadline, THE CONJURING (Warners) might be headed for the biggest horror opening of the year.  It reportedly pulled in $16.5M on Thursday night/Friday, neck-and-neck with the $16.8M that The Purge made on its opening day.  But Conjuring has the kind of strong reviews and exit polls that suggest it might […]

  No one expected 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE (Warners/Legendary) to equal the giant start of its predecessor, after 7 years and with most of the cast gone–and it won’t.  But based on preliminary numbers at Deadline, the spin-off is launching well, with a $17M Friday (which includes $3.3M from Thursday night) that should mean […]

  Halloween is a terrifying holiday for studios and theatre owners, because the young adult audience that both count on have better things to do that night–and it’s particularly bad when the holiday falls on a Friday, interfering with new openings.  As a result, hardly anyone dared premiere a new movie this weekend.  That turned […]

  If preliminary numbers at Deadline hold, the Weekend 2 drop for CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR (Marvel/Disney) will be in line with comparable superhero epics.  Its second Friday looks like $19.5M, which would be down about 74% from last week’s opening day.  That compares to Friday-to-Friday drops of 75% for Avengers: Age of Ultron, 71% […]

  There were no new openings for New Year’s weekend, and not much in the way of surprises among the returning titles.  ROGUE ONE (Lucasfilm/Disney) continued its ride through the holidays with $18.1M on Friday according to preliminary numbers at Deadline.  That’s up about 8% from Thursday, and business should go down on New Year’s […]

  THE HITMAN’S BODYGUARD (Summit/Lionsgate) is off to a mild late-August start, but it will be enough to win the quiet weekend.  Preliminary numbers at Deadline have opening day at $8.1M (including $1.7M from Thursday night), which should mean a $20M weekend.  While that might not even land it in the top 50 August openings, […]