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EARLY FRIDAY BOX OFFICE: “Fantastic 4″” Super-Flops, “The Gift” and “Ricki & The Flash” OK

Posted August 8, 2015 by Mitch Salem

  Word of mouth on FANTASTIC FOUR (20th) is going to be deadly (the exit polls are dismal, and since they survey ticketbuyers enthusiastic enough to show up on the first day of release, lesser fans are likely to consider it even worse), probably sealing its fate as one of the biggest flops of the […]

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EARLY FRIDAY BOX OFFICE: $50M Weekend For “Mission” Possible; “Vacation” Dreary

Posted August 1, 2015 by Mitch Salem

  MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: ROGUE NATION (Skydance/China Film Channel/Alibaba/Paramount) set its sights at a $50M opening weekend in the US (you could tell because the studio claimed the target was in the $40Ms), and it seems likely to get there.  Preliminary numbers at Deadline give the 5th entry in the franchise a $20M opening day (incuding […]

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EARLY FRIDAY BOX OFFICE: “Pixels” A Moderate Gamer, “Paper Towns” and “Southpaw” Soft

Posted July 25, 2015 by Mitch Salem

  PIXELS (Columbia/Sony) was marketed on its high concept rather than as an Adam Sandler star vehicle, perhaps reflecting not just Sandler’s dwindling value, but the shuttering of his long-term acting relationship with the studio as he moves to Netflix.  The result was better than some of Sandler’s recent flops, but far from exciting:  according […]

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EARLY FRIDAY BOX OFFICE: “Ant-Man” Slightly Puny, “Trainwreck” Smashing

Posted July 18, 2015 by Mitch Salem

  ANT-MAN (Marvel/Disney) appears to be opening at the lower end of the Marvel universe.  According to preliminary numbers at Deadline, the latest superhero epic had a $23.4M Friday (which includes $6.4 from Thursday night).  That puts it modestly below the $25.5M opening day for the original Thor and $25.7M for the first Captain America, as well […]

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EARLY FRIDAY BOX OFFICE: “Minions” In Control

Posted July 11, 2015 by Mitch Salem

  MINIONS (Illumination/Universal) was expected to enfold the weekend box office in its little yellow fingers, and so it is.  Preliminary numbers at Deadline give it a $45M opening day, which appears to be the largest opening in the history of movie animation (the asterisk is because we now consider “Friday” to include Thursday night, […]

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EARLY FRIDAY BOX OFFICE: “Terminator” Battery Low, “Magic Mike” Soft As Holdovers Rule

Posted July 4, 2015 by Mitch Salem

  With July 4th falling on a Saturday for the 1st time since 2009, this was fated to be a slow holiday at the box office.  Nevertheless, the weekend’s openings were supposed to be able to overtake titles that have already been in the market for 3-4 weeks.  Based on preliminary numbers at Deadline, however, […]

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EARLY FRIDAY BOX OFFICE: “Ted 2″” Loses Some Stuffing, “Inside Out” and “Jurassic World” Duel For #1

Posted June 27, 2015 by Mitch Salem

  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 […]

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EARLY FRIDAY BOX OFFICE: “Inside Out” Takes The Day, But “Jurassic” Lies In Wait

Posted June 20, 2015 by Mitch Salem

  INSIDE OUT (Pixar/Disney) is in line for the biggest non-sequel opening in the history of animation.  Preliminary numbers at Deadline have it winning Friday with $32.8M (that includes $3.7M from Thursday night), on its way to a weekend that should be at least $85M–and could be more, since word of mouth should be sky-high.  […]

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