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 […]

  SAN ANDREAS (Village Roadshow/Warners) is off to a mid-range start, with preliminary Friday numbers at Deadline giving it a $17.5M opening day (including $3.1M from Thursday night), which is slightly ahead of the $16.6M opening day of Mad Max: Fury Road.  No one really cares that its likely $45M weekend will be Dwayne Johnson’s […]

  TOMORROWLAND (Disney) appears to be heading for the low end of expectations, earning around $10M on Friday (including less than $1M from Thursday night shows) according to preliminary numbers at Deadline.  Although exit polls are far from infallible, family movies usually score well, and its B grade is a sign that word-of-mouth may be […]

  PITCH PERFECT 2 (Gold Circle/Universal) is shaping up as one of the best investments of the summer season, with an opening day estimated by Deadline at $27M (including $4.6M from Thursday night)–almost equal to its entire production cost.  Pitch 2 may be frontloaded, as movies aimed at young women often are, but even so, […]

  FURIOUS 7 (Universal) will handily take its third consecutive weekend title after what preliminary numbers at Deadline say was an $8M Friday.  That’s down about 58% from last Friday (which was 54% down from the Friday before), and puts the blockbuster in line for a $25M weekend, which would give it $290M in the […]

Everyone knew that FURIOUS 7 (MRC/Universal) was going to have an enormous weekend, but the franchise is toppling even the most optimistic forecasts.  According to preliminary numbers at Deadline, opening day (which includes $15.8M from Thursday night shows) could reach $68M, an amazing 75% increase over the first day of Fast & Furious 6, which […]

  HOME (DreamWorks Animation/20th) should soothe the embattled studio and its investors a bit.  According to preliminary numbers at Deadline, Home earned $15M on Friday, almost double the $8M start for DWA’s Mr. Peabody and Sherman, and almost in a league with the $18.8M first day for How To Train Your Dragon 2.  That should […]

  Despite the addition of 3D and IMAX screens with their increased ticket prices, the opening day result for INSURGENT (Summit/Lionsgate) was below the start for last year’s Divergent, according to preliminary numbers at Deadline, with $21M compared to $22.8M.  That may mean a $48M opening weekend, below Divergent‘s $54.6M–or even less if, like most […]