It’s looking like another dim weekend at the box office.  According to preliminary numbers at Deadline, THE MAZE RUNNER (20th) will easily race past its weak competition.  With $11M on Friday (that includes $1.1M from Thursday night), it should hit $28-30M for the weekend, unless it turns out to be unduly frontloaded (always a possibility […]

  Hollywood’s underwhelming summer box office continues this weekend, with preliminary numbers at Deadline and elsewhere indicating that all three of the newcomers are likely to perform below expectations. The bleakest news of the weekend, though, may be about its #1 ticket seller.  Despite some of the year’s best reviews, and seemingly everything needed for […]

  Considering the spotty box office record of the DC movie franchise, it was something of a risk to place AQUAMAN (DC/Warners) at the center of the holiday market, but the bet is paying off, at least to an extent.  According to preliminary numbers at Deadline, opening day for Aquaman was technically $27.7M, although that […]

  Darren Aronofsky’s NOAH (Paramount) should have no trouble winning the weekend, with preliminary numbers at Deadline giving it around $15M on Friday (that includes $1.6M from Thursday night).  That’s a strong result for a film that doesn’t fit into a conventional Hollywood genre, and normally it would indicate a weekend of $40M or more, […]

  All four of this weekend’s wide releases began with Thursday night screenings last night, but only KICK-ASS 2 (Universal) reported the results.  Kick Ass 2 started with a $1.3M Thursday (screenings started at 8PM), below last week’s Elysium ($1.7M) but in the same range as White House Down ($1.35M) and 2 Guns ($1.2M).  Both […]

  The failure of ALLEGIANT (Summit/Lionsgate) puts its studio in an unusually awkward position.  Even though Lionsgate may be able to put the 3rd Divergent movie on its books as a profit (most of the international rights were pre-sold, providing revenues that can off-set the oncoming US losses), the economics are going to get much […]

  The weekend looks bright for a couple of the new openings.  According to preliminary numbers at Deadline, WRECK-IT RALPH (Disney) had a $13.5M opening day, on its way to a $50M weekend.  If those numbers hold, the weekend will top the (non-Pixar) Walt Disney Animation record $48.8M opening for Tangled 2 years ago, which […]

  CAPTAIN MARVEL (Marvel/Disney) is delivering the jolt the 2019 box office desperately needed.  Preliminary numbers at Deadline put opening day at $62M ($20.7M from Thursday night).  That’s far higher than the $38.2M for Wonder Woman, the $50.8M for Spider-Man: Homecoming, the $32.6M for Doctor Strange, and the $27.7M for Aquaman among recent superhero intro […]