> According to preliminary numbers at Deadline, the weekend is looking auspicious for Mark Wahlberg’s CONTRABAND.  The modestly budgeted thriller (which, however, Universal has been expensively marketing for a solid month) is reporting a $7.7M Friday, which could mean $25-28M over the 4-day holiday weekend. Disney’s 3D re-release of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST is also […]

  Unless the world comes to an abrupt end in the next few hours, THE DARK KNIGHT RISES is going to start earning more money than The Joker set on fire in the last Batman film.  But how much?  Can Rises set records this weekend?  Our resident expert says probably not, because Christopher Nolan’s film […]

  Reading fragmentary Thursday night tea leaves to predict weekend boxoffice is a dicey business, particularly because in our post-Aurora era, those numbers now include showings as early as 9PM in addition to the once-traditional 12:01AM screenings.  So the $2M earned by OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL (Disney) last night can be parsed in several […]

  The young, fanatically committed audience for ONE DIRECTION: THIS IS US (Sony) is the very definition of probable frontloading, so it’s no surprise that the concert doc debuted with a strong $2.7M last night at 7PM, the best Thursday night result since The Conjuring a month ago.  That’s almost as much as the full […]

  It’s not going to be close, and it doesn’t deserve to be.  Based on preliminary numbers at Deadline and elsewhere, the much-better-than-you’d-expect NEIGHBORS (Universal) trounced THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 (Sony) on Friday, $18M to $10M, and although Spider-Man will recoup some of that with stronger Saturday and Sunday matinees, Neighbors should hold on with […]

  By Sunday, AMERICAN SNIPER (Warners/Village Roadshow) may have one of the top 10-day wide release box office totals in history, as Clint Eastwood’s behemoth continues to lay waste to everything else in theatres.  According to preliminary numbers at Deadline, Sniper earned $18M on Friday, down just 40% from its mammoth first day of wide […]

  After several painful weekends burdened by one high-profile flop after another, Hollywood was bailed out by two of its most venerable franchises. SPECTRE (MGM/Columbia/Sony) will be, based on preliminary numbers at Deadline, the 2d biggest opener of the Bond series.  Its $28.1M first day (which includes $5.25M from Thursday night) puts it behind only […]

  Those waiting for Marvel to stumble will have to go on waiting.  Based on preliminary numbers at Deadline, THOR: RAGNAROK (Marvel/Disney) had a $46M opening day (including $14.5M from Thursday night), the highest for any Marvel Universe title released outside the May-July corridor.  Opening day was up 44% from the start of Thor:  The […]