>The Hollywood Reporter has preliminary Friday numbers, and while the day’s boxoffice is looking like a close finish between GHOST RIDER: SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE (Sony) and THE VOW (Screen Gems/Sony), with both at $7-7.5M for the day, the likelihood is that over the course of the weekend–considering that new openings are more frontloaded (especially genre […]

  GONE GIRL (20th) should easily retain its title in its 2d weekend of release, based on preliminary numbers at Deadline.  Although the Friday race is tight between Gone Girl at $7.1M and the new DRACULA UNTOLD (Legendary/Universal) at $7M, that’s misleading, because in the odd way openings are reported in the post-Dark Knight Returns […]

  At a cost of $175M (meaning $300M+ with global marketing), SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN (Universal) is a long way from profit.  But credit the studio with making “Snow White” seem cool enough to garner a solid opening (and credit the studio as well with cannily minimizing expectations, so a solid opening passes for […]

  If the preliminary numbers at Deadline hold, there was good news on Friday for Adam Sandler and his studio, as GROWN UPS 2 (Sony) won the day with a strong $16.5M (including $2.3M from Thursday night).  That’s better than the $14.4M that the original Grown Ups had on its opening day in 2010, and might […]

  The cash has started pouring in for THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY (Warners/MGM).  In 3100 theatres, the film earned $13M in midnight screenings last night.  That was considerably higher than the $8M earned by the midnights for Return of the King, but King was in2003, before the phenomenon of midnight releases had really taken hold […]

  CRAZY RICH ASIANS (SK Global/Warners) has become a genuine phenomenon, down per preliminary numbers at Deadline just 17% from last Friday to $5.8M.  Sunday will be stronger than usual due to the 4-day weekend, so that should mean $23M by Sunday and $28M with Monday, putting Crazy on a track that now seems capable […]

  Even with a new horror movie in the market, A QUIET PLACE (Paramount) continued to over-perform, down just 46% from last Friday according to preliminary numbers at Deadline to $10.2M, putting it on track for a $35M 2nd weekend.  That’s the same hold as last year’s Split, and with higher numbers, suggesting that Quiet […]

  STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON (Legendary/Universal) had a smashing start, with preliminary numbers at Deadline giving it $22.8M on Friday (that includes $5M from Thursday night).  With a production budget under $30M and a moderate marketing campaign, Compton will be well on the road to profit by the end of the weekend, providing a finishing touch […]