As will be noted endlessly by the studio and its mouthpieces all weekend, KUNG FU PANDA 3 (DreamWorks Animation/20th) is the first in the series to open in January, after June and May openings for the previous chapters.  Nevertheless, DWA and 20th didn’t choose that day with the idea of earning less, and the […]

  Both of the weekend’s major openings cost too much for the amount they’re currently earning.  MISS PEREGRINE’S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN (TSG/20th) has production/marketing costs of $225M+, and preliminary numbers at Deadline have its opening day at roughly $9M (including $1.2M from Thursday night).  That suggests a $25-27M weekend, which would be an even […]

  As the 2018 box office enters the Martin Luther King holiday weekend, most of its strength still lies in 2017 releases.  According to preliminary numbers at Deadline, JUMANJI: WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE (Columbia/Sony) is on track to win its 4th weekend of release.  Friday’s $6M take was down 44% from last week, and with […]

  The major studios didn’t try to seriously challenge HALLOWEEN (Blumhouse/Miramax/Universal) on its titular weekend, and despite a 69% Friday-to-Friday drop to $10.3M according to preliminary numbers at Deadline, it will easily win its 2nd weekend with around $33M.  At this rate, it could top $175M in the US, which would put it neck-and-neck with […]

> Full weekend drops can be expected to hit a little harder than usual this week, because last week’s holiday weekend boosted Sunday receipts. TRANSFORMERS 3 had a second Friday about midway between those of its two predecessors ($14.9M compared to $10.8M and $18M, respectively), with a decline that was slightly worse than, but in […]

> The Hollywood Reporter has preliminary Friday numbers suggesting that BREAKING DAWN PART 1 will gross $65-75M for the day, including $30.3M in Thursday midnight showings.  Even at the high-end, that would make Breaking Dawn more front-loaded with midnight viewers than its November 2009 predecessor New Moon, which made $72.7M on its opening Friday, of […]

> According to preliminary numbers at Deadline, THINK LIKE A MAN (Screen Gems/Sony) is overperforming in a big way, and should easily take the first non-Hunger Games weekend in over a month.  Man‘s opening day is estimated at $12M, and assuming a Tyler Perry level of frontloading (specifically Why Did I Get Married Too, which […]

  According to preliminary numbers at Deadline, something unexpected happened on Thanksgiving Day:  two of the holiday weekend’s openings changed places in the boxoffice ranks. LIFE OF PI (20th), which had been considerably behind on Wednesday, reportedly took a 24% leap on Thursday to $4.5M.  This is similar to the track for last year’s Hugo, […]