PACIFIC RIM: UPRISING (Legendary/Universal) was the right film at the right time this weekend, and although the preliminary numbers at Deadline have its opening day at $10.1M ($2.4M of it from Thursday night), just slightly ahead of the $9M for last Friday’s Tomb Raider, that should be enough to bring it to $26M for […]

  Everything has broken right for JOKER (BRON/Village Roadshow/DC/Warners).  Its combination of gold-standard IP with a gritty, violent, R-rated aesthetic has been largely accepted critically and earned it film festival kudos, and it’s had the benefit of controversy about its potential to stir up real-life trouble without (so far) any actual incidents that could drive […]

  ALIEN: COVENANT (TSG/20th) was supposed to refresh the franchise after the disenchanted response to Prometheus, but it’s opening at the low end of expectations.  Preliminary numbers at Deadline put opening day at $15.2M (including $4.2M from Thursday night), which suggests a $38M weekend.  Covenant carries about $225M in production/marketing costs, and it may not […]

  A weekend of sequels is dancing to the beat of MAMMA MIA! HERE WE GO AGAIN (Perfect World/Universal), which had a $15.1M opening day according to preliminary numbers at Deadline.  That’s up an impressive 53% from the first day of the original Mamma Mia, although some of the gap is due to the fact […]

  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 […]

> The Hollywood Reporter has some rough early numbers for Friday’s boxoffice, and the news looks good for CAPTAIN AMERICA:  THE FIRST AVENGER.  Including Thursday midnight grosses of $4M, it seems to be around $25M for the day.  This would be right in the neighborhood of its Marvel-mate Thor, which had a $25.5M opening day […]

  No one expected this weekend’s soft new arrivals to come near last week’s holdovers, and they’re not.  LOVE THE COOPERS (CBS/Lionsgate) is at least creditable, according to preliminary numbers at Deadline, with a $2.7M Friday that should give it $7-8M for the weekend.  Coopers is intended as a long-term play that will hang around […]

  THE MUMMY (Perfect World/Universal) is a disaster, although the studio and its minions will try to spin otherwise through the course of the weekend.  According to preliminary numbers at Deadline, it earned $12M on opening day ($2.7M of it from Thursday night), which puts it in line for a $30M weekend and a US […]