The holiday box office has turned out to be AQUAMAN (DC/Warners), and then everything else.  Preliminary numbers at Deadline have its 3rd Friday at $16.8M, up 15% from Thursday and down 40% from last Friday, for a likely $51M weekend, and $215M by New Year’s Day.  Comparisons to other DC releases at the same […]

  The news didn’t get any better for BATTLESHIP (Universal) on Saturday.  According to preliminary numbers at Deadline, the aquatic disaster couldn’t even manage a 10% increase on its 2d day of release (in comparison, John Carter had a 25% bump on its first Saturday), and is headed for a horrible $25M opening weekend, $5M […]

> It was a solid Saturday for most films in the market, according to the preliminary numbers at Deadline, which are subject to revision on both Sunday and Monday.  THINK LIKE A MAN (Screen Gems/Sony) is reporting a 10% uptick for the day, which would be a very good sign (Tyler Perry’s Why Did I […]

  Note:  Updated With Official Wednesday Studio Estimates It’s going to be a sensational holiday for DESPICABLE ME 2 (Universal).  he sequel had the third-best opening day for any animated movie ever with $34.3M on Wednesday.  (It’s behind only Toy Story 3‘s $41.2M and Shrek the Third‘s $38.4M.)  With the 4-5x multiple of a 5-day […]

  Good word of mouth kicked in for DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES (20th) on Saturday, according to preliminary numbers at Deadline and elsewhere, giving the movie a 5-10% drop from its Thursday night/Friday numbers to $25-26M.  (Compare that to the 23% drop for Transformers 4 on its 2d day of release.)  That […]

  The most interesting box office story of the weekend is WARCRAFT (Legendary/Universal).  It’s a dud in the US, with $11M on Friday according to preliminary numbers at Deadline, which with its frontloaded fan audience probably means a $25M or so weekend and a domestic total that may not reach $75M.  That’s not much on […]

  After years in the wilderness, M. Night Shyamalan returned to profitability with last year’s The Visit, and based on preliminary numbers at Deadline, SPLIT (Blumhouse/Universal) will build on that success.  Opening day was $13.5M (including $2M from Thursday night), far ahead of Visit‘s $9.2M, and the weekend could be as high as $35M, a […]

  By superhero movie standards, SHAZAM (DC/New Line/Warners) was moderately priced, with around $225M in production/marketing costs.  Preliminary numbers at Deadline put its opening day at $20M (including $5.9M from Thursday), and although that’s a cut below comic book blockbusters like Captain Marvel ($61.7M), Spider-Man: Homecoming ($50.8M) or Wonder Woman ($38.2M), it’s solidly in line with […]