Based on Friday’s grosses, the final weekend of 2013 looks like a great finish: $193 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, up substantially from the same weekend last year (see comparisons to previous years at the bottom).  The new films this long weekend are actually not breaking through in a big way: it’s the […]

  STAR TREK BEYOND (Skydance/Alibaba/Huahua/Paramount) is showing a fair franchise hold by the standards of this summer.  Based on preliminary numbers at Deadline, it had a $23M opening day (including $5.5M from Thursday), down about 26% from the start of 2009’s Star Trek reboot.  (2013’s Into Darkness opened on a Thursday, changing its weekend dynamic.)  That suggests a $57M […]

The 32nd weekend of 2012 is looking like a halfway decent $138 million for the Top 12 films Friday-Sunday — despite being down a moderate 4% from the same weekend last year, this weekend is actually up 8% from this comparable weekend over several years.             The Bourne Legacy from Universal […]

  None of the weekend’s openings were expected to come near last week’s blockbuster opening, and none will.  The target Christian audience is turning out for RISEN (Affirm/Columbia/Sony), with preliminary numbers at Deadline putting it at $4.25M for Friday.  Given its demographics, Risen should hold well through the weekend, particularly on Sunday, which could give […]

The 19th weekend of 2012 is looking like a solid $155 million for the Top 12 films, up 20% from both this weekend last year and the four-year average for the same weekend.  Marvel’s The Avengers will definitely smash the second weekend record — the only question is by how much.  Dark Shadows opened below […]

  Although it’s possible for a horror or action movie to make some money over Labor Day weekend, no studio opens a movie it cares about for the holiday that repels moviegoers.  This weekend’s openings won’t change that rule.  THE LIGHT BETWEEN OCEANS (DreamWorks/Reliant/Participant/Touchstone/Disney) was probably envisioned as an awards-worthy project when it was originally […]

  JOHN WICK CHAPTER 3: PARABELLUM (Thunder Road/Summit/Lionsgate) marks a rarity these days, a solid and growing mid-level action franchise.  The first John Wick collected $5.4M on its first day and $14.4M for the weekend, the second was at $11M/$30.4M, and according to preliminary numbers at Deadline, Parabellum‘s first day was at $22.5M (including $5.9M […]

  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 […]