JUSTICE LEAGUE (RatPac/DC/Warners) was supposed to be the jewel in the DC crown, the Avengers that would push its megafranchise to the next box office level.  That’s what justified spending a reported $450M on production (and then more production) and marketing, making it one of the most expensive movies in history.  But tonight it’s […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, weekend #3 of 2015 looks like $172 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, way up from the norm for this weekend and setting a new record for the third weekend in January, breaking last year’s brief record (see track below for the weekend).  The box office is on fire, driven […]

  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 LEGO MOVIE 2: THE SECOND PART (Warners Animation) is looking like a textbook example of a studio watering down its own franchise.  Warners jumped into 2 spin-offs before even reaching its first official sequel, and the result according to early numbers at Deadline is a $8.9M opening day, down 48% from the first […]

  Although still down steeply from Fifty Shades of Grey, FIFTY SHADES FREED (Perfect World/Universal) is opening on par with the initial sequel Fifty Shades Darker.  According to preliminary numbers at Deadline, Freed earned $18.4M on its first day (including $5.6M from Thursday night), down 14% from Darker, which could translate into a $40M weekend, […]

  The MCU continues to be America’s uber-franchise, as SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME (Columbia/Sony) became the first summer mega-movie in several weeks to fully live up to expectations.  Few films have opened on the Tuesday before a Thursday July 4th, so comparisons aren’t exact, but Far From Home earned $91.5M on its Tuesday-Thursday (The Amazing […]

  Despite a trio of new entries as competition, BEAUTY & THE BEAST (Disney) wasn’t expected to have any trouble staying in control of its 2d weekend, and it didn’t.  Preliminary numbers at Deadline have Friday at $21.2M, down 67% from opening day last week.  That’s only an OK hold, compared to the drops of […]

Weekend #45 is on pace to exceed the multi-year average for this weekend by well over 20%.  Skyfall matched our bullish ShowbuzzDaily forecast and is on track to be the best-opening and best-grossing Bond film ever.   Wreck-It Ralph, Flight and even Argo continue to do solid business, rounding out the current slate of films […]