Based on Friday’s grosses, weekend #34 of 2014 looks like $103 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, somewhat below our forecast ($111 million) but still 21% above the norm for this weekend ($86 million). Opening at 2,907 theaters, If I Stay from Warner Brothers grossed $6.8 million Friday and is on track for a $17.0 million […]

  JURASSIC WORLD (Legendary/Universal) is stomping past even the the highest expectations for its opening.  According to preliminary numbers at Deadline, its opening day was a stupendous $78.6M (including $18.5M from Thursday night), giving it the biggest June box office day ever by far, easily passing the $68.5M for Twilight: Eclipse, and in line for […]

  Pixar is still Pixar, but the Disney Animation division of the studio (also headed by John Lasseter) is proving that it’s a formidable creator of animated features as well, following Frozen with the smashingly imaginative ZOOTOPIA (Disney).  Based on preliminary numbers at Deadline, Zootopia had a $18M Friday (including $1.7M from Thursday night), and […]

  Veterans Day isn’t considered one of the major Hollywood holidays, but this year it provided some 3-day weekends that boosted Friday numbers (although that may catch up with some totals over the weekend and when next week is compared to it). The other note for the weekend is that all three of the major […]

  DESPICABLE ME 3 (Illumination/Universal) will have no trouble holding the lead at the box office over the 5-day July 4th weekend.  Preliminary numbers at Deadline have opening day at $28.6M (including $4.1M from Thursday night), which could give it $85M by Sunday and $125M by Tuesday.  That’s still on the low side for the […]

  BLACK PANTHER (Marvel/Disney) is now in competition only with the loftiest movie hits.  According to preliminary numbers at Deadline, its 2nd Friday was $28.4M (down 63% from last week), behind just The Avengers‘ $29.2M in the Marvel universe (down 64% from its own opening day), as well as The Force Awakens ($49.3M, down 58%) […]

  Considering the spotty box office record of the DC movie franchise, it was something of a risk to place AQUAMAN (DC/Warners) at the center of the holiday market, but the bet is paying off, at least to an extent.  According to preliminary numbers at Deadline, opening day for Aquaman was technically $27.7M, although that […]

>Based on Wednesday-Friday numbers, Twilight Breaking Dawn Part 1 will hold on to the #1 spot this weekend despite an anticipated precipitous drop, followed in second place by The Muppets.  The other kid-friendly openers, Arthur Christmas and Hugo, are fighting over table scraps.  The weekend is now looking like it will be down 11% from […]