MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS (20th) had a surprising amount of marketing muscle behind it, and at least in the short term it seems to be paying off.  According to preliminary numbers at Deadline, opening day was $10.6M (including $1.6M from Thursday night), and considering that Murder is aimed at an older audience that […]

The third up weekend in a row, weekend #41 will be about 16% ahead of the multi-year average for this weekend and a big 54% above last year’s disaster weekend.      Sinister from Summit & Lionsgate opened with $7.4 million Friday and is on pace for $19.0 million Friday-Sunday, a touch stronger than the $16.2 […]

  A general note:  the last time December 22 fell on a Friday was in 2006, and a look at that year indicates what box office patterns may be between now and January 1.  We can expect most films to have a relatively mild Saturday uptick (up to 30%) then plunge by 50% or so […]

  The stretch of box-office beginning in mid-August is one of the weakest of the year, and this weekend’s arrivals did nothing to change that tradition.  WAR DOGS (RatPac/Warners) had the best of the low starts, with $5.4M on Friday (including $1.3M from Thursday night) according to preliminary numbers at Deadline.  That may give it […]

  THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (Village Roadshow/MGM/Columbia/Sony), an expensive action movie in a month that doesn’t often feature them, and toplining the potent combo of Denzel Washington and Chris Pratt, is starting off moderately well but not exceptionally.  Preliminary numbers at Deadline have its opening day at $13M (including $1.75M from Thursday night), slightly ahead of […]

  The phenomenon of It having had its day, weekend box office is starting to look more familiar, which is to say subdued.  KINGSMAN: THE GOLDEN CIRCLE (MARV/20th) will take the weekend, but hardly in impressive fashion.  Preliminary numbers at Deadline have opening day at $15.7M, which includes $3.4M from Thursday night.  2 years ago, […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, weekend #4 of 2015 looks like $143 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, well above the norm for the fourth weekend of the year, which usually struggles to get above $100 million.  (See complete weekend track below.)  All credit goes to American Sniper, which is truly extraordinary.  As for the […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, weekend #28 of 2014 looks like $134 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, 30% below the norm for this weekend and very close to our forecast ($135 million). Opening at 3,967 theaters, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes from 20th Century Fox grossed $27.7 million through Friday and is on […]