Although some films have opened well against the Super Bowl, both counterprogramming (the Hannah Montana concert movie and Dear John) and playing toward the action genre (Taken and Chronicle), as a rule the studios stay away, and that was the case this year.  The only wide opening was the low-budget horror flick WINCHESTER (CBS/Lionsgate), […]

  After last weekend’s misfired The Nutcracker and the Four Realms, THE GRINCH (Illumination/Universal) is kicking off the family holiday movie season in a bigger way.  Early numbers at Deadline have opening day at $18.3M (including $2.2M from Thursday night), which should mean a $64M weekend, plus more on Monday, since many schools are closed […]

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 […]

> This weekend is all about the holdovers.  It looks like Dolphin Tale and Moneyball will lead the way this weekend, followed closely by The Lion King in 3D.  Courageous and 50/50 look like they will be the strongest of the four openers, while the poorly reviewed Dream House and What’s Your Number? trail.  Business […]

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 […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, Weekend #10 of 2013 is the first weekend in 7 weeks to match the pace for this time of year: $122 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday (even with last year and up 5% from the same weekend average for the last few years).  Most of the credit for the […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, Weekend #42 of 2013 looks like a pretty weak $93 million for the top 12 films, down 18% from the average for the same weekend the past few years. Opening at 3,157 theaters Friday, Carrie from Sony Pictures grossed $6.5 million Friday and is on track for $14.9 million opening weekend […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, weekend #22 of 2014 looks like $159 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, 16% above the norm for this weekend but -1% from last year.   Opening at 3,948 theaters, Maleficent from Disney grossed $24.2 million Friday and late Thursday, putting the film on track for a $71.0 million opening three-day weekend (well […]