Word of mouth was great for ZOOTOPIA (Disney), which according to preliminary numbers at Deadline fell a soft 36% from last week’s opening day to $12.5M, setting up a $50M weekend that will put the smash over $140M by Sunday.  That compares to a 45% drop for the 2d Friday of The Lorax, the […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, weekend #5 of 2015 looks like $84 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, somewhat above the norm for this weekend but not as strong as our optimistic forecast.   Opening at 2,893 theaters Friday, Project Almanac from Paramount is on track for an $8.2 million opening three-day weekend (well below our $16.5 million […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, Weekend #32 of 2013 looks like a decent $148 million for the top 12 films, up 11% from the average for this weekend the past few years. None of the openers this weekend look like they will finish with over $100 million domestic, although We’re the Millers has the best shot […]

> The ninth weekend of 2012 is another good one, running 13% ahead of last year’s same weekend and 9% ahead of the multi-year average for this weekend.  This is the fourth weekend in a row that 2012 volume beats both the easy target of last year’s depressed levels as well as the more difficult […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, weekend #17 of 2014 looks like $102 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, better than the disaster of a weekend this time last year but still 6% below the norm for this weekend over the last several years.   Opening at 3,204 theaters Friday, The Other Woman from Fox grossed $9.3 million Friday, […]

  Despite some of the best reviews of the year for any movie, big studio or indie, WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES (TSG/20th) is off to a merely OK start.  According to preliminary numbers at Deadline, it had a $21.1M opening day (including $5M from Thursday night), putting it 24% behind the $27.6M […]

> The 14th weekend of 2012 is looking like $119 million for the Top 12 films, up 15% from this weekend last year and up 11% from the four-year average for the same weekend.  The Hunger Games is heading for a very decent 45% drop this weekend (much better than the 62% drop in its […]

  A WRINKLE IN TIME (Disney) has likely taken the only box office title it will ever have.  According to preliminary numbers at Deadline, Wrinkle had a narrow victory on Friday with $11.3M ($1.2M of that from Thursday night).  But the general front-loadedness of new openings, combined with the likely dim word of mouth here […]