The latest underperforming franchise entry is TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: OUT OF THE SHADOWS (Nickelodeon/Movie Media Group/Alibaba/Paramount).  Preliminary numbers at Deadline have opening day at $11.6M, down 55% from the $25.6M start for the rebooted TMNT 2 years ago.  That suggests a weekend that may not hit $30M, and a US total under $100M.  […]

  Those waiting for Marvel to stumble will have to go on waiting.  Based on preliminary numbers at Deadline, THOR: RAGNAROK (Marvel/Disney) had a $46M opening day (including $14.5M from Thursday night), the highest for any Marvel Universe title released outside the May-July corridor.  Opening day was up 44% from the start of Thor:  The […]

  They deleted Massacre from its title, but it’s still mowing down the competition. OPENINGS:  Why does Hollywood make ultraviolent movies?  Because they sell tickets.  TEXAS CHAINSAW (Lionsgate) is overperforming its way to a surprisingly strong weekend win, with $10.2M on its first night.  Horror movies are hugely front-loaded, so it’s unlikely to be higher […]

  GLASS (Blinding Edge/Blumhouse/Buena Vista Intl/Universal) will easily win this MLK Weekend, but it’s not shaping up as the phenomenon it was envisioned to be–and we’ll see over the next few days whether it has a word of mouth problem.  According to preliminary numbers at Deadline, it had a $16.3M Friday (including $3.7M from Thursday […]

  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 […]

  Note:  all holdovers will show unusually sharp Friday-to-Friday declines due to Valentine’s Day last week, and should recover somewhat over the course of the weekend. OPENINGS:  3 DAYS TO KILL (Relativity), with a $4M Friday and likely $12M weekend, won’t accomplish its goal of establishing Kevin Costner as the next elder statesman action-hero a […]

  OPENINGS:  NEED FOR SPEED (DreamWorks/Disney) won Friday with $6.6M (which includes $1.1M from Thursday night), but it’s destined to come in 2d or even 3rd for the weekend, probably under $20M.  At a $175M cost (including worldwide marketing), $50M in the US will barely make a dent, meaning that the movie will need to […]

  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, […]