OPENINGS:  There was no question that  ANT-MAN & THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA (Marvel/Disney) would dominate Presidents Day weekend and become 2023’s first blockbuster.  Its $104M 3-day weekend (projected to reach $118M including Monday) was in line with expectations.  The film’s decent 2.26 Friday-to-weekend multiplier also demonstrated that, at least in the short term, the MCU is […]

  OPENINGS:  The Gerard Butler vehicle PLANE (Lionsgate) launched with $10M over the 3-day weekend ($11.6M with the Monday holiday), a sturdy number although not up to the $21.4M for Butler’s pre-pandemic Angel Has Fallen.  It hasn’t yet opened overseas. HOUSE PARTY (Warners), originally set for HBO Max, had a mild start with $3.8M ($4.5M […]

  OPENINGS:  The weekend’s awful weather is being given the blame for a subpar Christmas holiday box office, but the fact remains that audiences appeared unenthused (or worse) about the new offerings.  PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH (DreamWorks Animation/Universal) fared best, with $11.4M for the 3-day weekend, $17.8M with Monday, and $24.6M since its […]

  OPENINGS:  STRANGE WORLD (Disney) couldn’t muster any significant family audience over the Thanksgiving holiday, with $18.6M for the full 5 days and $11.9M for the 3-day weekend.  Nor did it have appeal overseas, where it managed just $9.2M in 43 territories.  Strange World was a disaster that the studio seems to have seen coming, as […]

  OPENINGS:  As expected, BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER (Marvel/Disney) swamped the box office worldwide.  Its $180M US weekend was below Doctor Strange 2 ($187.4M) and the original Black Panther ($202M, on a Presidents Day weekend), but still the biggest opening Hollywood has seen in 6 months, reinforcing the MCU as the center of movie culture […]

  OPENINGS:  Following several months of strong showings from the horror genre, PREY FOR THE DEVIL (Lionsgate) arrived at $7M to mop up the Halloween weekend remainder.  That was around the expected result, and considering that Prey was a low-budget effort with little national marketing, it might be enough to set a pace for minimal […]

  OPENINGS:  LYLE LYLE CROCODILE (Columbia/Sony) arrived below expectations at $11.5M (it might reach $13.4M with the Monday holiday), unable to take advantage of the 11-week gap since the last major family movie opened.  It has more than a month until Strange World claims that audience, but even with strong holds, it still may not […]

  OPENINGS:  MINIONS: THE RISE OF GRU (Illumination/Universal) exceeded industry expectations with a $108.5M 3-day opening.  That’s just a bit lower than the $115.7M launch for the first Minions movie, although that was an April 2015 launch that didn’t have the benefit of a holiday Sunday.  Rise of Gru is expected to hit $127.9M over […]