The box office typically dives on Thanksgiving Day when audiences (especially families) are otherwise occupied, then jumps back on Black Friday, and such was the case again this year.  According to preliminary numbers at Deadline, THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY PART 2 (Lionsgate) was comfortably #1 for the day while continuing to run behind the […]

  STAR WARS:  Whether one considers Avatar‘s proper US all-time box office record to be $749.8M (initial release) or $760.5M (includes “director’s cut” re-release), the crown will be changing hands in the next few days.  STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS (Lucasfilm/Disney), which declined 41% on its 3rd weekend to $88.3M (setting yet another record by […]

  OPENINGS:  As we noted on Friday, the 3-day weekend studio estimates are lower than they’d otherwise be, due to lower pre-holiday moviegoing on Saturday and especially Sunday.  That will all change on Christmas Day, which will usher in the biggest 8 days of the box office year. JUMANJI: WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE (Columbia/Sony) is […]

  OPENINGS:  Box office expectations were high for THE SUPER MARIO BROS MOVIE (Nintendo/Illumination/Universal), but the video game adaptation blew past them with a record-smashing $204.6M 5-day opening (passing the $200.1M for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen) that was huge in all quadrants.  Even though Friday was its 3rd day of release, the 3-day weekend […]

Before the two biggest days of the holiday box office season (December 25 and 26), the holiday season — or pre-season, if you will — stands at $238 million for the nine-days between December 16 and 24, now -4.1% behind the same period last year ($248 million) but still narrowly above (+1.7%) the average for […]

  OPENINGS:  INSIDE OUT 2 (Pixar/Disney) overdelivered massively compared to expectations with $155M in the US, a remarkable $65M higher than the start for 2015’s original Inside Out, and depending whether you count the “live-action” CG remake of The Lion King ($191.8M) as animated, either the #2 or #3 US opening for an animated feature […]

  OPENINGS:  SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME (Columbia/Sony) owned the Independence Day holiday, with $93.6M over the 3-day weekend, and a $185.1M total since its Tuesday opening.  Comparisons are inexact due to the 6-day holiday start, but it was considerably ahead of The Amazing Spider-Man, which also had a 6-day opening (with July 4th on Wednesday […]

  Based on preliminary numbers at Deadline, MOANA (Disney Animation) is going to have a dominant and perhaps even historic Thanksgiving weekend.  Disney’s latest blockbuster blew past predictions with a $15.4M opening day (including $2.6M from Tuesday night).  That’s better than the $15.2M earned by Frozen (which technically was in its 2d week of release, […]