OPENINGS:  Christmas Day is one of the highest-grossing days of the year, and it will give a major bump to everything in the market.  Even with that boost, AQUAMAN & THE LOST KINGDOM (DC/Warners) was only able to muster a $40M 4-day weekend studio estimate after $28.1M in 3 days (and given the 34% […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, weekend #52 of 2014 looks like $192 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, up +21% from the norm for this weekend ($158 million) and up +6% from the same weekend last year.   Opening at 3,131 theaters Thursday, Unbroken from Universal is on track for a $32.3 million opening three-day weekend (well above […]

  OPENINGS:  After last week’s Fall Guy stumble, KINGDOM OF THE PLANET OF THE APES (20th/Disney) arrived at the high end of projections with $56.5M.   That was roughly on par with the starts for 2011’s Rise ($54.8M) and 2017’s War ($56.3M), although a bit lower than 2014’s Dawn ($72.6M).  The franchise has reliably done better […]

  OPENINGS:  PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES (Disney) easily took the weekend worldwide, but it’s another diminishing franchise.  In the US, it had a $62.2M 3-day opening, and although Memorial Day will push that to around $76M, on a 3-day-to-3-day basis, it’s down 30% from 2011’s On Stranger Tides (it’s likely […]

UPDATE (19 days Dec 16-Jan 3): $757 million for the top 10 films in North America each day, now -6.5% below the average holiday box office since 2007 ($810 million over this span), ending up well below the pace of 2015-2017 when a Star Wars film anchored the holiday season but slightly above the pace of 2012-2014 […]

The 2014 holiday box office continues to be good but not great. The top 10 films on Wednesday December 31, 2014 totaled $33.3 million, somewhat below the average $35.4 million for the days since 2002 when this date landed on a weekday.  The last time December 31 fell on a Wednesday (2008), the day’s top […]

  As the 2018 box office enters the Martin Luther King holiday weekend, most of its strength still lies in 2017 releases.  According to preliminary numbers at Deadline, JUMANJI: WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE (Columbia/Sony) is on track to win its 4th weekend of release.  Friday’s $6M take was down 44% from last week, and with […]

  OPENINGS:  THE POST (DreamWorks/Reliance/Participant/20th) expanded to wide release with $18.6M over 3 days (which should become $22M with Monday).  That’s a bit better than the $15.4M 3-day start for Steven Spielberg’s Bridge of Spies, which didn’t have the benefit of a holiday weekend opening.  Bridge got to $72.3M in the US, and The Post […]