OPENINGS:  There’s no way to spin the $10.5M US opening of  Steven Spielberg’s WEST SIDE STORY (20th/Disney), and its even worse $4.4M start in 37 overseas territories (with $2.8M of that from France and the UK), as anything but flat-out bad.  Unlike other 2021 musicals like In the Heights ($11.5M opening even with a […]

  OPENINGS:  After an October built on blockbusters that had been held off the market for more than a year, Thanksgiving weekend served as a reminder (to all except those paid to tout box office totals) that the theatrical release business continues to be far from recovered in the lingering Covid world.  Overall business was […]

  OPENINGS:  GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE (Columbia/Sony) opened with $44M, which was $2M below the launch of the 2016 Ghostbusters, a result treated as such a disaster that the franchise had to be re-rebooted.  Afterlife, though, is considered a success, thanks to a lower production budget ($75M, moderate for a tentpole), pandemic box office standards, and the […]

  OPENINGS:  CLIFFORD THE BIG RED DOG (Nickelodeon/Paramount, also on Paramount+) opened on Wednesday and earned $22M over 5 days, $16.4M of it over the weekend.  That’s somewhat above the $13.1M start for Paw Patrol, which was also simultaneously released on Paramount+ and opened on a Friday.  Paw Patrol totaled $40.1M in the US, and […]

  OPENINGS:  ETERNALS (Marvel/Disney) opened at the low end of expectations with $71M, not a surprise given its lousy reviews (48% on Rotten Tomatoes, unprecedented for the MCU) and blah audience exit polls.  Even so, that makes it the #4 US opening of the pandemic era, and all of those quartet members are Marvel movies.  […]

  OPENINGS:  Taking the spotlight from higher-profile arrivals, the anime title MY HERO ACADEMIA: WORLD HEROES’ MISSION (Funimation) was the weekend’s highest-grossing newcomer with $6.4M, better than the $5.9M opening for the last Academia movie, 2019’s Heroes Rising.  These films tend to be fairly front-loaded, but Mission should pass $15M in the US, and it […]

  OPENINGS:  DUNE (Legendary/Warners, also on HBO Max) launched in US theaters at $40.1M, the highest start for a film also premiering on HBO Max.  (And while Warners had previously preserved Thursday night for theatrical-only, the studio allowed Dune to hit HBO Max nationwide simultaneous with its first East Coast screenings.)  The film should also […]

  OPENINGS:  All the box office action is coming from franchises, with the latest being HALLOWEEN KILLS (Blumhouse/Universal, also on Peacock), which started at $50.4M.  The Peacock part of this story is probably being overstated by pundits (very few Peacock users subscribe to the tier where they would have access to the movie), and Kills […]