OPENINGS:  NON-STOP (Universal) had a very solid Saturday, rising 22% from Friday, and even though Oscar Sunday may push it below the $30M weekend it’s currently projecting, it should comfortably take the weekend.  This will be the highest non-Taken opening of Liam Neeson’s late-in-life action star career, and the movie should clean up overseas […]

  OPENINGS:  ARGYLLE (Apple/Universal) arrived within blah expectations at $18M.  That makes it the third consecutive wildly expensive theatrical flop for Apple (with worldwide marketing included, costs were around $300M), and while the company has a few more projects on the calendar, including a pair of Brad Pitt vehicles, one has to wonder how many […]

  OPENINGS:  BULLET TRAIN (Columbia/Sony) opened in line with general predictions at $30.1M, but that’s not the same as a good result.  The film carries around $175M in production/marketing costs, and faces a long track to profitability.  Nor does it appear to be showing particular strength internationally, despite Brad Pitt’s star power and the international […]

  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 […]

>Through Sunday, worldwide box office results show that The Smurfs have moved up to #10 among 2011 releases (out of 88 wide-release films this year to date).  Rise of the Planet of the Apes is now at #12, about $70 million behind The Smurfs.  Although Rise will out-gross Smurfs domestically, the little blue guys are […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Updated look at 2016 by studio.   YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2016 to date is still +3% above last year and now +4% above the average for this point the past four years ($7.687 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed $20.3 billion worldwide when we […]

  OPENINGS:  The $23.5M opening for FURY (QED/Columbia/Sony) puts it at risk of being passed next weekend by the low-grade Keanu Reeves vehicle John Wick.  Fury has the distinction of being the lowest-grossing movie to open at #1 this year since Mr. Peabody & Sherman back in March, and that’s not what Brad Pitt in […]

  OPENINGS:  Hiyao Miyazaki’s THE BOY AND THE HERON (GKids) exceeded expectations and set a high-water mark for its filmmaker and for non-franchise Japanese animation with a $12.8M launch.  The film will lose its Imax screens next week and faces challenges from other family-oriented films, but if word of mouth is strong and it can […]