>The Worldwide Box Office chart now tracks the movies released in the U.S. the last three months.  This will provide a clearer view of the marketplace at any point of the year.  Remember that each week going forward, movies will be added to the ranking and the oldest movies will be deleted as they fall out […]

> Yesterday we looked at the international box office numbers for films released in the fourth quarter of last year.  Today we turn our attention to movies released since the beginning of 2011.  Compared to the movies released October-December, the January-March crop looks a bit motley, but that is normal for this time of year. […]

Among films currently playing in North America, the big gainers overseas were Taken 2 and Hotel Transylvania (each up $23 million overseas since last week), as well as Paranormal Activity 4 (just behind at +$22 million). But the biggest action overseas went to James Bond: $77 million in 25 markets for Skyfall.  The Daniel Craig action film comes to America on November […]

  OPENINGS:  OBLIVION (Universal) had a solid $38.2M start (although the studio is estimating the lowest Sunday drop in the Top 10, so that number may come down tomorrow), with a 12% Saturday bump.  The less good news is that overseas, which holds the key to the film’s success, business was down to $33.7M after […]

  OPENINGS:   Two smart studio decisions bailed out what could have been a scary opening weekend for THE WOLVERINE (20th).  Fox kept the budget relatively low for its expensive genre, just $250M or so including worldwide marketing, and it boosted international appeal with an Asian setting.  Both paid off, as the movie had the robust […]

Updated STUDIO SCORECARD: TOTAL NORTH AMERICAN BOX OFFICE. Looking at wide-release films in North America (those that play on at least 400 screens at some point), 2013 now totals over $8.2 billion, now basically even with last year’s pace and 3% above the prior four-year average 2009-2012 ($8.005 billion). Each year-to-date period below is defined as […]

  OPENINGS:  A bit surprisingly, LONE SURVIVOR (Universal) had no Saturday bump to speak of (under 1%), giving it a more frontloaded weekend than a movie appealing to an older audience (which tends not to run out on opening night) with strong reviews might be expected to have.  American Hustle, by way of comparison, went […]

  OPENINGS:  THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 (Sony) is still several days from its US opening, but the superhero spectacle already has $132M in the bank after a $67.2M 2d weekend in 42 international territories–which don’t yet include such lucrative areas as China, Brazil and France.  It should be over $150M before any US ticketbuyer has […]