OPENINGS:  ALADDIN (Disney) will probably be in the top half-dozen Memorial Day openings when Monday brings it to $105M or so (the 3-day total is $86.1M).  Compared to other Disney live-action reboots of animated hits, though, it had a subpar 5% drop on Saturday (The Jungle Book gained 28% on its 2nd day of […]

  WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Here is an updated look at the 2019 film slates by studio. BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2019 is still -5% below last year’s comparable span and still basically even with this point the past four years ($7.738 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed almost […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Here is an updated look at the 2019 film slates by studios (films entering wide release in the 2019 calendar year), including worldwide box office for those films during 2020. We will begin the track of the 2020 slate soon. BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2020 is now +14% […]

  OPENINGS:  Sony is one of the last remaining studios to honor the full conventional theatrical distribution window, so MONSTER HUNTER (Screen Gems/Sony) will have roughly 3 months to sell tickets before it’s available at home.  It may need every day of that time after a $2.2M start, weak even by pandemic terms.  It’s also […]

  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:  LEAGUE OF SUPER-PETS (DC/Warners) arrived with a blah $23M, given its franchise-adjacent pedigree and starry voice cast, and it wasn’t very animated overseas either, with $18.4M in 63 markets.  It faces almost no competition for family audiences through the rest of the summer, which may help it stretch its run by enough to […]

  OPENINGS:  GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL 3 (Marvel/Disney) launched with $114M in the US, within tracking expectations but 22% lower than 2017’s Guardians 2, despite marketing that emphasized the end of a beloved (sub-)franchise.  Guardians 2 ended with a 2.66 multiple to its opening, and if Guardians 3 performs the same way, its US total […]

  OPENINGS:  In what Hollywood hopes will be the last weekend of drought for a while, the TV episodes packaged as DEMON SLAYER:  KIMETSU NO YAIBA – TO THE HASHIRA TRAINING (Crunchyroll/Sony) led the newcomers with $11.6M, a bit better than the $10.1M for last year’s Demon Slayer episodes.  In addition, the film earned $13.7M […]