WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  The release of Godzilla has pushed Warner Brothers into second place, just behind Sony (each with around $1.3 billion worldwide to date in 2014).  20th Century Fox ($1.1 billion to date worldwide) and Disney ($1.0 billion worldwide to date) are fairly close behind.   But Godzilla will really kick in overseas starting with next week’s update, […]

  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 […]

>Updated Worldwide Box Office figures below.  Girl with the Dragon Tattoo now closing in on $200 million worldwide. 

  OPENINGS:  DEADPOOL AND WOLVERINE (Marvel/Disney) landed at the top of sky-high expectations with $205M in the US and $233.3M overseas, the best US (and MCU) start since Spider-Man: No Way Home in 2021, the best worldwide launch since Avatar: The Way of Water in 2022, and by far the biggest opening ever for an […]

  OPENINGS:  The surprise isn’t so much that COCAINE BEAR (Universal) “overdelivered,” but that expectations were so low for a picture that had been the subject of pop culture fascination for months.  The $23.1M weekend seems like a realistic reflection of that fact, and although business is likely to drop quickly now that audiences have […]

  As was the case last Sunday, the weekend holiday has meant that estimates for New Year’s Day (which are all over the place, from 5% down to 40% up) are no more than speculative, and there are only fragmentary international numbers.  Here’s where things stand currently:   ROGUE ONE (Lucasfilm/Disney) is reporting holiday numbers […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Here is a first look at the 2019 film slates by studio. BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2019 is still -30% below last year’s comparable span and now -23% below the average for this point the past four years ($1.564 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed $3.2 […]

  OPENINGS:  Although unquestionably huge, and sure to be enormously profitable against roughly $250M in production/marketing costs, DEADPOOL 2 (20th) opened on the low end of expectations, about 5% below the first Deadpool at $125M.  The sequel has the very reasonable explanation that its forebear had the advantage of a Sunday that was part of […]