OPENINGS:  THE GRINCH (Illumination/Universal) rode its family movie 47% Saturday bump to a $66M weekend, 20% better than 2000’s How The Grinch Stole Christmas.  There are relatively few recent mid-November family movie releases, because Disney has established its ownership of the Thanksgiving corridor that starts less than 2 weeks later (this year’s installment is […]

  OPENINGS:  ANT-MAN (Marvel/Disney) is claiming a very low 18% Sunday drop in order to reach a $58M weekend estimate, so that number may shrink on Monday.  Even at $58M, Ant-Man opened in the same range as Superman Returns ($52.5M), The Incredible Hulk ($55.4M) and The Green Lantern ($53.2M), all of which stopped their franchises–at […]

> In its second week on the international box office chart, Rio has widened its lead at the top, emerging as the worldwide choice among movies in the first third of 2011 (until we see how Fast Five fares).   Rio (Fox) now has over $200 million overseas, with possibly $50 million more to go.  This would […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.   Scroll down for domestic and overseas grosses for each film individually so far in 2014. YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2014 is still running -5% behind last year and -3% below the average for this point the past four years ($7.784 billion).  Over the same […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  We will continue tracking 2015 for several more weeks as the holiday films finish their runs.  We will begin tracking 2016 in a few weeks.   YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, after one week 2016 to date begins +31% above last year and +13% above the average for […]

  This was the weekend that the COVID-19 crisis hit the box office in earnest, and while that fact pales in importance compared to the human cost of the pandemic, it’s going to represent a multi-billion dollar hit that will reverberate through the lives of many throughout the world.  As bad as the numbers below […]

  OPENINGS:  THE WOMAN KING (TriStar/Sony) launched at the higher end of expectations with $19M, boosted by strong reviews (94% on Rotten Tomatoes) and enthusiastic audience response as measured by exit polls.  In the current market, with few openings arriving each week (and even fewer for Woman King‘s older female target demo), the film should […]

  The studios continued to be bullish on their holiday estimates, with preliminary Monday numbers expecting strong business that may or may not be confirmed in final box office figures tomorrow.  For now, the most optimistic film is HEAVEN IS FOR REAL (TriStar/Sony), expecting a mere 7% drop on Monday, with the older skewing NEIGHBORS […]