OPENINGS:  As usual with new arrivals, the eager studios behind GI JOE: RETALIATION (Paramount/MGM) have claimed a low Sunday decline (2d lowest in the Top 10), so the $41.2M weekend and $51.7M opening 4 days could slip a bit when final numbers are released tomorrow–and even if they don’t, that 4 day figure is […]

  We’ve reached the last of our major studio midsummer surveys (we’ll take a look at mini-majors and indie distributors next week), having tackled Disney, Warner Bros, Paramount, Sony,and 20th Century Fox.  Our final target is Universal Pictures. It was all going so well for Universal–until this weekend.  After going a remarkable 3 for 3 […]

  OPENINGS:  There was nothing supernatural about the blah $17M opening for CARRIE (Screen Gems/Sony/MGM), on the low end of Halloween horror openings, and with Bad Grandpa targeting a similar audience next weekend, there’s little chance for recovery.  Even though the reviews were never going to be good, Sony’s strategy of keeping the movie under […]

  Truth be told, “weekend” box office doesn’t mean much in a week where Friday/Saturday/Sunday are no stronger than the weekdays that surround them, and virtually all the openings took place on Wednesday.  (Also, morning estimates aren’t very different from the preliminary numbers we posted last night.)  Nevertheless, a few thoughts. OPENINGS:  THE WOLF OF […]

  Marvel brings summer ticket sales to April. OPENINGS:  The record-breaking $96.2M US opening weekend for CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER (Disney), the highest ever in April (it may come down $1M or so tomorrow thanks to an aggressive studio prediction for Sunday, but it would still be far ahead of the previous record, $86.2M […]

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 -8% behind last year and now -6% below the average for this point the past four years ($5.904 billion).  Over the same […]

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 ($8.653 billion).  Over the same period, […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD. YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2015 to date is still +4% above last year and +6% above the average for this point the past four years ($1.794 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed almost $5.3 billion worldwide when we add overseas box office (that’s […]