WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.   YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2015 to date is now +8% above last year and still +5% above the average for this point the past four years ($5.560 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed almost $15.2 billion worldwide when we add overseas box office (that’s now […]

  OPENINGS:  INSIDE OUT 2 (Pixar/Disney) overdelivered massively compared to expectations with $155M in the US, a remarkable $65M higher than the start for 2015’s original Inside Out, and depending whether you count the “live-action” CG remake of The Lion King ($191.8M) as animated, either the #2 or #3 US opening for an animated feature […]

  OPENINGS:  The only new arrival this weekend certain of profitability is THE CONJURING 2 (New Line/RatPac/Warners).  It’s already earned $40.4M in the US (just lightly behind the first Conjuring‘s $41.9M opening) and $50M in 44 overseas markets, and although horror movies and sequels are usually frontloaded, even in a worst cast scenario it will […]

  OPENINGS:  Things couldn’t have gone better for M. Night Shyamalan’s SPLIT (Blumhouse/Universal).  It built on its strong Friday with a 13% bump, extremely good for a horror movie, and is estimating $40.2M for its weekend in the US against modest production/marketing costs of about $50M, which means a healthy profit is a sure thing.  […]

  OPENINGS:  As summer kick-off weekends go, the $92M for THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (Sony)–which may go down by $1M or so in final numbers tomorrow, given an aggressively high Sunday estimate–was pretty mild.  It came in below the openings of 2007, 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2013 (above only the first Thor and the first Wolverine […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Updated look at 2016 by studio.   YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2016 to date is still +3% above last year and now +5% above the average for this point the past four years ($6.592 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed $17.3 billion worldwide when we […]

Warner Brothers remains a mere $61 million ahead of second-place Disney, looking at worldwide grosses for films released in 2013.  Each of the top two studios reaped about $50 million this past week, mostly from overseas activity for The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug (Warner Brothers) and Frozen (Disney).  For a complete ranking of 2013 films individually by worldwide performance click […]

  OPENINGS:  IF I STAY (Warners/MGM) was the best of a weak trio, opening with $16.4M and with an 18% drop on Saturday that indicated moderate front-loading.  It should reach a fair $40-50M US total, which could get it to breakeven if not profit. WHEN THE GAME STANDS TALL (Affirm/TriStar/Sony), with a $9M weekend, was […]