OPENINGS:  Despite a bounty of new titles, nothing touched the holdover at the top of the weekend box office.  The newcomer with the closest claim to “success” in the US was THE POPE’S EXORCIST (Screen Gems/Sony), with $9.2M.  The horror movie also reported $27.4M in overseas release, which would put it on a road […]

  OPENINGS:  The musical remake of MEAN GIRLS (Paramount) was within expectations at $28M for the 3-day weekend ($32M is anticipated with the inclusion of Monday’s MLK Day holiday).  The film, which was originally developed for streaming, had a moderate budget, so it should be on its way to a fair amount of profit.  The […]

  OPENINGS:  SMILE 2 (Paramount) opened on par with its predecessor, at $23M compared to $22.6M.  A small dip had been projected, so that was slightly above expectations.  The sequel, unlike the first Smile, will face major competition in its 2nd weekend, so it remains to be seen whether it can have that film’s stellar […]

>Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol has moved up to a $320 million overseas tally, bringing the worldwide total to $554 million.  The fourth M:I is now the worldwide leader of the franchise.  Mission: Impossible 2 grossed $546.4 million ($215.4 million domestic and $331.0 million overseas), Mission: Impossible grossed $457.7 million ($181.0 million domestic and $276.7 […]

> Later Monday we will post the complete International Box Office chart.  Until then here are the numbers for the most recent movies.  Note the advantage Hangover Part II has over Kung Fu Panda 2 in domestic box office ($256 million to $170 million), but they are almost even in terms of overseas business ($215 […]

The big gainer overseas this week was The Dark Knight Rises again, up $67 million to an overseas total of $445 million.  A billion dollars worldwide is still possible, but $950 million could be more realistic.   Ice Age 4 continues to pound away, up another $37 million overseas this week to $621 million to date. Brave, […]

The Hobbit moved up with another $21 million overseas since last week, bringing the foreign total to $700 million and the worldwide total to just over $1 billion. The biggest mover this past week overseas was A Good Day to Die Hard, up $29 million to $162 million overseas to date and $229 million worldwide. Debuting this […]

STUDIO SCORECARD. Another very strong week for Universal (primarily overseas grosses for Despicable Me 2 which were understated in last week’s chart), enough to pass Warner Brothers and move into the #2 spot in terms of worldwide box office.  The perennial also-ran Universal finds itself in an odd position: in the upper tier of the worldwide […]