OPENINGS:  The spectacular success of SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME (Marvel/Columbia/Sony) may have less to say about the box office overall than some would like to think.  No Way Home vaporized all pandemic-era records with a $253M weekend that was 2.8x the previous Covid high ($90M for Venom: Let There Be Carnage), becoming the #1 […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Here is an updated look at the 2017 film slates by studio.   YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2017 to date is still +2% above last year and still +4% above the average for this point the past four years ($5.698 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed $16.3 […]

  As Hollywood becomes more and more dependent on action and animation franchises, the US market becomes increasingly less relevant. OPENINGS:  NEED FOR SPEED (DreamWorks/Disney) made more money in China ($21.2M) on its opening weekend than it did in the US ($17.8M).  Combined with $24.4M from 39 other territories around the world, Need is likely […]

  Our summertime look at the health of Hollywood’s studios continues.  We’ve already examined Disney and Warner Bros, and today Paramount is in our viewfinder. Since getting out of both the Marvel and the DreamWorks Animation business, Paramount has been sedate, even sedentary, with the quietest summer of any studio.  Management has been fairly stable, […]

  For the studios, a Good Friday that generally lived up to its name. OPENINGS:  GI JOE: RETALIATION (Paramount/MGM) had a very solid second day, rising 48% for a $15.5M Friday.  That’s still only 2/3 of the $22.2M that its predecessor GIJoe: The Rise of Cobra did on its opening day (despite 3D ticket premiums […]

Django Unchained (up $47 million overseas since last week) is starting to gain on Les Miserables (up $23 million overseas).  Django is now only $29 million behind Les Miz in our worldwide projection.  (Django leads domestically, while Les Miz holds a shrinking lead overseas). A wide variety of films has grossed over $20 million this past week.  Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters is up $26 […]

  OPENINGS:  With a dreadful $5.3M weekend, OUT OF THE FURNACE (Relativity) emerged burnt to a crisp.  The only useful thing it could do at this point is boost Christian Bale’s chance for an Oscar nomination–not for Furnace, but for American Hustle, where he’s so visually and tempermentally different than he is in Furnace that it […]

  OPENINGS:  On an unspectacular weekend, LET’S BE COPS (20th) was able to top the new arrivals with $17.7M (and $26.1M since its opening on Wednesday).  It should get to $40M in the US, and with a reported production cost of $18M, the question marks about potential profitability are the cost of its marketing campaign […]