You might think we’re still a week away from the beginning of the summer movie season, but if you were overseas, you’d be wrong.  IRON MAN 3 (Disney) has already started its run in a dozen foreign territories, and by this weekend will be playing in 80% of the world (with China, as well […]

The Amazing Spider-Man pulled its overseas total to $202 million to date (up from $50 million at this time last week).  We’ll give The Amazing Spider-Man an initial overseas target of $510 million, toward the high end of the overseas totals for the previous trilogy with Tobey Maguire (Spider-Man 3 May 2007 $554 million overseas total, Spider-Man May 2002 $418 million, Spider-Man […]

  OPENINGS:  POKEMON: DETECTIVE PIKACHU (Legendary/Warners) started strong in the US with $58M, not that far off the $69.1M launch of The LEGO Movie.  Pikachu may not have that movie’s legs, especially with Aladdin just 2 weeks away, but it should total $175-200M here.  Pokemon in general is a more worldwide phenomenon than LEGO, which […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Here is an updated look at the 2019 film slates by studio. BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2019 is still -5% below last year’s comparable span and still +1% above this point the past four years ($9.593 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed over $25.5 billion […]

  OPENINGS:  THE BATMAN (DC/Warners) was the first event movie to open in 3 months, and the market responded with a $128.5M weekend, the 2nd-highest of the pandemic era (although not close to Spider-Man: No Way Home‘s $260.1M start).  About $4M of that number is attributable to AMC’s new “variable pricing” policy, hiking the ticket […]

  OPENINGS:  With the pandemic raging throughout the country and about 20% fewer theatres open than last week, box office numbers plunged across the board.  There were no truly wide openings, but the Jackie Chan vehicle VANGUARD (Gravitas) opened at 1375 theatres with a low $400K start, a per-theatre weekend average of just $290. Similarly, […]

  OPENINGS:  Every time a Christian movie sells some tickets, the pundits treat it as though they’ve seen… well, a miracle.  But at this point there have been plenty of these “miracles,” and people should just accept that the films fill a sizable niche.  (And that because of their narrow-yet-intense audience, they’re nearly always underestimated […]

  OPENINGS:  DEAR EVAN HANSEN (Universal) clunked badly with a $7.5M debut, following on the heels of the underperforming In the Heights and underlining that while musicals can score at the box office, they remain a risky genre.  Even with a relatively low production cost and limited marketing, it’s hard to see any path to […]