OPENINGS: In what Hollywood hopes will be the last weekend of drought for a while, the TV episodes packaged as DEMON SLAYER: KIMETSU NO YAIBA – TO THE HASHIRA TRAINING (Crunchyroll/Sony) led the newcomers with $11.6M, a bit better than the $10.1M for last year’s Demon Slayer episodes. In addition, the film earned $13.7M […]
OPENINGS: The calendar did Hollywood a favor by placing Valentine’s Day on Wednesday, affording films a 6-day window with Presidents Day on Monday. The chief beneficiary was BOB MARLEY: ONE LOVE (Paramount), which surpassed expectations with $51.1M through Monday ($27.7M over the traditional 3-day weekend). With little new competition in the wings next week, […]
OPENINGS: ARGYLLE (Apple/Universal) arrived within blah expectations at $18M. That makes it the third consecutive wildly expensive theatrical flop for Apple (with worldwide marketing included, costs were around $300M), and while the company has a few more projects on the calendar, including a pair of Brad Pitt vehicles, one has to wonder how many […]
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: The traditional horror movie start of the new year was provided by NIGHT SWIM (Blumhouse-Atomic Planet/Universal), although at $12M it was the lowest such arrival since The Grudge started with $11.4M in 2020. The final number for that one was $21.2M, and Night Swim probably won’t be much higher. The international launch was […]
OPENINGS: Christmas Day is one of the highest-grossing days of the year, and it will give a major bump to everything in the market. Even with that boost, AQUAMAN & THE LOST KINGDOM (DC/Warners) was only able to muster a $40M 4-day weekend studio estimate after $28.1M in 3 days (and given the 34% […]
OPENINGS: Hiyao Miyazaki’s THE BOY AND THE HERON (GKids) exceeded expectations and set a high-water mark for its filmmaker and for non-franchise Japanese animation with a $12.8M launch. The film will lose its Imax screens next week and faces challenges from other family-oriented films, but if word of mouth is strong and it can […]
OPENINGS: Beyonce’s concert documentary RENAISSANCE (Variance/AMC Theaters) led the traditionally slow first weekend of December with $21M, a shadow of the $92.8M for the Eras Tour movie a couple of months ago, but within expectations. As with Eras Tour, it’s likely that the Renaissance box office will be front-loaded with fans, so the US […]