WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.   Scroll down for domestic and overseas grosses for each film individually so far in 2014. YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2014 is still running -5% behind last year and -3% below the average for this point the past four years ($7.784 billion).  Over the same […]

  OPENINGS:  The big studios wanted no part of the weekend after Thanksgiving, and the only arrivals were a pair of fringe indies.  Even for a micro-budgeted horror product, INCARNATE (High Top/Blumhouse/Universal) was a flop at $2.7M. In a barely-wide release at 639 theatres, the Christian-themed BELIEVE (Freestyle) attracted no one outside the flock (and […]

  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 […]

  OPENINGS:  There had been an expectation, or at least a hope, that MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – DEAD RECKONING PART I (Skydance/Paramount) would get a boost from the spectacular performance of Top Gun: Maverick, but that didn’t come to pass, and Mission 7 performed in line with others in the franchise.  That meant $56.2M over the […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has transformed Paramount into player status (now $2.0 billion worldwide year to date), with much more overseas revenue to come from the film.  With continued overseas returns from Guardians of the Galaxy, Disney ($2.33 billion worldwide to date) has widened its lead over Warner Brothers ($2.16 billion). Scroll down […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Updated look at 2016 by studio.   YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2016 to date is now +2% above last year and still +3% above the average for this point the past four years ($9.476 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed $24.8 billion worldwide […]

  OPENINGS:  There was nothing supernatural about the blah $17M opening for CARRIE (Screen Gems/Sony/MGM), on the low end of Halloween horror openings, and with Bad Grandpa targeting a similar audience next weekend, there’s little chance for recovery.  Even though the reviews were never going to be good, Sony’s strategy of keeping the movie under […]

  OPENINGS:  THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE (Lionsgate) came up from initial Friday estimates to $70.5M, the 7th highest single day box office in US history (behind the final Harry Potter, The Avengers, The Dark Knight, and 3 Twilights) and $3.2M ahead of the opening day for The Hunger Games.  If Catching Fire held as […]