OPENINGS:  THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG (Warners/MGM) had a better Saturday hold than last year’s An Unexpected Journey (-22% vs. -25%), suggesting that positive word of mouth is kicking in, and no doubt easing the minds of Warners executives.  The studio’s $73.7M weekend estimate still puts it 13% below Journey‘s start, but if […]

  OPENINGS:  Despite frontloading that led to an 8% Saturday drop, 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE (Warners/Legendary) is claiming a very low 30% decline on Sunday in order to report a $45.1M weekend.  We’ll see if that number holds up tomorrow, but even if it reduces to $43-44M, it will have been a successful start […]

  MONDAY UPDATE:  In the face of widespread industry skepticism, Paramount is sticking to its claim that TRANSFORMERS: AGE OF EXTINCTION earned $100M last weekend–actually, $100,038, 390.  (The consensus is that the real number is $97-98M.)  Here’s the way the system works:  the vast majority of US theatres report their results to the 3rd-party company […]

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 ($7.930 billion).  Over the same […]

  OPENINGS:  This year’s Saturday night Valentine’s Day worked out well for everyone this weekend, but especially for FIFTY SHADES OF GREY (Universal/Focus).  The prospect of some kink refreshed the movie’s audience from Friday’s fan-girls to a horde of couples, and the result was that despite the huge $30.3M opening day, the box office went […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.   YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2015 to date is now +6% above last year and +6% above the average for this point the past four years ($4.430 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed $12.3 billion worldwide when we add overseas box office (that’s […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Universal’s year to date versus last week is negative despite the addition of Crimson Peak this weekend.  The overseas total for Everest was over-stated last week and has been corrected in the studio table below and the individual film ranking at the bottom of the post.  Still, Universal remains a dominant #1, with a lead of […]

  A Valentine’s Day in the middle of Presidents Day weekend allowed for strong Sunday studio estimates–in one case, suspiciously so. OPENINGS:  A couple of notable sidelights to the gargantuan success of DEADPOOL (Marvel/20th), which has the #17 opening of all time at $135.1M (probably $155M with the Monday holiday), is now the highest-opening R-rated […]