OPENINGS:  With a $27.4M start, 2 GUNS (Universal) is probably headed for $85M in the US, a fair if unexciting return for a movie that claims to have (post-tax credits) a $61M production budget.  With Universal taking its marketing expenses and distribution fees off the top, there won’t be much profit for financiers Emmett-Furia […]

  Warner Bros and Peter Jackson are very, very lucky that THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG is a significantly better movie than last year’s An Unexpected Journey, which will give it strong word of mouth, because early box office indications are that audiences, burned by Journey, are initially dubious about spending 3 more hours […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Updated look at 2016 by studio.   YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2016 to date is still +3% above last year and now +4% above the average for this point the past four years ($7.687 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed $20.3 billion worldwide when we […]

  HOLDOVERS: NOMADLAND (Searchlight/Disney, also on Hulu) earned $500K at 1175 theatres after 2 weeks in limited release for which the studio didn’t provide numbers.  That’s, a weekend per-theatre average a bit over $400.  Even by the standards of split theatrical/streaming Oscar contending releases like Judas and the Black Messiah (which averaged about $1100 at […]

  OPENINGS:  After a painful post-Hobbit winter, Warners was in dire need of a hit, and Jackie Robinson became its great American hero, as 24 (Warners) had a very strong $9.1M opening day.  Word of mouth should be on the movie’s side–the challenge for the studio was to get people into the theaters in the […]

  OPENINGS:  HAPPY DEATH DAY (Blumhouse/Universal) opened so well at $26.5M that inevitably, despite the fact that it appears to tell a completely closed-end story, talk of a franchise has started.  You can’t blame them:  Death Day isn’t quite at the blockbuster level of Blumhouse’s Split ($40M) or Get Out ($33.4M), but it’s starting better […]

  OPENINGS:  SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME (Columbia/Sony) owned the Independence Day holiday, with $93.6M over the 3-day weekend, and a $185.1M total since its Tuesday opening.  Comparisons are inexact due to the 6-day holiday start, but it was considerably ahead of The Amazing Spider-Man, which also had a 6-day opening (with July 4th on Wednesday […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.       YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2015 to date is still +8% above last year and now +3% above the average for this point the past four years ($6.066 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed almost $16.3 billion worldwide when we add […]