OPENINGS:  SPECTRE (MGM/Columbia/Sony) had the #7 opening of the year at $73M… yet there are signs of trouble.  While Skyfall rose 11% on its 2d day of wide release, and Casino Royale gained 5%, Spectre fell by 5%, actually slightly worse than the lightly-regarded Quantum of Solace.  Since Spectre wasn’t more frontloaded than Skyfall, […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.   YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2015 to date is still +5% above last year and still +2% above the average for this point the past four years ($8.177 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed $22.1 billion worldwide when we add overseas box office (that’s now […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.   YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2015 to date is now +5% above last year and now +2% above the average for this point the past four years ($8.007 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed $21.5 billion worldwide when we add overseas box office […]

  OPENINGS:  Nothing improved for the weekend’s newcomers after Friday’s dim numbers.  THE LAST WITCH HUNTER (QED/Summit/Lionsgate) led with a soft $10.8M, and whether or not Lionsgate is being entirely frank when it claims to have little exposure, someone is going to be feeling a tug on their wallet.  The results overseas, not unexpectedly, were […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.   YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2015 to date is now +5% above last year and still +3% above the average for this point the past four years ($7.878 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed almost $21.1 billion worldwide when we add overseas box office (that’s […]

  OPENINGS:  Considering that it’s based on a series of novels, GOOSEBUMPS (Columbia/Sony) was certainly intended to be the launch of a new franchise for Sony.  It took the weekend in the US with $23.5M and should hold well next week with no new family competition (things get tougher after that with Halloween and The […]

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 […]

  OPENINGS:  PAN (RatPac-Dune/Warners) now owns a dubious place in box office history, as one of Hollywood’s biggest flops ever.  On a production/worldwide marketing cost that will exceed $300M, its $15.5M US opening makes John Carter ($30.2M), Battleship ($25.5M), The Lone Ranger ($29.2M), and this year’s Tomorrowland ($33M), Fantastic Four ($25.7M) and even Jupiter Ascending ($18.4M) […]