Note:  Because of the holiday weekend and consequent strong Sunday, weekend-to-weekend drops will look softer than usual. OPENINGS:  It was a weak battle of newcomers, with A WALK IN THE WOODS (Broad Green) ahead at $8.4M ($10.5M with Wed-Thurs earnings) vs. THE TRANSPORTER REFUELED (Europa/RED) at $7.1M.  Walk compares well to the $8.5M opening […]

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 +1% above the average for this point the past four years ($6.833 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed $18.4 billion worldwide when we add overseas box office (that’s +5% […]

  OPENINGS:  Every time a Christian movie sells some tickets, the pundits treat it as though they’ve seen… well, a miracle.  But at this point there have been plenty of these “miracles,” and people should just accept that the films fill a sizable niche.  (And that because of their narrow-yet-intense audience, they’re nearly always underestimated […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.     YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2015 to date is still +6% above last year and still +2% above the average for this point the past four years ($6.833 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed $18.1 billion worldwide when we add overseas box office (that’s […]

  OPENINGS:  With a $10M production budget (and tens of millions in marketing on top), the $10.6M weekend for SINISTER 2 (Blumhouse/Gramercy/Focus/Universal) will test Blumhouse’s ability to make money out of just about anything.  The opening is far below the $18M start for 2012’s Sinister, and its US total won’t be near the $48.1M gross […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.     YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2015 to date is still +6% above last year and still +2% above the average for this point the past four years ($6.690 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed over $17.7 billion worldwide when we add overseas box office (that’s […]

  OPENINGS:  STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON (Legendary/Universal) turned out to be somewhat frontloaded, with a 20% drop on its 2d day of release.  But no one will complain about its huge $56.1M weekend, the #6 August opening ever (and #2, behind only Signs, among non-franchise titles).  It should add plenty of gold to Universal’s 2015 pile […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.     YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2015 to date is still +6% above last year and now +2% above the average for this point the past four years ($6.510 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed almost $17.3 billion worldwide when we add overseas box […]