OPENINGS:  No one, including its studio, expected much from the remake of FIRESTARTER (Blumhouse/Universal, also on Peacock), and it delivered a weak $3.8M that suggests an eventual $10M US total.  Economics become murky when films also premiere on streaming, but that certainly isn’t good.  Things were no better overseas, where Firestarter limped to $2.1M […]

The latest International box office summary:

  OPENINGS:  The limits of the pandemic-era box office, not to mention the historically lowest-grossing holiday weekend of the year, were tossed aside by the super powers of the MCU, as SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE 10 RINGS (Marvel/Disney) obliterated the previous Labor Day weekend record ($26.4M/$30.6M for the 2007 edition of Halloween) with […]

  OPENINGS:  ONE PIECE FILM: RED (Crunchyroll/Sony) opened at $9.5M, on the low end of recent national anime releases compared to Jujutsu Kaisen‘s $18M and Dragon Ball Super‘s $21.1M.  As is typical for the genre, it was extremely frontloaded, earning more than 50% of its weekend total by the end of Friday.  However, its US […]

  OPENINGS:  ZERO DARK THIRTY (Sony) was well ahead of the crowd with $24M, a number slightly depressed (as was almost everything this weekend) by the Sunday combination of NFL playoffs and the Golden Globes.  The $18.8M for A HAUNTED HOUSE (Open Road) didn’t get close to the openings for the Scary Movie franchise (most […]

  OPENINGS:  It’s likely that THE 355 (Universal) would have been challenged at the box office even in normal times, considering that its level of action spectacle is significantly lower than superhero movies can afford, and that the cast features performers who are extremely talented but with little proven appeal to ticketbuyers.  (The 27% score […]

  OPENINGS:  The theatrical box office continued to pick itself up off the floor this weekend with two high-performing R-rated action movies, which thrived despite an overlapping target audience and the availability of one on a streaming service.  MORTAL KOMBAT (Warners, also on HBO Max) emerged the victor with $22.5M for the weekend, and could […]

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 down -1% from last year and still +2% above the average for this point the past four years ($5.690 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed almost $14.7 billion worldwide […]