OPENINGS:  SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK (CBS/Lionsgate) dropped 21% on its 2nd day of release, which isn’t unusual for the horror genre (recently, The Curse of La Llorona fell 26% on its Day 2, and Child’s Play was down 25%), resulting in a $20.8M weekend, and a likely $40M US total.  Scary […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Here is an updated look at the 2019 film slates by studio. BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2019 is now -4% below last year’s comparable span (1 point better than last week’s comparison) and still +1% above this point the past four years ($9.865 billion).  Over the same period, […]

  OPENINGS:  We had a new wide release this weekend, and THE WAR WITH GRANDPA (101) managed a win over the weary Tenet with $3.6M.  That’s certainly not a number that would make anyone feel good in non-pandemic times, and since War With Grandpa had a semblance of a national marketing campaign, it’s not at […]

  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:  Considering that DOWNTON ABBEY: A NEW AGE (Focus/Universal) is something like a fresh MCU chapter for the older female audience, the fact that the sequel opened at $16M despite solid reviews–a painful 48% drop from the first theatrical entry in the franchise just 3 years ago–is a sobering sign that this demo just […]

  OPENINGS:  There was no question that  ANT-MAN & THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA (Marvel/Disney) would dominate Presidents Day weekend and become 2023’s first blockbuster.  Its $104M 3-day weekend (projected to reach $118M including Monday) was in line with expectations.  The film’s decent 2.26 Friday-to-weekend multiplier also demonstrated that, at least in the short term, the MCU is […]

  OPENINGS:  This was supposed to be the kick-off weekend for the holiday movie season, but Dune 2 decamped for 2024 and the studios didn’t step in to replace it, so the biggest arrival of the week was the expansion of PRISCILLA (A24) from 4 theaters to 1359 with $5.1M.  That’s not a bad number […]

  OPENINGS:  ALIEN: ROMULUS (20th/Disney) became the latest franchise product to hit big this summer, arriving at the high end of expectations with $41.5M.  That was higher than 2017’s Alien: Covenant ($36.2M), although below 2012’s Prometheus ($51.1M).  The film was also solid overseas, with a $66.7M start sparked by $25.7M from China.  Romulus was budgeted […]