OPENINGS:  THE LONGEST RIDE (20th) tried to counterprogram Furious 7 with a Nicholas Sparks romance, but didn’t even muss the blockbuster’s hair with a $13.5M opening.  That’s better than the lousy $10M start for last year’s Sparks adaptation The Best Of Me, and that’s the sum total of the positives in the context of other […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.   YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2015 to date is now +6% above last year and +10% above the average for this point the past four years ($2.333 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed almost $7.2 billion worldwide when we add overseas box office […]

OPENINGS:  Here are the records FURIOUS 7 (Universal) has racked up:  #4 worldwide opening at $384M (behind the final Harry Potter, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and The Avengers)–although that may be cheating a bit because it opened in a few territories on Wed-Thurs–#3 international opening at $240M (behind the last Harry Potter and […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.   YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2015 to date is now +5% above last year and +8% above the average for this point the past four years ($2.174 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed almost $6.4 billion worldwide when we add overseas box office […]

  OPENINGS:  The news never seems to be 100% good for DreamWorks Animation.  In the US, HOME (DWA/20th) had a smashing start with $54M, the studio’s best non-sequel opening since Monsters vs Aliens in 2009, and a better launch than the $49.5M for last year’s How To Train Your Dragon 2.  But overseas, despite last […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.   YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2015 to date is now +3% above last year and +5% above the average for this point the past four years ($1.990 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed almost $5.8 billion worldwide when we add overseas box office […]

  OPENINGS:  INSURGENT (Summit/Lionsgate) had a stronger Saturday hold than Divergent (down 7% instead of 13%), and based on that, Liosgate is also claiming a stronger Sunday hold (down 35% instead of 40%).  That gives Insurgent a $54.1M weekend studio estimate, just a breath away from Divergent‘s $54.6M, although even if those numbers hold up […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD. YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2015 to date is still +4% above last year and +6% above the average for this point the past four years ($1.794 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed almost $5.3 billion worldwide when we add overseas box office (that’s […]