OPENINGS:  The Saturday hold for DUNKIRK (Warners) wasn’t as strong as those for other Christopher Nolan non-sequels, down 11% where Inception stayed steady, and Interstellar actually rose 8%, pushing the weekend studio estimate to $50.5M.  Nevertheless, that’s a terrific start for a film that was far from a sure thing as a summer blockbuster.  […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Here is an updated look at the 2018 film slates by studio. The studio totals also include 2018 dollars for films released in late 2017. YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2018 to date is now -2% below last year and now +12% above the average for this point the past four […]

  OPENINGS:  HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA 3: SUMMER VACATION (Sony Animation/Columbia/Sony) clocked in with a reliable $44.1M weekend, just about midway between the first Transylvania‘s $42.5M and the second’s $48.5M.  (Sticklers might note that this the first of the franchise to feature Thursday night screenings, giving it a slightly longer “weekend”.)  There are some other family movies […]

  OPENINGS:  THE GRINCH (Illumination/Universal) rode its family movie 47% Saturday bump to a $66M weekend, 20% better than 2000’s How The Grinch Stole Christmas.  There are relatively few recent mid-November family movie releases, because Disney has established its ownership of the Thanksgiving corridor that starts less than 2 weeks later (this year’s installment is […]

  OPENINGS:  CAPTAIN MARVEL (Marvel/Disney) launched with $455M worldwide, the highest superhero intro movie ever (although not all the titles in that category opened in China on their first weekend).  In the US, its $153M total was #2 behind Black Panther, which had the advantage of a holiday weekend Sunday.  Captain Marvel declined 14% on […]

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 -8% below last year’s comparable span (one point better than last week) and now basically even with the average at this point the past four years ($5.434 billion).  Over […]

  OPENINGS:  MIDWAY (AGC/Bona/Lionsgate) was mildly ahead of expectations with $17.5M in the US, and it should perform well on Veterans Day Monday.  However, with around $150M in production and worldwide marketing costs, a $60M US total would leave it with a steep uphill climb to reach profitability.  Early overseas results weren’t particularly promising at […]

  OPENINGS:  In the US, ONWARD (Pixar/Disney) was merely a disappointment by Pixar standards, with an OK 37% Saturday bump that allowed it to claim a $40M weekend, pending actuals on Monday.  That isn’t much better then the $34.7M launch for last year’s Lego Movie 2, and it’s far off last March’s $55M for How […]