OPENINGS:  LET HIM GO (Focus/Universal) had a more substantial marketing campaign than most recent arrivals, and it seemed to benefit modestly from the added resources with a $4.1M weekend, the same start that Honest Thief had a few weeks ago. In limited release, THE DARK AND THE WICKED (RLJE) opened with $65K at 68 […]

  OPENINGS:  All the box office action is coming from franchises, with the latest being HALLOWEEN KILLS (Blumhouse/Universal, also on Peacock), which started at $50.4M.  The Peacock part of this story is probably being overstated by pundits (very few Peacock users subscribe to the tier where they would have access to the movie), and Kills […]

  OPENINGS:  LIGHTYEAR (Pixar/Disney) was a tricky attempt to extend the hugely lucrative Toy Story franchise, both a prequel and a spinoff that featured a different version of the titular character than the one audiences have loved for decades.  Disney didn’t manage to convince fans that it was essential viewing, and the result was a […]

  OPENINGS:  JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 4 (Lionsgate) roared to a $73.5M start, more than 20% higher than its predecessor Parabellum‘s $56.8M.  If it holds at that pace–and it has no direct competition until Renfield on April 14–it should become the first title in the franchise to pass $200M in the US.  (Already, Lionsgate is pushing […]

  OPENINGS:  Hiyao Miyazaki’s THE BOY AND THE HERON (GKids) exceeded expectations and set a high-water mark for its filmmaker and for non-franchise Japanese animation with a $12.8M launch.  The film will lose its Imax screens next week and faces challenges from other family-oriented films, but if word of mouth is strong and it can […]

>The latest worldwide box office rankings are charted below.  Among the new releases this weekend, Chronicle sits in the middle of the list with $78 million worldwide to date ($65 million estimated final domestic and an early total to date overseas of $13 million).  The movie will probably work its way to just over $100 […]

> Transformers: Dark of the Moon debuts on the Worldwide Ranking chart at #3, probably destined to hit #2 in a few weeks (between Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and Fast Five). Read more and see the updated Top 20 chart by clicking below. Hangover Part II and Kung Fu Panda 2 continue […]

Ice Age: Continental Drift enters the worldwide box office chart in 5th place among the movie released the last four months.  Our projected $177 million domestic total is at the low end of the franchise (the original Ice Age grossed a similar $176 million domestic, far below the $197 million for Ice Age 3 and $195 million for Ice Age 2). […]