Articles

EARLY FRIDAY BOX OFFICE: No Vacancy At “Hotel Transylvania 2,” Solid “Intern”

Posted September 26, 2015 by Mitch Salem

  HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA 2 (Columbia/Sony) is giving its beleaguered studio some good news, with a strong $12.8M opening day according to preliminary numbers at Deadline.  That’s better than the $11M start for the first Hotel, and although Transylvania 2 may be more frontloaded as a sequel and not match the original’s 73% Saturday bump, it […]

Full Story »

Articles

EARLY FRIDAY BOX OFFICE: Hollywood Takes The Holiday Off

Posted September 5, 2015 by Mitch Salem

  Labor Day weekend is always the exhausted last gasp of the summer movie season, but this year the studios didn’t even try.  Partly it’s the effect of August having generally been a disaster in 2015 (last year’s 4-day Labor Day span featured a $22.9M 5th weekend for Guardians of the Galaxy and $15.6M from […]

Full Story »

Articles

EARLY FRIDAY BOX OFFICE: “War Room” Attacks, “We Are Your Friends” Has None

Posted August 29, 2015 by Mitch Salem

  On one of the slowest weekends of the year, it took some holy help to raise the box office from the dead.  According to preliminary numbers at Deadline, WAR ROOM (Affirm/TriStar/Sony) is edging into Friday’s top slot with $3.8M.  Christian films, when they hit, tend to hold well over the course of the weekend […]

Full Story »

Articles

EARLY FRIDAY BOX OFFICE: “Straight Outta Compton” and A Fight For the Bottom

Posted August 22, 2015 by Mitch Salem

  There were no pleasant surprises for anyone at the Friday box office, according to preliminary numbers at Deadline.  That even included STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON (Legendary/Universal), which will easily win the weekend, but which–considering the very mild competition–fell more heavily than expected from last Friday, down 65% to $8.5M.  That drop will moderate over the […]

Full Story »

Articles

EARLY FRIDAY BOX OFFICE: “Straight Outta Compton” Crowns Universal’s Summer; “Man From UNCLE” Fades

Posted August 15, 2015 by Mitch Salem

  STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON (Legendary/Universal) had a smashing start, with preliminary numbers at Deadline giving it $22.8M on Friday (that includes $5M from Thursday night).  With a production budget under $30M and a moderate marketing campaign, Compton will be well on the road to profit by the end of the weekend, providing a finishing touch […]

Full Story »

Articles

EARLY FRIDAY BOX OFFICE: “Fantastic 4″” Super-Flops, “The Gift” and “Ricki & The Flash” OK

Posted August 8, 2015 by Mitch Salem

  Word of mouth on FANTASTIC FOUR (20th) is going to be deadly (the exit polls are dismal, and since they survey ticketbuyers enthusiastic enough to show up on the first day of release, lesser fans are likely to consider it even worse), probably sealing its fate as one of the biggest flops of the […]

Full Story »

Articles

EARLY FRIDAY BOX OFFICE: $50M Weekend For “Mission” Possible; “Vacation” Dreary

Posted August 1, 2015 by Mitch Salem

  MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: ROGUE NATION (Skydance/China Film Channel/Alibaba/Paramount) set its sights at a $50M opening weekend in the US (you could tell because the studio claimed the target was in the $40Ms), and it seems likely to get there.  Preliminary numbers at Deadline give the 5th entry in the franchise a $20M opening day (incuding […]

Full Story »

Articles

EARLY FRIDAY BOX OFFICE: “Pixels” A Moderate Gamer, “Paper Towns” and “Southpaw” Soft

Posted July 25, 2015 by Mitch Salem

  PIXELS (Columbia/Sony) was marketed on its high concept rather than as an Adam Sandler star vehicle, perhaps reflecting not just Sandler’s dwindling value, but the shuttering of his long-term acting relationship with the studio as he moves to Netflix.  The result was better than some of Sandler’s recent flops, but far from exciting:  according […]

Full Story »