> Another up weekend at the box office is on store, led by an eclectic assortment of films.  It should be an up weekend, led by Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Big Happy Family and a forecast $31 million opening.  Playing at over 2,100 theaters, Madea should average over $14,000 per theater, a very good number.  Water […]

  OPENINGS:  The surprise isn’t so much that COCAINE BEAR (Universal) “overdelivered,” but that expectations were so low for a picture that had been the subject of pop culture fascination for months.  The $23.1M weekend seems like a realistic reflection of that fact, and although business is likely to drop quickly now that audiences have […]

> Normally a relatively quiet period, the weekend before Halloween usually offers only one new release and well under $100 million in total volume for the top 12 movies.  But this year, we have three releases, with one poised to do solid business.  Puss In Boots should do well over $40 million in its opening […]

  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 […]

Now 21 full weeks into 2012, year-to-date domestic box office is running 15% ahead of last year’s pace.  Just two weeks ago, box office was running 21% ahead of 2011.  The past week was off a stunning 32% from the same week last year when The Hangover Part II grossed $118 million (Thursday-Sunday, May 26-29), Pirates of the Caribbean: On […]

  OPENINGS:  IT ENDS WITH US (Wayfarer/Columbia/Sony) roared past expectations with a remarkable $50M.  That studio estimate comes with a couple of asterisks–it includes an unspecified amount from wide Wednesday screenings, and assumes an extremely strong Sunday hold–but even so, it’s a great start for a drama that may not even have $75M in production/worldwide […]

> The fourth weekend of 2012 is a touch better than the same weekend last year, but it’s a somewhat below average weekend looking at the past four years.  The Grey is opening at #1 at almost $19 million, somewhat higher than expected.    The Grey is coming in above forecast, pulling in $6.4 million […]

>Green Lantern and Mr Popper’s Penguins both come in at forecast, while weekend is down 23% from last year.Green Lantern opened with $21.4 million on Friday, and it looks like the Ryan Reynolds film will gross $56 million from Friday-Sunday.  The film is headed for $156 million in North America when it crosses the finish […]