OPENINGS:  TEXAS CHAINSAW (Lionsgate) did what most horror movies do, dropping 23% on Saturday for a lousy 2.3x weekend multiple of its Friday gross.  It was actually in 2d place on both Saturday and Sunday, but that frontloaded Friday was enough to give it a comfortable $23M win for the weekend.  With a $20M […]

  THE FATE OF THE FURIOUS (Universal) will win its third consecutive box office weekend, but in the US it continues to run with considerably less than vroom-vroom momentum.  According to preliminary numbers at Deadline, it fell 54% from last Friday to $5.1M, and is heading for a $18M weekend.  It’s now clear that Fate […]

> THE HUNGER GAMES has an excuse. Last night at midnight, The Hunger Games began its long-awaited run in theatres by grossing $19.7M.  Which is, by any estimation, a lot of money–the most ever earned by a non-sequel, and the 7th highest midnight ever.  But… it’s less than half the $43.5M of the midnight record […]

The weekend now looks like $52 million for the top 12 films instead of the $50 million estimate yesterday.  But the basic rank order remains the same.  The Possession remains at #1 and is headed for a final domestic gross of over $50 million now, while Lawless has increased to a $40 million total.  The […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, weekend #27 of 2014 looks like a truly awful $126 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, 26% below the norm for this weekend and well below the $153.2 million weekend for the top 12 the last time July 4 fell on a Friday (in 2008  when Hancock opened with $62.6 […]

For the 18 days December 16-January 2, the top 10 films each day in North America have totaled $980 million, now -14% below last year’s record pace and +37% above the average since 2002. Holiday Box Office Volume — Top 10 Films North America $ millions by year $ millions (2002-2015) # days Period 2016 2015 2014 […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, Weekend #14 of 2013 is looking pretty good: $135 million for the top 12 films in North America, up 16% from the comparable weekend the past few years.  The two new openers this weekend are on track to beat our forecast, and The Croods continues to play quite well in its […]

  Storms be damned:  according to preliminary numbers at Deadline, despite (or because of) the snows on the East Coast, Saturday was a very healthy day at the multiplexes.  Far from taking a Day 2 hit, IDENTITY THIEF (Universal) had a 33% Saturday bump comparable to the 2d day track of Bridesmaids, and now looks […]