OPENINGS:  KNIVES OUT (MRC/Lionsgate) scored a victory for non-IP, adult-oriented filmmaking with a strong $27M over the 3-day weekend ($41.7M since Wednesday), and although December box office can be tough to predict, with a plunge expected next weekend and then the arrival of multiple presumptive blockbusters, Knives Out seems to be on track for […]

  OPENINGS:  The hugely-anticipated US opening box office numbers for TENET (Warners) turned out to be frustratingly opaque to interpret, and to the extent they were comprehensible, simply not very good.  (Let’s assume it was coincidental and not meta that some are saying the same about the film itself.)  Warners issued a grand total of […]

  OPENINGS:  The theatrical box office continued to pick itself up off the floor this weekend with two high-performing R-rated action movies, which thrived despite an overlapping target audience and the availability of one on a streaming service.  MORTAL KOMBAT (Warners, also on HBO Max) emerged the victor with $22.5M for the weekend, and could […]

  OPENINGS:  The first Sonic the Hedgehog had the final pre-pandemic smash opening in 2020 before theaters started to close, with $58M for its 3-day weekend ($70M for the full Presidents Day holiday).  Now SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 2 (Paramount) has gotten off to an even bigger start with $71M for 3 days.  Although the success […]

  OPENINGS:  This was the weekend of AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER (20th/Disney), and the epic’s launch was softer than widely expected at $134M in the US and $301M in all major overseas markets including China.  Box office apologists, who at this point resemble political press secretaries, have rushed in to spin that Way of […]

>Now we slog through September.  The top 12 films usually gross $73 million the weekend after Labor Day, and the September weekends afterward average around $85 million.  By October, however, the typical weekend perks up to over $100 million.  Contagion should takeover the #1 spot this weekend, with Warrior fighting The Help for #2 and […]

  OPENINGS:  Although BLUE BEETLE (DC/Warners) won the weekend over a tiring Barbie, it landed at the low end of expectations with $25.4M–and given the heavy 15% Friday-to-Saturday drop (much steeper than the 4%/6% drops for the Shazam movies), not to mention the Sunday West Coast weather, that studio estimate may be optimistic.  The international […]

>Weekend #16 of 2012 looks like it will be about $105 million for the top 12 films, down 14% from last year’s comparable weekend (led by Rio’s second weekend) but up 6% from the four-year average for this weekend.  The Hunger Games should finally fall out of first place, dropping about 38% this weekend to […]