“It’s the weather!” studios cry when they don’t have anything e;se to say, so that’s the spin being heard throughout the land upon Wednesday’s soft opening of ROBOCOP (Sony/MGM).  The reboot managed only $2.8M at 3372 theatres, not a sign of great interest.  It’s true that there were storms in much of the country, […]

  And now we know which was more front-loaded. OPENINGS:  According to preliminary numbers at Deadline, TED (Universal) fell 10-15% from Friday to Saturday, which is about the same way the original Hangover played.  The weekend should still get to at least $50M, ahead of Hangover, making it potentially the highest-opening original R-rated comedy ever. MAGIC MIKE […]

  Everyone enjoys a quiet weekend before the Bat-attack begins at 12:01AM Thursday night. OPENINGS:  The important number for ICE AGE:  CONTINENTAL DRIFT (20th) isn’t the $46M US opening (the lowest of the franchise), but the $95.2M earned overseas, giving it a total of $339.2M internationally since the movie started opening in foreign territories more […]

In the movie 42, Jackie Robinson (played by Chadwick Boseman) repeatedly asks Branch Rickey why he is breaking baseball’s unwritten whites-only rule.  Rickey (played by Harrison Ford) gives very vague, unsatisfying responses each time.  What a blown dramatic opportunity.  In Ken Burns’ nine-part documentary masterpiece “Baseball,” an aged Red Barber (the Dodgers’ radio broadcaster) describes the […]

Updated international box office chart:  

>Weekend #15 of 2012 looks like it will be about $105 million for the top 12 films, down 11% from last year’s comparable weekend (dominated by Rio) and about even with the four-year average for this weekend.  After three weeks of blazing box office, The Three Stooges and The Cabin in the Woods should struggle […]

Happy Father’s Day! Based on Friday’s and Saturday’s grosses, Weekend #24 of 2013 looks like a really good $192 million for the top 12 films, not quite the $200+ million we forecast Wednesday but still up 27% from the average for this weekend the past few years and up well over 50% from last year’s […]

> Overseas, The Smurfs film continues to do solid business and is closing in on two more benchmarks: $400 million overseas (only $7 million to go) and $550 million worldwide ($13 million to go).  $550 million is important because that would match Cars 2, which it now looks like it can pass. DreamWorks and Disney’s […]