OPENINGS:  PIXELS (Columbia/Sony) isn’t the first Adam Sandler movie to approach a $90M production budget–incredibly, the first Grown Ups reportedly cost that much–but as his audience shrinks, it becomes more difficult to justify a greenlight for him at that level.  Pixels is reporting a very mild $24M weekend in the US (that number assumes […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.   YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2015 to date is still +8% above last year and now +4% above the average for this point the past four years ($5.828 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed $15.7 billion worldwide when we add overseas box office […]

Based on Friday’s and Saturday’s grosses, weekend #30 of 2015 now looks like $140 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, lower than yesterday’s projection and now slightly below the norm for this weekend and a touch above last year’s weekend. Opening at 3,723 theaters Friday, Pixels from Sony is now on track for a $24.0 million opening three-day weekend […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, weekend #30 of 2015 looks like $148 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, equaling the norm for this weekend and above last year’s weekend. Opening at 3,723 theaters Friday, Pixels from Sony is on track for a $25.0 million opening three-day weekend (below our $37.5 million ShowBuzzDaily forecast earlier this week). The film is pacing toward a slightly […]

  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 […]

Weekend #30 of 2015 is looking like $170 million for the top 12 films this weekend, above the norm for this weekend (see comparisons below). Pixels from Sony should open with a $37.5 million three-day weekend. Early reviews at RottenTomatoes are dreadful: 11% positive overall so far. Pixels is on track for around $95 million domestic. […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.   YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2015 to date is now +8% above last year and still +5% above the average for this point the past four years ($5.560 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed almost $15.2 billion worldwide when we add overseas box office (that’s now […]

  OPENINGS:  ANT-MAN (Marvel/Disney) is claiming a very low 18% Sunday drop in order to reach a $58M weekend estimate, so that number may shrink on Monday.  Even at $58M, Ant-Man opened in the same range as Superman Returns ($52.5M), The Incredible Hulk ($55.4M) and The Green Lantern ($53.2M), all of which stopped their franchises–at […]