The 34th weekend of 2012 is looking like $77 million for the Top 12 films Friday-Sunday, down 12% from the average for this reliably disappointing weekend.  Returning films fill the top six slots in the weekend rankings, with only one film above a $10 million weekend (Expendables 2 with $12.7 million).         […]

  Word of mouth was great for ZOOTOPIA (Disney), which according to preliminary numbers at Deadline fell a soft 36% from last week’s opening day to $12.5M, setting up a $50M weekend that will put the smash over $140M by Sunday.  That compares to a 45% drop for the 2d Friday of The Lorax, the […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, Weekend #50 of 2013 looks like $144 million for the top 12 films from Friday-Sunday, not as strong as we had forecast but still up double digits in terms of percent increase over comparable weekends the past several years.   Opening at 3,903 theaters Friday, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug from Warner Brothers […]

> As is traditionally the case, movie boxoffice declined sharply on December 24, the lowest ebb of the holiday period.  According to Deadline, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – GHOST PROTOCOL (Paramount) remains #1, with $5.6M on Saturday, a 40+% fall from Friday.  Similarly, SHERLOCK HOLMES:  A GAME OF SHADOWS (Warners) fell around 45% to $3.8M on Saturday.  […]

  OPENINGS:  All the box office action is coming from franchises, with the latest being HALLOWEEN KILLS (Blumhouse/Universal, also on Peacock), which started at $50.4M.  The Peacock part of this story is probably being overstated by pundits (very few Peacock users subscribe to the tier where they would have access to the movie), and Kills […]

> UPDATE:  The Deadline numbers have shifted quite a bit from their earlier incarnation:  HUNGER GAMES is now estimated at $19.5M for Friday (a 71% drop from opening day) and a $55M weekend (down 64%).  If that number holds, GAMES would have the 11th highest 2d weekend ever, although only $200K away from the Top […]

  Ugliness abounds, unless your title is Argo. OPENINGS:  CLOUD ATLAS (Warners) will be the tallest tree in the weekend’s bonzai forest, but that’s small comfort for a movie that cost $100M (plus heavy marketing) and probably won’t make much more than $10M for the weekend, based on its $3.5M Friday.  This, sadly, is why […]

  OPENINGS:  NOW YOU SEE ME (Summit/Lionsgate) had a fine $28.1M opening weekend considering its moderate cost ($75M plus marketing, but with 2/3 of that covered by foreign pre-sales), and with little competition coming next week, it could have a solid hold–plus it’s exactly the kind of light entertainment that thrives on home viewing platforms.  […]