MINIONS (Illumination/Universal) was expected to enfold the weekend box office in its little yellow fingers, and so it is.  Preliminary numbers at Deadline give it a $45M opening day, which appears to be the largest opening in the history of movie animation (the asterisk is because we now consider “Friday” to include Thursday night, […]

Weekend #28 of 2015 is looking like $194 million for the top 12 films this weekend, slightly above the norm for this weekend and way above last year’s very soft weekend (see comparisons below).  [Note: a previous version of this post had incorrect estimated weekend totals.] Minions from Universal should open with a $108 million three-day weekend. Early reviews at RottenTomatoes […]

  OPENINGS:  TERMINATOR: GENISYS (Skydance/Paramount) had hoped, even with July 4th subduing Saturday business, to find a holiday spark that would allow it to earn at least a $150M total in the US, but after a $28.7M opening weekend ($44.2M including Wed-Thurs), it may be hard-pressed to get past $100M.  That puts additional pressure on […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Universal is the big gainer again this week, primarily because of continued overseas strength for Jurassic World.  Paramount had the second best week, thanks to Terminator: Genisys.  In contrast, Magic Mike XXL made a small contribution to its studio totals, giving Warner Brothers about the same modest week that Disney had with late overseas returns […]

Based on Friday’s and Saturday’s grosses, weekend #27 of 2015 looks like $133 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, a little better than yesterday’s estimate but still below the norm for this weekend but slightly above last year’s similar bummer of a July 4th weekend.   Opening at 3,758 theaters Friday, Terminator: Genisys from Paramount is now on track […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, weekend #27 of 2015 looks like $130 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, below the norm for this weekend but slightly above last year’s similar bummer of a July 4th weekend.   Opening at 3,758 theaters Friday, Terminator: Genisys from Paramount is on track for a $26.5 million opening three-day weekend (somewhat below our $34.0 […]

  With July 4th falling on a Saturday for the 1st time since 2009, this was fated to be a slow holiday at the box office.  Nevertheless, the weekend’s openings were supposed to be able to overtake titles that have already been in the market for 3-4 weeks.  Based on preliminary numbers at Deadline, however, […]

Weekend #27 of 2015 is looking like $161 million for the top 12 films this weekend, a touch below the norm for the same weekend the past few years but well above last year’s Independence Day Weekend dud (see comparisons below). Terminator: Genisys from Paramount should open with a $34.0 million traditional three-day weekend and about $51 million through Sunday. Early reviews […]