STUDIO SCORECARD. Another very strong week for Universal (primarily overseas grosses for Despicable Me 2 which were understated in last week’s chart), enough to pass Warner Brothers and move into the #2 spot in terms of worldwide box office.  The perennial also-ran Universal finds itself in an odd position: in the upper tier of the worldwide […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, Weekend #31 of 2013 looks like a surprisingly weak $124 million for the top 12 films, down 5% from the average for this weekend the past few years (the first such decline since the weekend of June 7-9 eight weeks ago).  Opening at 3,025 theaters Friday, 2 Guns from Universal grossed $10 million Friday […]

Updated international box office chart:

  OPENINGS:  At $21.4M, PRISONERS (Warners) is exactly where the studio hoped it would be, at the sweet spot that propelled The Town to a $92M total (and Argo, with its Oscar help, to $136M).  The question now is whether it can hold on to its momentum against newcomers like Gravity, Captain Phillips, The Fifth Estate […]

The 43rd weekend of the year is looking like $104 million for the top 12 films, 22% from the multi-year average for this weekend.  And on its fourth weekend, Gravity will be knocked out of the top spot by…..Johnny Knoxville?  That’s what it looks like. Opening at over 3,000 theaters Friday (slightly above the 2,886 […]

The 47th weekend of the year is looking like $238 million for the top 12 films, just about where the weekend before Thanksgiving should be. Opening at over 4,100 theaters Friday (well above the 2,886 average theater count for opening weekends the last two years), The Hunger Games: Catching Fire from Lionsgate/Summit should average a superior $40,800 per […]

  Everything went up at the New Year’s Day box office (bringing to an end the holiday bounty), but to wildly varying degrees.  Business should fall today and rise tomorrow and Saturday, but not to a point equal to New Year’s, with weekend totals for holdovers a bit more than double their numbers from yesterday. […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, weekend #5 of 2014 looks like $74 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, even worse than the usual pace for a Super Bowl weekend. Opening at 2,809 theaters Friday, That Awkward Moment from Focus/Universal grossed a small $3.9 million Friday, putting the film on track for a $10.0 million opening weekend (slightly below […]