The arrival of THE AVENGERS means that, whatever the calendar may say, as far as Hollywood is concerned, summer has begun.  Which in turn means that for the next several months, would-be blockbusters will be launched into multiplexes on a weekly basis.  And that signals the start of SHOWBUZZDAILY‘S 2d Annual Fantasy Summer Movie League.  […]

> Apart from the usual hosannas to THE HELP’s remarkable staying power, there’s not much to be said about this weekend’s wide releases.  APOLLO 18 and SHARK NIGHT are both flops that will be hard-pressed to gross enough to pay for their marketing.  THE DEBT is a bit more of a question mark, because of […]

> Friday’s preliminary boxoffice, according to the Hollywood Reporter, has the looks of another soft weekend for the major studios.  TOWER HEIST appears to be underperforming, and with a reported $9.5M Friday, may only reach $27M for the weekend.  Since Universal is mostly sitting out the holiday movie season, this would be a disappointing end […]

> Two of the season’s major films are launching unconventionally this evening, and it’s worth taking note.  Both Sony’s THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO and Paramount’s MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – GHOST PROTOCOL will begin “sneak” screenings at around 6-7PM, before officially opening tomorrow.  For boxoffice gross purposes, it’s not clear whether the studios will report […]

> Happy Voice/Smash Bowl, everyone!  (And go Giants!!!) OPENINGS:  CHRONICLE (20th) is claiming bragging rights for the weekend over THE WOMAN IN BLACK (CBS) by $1M.  But both films are assuming almost identical Super Bowl Sunday drops (69% and 67%, respectively), so the win will depend on whether one or the other faces more audience […]

> Yep, that happened. OPENINGS:  THE HUNGER GAMES (Lionsgate/Summit) was as massive as predicted, with a $68.3M opening day that was the 5th largest in movie history, behind only the final Harry Potter and the last 3 Twilights, and slightly ahead of The Dark Knight.  The question, of course, is what happens today.  The Friday […]

Warners is claiming that Sucker Punch cost around $80M, which given the scale of the film suggests either admirable cost-effectiveness or a lowball number–in any case, word of mouth is likely to be terrible (see my review, not to mention that its overall Rotten Tomatoes number is at 20%), so it’s doubtful to get past […]

Pixar’s Brave has a modest $13.5 million overseas to date, obviously with a big international potential as it rolls out around the world.  Pixar films generally have a healthy multiple over the domestic gross, which we are projecting to be $219 million based on the opening weekend.  An overseas target of $320 million seems reasonable […]