OPENINGS:  The weekend’s tallest dwarf was WAR DOGS (RatPac/Warners) with a soft $14.3M start.  The 12% Saturday drop indicates that word of mouth isn’t great, and early international numbers are weak as well, with $6.5M in 31 markets.  War Dogs cost $125M+ in production and worldwide marketing, and it seems likely to add to […]

Updated international box office.  The $505 million overseas to date for Iron Man 3 (after only two weeks) puts it on a pace to challenge the $888 million overseas total for The Avengers last year, as well as the $947 million overseas tally for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 in July 2011.  But the high-water mark for […]

>Through this weekend, the major action on the Worldwide Box Office chart is happening at the bottom of the Top 10.  The Smurfs continue to show an amazing amount of momentum, almost hitting $300 million overseas.  Next week it should be able to pass Thor and move into the #9 spot for all films released […]

  OPENINGS:  The biggest arrival of the weekend is still 2 weeks away from reaching the US.  INFERNO (Columbia/Sony), the latest in the DaVinci Code/Angels & Demons franchise, opened in 53 markets comprising about 2/3 of the world with $50M.  That’s a solid start, but suggests that when the movie goes worldwide (except for France) […]

  OPENINGS:  INSIDIOUS CHAPTER 2 (FilmDistrict) had the year’s biggest horror start with $20.1M (including $1.5M from Thursday night).  That compares to $17M for The Conjuring, the year’s biggest hit in the genre (and also from director James Wan).  Insidious 2, though, is likely to be much more front-loaded, given its fairly lousy reviews and Friday the […]

  JASON BOURNE (Universal) is performing in line with expectations.  Preliminary numbers at Deadline have its opening day at $22M (including $4.3M from Thursday night), down just 10% from the $24.7M start (with no Thursday screenings) for 2007’s Bourne Ultimatum, the last Matt Damon/Paul Greenglass title in the franchise.  Great word of mouth gave Ultimatum […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Again, no changes to the year to date studio ranking of worldwide box office.  20th Century Fox remains #1 and also had the largest gain this week (an okay $87 million weekly gain, mostly because of continued overseas grosses of How to Train Your Dragon 2 and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes).  Disney, […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, weekend #48 of 2014 looks like $156 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, down 14% the norm for Thanksgiving weekend ($180 million) and down 20% from the same weekend last year.  Pretty soft. Opening at 3,764 theaters, Penguins of Madagascar from Fox and DreamWorks Animation is on track for a $25.8 million opening […]