Franchise sequels are typically more frontloaded than the original installments, because there’s an established fanbase that wants to catch up with the latest update to the story.  For example, the first Hunger Games made $19.7M on its Thursday night, which made up part of a $67.3M opening day, while Catching Fire had $25.3M on Thursday […]

Weekend #12 of 2015 is looking like $139 million for the top 12 films this weekend, very much in line with comparable weekends the past few years. Opening at around 3,750 theaters Friday (well above the 2,886 average theater count for opening weekends the last two years), Insurgent from Lionsgate/Summit should average $15,700 per theater for the three-day […]

OPENINGS:  Fill in the ball/glass slipper/fairy tale reference of choice, because CINDERELLA (Disney) performed beautifully, with $70.1M in the US.  That puts it ahead of the $69.4M opening of Maleficent (unless adjusted numbers change things tomorrow), and below the $116.1M for Alice in Wonderland and the $79.1M for Oz the Great and Powerful.  Cinderella‘s 18% […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.   YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2015 to date is still +4% above last year and now +6% above the average for this point the past four years ($1.638 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed $4.8 billion worldwide when we add overseas box office […]

Based on Friday’s and Saturday’s grosses, weekend #11 of 2015 now looks like $124 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, up solidly from the norms for this weekend.   Opening at 3,845 theaters Friday, Cinderella from Disney is on track for a $70.1 million opening three-day weekend (near our $69.5 million ShowBuzzDaily forecast earlier this week). The film […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, weekend #11 of 2015 looks like $123 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, up solidly from the norms for this weekend.   Opening at 3,845 theaters Friday, Cinderella from Disney is on track for a $70.0 million opening three-day weekend (near our $69.5 million ShowBuzzDaily forecast earlier this week). The film is pacing toward […]

  CINDERELLA (Disney) had an enchanted Friday, according to preliminary numbers at Deadline, with $23M (that includes $2.3M from Thursday night), and since its target audience is all about weekend matinees, it should be at $70M and perhaps even $75M by Sunday.  That would be better than the $69.4M opening for Maleficent, which had a […]

Weekend #11 of 2015 is looking like $126 million for the top 12 films this weekend, up significantly from comparable weekends the past few years and putting 2015 back on track after two down weekends in a row. Opening at around 3,600 theaters Friday (well above the 2,886 average theater count for opening weekends the […]