>The past week is up an amazing 57% from last year, and the year-to-date tally is now down 15% from last year (improving from down 17% last week).  This is very positive news for the industry, and especially Universal with its successful launch of Fast Five. The Past Week: Total Box Office Volume All films […]

Updated international box office chart:

  In an entertainment universe changing with bewildering speed, two stories today spoke to the difficulties and opportunities of old and new media.  First, let’s take a look at what’s happening to the traditional mode of seeing movies in theaters Big-budget adventure-adventure spectacles have long been the bread and butter of the Hollywood studios, and […]

  OPENINGS:  IT ENDS WITH US (Wayfarer/Columbia/Sony) roared past expectations with a remarkable $50M.  That studio estimate comes with a couple of asterisks–it includes an unspecified amount from wide Wednesday screenings, and assumes an extremely strong Sunday hold–but even so, it’s a great start for a drama that may not even have $75M in production/worldwide […]

  OPENINGS:  Saturday showed an 18% drop for FAST & FURIOUS 6 (Universal), but really the number was better than it looked, because “Friday” included $6.5M from Thursday night.  With that factored out, the movie held almost dead even on Saturday, and should be headed for a $120M+ 4-day weekend, easily the 4th best Memorial […]

> THE HUNGER GAMES has an excuse. Last night at midnight, The Hunger Games began its long-awaited run in theatres by grossing $19.7M.  Which is, by any estimation, a lot of money–the most ever earned by a non-sequel, and the 7th highest midnight ever.  But… it’s less than half the $43.5M of the midnight record […]

  OPENINGS:  THE MEG (Gravity/Warners) had a fair hold on Saturday, down 2%, which brought it to a $44.5M weekend.  That’s 83% better than Skyscraper‘s start, and 27% better than Rampage, and with no new direct competition next weekend, The Meg could reach $125M in the US.  However, the mega-B-movie had a reported $300M+ in […]

  GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY (Marvel/Disney) had a sensational $11.2M start in Thursday night shows starting at 7PM.  That’s the biggest Thursday night result of the year, edging out Captain America: The Winter Soldier‘s $10.2M (although that had a slight handicap with its 8PM start time) and beating all of the summer’s other blockbusters.  It’s […]