A strong Saturday lifted everything at the multiplex. OPENINGS:  Obviously AMERICAN SNIPER (Warners/Village Roadshow) wouldn’t be what it is without Clint Eastwood and Bradley Cooper, but the contributions of the Warners marketing group shouldn’t be overlooked.  Building the trailer and the initial TV ads almost entirely around the one moment in the film where […]

  OPENINGS:  When studios trot out “bad weather” as their excuse for an underwhelming opening, it’s the industry equivalent of citing a homework-eating dog–and this week, it’s particularly clear that the inclement conditions that supposedly affected FOCUS (RatPac Dune/Warners) didn’t interfere at all with the holdovers that performed very strongly over the past 3 days.  […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, weekend #15 of 2015 looks like $130 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, above the norm for this weekend but a touch below the same weekend last year. Opening at 3,366 theaters Friday, The Longest Ride from Fox is on track for a $14.0 million opening three-day weekend (slightly below our $15.5 million ShowBuzzDaily forecast […]

  PITCH PERFECT 2 (Gold Circle/Universal) is shaping up as one of the best investments of the summer season, with an opening day estimated by Deadline at $27M (including $4.6M from Thursday night)–almost equal to its entire production cost.  Pitch 2 may be frontloaded, as movies aimed at young women often are, but even so, […]

Weekend #26 of 2015 is looking like $204 million for the top 12 films this weekend, somewhat above the norm for the same weekend the past few years (see comparisons below).  This would be the third up weekend in a row after a stumbling start to summer. Ted 2 from Universal should open with a $58.0 million three-day weekend. Early reviews at RottenTomatoes […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.       YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2015 to date is still +8% above last year and now +3% above the average for this point the past four years ($6.066 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed almost $16.3 billion worldwide when we add […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.   YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2015 to date is now +5% above last year and now +1% above the average for this point the past four years ($6.833 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed $18.4 billion worldwide when we add overseas box office (that’s +5% […]

Weekend #45 of 2015 is looking like a solid $165 million for the top 12 films this weekend, up somewhat from the norm for this weekend (see comparisons below). Spectre from Sony should open with a $85.5 million weekend. The film is on track for around $245 million domestic in its run. Overseas the film could bring in $835 million, giving it a […]