Based on Friday’s and Saturday’s grosses, Weekend #39 of 2013 looks like an okay $98 million for the top 12 films, up 5% from the average for the same weekend the past few years. Opening at 4,001 theaters Friday, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 from Sony grossed $9.3 million Friday and $15.2 million Saturday, now on […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  The release of Neighbors has pushed Universal out of the Paramount and Lionsgate/Summit pack to 5th place among Hollywood studios year to date in worldwide box office (with just under $800 million).  Sony sits at #1 with close to $1.3 billion worldwide in 2014 to date, with Amazing Spider-Man 2 still producing significant overseas revenue. […]

  OPENINGS:  THE BAD GUYS (DreamWorks Animation/Universal) had a solid $24M start, above (low) projections.  It’s unclear whether the release for the film will fall under the normal Universal non-blockbuster 17-day exclusive theatrical policy, or if Bad Guys will fully be able to take advantage of the lack of family movies in the market until […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Here is an updated look at the 2018 film slates by studio. The studio totals also include 2018 dollars for films released in late 2017. YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2018 to date is still +10% above last year and still+11% above the average for this point […]

  OPENINGS:  THE REVENANT (Regency/20th) had an impressive $38M start, the #5 January wide opening ever (although tomorrow’s final numbers could send it below Lone Survivor‘s $37.8M, the comp it wanted to beat).  Survivor made it to $125.1M, and Revenant could do the same, especially fueled by what now seems like a can’t-miss campaign for […]

> What a catastrophe at the box office this weekend.  No film above $20 million for the weekend, and the top 12 films are down a staggering 37% from the same weekend last year (when Jackass 3-D opened to $50 million).  Footloose, The Thing and especially The Big Year missed their forecasts.  The Big Year […]

  OPENINGS:  The Saturday bump for 10 CLOVERFIELD LANE (Bad Robot/Paramount) was 8%, a solid number for its genre that indicates good word of mouth.  That gave it a $25.3M weekend, a bit higher than Friday indicated, although still not where it might have gotten had the Cloverfield connection (or relative lack thereof) been clearer.  […]

  The $17.1M opening day (including $3.4M from Thursday night) for GHOSTBUSTERS (Columbia/Sony) reported in preliminary numbers at Deadline would be fine if the movie were at the same budget level as previous Paul Feig/Melissa McCarthy collaborations The Heat or Spy.  But Ghostbusters cost 2-3x as much, $275M+ including production and global marketing, and a […]