OPENINGS:  As expected, FANTASTIC FOUR (20th) plunged 25% on Saturday as word of mouth caught up with it (by comparison, Ant-Man lost just 14% on its 2d day of release), giving it a sad $26.2M weekend.  Things didn’t get any better when international was factored in, as the franchise-killer managed just $34.1M in 43 […]

The weekend looks a little stronger than it did yesterday ($102 million for the top 12 films rather than $98 million) but still well below the normal pace for weekend #51 .  The Hobbit is looking a little stronger than it did yesterday, and This Is 40 is a tiny bit stronger.  But everything else continues to […]

The 32nd weekend of the year is looking like $165 million for the top 12 films, a very good result for the second week of August.  Four movies aimed at very different audiences should open reasonably well, giving the box office a short term boost.  But most of the four openers should disappear quickly, and […]

> Captain America and the final Harry Potter film’s second weekend will battle for #1, with each around $60 million.  Friends with Benefits should open at a decent level for an R-rated comedy.  The weekend should be up well over 20% from this weekend last year when Salt and Ramona & Beezus opened (remember those?).   Opening at […]

  OPENINGS:  EVIL DEAD RISE (Warners) modestly exceeded expectations with $23.5M, although that was still below the franchise’s last reboot in 2013 at $25.8M (which only reached a $54.2M total in the US and didn’t spawn a sequel).  Horror has become the most dependable genre in Hollywood, and Evil Dead Rise is the only one […]

  OPENINGS:  The 3-day weekend in the US went narrowly to MEG 2: THE TRENCH (CMC/Warners) with $30M.  That was down more than 1/3 from the $45.4M start for The Meg in 2018, which would ordinarily be concerning for a film with $250M in production/marketing costs, but Meg 2 overperformed internationally even more strongly than […]

The 36th weekend of 2012 is looking like $50 million for the Top 12 films Friday-Sunday, near recent record lows for box office volume.  Equally weak weekends were last seen in 2003 and 2008.  The Possession is holding on to the top spot this weekend (with less than $10 million for the #1 film, yikes), […]

  HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA 2 (Columbia/Sony) is giving its beleaguered studio some good news, with a strong $12.8M opening day according to preliminary numbers at Deadline.  That’s better than the $11M start for the first Hotel, and although Transylvania 2 may be more frontloaded as a sequel and not match the original’s 73% Saturday bump, it […]