>The monolith that is TRANSFORMERS:  DARK OF THE MOON has started its weekend.  With a combination of 9PM shows (that were supposedly all in 3D) and midnights, reports are that the picture made $13.5M last night.  This is considerably less than the $16M for midnight Transformers 2 shows, although more than the original Transformers ($8.8M […]

  OPENINGS:  Here’s the really remarkable thing about this weekend’s haul for IRON MAN 3 (Disney).  It’s not the $175.3M opening in the US, even though that’s the 2d highest start in US history–that was pretty much where it was expected to be, well above Iron Man 2 but not quite equal to the combined […]

> Yep, that happened. OPENINGS:  THE HUNGER GAMES (Lionsgate/Summit) was as massive as predicted, with a $68.3M opening day that was the 5th largest in movie history, behind only the final Harry Potter and the last 3 Twilights, and slightly ahead of The Dark Knight.  The question, of course, is what happens today.  The Friday […]

After a good weekend last week (up 18% from the comparable weekend average), this weekend is poised to be a very good first weekend of October (up over 40% and around $126 million for the top 12 films).   Opening at about 3,000 theaters Friday, Taken 2 from 20th Century Fox should average a very good $13,900 […]

Weekend #20 of 2014 is looking like a solid $156 million for the top 12 films, 7% above the norm for this mid-May weekend. Opening at over 3,800 theaters Friday (well above the 2,886 average theater count for opening weekends the last two years), Godzilla from Warner Brothers should average $19,500 per theater for the weekend (for a $74.0 […]

  Are Americans tired of superhero movies?  There were whispers to that effect after The Avengers: Age of Ultron underperformed a bit and Fantastic Four outright flopped last year, but clearly the answer is Hell, No.  DEADPOOL (Marvel/20th) puts a new R-rated satiric spin on the genre (very carefully:  its jokes are aimed at Fox’s […]

> The second weekend of 2012 looks better than we forecast (Contraband and Beauty and the Beast 3D are ahead of the ShowBuzzDaily weekend predictions), but the weekend is still looking pretty soft.  The top 12 films should total about $113 million, down 2% from the same weekend last year (which was pretty bad).  More […]

  OPENINGS:  The most hyped box office weekend of the year delivered and then some.  BARBIE (Mattel/Warners) burst into theaters with $155M, technically the best of the year (although the $146.4M for Super Mario Bros came after a Wed-Thurs start that had already brought in $58.3M).  Among the many records set by the blockbuster were […]