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 […]

  OPENINGS:  The weekend’s awful weather is being given the blame for a subpar Christmas holiday box office, but the fact remains that audiences appeared unenthused (or worse) about the new offerings.  PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH (DreamWorks Animation/Universal) fared best, with $11.4M for the 3-day weekend, $17.8M with Monday, and $24.6M since its […]

> A rather sleepy weekend ahead, most likely down about 15% from the same weekend last year.  No dominant openers arrive Friday, leaving the weekend Contagion’s to lose.   Opening at more than 2,400 theaters in North America by FilmDistrict, Drive should average $5,000 per theater (for $12 million for Friday-Sunday).  (All films the last two years […]

  OPENINGS:  THE EQUALIZER 3 (Escape Artists/Columbia/Sony) performed both within expectations and at around the same level as its predecessors, with $34.5M for the 3-day weekend compared to $36M for Equalizer 2 and $34M for the first in the franchise.  (The Monday holiday is projected to bring the total to $42M.)  Also like the previous […]

Now 18 full weeks into 2012 (entering the middle third of the year, the all-important May-August period), year-to-date domestic box office is now running 20% ahead of last year’s pace and now 15% ahead of the comparable period’s average for the last several years.   Marvel’s The Avengers ended up with an even stronger weekend than the studio forecast Sunday morning: an […]

  OPENINGS:  THE BIKERIDERS (Regency/Focus/Universal) seized the opportunity to open on a prime summer weekend without any new tentpole releases, and the studio estimate (which assumed the strongest Sunday hold in the Top 10) was $10M, in line with expectations.  The question is how well the indie will hold up next week against new action […]

> The tenth weekend of 2012 is looking to be solid in terms of total business but not at the runaway pace of the past few weeks.  The weekend is running 3% ahead of last year’s same weekend and 8% ahead of the multi-year average for this weekend.  The Lorax will remain the #1 film […]

Three films are really driving a very solid box office weekend: The Amazing Spider-Man (now a $65.0 million opening weekend and $140 million six-day opening, hitting our forecast in Tuesday’s ShowbuzzDaily Weekend Predictions), the second weekend of Ted (down a very decent 40% from its opening) and the third weekend of Brave (down 41% this […]