Cartoons rule the multiplex. OPENINGS:  BRAVE (Pixar/Disney), with its $24.5M Friday, had the highest non-sequel opening day for a Pixar film, beating WALL-E‘s $23.2M.  It’s a little behind last year’s Cars 2, which started out with $25.7M, but should also be less front-loaded (Cars 2 fell 9% on its first Saturday, while WALL-E went down less than […]

Weekend #29 of 2012 looks like what last weekend should have been: $272 million for the top 12 films, up 50% from last year’s comparable weekend and up 67% from the four-year average for the weekend. Opening at 4,404 theaters, The Dark Knight Rises from Warner Brothers should average $43,600 per theater (for a $192 million […]

  In terms of percentage, THE DARK KNIGHT RISES (Warners) should have about the same Weekend 3 drop that The Dark Knight did, but since it’s already below Dark Knight, the actual weekend number will be around 15% lower ($36M compared to $42M).  It’s now clear that Rises will–despite being a blockbuster hit to the […]

  According to preliminary numbers at Deadline, THE POSSESSION (Lionsgate) is still on top with Saturday’s boxoffice counted, perhaps finding an extra $1M or so at the end of the 4-day weekend for $22-23M, which would be $2-3M higher than last year’s Labor Day #1, The Help (in its 4th weekend).  LAWLESS (Weinstein Company)  might […]

  What was that about Adam Sandler having career trouble? OPENINGS:  Sony‘s decision to open HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA a week before Disney’s Frankenweenie turned out to be a brilliant move, as Hotel is on track for the biggest September opening in history, close to $40M, not to mention Sony’s biggest animation hit ever.  And just to add whipped […]

  The news didn’t get better for any of the weekend’s openings on Saturday, according to early numbers at Deadline–and that’s before the effect, if any, of Sunday’s east coast storms.  ARGO (Warners) beat them all with its 3rd weekend $12.5M, down under 25% from last weekend.  CLOUD ATLAS (Warners) was considerably behind, struggling to […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, Weekend #47 is now on pace to exceed the multi-year average for this weekend by over 20% — a much stronger pace than the Wednesday-Thursday pre-weekend box office suggested.   Rise of the Guardians from Paramount/ DreamWorks opened with $8.6 million Wednesday-Thursday and added $9.3 million Friday, putting it on pace for […]

  After a strong start with Skyfall and Breaking Dawn Part 2, the holiday boxoffice seems to be at risk of languishing. OPENINGS:  The thing about the Christmas/New Year’s week boxoffice multiple is that it’s real and will help every movie in theatres during the holiday season, but it’s only as good as the number it’s mutiplying. So […]