WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  The studio rankings remain unchanged, and the most noteworthy change is that Universal now boasts a film in the $300+ million worldwide box (Lucy with $126 million domestic and $192 million overseas to date).  But the success of Lucy cannot make up for an excess of clunkers, as Universal is showing a hit-to-miss ratio even […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, weekend #36 of 2014 looks like $50 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, 20% below the norm for this weekend ($66 million).  This weekend after Labor Day is usually the worst weekend of the year, and this year did not disappoint. Opening at 1,950 theaters, The Identical from Freestyle Releasing grossed […]

Weekend #36 of 2014 is looking like $54 million for the top 12 films this weekend, down 13% from the norm for this weekend, which is usually the weakest weekend of the year.  In the last two years, this weekend has produced Riddick, The Words and The Cold Light of Day.  But those look like […]

  OPENINGS:  AS ABOVE/SO BELOW (Universal) and THE NOVEMBER MAN (Relativity) are both quietly making their way to oblivion with $8.3 and $7.7M weekends (each may add $1.5-2M on Monday).  November Man, with its older audience, may hold up a bit better over the longish term, but neither picture is likely to get above $25M in […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  The studio rankings remain unchanged, and #1 Fox continues to do well, thanks to more overseas grosses from both Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and How to Train Your Dragon 2.   The second best week worldwide belongs to #6 Universal, not so much because of the domestic release of As Above/So Below but mostly […]

Based on Friday’s and Saturday’s grosses, weekend #35 of 2014 looks like $86 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, now 1% above the norm for this weekend ($85 million) but 8% below this weekend last year (detailed track below). Opening at 2,639 theaters, As Above/So Below from Universal grossed $3.2 million Friday and $2.8 million […]

  With little else of interest around, audiences are flocking to a movie they know they’ll enjoy:  GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY (Marvel/Disney), already the top movie of the year in the US, had a superb $6.1M Saturday according to preliminary numbers at Deadline, up 60% from Friday and down only 19% from last Saturday.  That […]

  OPENINGS:  AS ABOVE/SO BELOW (Universal) cost just $5M to produce, but its big-studio marketing campaign will add at least $30M to that, and after a $3.2M Friday, it’s headed for $9.5M by Sunday and $11.5M for the 4-day holiday, which will likely give it $20M at best for its entire US theatrical run.  Those […]