This weekend’s numbers will need some examination, with plenty of spin available in all directions.  Preliminary estimates at Deadline have BOO!  A MADEA HALLOWEEN (Lionsgate) a hair ahead of JACK REACHER: NEVER GO BACK (Skydance/Huahua/Shanghai Film Group/Paramount) on Friday, $9.2M vs. $9.1M.  There are several reasons why this is a bigger win than it […]

Not a lot of changes from last night’s early numbers. STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS (Lucasfilm/Disney):  The all-time biggest 2d US weekend:  $153.5M (down 38% from opening weekend, far better than the 49%/50% for Jurassic World/Avengers, although the 2% drop for Avatar and 24% increase for Titanic–both from the era before giant Thursday night openings–remain […]

  OPENINGS:  MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: ROGUE NATION (Skydance/China Film Channel/Alibaba/Paramount) had a solid Saturday hold, down 3% from Friday, and the studio is projecting a $56M weekend in the US, well ahead of the $47.7M opening of Mission 3, the only other entry in the series to have a conventional Friday opening.  (However, in 2006 movies […]

  OPENINGS:  We spent all summer hearing that it was impossible to sell audiences on big-budget non-franchise titles, as spectacles like White House Down, Pacific Rim, After Earth and The Lone Ranger went splat.  In one fantastic swoop, GRAVITY proved the lie to that with an October-record $55.6M weekend–and with two middle-aged stars.  (What a […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, Weekend #22 of 2013 looks like a decent $154 million for the top 12 films, up around 10% from comparable weekends the past few years.  Generally, box office is lower than we forecast on Wednesday.  Now You See Me is the one film that exceeded our forecast, while the other opener […]

Based on Friday’s and Saturday’s grosses, weekend #15 of 2015 now looks like $129 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, only $1 million lower than yesterday’s estimate and still above the norm for this weekend but a touch below the same weekend last year. Opening at 3,366 theaters Friday, The Longest Ride from Fox is now on […]

  OPENINGS:  DUMBO (Disney) had a 14% Saturday bump that was merely OK considering its underwhelming first day, and that brought it to a $45M weekend.  Even if it reaches $150M in the US, it would need help to get out of red ink with $300M+ in production/marketing costs, and so far it doesn’t seen […]

> Now the only question is when they announce the start of  pre-production on LORAX 2. OPENINGS:  It turned out THE LORAX (Universal) wasn’t frontloaded at all.  Quite the contrary, its 80% Saturday bump put the movie through the roof, a triumph of great marketing over cruddy filmmaking.  Lorax is currently the 3d highest March […]