SNOW WHITE & THE HUNTSMAN (Universal) had a 5% Friday-to-Saturday bump, according to preliminary numbers at Deadline, which doesn’t say much for its word of mouth (the dreaded Battleship went up 11% on its second day of release).  That should still get Snow safely into the mid-$50Ms for the weekend, and now, like most […]

Updated international box office chart:

  Most films will rise this weekend compared to last week, simply because New Year’s Eve is a bigger moviegoing occasion than Christmas Eve.  Generally, box office should rise 20% or so on Saturday, drop around 30% on Sunday, then jump 30-40% on New Year’s Day.  The first two weekends of 2018 should feature relatively […]

  OPENINGS:  Both of the weekend’s big arrivals found their audiences.  WRECK-IT RALPH (Disney) had to settle for $49.1M after Saturday’s 58% bump–not that huge for an animated title–but if those numbers hold, it’ll still be enough to set a record for (non-Pixar) Walt Disney Animation, beating the 48.8M for Tangled. FLIGHT (Paramount) had a […]

  OPENINGS:  THE WORLD’S END (Focus/Universal) is off to a very solid start, with a $2250 per-theatre average on Friday in just 1549 theatres, giving it a $3.5M day and a weekend that could hit $10M.  That compares well to the other entries in Edgar Wright/Simon Pegg’s “Cornetto Trilogy,” even though World’s End has the […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Here is an updated look at the 2019 film slates by studio. BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2019 is now -13% below last year’s comparable span (5 points better than last week) and now -7% below the average for this point the past four years ($3.123 billion).  Over the same […]

  OPENINGS:  The weekend’s tallest dwarf was WAR DOGS (RatPac/Warners) with a soft $14.3M start.  The 12% Saturday drop indicates that word of mouth isn’t great, and early international numbers are weak as well, with $6.5M in 31 markets.  War Dogs cost $125M+ in production and worldwide marketing, and it seems likely to add to […]

  OPENINGS:  FURY (Columbia/Sony) should reach $25M for the weekend after a $8.8M Friday.  Sony is claiming total costs (including worldwide marketing) of $150M, and that’s probably low by at least $25M.  With a box office total of $75M probable in the US, the movie will need overseas strength to hit profit, and luckily Brad […]