OPENINGS:  The $9M start for THE MENU (Searchlight/Disney) was below the $10.1M launch of Barbarian–and The Menu cost about $20M more to produce.  Combine that with the fact that The Menu is really more of a very dark satire than a horror movie, and its prospects look questionable.  The film also opened in 36 […]

>Keep your helmets on: the studios are about to drop three more bombs in movie theaters this weekend.  A horror movie, an action flick and an adult comedy are being released, and we expect each to gross not much more than $30 million in their entire domestic theatrical run.  Opening weekends should range between $9-12 […]

  OPENINGS:  The most hyped box office weekend of the year delivered and then some.  BARBIE (Mattel/Warners) burst into theaters with $155M, technically the best of the year (although the $146.4M for Super Mario Bros came after a Wed-Thurs start that had already brought in $58.3M).  Among the many records set by the blockbuster were […]

>The 12th weekend of the year should be a whopper: about $176 million for the top 12 films.  How big is that for the fourth weekend in March?  Enormous, unprecedented: up 62% from last year’s comparable weekend and up 55% from the four-year average for this weekend.  Of course, this weekend is all about The […]

  OPENINGS:  IF (Paramount) was at the low end of projections with $35M, although that was an improvement over where it seemed to be headed after Friday’s $10.4M.  The key was strong family turnout on Saturday, but while IF benefited from being the first major release for that demographic in the 11 weeks since Kung […]

> The 15th weekend of 2012 is looking like $109 million for the Top 12 films, down 6% from this weekend last year but up 6% from the four-year average for the same weekend.  The Hunger Games is heading for $21 million this weekend, down a terrific 37% this weekend (the drops keep getting smaller: […]

Ten days into the three-week holiday movie season, 2012 is now 9% behind the average 10-day total over the last several years ($264 million this year for the first ten days versus $290 million on average 2004-2011).  However, 2012 remains 16% behind the last time Christmas fell on a Tuesday (2007 — $316 million the […]

>The Help remains the lone sign of strength at the box office.  Down only 2% from the Tropical Storm Irene-dampened box office last weekend, The Help has been upgraded again to $155 million estimated total domestic gross.  The Debt looks like the best of the three new openers, with almost $10 million this Friday-Sunday weekend […]