Eventually, every franchise runs out of steam.  (Although they sometimes pick it up again, like Bond James Bond.) OPENINGS:  PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 4 (Par) is off to a worse start than the last two in the series (the original Paranormal followed a different release pattern and didn’t go wide until its 5th week in theatres).  […]

  OPENINGS:  Was it the cash grab of splitting the final novel into 2 movies?  The tabloid antics of its stars?  In any case, “close but no cigar” seems to be the result for THE TWILIGHT SAGA:  BREAKING DAWN PART 2 (Summit/Lionsgate).  Its $71.2M opening day (including Thursday 10PM and midnight screenings) is $400K below […]

  OPENINGS:  This weekend consists of THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY (Warners/MGM) and then everything else.  Hobbit set a December opening day record with $37.5M, and it will set the opening weekend record for the month (currently held by I Am Legend with $77.2M), but it’s worth noting that its number isn’t very much higher […]

  Movie ticket sales were down significantly on December 31, as audiences found other things to do with their New Year’s Eves, but the results still gave Les Miserables a symbolic turnaround, putting it back in 2d place after a weekend behind Django Unchained.  Business should zoom today for the holiday finale, before settling into mundane […]

  The early Friday numbers this week are likely to be even less reliable than usual, since weather conditions on the East Coast make estimates very dicey.  That being said, the preliminary numbers at Deadline make it clear that come blizzard or high water, IDENTITY THIEF (Universal) will be the big winner of the weekend.  […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, Weekend #10 of 2013 is the first weekend in 7 weeks to match the pace for this time of year: $122 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday (even with last year and up 5% from the same weekend average for the last few years).  Most of the credit for the […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, Weekend #14 of 2013 is looking pretty good: $135 million for the top 12 films in North America, up 16% from the comparable weekend the past few years.  The two new openers this weekend are on track to beat our forecast, and The Croods continues to play quite well in its […]

Looking at wide-release films in North America (those that play on at least 400 screens at some point), 2013 now totals just under $2.5 billion, down 16% from 2012 and down 9% from the prior four-year average 2009-2012.  Each year-to-date period below is defined as the first Monday after New Year’s Day through the most […]