If preliminary numbers at Deadline hold, what was supposed to be a fairly competitive box office weekend will instead be a romp for THE BUTLER (Weinstein).  It’s claiming a $9M Friday, which should give it at least $25M for the weekend.  That would be in line with the $26M opening for The Help in mid-August […]

The 37th weekend of the year is looking like $81 million for the top 12 films, very close to the multi-year average for this weekend. Opening at around 2,900 theaters Friday (just above the 2,886 average theater count for opening weekends the last two years), Insidious Chapter 2 from FilmDistrict and director James Wan should average $11,300 per theater for […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, Weekend #41 of 2013 looks like an okay $111 million for the top 12 films, down 8% from last year’s weekend but equal to the average for the same weekend the past few years. Opening at 3,874 theaters Friday, Captain Phillips from Sony Pictures grossed $8.5 million Friday and is on track for $26.5 million opening weekend […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, Weekend #45 of 2013 looks like $160 million for the top 12 films, not the record we had forecast but still 21% above the recent average for this weekend. Opening at 3,841 theaters Friday, Thor: The Dark World from Disney and Marvel grossed $31.8 million Friday and is on track for a $84.3 million […]

The see-saw continues in the 2013 studio rankings.  Disney moved back into first (thanks to the domestic release of Frozen with overseas still to come) and Warner Brothers moved back into second place. Meanwhile continued strength from The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (a big increase in overseas grosses and an upgrade in the domestic forecast total) pushed Lionsgate/Summit to […]

  DEC. 26 UPDATE:  A mere adjustment to overaggressive estimation or an early sign, in this instant word-of-internet age, that audiences aren’t having a good time?  The major change from last night’s early numbers is that THE WOLF OF WALL STREET slipped to $9.2M, falling behind THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG for 2d place […]

Weekend #3 of 2014 is looking like $130 million for the top 12 films for the traditional Friday-Sunday portion of the long MLK weekend, up 14% from the average for this weekend the past few years. Opening at around 2,200 theaters Friday (below the 2,886 average theater count for opening weekends the last two years), Ride […]

  The studios brought out a trio of romantic movies for Valentine’s Day, but the couple audiences most wanted to see was Emmet and Wyldstyle, as preliminary numbers at Deadline have THE LEGO MOVIE (Warners) topping the Friday box office with about $13M.  Since Lego will benefit the most from the holiday weekend matinee crowd, […]