Based on Friday’s grosses, Weekend #18 of 2013 kicks of the summer with a very solid $203 million for the top 12 films, below the Avengers-fueled same weekend last year but above the four-year average for this weekend.    Disney is very happy to have Marvel and its films now in its orbit: three years […]

STUDIO SCORECARD.  Disney remains in the #1 spot in the worldwide box office chart for 2013, but Universal has moved into second place with strong domestic and international performance from Fast & Furious 6.  Imagine if the studio could produce and distribute more films that overseas audiences wanted to see.  Some studios have slates that significantly […]

STUDIO SCORECARD. Disney solidified its grip on first place in worldwide box office (thanks to Monsters University), while Paramount jumped ahead of 20th Century Fox courtesy of World War Z. TOTAL NORTH AMERICAN BOX OFFICE. Looking at wide-release films in North America (those that play on at least 400 screens at some point), 2013 now […]

  We’re continuing our midsummer look at how Hollywood’s studios are faring in 2013.  Yesterday we scrutinized Disney, and today our gaze is fixed on Warner Bros. It’s been a tumultuous summer at Warners, much of the turmoil going on behind the scenes.  Jeff Robinov, President of the Warner Bros Picture Group since 2007, left […]

Updated international box office chart:

The 35th weekend of the year is looking like $83 million for the top 12 films, exactly in line with the Friday-Sunday portions of recent Labor Day weekends and among the three or four weakest weekends of the entire year.  After all, this is the weekend that has spawned Oogieloves and Shark Night 3D among other […]

  OPENINGS:  CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS 2 (Sony) had an even softer Friday than the early numbers claimed with $9.3M.  That’s barely ahead of the first Cloudy‘s $8.1M, and sequels tend to be more frontloaded than originals, which means the $35M weekend estimates being thrown around this morning, which assume exactly the same […]

  Considering its genre and target audience, BAD GRANDPA (Paramount) did very well in its second day, according to preliminary numbers at Deadline, slipping just 4% to $12M.  By comparison, the three Jackass movies went down 20%/14%/24% on their first Saturdays, suggesting strong word of mouth and possibly a longer stay in theatres than one […]