Weekend #29 of 2015 is looking like $195 million for the top 12 films this weekend, somewhat above the norm for this weekend and way above last year’s very soft weekend (see comparisons below).   Ant-Man from Disney and Marvel should open with a $64.5 million three-day weekend. Early reviews at RottenTomatoes are decent: 75% positive overall so far. Ant-Man is on track […]

  OPENINGS:  Saturday wasn’t pretty for ABOUT LAST NIGHT (Screen Gems/Sony), which tumbled 38% on the day after Valentine’s Day to $8.1M, and is now projecting $27M for the 3-day weekend ($30M or so with the holiday Monday).  That’s still a strong opening for a moderately-budgeted movie, and while About won’t get anywhere near Ride […]

>Based on Friday and Saturday box office (and estimated Sunday numbers), Rise of the Planet of the Apes will dominate with a $54 million opening weekend, even stronger than estimated yesterday.  In contrast, looking even weaker than it did yesterday, The Change-Up is only able to generate a $13.5 million.  The weekend overall is now looking […]

> $59.99 for home VOD — Genius! Box office normally starts to pick up when the calendar turns to November, moving from $90-100 million per weekend through most of October to $120 million or more per weekend in early November (building toward $185 million or more for the Friday-Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend).  Last year’s first […]

  The bloodshed in this weekend’s new arrivals extended to the movies themselves. OPENINGS:  KILLING THEM SOFTLY (Weinstein), with a $2.5M Friday, may become Brad Pitt’s lowest opening live-action wide release ever at around $7M, and it won’t be helped going forward by a shockingly bad exit poll grade of F from opening night audiences.  This […]

  OPENINGS:  Two studios stretched as far as they could in coming up with weekend estimates for their bombs, claiming the lowest Sunday drops in the Top 10 to reach numbers that may well fall when actual figures are released on Monday.  The sadder story was JACK THE GIANT SLAYER (Warners), as though it really […]

Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted now looks like a $60.4 million weekend, according to the studio estimate this morning (down from yesterday’s early estimate but still exceeding our forecast in Wednesday’s ShowbuzzDaily Weekend Predictions).  Prometheus is looking like a $50.0 million weekend (or so 20th Century Fox is fervently wishing and hoping), down from yesterday’s […]

  New Year’s Eve box office results were all over the place, with kids still home from school while adults chose some movies (but not others) as their picks to see out the year.  Also, not all studios have yet reported their Tuesday numbers, notably Sony, Universal, Lionsgate and The Weinstein Company.  Still, here’s what […]