Weekend #27 of 2015 is looking like $161 million for the top 12 films this weekend, a touch below the norm for the same weekend the past few years but well above last year’s Independence Day Weekend dud (see comparisons below). Terminator: Genisys from Paramount should open with a $34.0 million traditional three-day weekend and about $51 million through Sunday. Early reviews […]

  Word of mouth on FANTASTIC FOUR (20th) is going to be deadly (the exit polls are dismal, and since they survey ticketbuyers enthusiastic enough to show up on the first day of release, lesser fans are likely to consider it even worse), probably sealing its fate as one of the biggest flops of the […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.   YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2015 to date is still +6% above last year and still +2% above the average for this point the past four years ($7.173 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed just under $19.1 billion worldwide when we add overseas box office (that’s […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.   YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2015 to date is now +4% above last year and still +2% above the average for this point the past four years ($8.361 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed $22.6 billion worldwide when we add overseas box office (that’s still +6% […]

For the 19 days December 16-January 3, top 10 films in North America have totaled $1.185 billion, now +61% ahead of the same period last year, +70% above the average since 2002, and +25% ahead of the previous record for this period (2009, the year of Avatar). Box Office Volume — Top 10 Films North America […]

  OPENINGS:  The really bad news for GODS OF EGYPT (Summit/Lionsgate) wasn’t the $14M US opening, although that was certainly pathetic enough.  No, the really bad news was that in 68 overseas territories covering most of the world (although not yet China, which opens in 2 weeks, nor France, Germany or the UK), it managed […]

  OPENINGS:  The biggest noise of the weekend by far was made outside the US, where CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR (Marvel/Disney) began its global campaign, and earned $200.2M in 63 territories comprising about two-thirds of the international terrain (not including China and Russia, among others).  Disney has made it clear that that this is an […]

  OPENINGS:  INDEPENDENCE DAY: RESURGENCE (20th) is the latest indication that audiences may be tiring of massive CG spectacles–which is bad news for the major studios, since they’ve concentrated most of their line-ups into that genre.  ID:R‘s $41.6M weekend is mediocre at best for a would-be blockbuster with $300M+ in worldwide costs, suggesting a US […]