The summer movie season will be underway momentarily on the east coast, as 7PM screenings commence for The Amazing Spider-Man–which isn’t exactly riding a rave of critical support (56% positive at Rotten Tomatoes, and 35% among “top critics”).  At Sony tonight, uneasy lie the heads that wear a crown.  But meanwhile, our survey of […]

Weekend #18 of 2014 is looking like a relatively soft $139 million for the top 12 films, 28% below the typical volume for this weekend the past few years ($192 million). Opening at over 4,000 theaters Friday (well above the 2,886 average theater count for opening weekends the last two years), The Amazing Spider-Man 2 from Sony should average $21,400 per […]

  We’re just about 24 hours away from the US arrival of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and the kick-off of the summer movie season, and in our survey of each studio’s schedule and prospects, we’ve already taken a look at Sony, Universal and Warner Bros.  Today:  the House of Murdoch, aka 20th Century Fox. LAST […]

  In our week-long look at the box office prospects of the nearly-here summer movie season on a studio by studio basis, we’ve examined Sony and Universal.  Today our eye is on Warner Bros, typically one of the busiest of the studios. LAST SUMMER:  Overall a success, although not quite to the extent Warners was […]

  This week, as the clock ticks toward the start of the summer movie season, we’re taking a studio-by-studio look at each company’s line-up and prospects.  Last time we covered Sony, and today we’ll examine Universal. LAST SUMMER:  Universal’s 2013 summer was anchored by two gigantic sequels:  Fast & Furious 6 ($239M US/$789M worldwide) and […]

  We’re just days away from the launch of the summer movie season, the most important part of the year for all of the major studios.  Literally billions of dollars will be on the line over the next several months, with almost every weekend bringing a high-stakes bet to the table from one or more […]

  OPENINGS:  THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 (Sony) is still several days from its US opening, but the superhero spectacle already has $132M in the bank after a $67.2M 2d weekend in 42 international territories–which don’t yet include such lucrative areas as China, Brazil and France.  It should be over $150M before any US ticketbuyer has […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  A great week for Fox, which vaults into second place and just over $900 million worldwide box office year to date.  The very strong Fox week was paced by the domestic rollout of The Other Woman and continued international strength from Rio 2.  Disney remains in the top spot with just under $1 billion worldwide […]