>Through Thursday, Team Metcalf’s lead in the ShowBuzzDaily Summer Movie Draft is now almost $67 million.  This weekend Metcalf’s final two films open (Cowboys & Aliens and Crazy, Stupid, Love), while Salem opens The Smurfs.  Metcalf’s lead will expand somewhat this weekend, and the race will be decided by Rise of the Planet of the […]

Based on Friday’s and Saturday’s grosses, weekend #46 of 2014 looks like $135 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, up from yesterday’s estimate ($128 million) but still down 29% the norm for this weekend ($191 million) but up (+13%) from the same weekend last year. Opening at 3,154 theaters, Dumb and Dumber To from Universal grossed $14.2 […]

Updated international box office chart:

>The weekend studio estimates (based on Friday and Saturday actuals and projections for Sunday) are coming in about the same as the weekend numbers posted yesterday (based on Friday actuals only).  The box office volume for the top 12 films is now looking like $110 million for the weekend, down 6% from last year’s weekend […]

Updated international box office chart below.  The Hobbit (+$97 million overseas since last week) and Life of Pi (+$82 million) are the big movers this week. New entrants to the chart include The Impossible at #31, Texas Chainsaw at #41, and Promised Land at #65.  With significant (and growing overseas business) the Spanish-produced Impossible is the one film in this week’s crop that can move up […]

The big gainers overseas this week: Brave (up $33 million, finally over the $200 million milestone overseas), Dark Knight Rises (up $31 million this week overseas), Ted (up $25 million overseas this week), Total Recall (up $22 million this week),  Ice Age: Continental Drift (up $18 million to an incredible $662 million overseas to date) and Madagascar 3 (up $17 million to $369 million […]

> Reviews have been coming in progressively worse for Cars 2, dropping from 50% positive at RottenTomatoes to 37% as of Friday morning.  In line with this trend is Mitch Salem’s review of the film.  The words “lazy” and “phoning it in” seem to summarize what reviewers think, and that does not bode well for […]

  OPENINGS:  HUNTER KILLER (Millenium/Summit Premiere/Lionsgate) had a weak $6.7M start, and probably won’t reach $20M in the US, not even enough to pay for the costs of its US release, and a low for a Gerard Butler action movie.  Its international campaign has a sluggish $4M so far, with $3.2M this weekend in 16 […]