OPENINGS:  THE BOURNE LEGACY (Universal) is holding on to its $40M opening by its fingernails, with just $265K to spare.  (We’ll find out tomorrow if that holds up.)   Bourne is an unusual action franchise that historically hasn’t overperformed internationally, and if that’s the case with Legacy as well, the picture is likely looking at […]

  NON-STOP (Universal) has taken the initial lead over SON OF GOD (20th) with a tight Friday win, according to preliminary numbers at Deadline, but the weekend race is far from over.  Non-Stop reportedly took in $9.5M on Friday (including around $700K on Thursday night), with Son of God close behind at $9M+ (including $1.2M […]

  OPENINGS:  Studios are increasingly starting their global launches of franchise blockbusters overseas, and once again, the weekend’s biggest box office news occurred outside the US.  X-MEN: APOCALYPSE (20th) has opened in 75 overseas territories that cover about 2/3 of the world (but not yet China) and had a $103.3M weekend.  That’s much lower than […]

  OPENINGS:  Star/co-writer/co-producer Melissa McCarthy reportedly took a fraction of her usual fee on TAMMY (Warners) to keep the production budget down to the low $20Ms.  After a $6.4M 4th of July (up 17% from Thursday), the movie is well on its way to recouping that budget–it should have a $22M weekend, and $34M since […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Despite having the only movie to cross the $300 million worldwide line (The Lego Movie), Warner Brothers lags behind Sony which has no mega-hit but three of its four films in 2014 are at $100 million or more worldwide.  But it’s early in the race with Disney yet to release a film in […]

  OPENINGS:  STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI (Lucasfilm/Disney) had an excellent Saturday for a blockbuster of its size, dropping 39% from Friday, where The Force Awakens had fallen 43%.  That cemented Last Jedi as the 2nd-highest opening in US history at $220M (down 11% from Force Awakens)–and that studio estimate may even be a tad […]

Memorial Day weekend pushed Team Metcalf’s front-loaded slate to $682 million through Monday in the second annual ShowbuzzDaily Summer Movie Fantasy Draft, with only two significant films left to open on his slate: Prometheus (#8 pick overall) and Madagascar 3 (#11), both opening June 8.  Team Weil totals $47 million so far (with Battleship his lone film to have opened).  Weil’s […]

  The Disney machine is hitting an atypical pothole with DUMBO (Disney), which according to preliminary numbers at Deadline had a $14.8M Friday ($2.6M of that from Thursday night).  That’s very much on the low end of the studio’s live-action remakes of its own animated classics, behind the opening days for Beauty & The Beast […]