Based on Friday’s grosses, Weekend #38 of 2013 looks like a lame $72 million for the top 12 films, down 19% from the average for the same weekend the past few years. Opening at 3,260 theaters Friday, Prisoners from Warner Brothers grossed $6.9 million Friday and is on track for a $20.2 million opening weekend (somewhat above the $18.5 […]

  THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (Village Roadshow/MGM/Columbia/Sony), an expensive action movie in a month that doesn’t often feature them, and toplining the potent combo of Denzel Washington and Chris Pratt, is starting off moderately well but not exceptionally.  Preliminary numbers at Deadline have its opening day at $13M (including $1.75M from Thursday night), slightly ahead of […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Here is an updated look at the 2018 film slates by studio. The studio totals also include 2018 dollars for films released in late 2017. YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2018 to date is now +6% above last year and still +8% above the average for this point […]

  The phenomenon of It having had its day, weekend box office is starting to look more familiar, which is to say subdued.  KINGSMAN: THE GOLDEN CIRCLE (MARV/20th) will take the weekend, but hardly in impressive fashion.  Preliminary numbers at Deadline have opening day at $15.7M, which includes $3.4M from Thursday night.  2 years ago, […]

  Preliminary box office numbers at Deadline give Friday, as expected, to CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS 2 (Sony), and it will easily win the weekend as well.  Its $10M opening day is above the original Cloudy in 2009 ($8.1M) but below last year’s Hotel Transylvania ($11M), and with a sequel’s usual frontloading, it’s […]

  A WRINKLE IN TIME (Disney) has likely taken the only box office title it will ever have.  According to preliminary numbers at Deadline, Wrinkle had a narrow victory on Friday with $11.3M ($1.2M of that from Thursday night).  But the general front-loadedness of new openings, combined with the likely dim word of mouth here […]

> Hollywood, like teen girls before a Twilight opening, counts the hours until THE AVENGERS arrives. OPENINGS:  Universal badly miscalculated when it scheduled THE FIVE-YEAR ENGAGEMENT for a weekend when Think Like A Man and The Lucky One were both available for the romance market.  The movie was moderately budgeted (although it had a substantial […]

> Through Memorial Day, the Summer Movie Draft is starting to tighten up.  Team Metcalf leads $318 million to $298 million for Team Salem.  But keep in mind that Salem has two movies opening (the well-reviewed X-Men: First Class and the eagerly anticipated Super 8) before Metcalf’s next movie (Mr Popper’s Penguins).  The race  should […]