Preliminary numbers at Deadline give PRISONERS (Warners) an easy win on Friday and almost certainly for the weekend, with a $7.5M opening day that should mean $20-22M by Sunday.  Warners is following the Argo playbook with Prisoners, with acclaimed Telluride and Toronto Film Festival screenings followed by a quick wide release, and so far […]

  OPENINGS:  TOMB RAIDER (MGM/Warners) was a reboot that no one asked for, and although franchise movies aren’t star vehicles, the casting of Alicia Vikander in the lead didn’t excite anyone either.  Its $23.5M US weekend won’t get it very far in recouping $200M+ in production/marketing costs.  Things are better overseas, where Tomb Raider earned […]

Weekend #35 of 2016 forecasts for films opening wide and major returning films: NEW FILMS THIS WEEKEND August 26-28, 2016 Critics Positive ($ millions) Opening Weekend Forecast Domestic Total Projection Overseas Total Projection Worldwide Total Projection Don’t Breathe Sony R 91% 18.5 52 48 100 Mechanic: Resurrection LG R n/a 7.5 17 27 44 Hands of […]

  OPENINGS:  With the pandemic raging throughout the country and about 20% fewer theatres open than last week, box office numbers plunged across the board.  There were no truly wide openings, but the Jackie Chan vehicle VANGUARD (Gravitas) opened at 1375 theatres with a low $400K start, a per-theatre weekend average of just $290. Similarly, […]

  OPENINGS:  What are we to make of the $23M start for KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON (Paramount/Apple)?  As serious 3+hour historical epics go, while it’s a small fraction of Oppenheimer‘s $82.5M launch, it’s better than the $22M 5-day opening for House of Gucci, and the $18.4M for 2013’s Scorsese/DiCaprio The Wolf of Wall Street […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, Weekend #17 of 2013 is looking like a very weak $80 million for the top 12 films, down 34% from the average the past few years for this weekend and down 18% from the same weekend last year.  Michael Bay’s Pain and Gain opened fairly quietly — not a total disaster but […]

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 +10% above last year and now +11% above the average for this point […]

Weekend #22 of 2012 looks like it will total about $122 million for the top 12 films, down 21% from last year’s comparable weekend and down 20% from the four-year average for the weekend.  That would make it three down weekends (way down) in a row.   Opening at an estimated 3,700 theaters, Snow White and […]