The 2014 holiday box office continues to be slightly better than average but slightly below last year. The top 10 films on Thursday January 1, 2015 totaled $46.3 million, somewhat above the average $44.8 million for the days since 2002 when this date landed on a weekday.  When January 1 last fell on a Thursday, […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Here is the updated 2015 Scorecard  If you are interested in the 2014 Scorecard, scroll down to the bottom of the post (as the remnants of overseas box office for late 2014 films continue to trickle in). YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2015 to date is now […]

  Despite the addition of 3D and IMAX screens with their increased ticket prices, the opening day result for INSURGENT (Summit/Lionsgate) was below the start for last year’s Divergent, according to preliminary numbers at Deadline, with $21M compared to $22.8M.  That may mean a $48M opening weekend, below Divergent‘s $54.6M–or even less if, like most […]

  OPENINGS:  Playing in 44 markets that represent a bit over half the world (and not including China), AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON (Marvel/Disney) has already romped to $201.2M in advance of its US opening.  International comparisons are tricky, due to variations in release pattern and exchange rates, but Disney claims this puts Ultron 44% ahead […]

  OPENINGS:  SAN ANDREAS (Village Roadshow/RatPac Dune/New Line/Warners) had a solid 13% Saturday bump that propelled it to a $53.2M weekend, significantly above expectations–and with no direct competition arriving next weekend, it should hold fairly well (until Jurassic World arrives in 2 weeks).  The surprising part of the picture is that given that level of […]

Based on Friday’s and Saturday’s grosses, weekend #28 of 2015 looks like $204 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, above the norm for this weekend and way above last year’s weak weekend. Opening at 4,301 theaters Friday, Minions from Universal is on track for a $115.2 million opening three-day weekend (a little lower than yesterday’s outlook but still […]

  OPENINGS:  STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON (Legendary/Universal) turned out to be somewhat frontloaded, with a 20% drop on its 2d day of release.  But no one will complain about its huge $56.1M weekend, the #6 August opening ever (and #2, behind only Signs, among non-franchise titles).  It should add plenty of gold to Universal’s 2015 pile […]

  OPENINGS:  THE MARTIAN (20th) barely missed setting a new October opening record at $55M, just $800K behind Gravity (which had a much shorter running time and the advantage of IMAX ticket prices).  Gravity made it all the way to $274.1M in the US, and although Martian may have a tough time getting near that […]