OPENINGS:  VIOLENT NIGHT (Universal) slightly overperformed with $13.3M in the US, and with its $20M production budget, it may be headed for breakeven or perhaps moderate profit.  However, worldwide marketing costs are likely to add another $40M+ to that tally, and the thriller had much less appeal overseas, with $7.1M in 72 territories. The […]

> A gigantic apology…the total for Team Salem is now correct.  Salem leads by about $75 million going into this weekend.  Thanks to the comment by “Anonymous” for spotting the error by Metcalf (unintentional, I swear!).  Updated totals for the first annual ShowBuzzDaily Summer Movie Draft show Team Salem $800,000 ahead of Team Metcalf through […]

  OPENINGS:  The biggest arrival of the weekend is still 2 weeks away from reaching the US.  INFERNO (Columbia/Sony), the latest in the DaVinci Code/Angels & Demons franchise, opened in 53 markets comprising about 2/3 of the world with $50M.  That’s a solid start, but suggests that when the movie goes worldwide (except for France) […]

  OPENINGS:  Congratulations and condolences to THE HUNGER GAMES:  MOCKINGJAY PART 1 (Lionsgate), which had the biggest day of any movie this year–yet at $55M (slightly higher than Friday afternoon estimates had projected) was a surprising disappointment.  That number was well behind the $67.3M for the first Hunger Games and the $71M for Catching Fire, a […]

>This weekend is looking even weaker than expected.  The top 12 films should total only $73 million, down 7% from the same weekend last year. Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 remains in the top spot, a little better than forecast ($16.5 weekend versus a $14.8 million forecast).  The Muppets while drop a very bad […]

  It’s not as though expectations for GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY (Marvel/Disney) were low–at the projected $70-75M level, it would have outgrossed the opening weekends of the original Captain America, Thor and Amazing Spider-Man.  But the movie blasted past those predictions with the force of an Infinity Stone, boasting a Friday reported at Deadline and […]

> HUGO: The boxoffice story of the holiday was undoubtedly Martin Scorsese’s quasi-family film.  While almost every other film of the day fell steeply or at best held around even, Hugo zoomed an astonishing 40%  This probably reflects to some extent the older audience for the picture, but The Descendants, which has a similar appeal, […]

Last weekend we said domestic box office would get back on track, and it turned out to be another very weak weekend (the third weekend in a row down around 20%).  We are going out on a limb again this week, forecasting an okay box office performance, with the top 12 films generating about $88 […]