THE LEGO MOVIE 2: THE SECOND PART (Warners Animation) is looking like a textbook example of a studio watering down its own franchise.  Warners jumped into 2 spin-offs before even reaching its first official sequel, and the result according to early numbers at Deadline is a $8.9M opening day, down 48% from the first […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Here is an updated look at the 2018 film slates by studio. The studio totals also include 2019 dollars for films released in late 2018. We will switch to tracking the 2019 slates next week. BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2019 is now -30% below last year’s comparable span and […]

    Beware of studio estimates and round numbers. OPENINGS:  In order to get MEN IN BLACK 3 (Sony) to a round $70M for the 4-day weekend, the studio had to claim the lowest Monday drop of the market’s Top 9 films–even though MIB3 hasn’t shown any particular strength with the family matinee audience (its […]

And the race begins.  Team Metcalf is off to an early lead in the second annual ShowBuzzDaily Summer Movie Draft, thanks to a big head start from Marvel’s The Avengers (Metcalf’s top pick and the #2 pick overall).  The Avengers came in officially at a resounding $207.4 million for its record-setting domestic opening weekend.  Keep […]

Based on Friday’s and Saturday’s grosses, weekend #38 of 2014 now looks like $93 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, 8% above the norm for this weekend ($86 million) and up a bit from yesterday’s estimate ($91 million). Opening at 3,604 theaters, The Maze Runner from 20th Century Fox grossed $11.3 million Friday and […]

> It turned out to be a great boxoffice weekend for movies aimed at adults, led of course by THE HELP.  THE DEBT had an extraordinarily strong Saturday for a new opening (up 40% from Friday), and is riding that to a surprising weekend finish above its more youth-oriented competition–and at considerably fewer theatres.  APOLLO […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, weekend #40 of 2014 looks like $129 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, 25% above the norm for this weekend ($104 million).  A great start for the fall movie season. Opening at 3,014 theaters, Gone Girl from 20th Century Fox grossed $13.2 million Friday and is on track for a […]

  STAR WARS:  Whether one considers Avatar‘s proper US all-time box office record to be $749.8M (initial release) or $760.5M (includes “director’s cut” re-release), the crown will be changing hands in the next few days.  STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS (Lucasfilm/Disney), which declined 41% on its 3rd weekend to $88.3M (setting yet another record by […]