OPENINGS:  A bit surprisingly, perhaps, Pixar’s recent movies haven’t exploded at the Saturday/Sunday matinee box office, with merely normal (as opposed to “family”) weekend multiples off their Friday openings.  So MONSTERS UNIVERSITY (Disney/Pixar) is likely headed to a $75-78M weekend after a $30.5M Friday, slightly less than anticipated.  That’s still Pixar’s 2d-best opening ever (behind […]

  OPENINGS:  With a $10M production budget (and tens of millions in marketing on top), the $10.6M weekend for SINISTER 2 (Blumhouse/Gramercy/Focus/Universal) will test Blumhouse’s ability to make money out of just about anything.  The opening is far below the $18M start for 2012’s Sinister, and its US total won’t be near the $48.1M gross […]

  OPENINGS:  PARANORMAL ACTIVITY: THE MARKED ONES (Paramount) was an experiment in several ways–the first installment of the franchise to be a spin-off and not a direct sequel, the first released out of the Halloween season, and one of Hollywood’s first tries at producing and marketing a movie primarily to the Latino audience.  All of […]

  Storms be damned:  according to preliminary numbers at Deadline, despite (or because of) the snows on the East Coast, Saturday was a very healthy day at the multiplexes.  Far from taking a Day 2 hit, IDENTITY THIEF (Universal) had a 33% Saturday bump comparable to the 2d day track of Bridesmaids, and now looks […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Here is an updated look at the 2019 film slates by studio. BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2019 is still -4% below last year’s comparable span and still +1% above this point the past four years ($10.234 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed almost $27.1 billion […]

Weekend #21 of 2016 forecasts for films opening wide and major returning films: NEW FILMS THIS WEEKEND May 20-22, 2016 Critics Positive ($ millions) Opening Weekend Forecast Domestic Total Projection Overseas Total Projection Worldwide Total Projection Angry Birds Movie Sony PG 54% 39.5 135 305 440 Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising Universal R 67% 38.5 125 […]

>Rise of the Planet of the Apes will remain #1, followed closely by The Help, which is running well above its ShowBuzzDaily weekend forecast.  Final Destination 5 should be in third place with a decent number but still below its forecast.  30 Seconds or Less and Glee: The 3D Concert Movie are lagging, both under forecast.  […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, Weekend #2 of 2013 is on pace for $124 million, identical to last weekend and up slightly from the same weekend the last few years.  The three wide-release films this weekend performed pretty much as forecast Wednesday, while Lincoln is the big surprise among the holdovers thanks to the Oscar nominations, […]