OPENINGS: THE SECRET LIFE OF PETS (Illumination/Universal) quintupled the next-highest grosser of the weekend, with the biggest opening in US history for an animated non-sequel at $103.2M, easily passing last year’s $90.4M for Inside Out. It remains to be seen if Pets can match Inside Out‘s nearly 4x multiple, but whatever happens from here, […]
OPENINGS: THE LIGHT BETWEEN OCEANS (DreamWorks/Reliance/Participant/Disney) brings to an ignominious end the distribution relationship between DreamWorks and Disney. Their final shared title disappointed on every level, with a $5M 3-day weekend that might become $6M on Monday, and no chance of recouping its costs. Even though the weak reviews, length and period setting worked […]
In the movie 42, Jackie Robinson (played by Chadwick Boseman) repeatedly asks Branch Rickey why he is breaking baseball’s unwritten whites-only rule. Rickey (played by Harrison Ford) gives very vague, unsatisfying responses each time. What a blown dramatic opportunity. In Ken Burns’ nine-part documentary masterpiece “Baseball,” an aged Red Barber (the Dodgers’ radio broadcaster) describes the […]
A trio of movie fantasies opened on Friday, and only one survived. In fact, THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SPONGE OUT OF WATER (Nickelodeon/Paramount) thrived, outperforming expectations according to preliminary numbers at Deadline with $14.3M on Friday, which should give it $50M+ for the weekend. That opening day was far better than the $9.6M earned by […]
Weekend #43 of 2015 is looking like $111 million for the top 12 films this weekend, above the norm for this weekend (see comparisons below). Steve Jobs from Universal should collect around a $18.5 million in its first wide weekend. Through Sunday, the total to date should be around $21 million. The film is on track for around $65 million domestic […]
> Anyone who thinks the boxoffice isn’t in a slump needs a new prescription for bifocals. Note: since December 24 is a traditionally deadly day at the boxoffice (closed theatres, family plans) that would make 3-day weekend estimates look even worse than they are, we’ll use 4 day Friday-Monday weekend estimates below. WE BOUGHT A […]
For the 17 days December 16-January 1, top 10 films in North America have totaled $1.065 billion, now +66% ahead of the same period last year, +68% above the average since 2002, and +30% ahead of the previous record for this period (2009, the year of Avatar). Box Office Volume — Top 10 Films North America […]
The stretch of box-office beginning in mid-August is one of the weakest of the year, and this weekend’s arrivals did nothing to change that tradition. WAR DOGS (RatPac/Warners) had the best of the low starts, with $5.4M on Friday (including $1.3M from Thursday night) according to preliminary numbers at Deadline. That may give it […]