OPENINGS:  The spectacular success of SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME (Marvel/Columbia/Sony) may have less to say about the box office overall than some would like to think.  No Way Home vaporized all pandemic-era records with a $253M weekend that was 2.8x the previous Covid high ($90M for Venom: Let There Be Carnage), becoming the #1 […]

  OPENINGS:  Allowing for the usual studio practice of predicting lower-than-typical Sunday drops to boost the numbers a bit, MONSTERS UNIVERSITY (Disney/Pixar) opened in line with expectations at what may be slightly less than the $82M number announced today.  That puts it only behind 3 other big-ticket animated sequels (the last Toy Story and 2 […]

Skyfall is finally starting to slow down — “only” $16 million overseas since last week.  Although still a decent haul, the weekly pace is down substantially from recent weeks.  The latest Bond film looks tantilizingly close to $1 billion worldwide, but it will have to stretch to make it. The Hobbit is really rolling overseas, with $146 […]

The Past Week: Total Box Office Volume All films in wide release playing between October 15 and October 21 grossed a decent $158 million, up 4% from the four-year average for the week and up 13% from the same week last year.    The past six weeks are now 4% above the four-year average box […]

> An eclectic trio of films open wide this weekend.  Cowboys & Aliens (the ultimate genre mash-up) should win the weekend with $41.5 million.  Captain America should drop to second place, while The Smurfs should battle with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 for third place.  Crazy, Stupid, Love should open quietly in fifth […]

One slate had a significant gain this week: Team Weil was up $180 million over the last seven days to $734 million, vaulting into second place.  The Dark Knight Rises accounted for most of that increase, although Ice Age 4 also remains a significant contributor. Team Salem had a small $22 million increase this week, hitting $709 million […]

  OPENINGS:  Horror has been one of the more reliable genres at the pandemic box office, and CANDYMAN (MGM/Universal) opened with a solid $22.4M, buoyed by unusually good reviews (85% on Rotten Tomatoes).  That offset a weaker showing overseas, where it earned $5.2M in 51 markets. HOLDOVERS:  FREE GUY (20th/Disney) enjoyed its final pre-Shang Chi […]

> THE HELP continues to have a strong head start on the weekend boxoffice.  The Hollywood Reporter says the film grossed $4.3M on Thursday, down only around 20% from its opening day on Wednesday, which gives it almost $10M for the 2-day period.  This suggests the picture isn’t particularly front-loaded, and may foretell a solid […]