Not a bad weekend for the box office this weekend.  Overall business is up about 8% from the similar weekend average.  Three new movies opened (each with a different feel and target demographic target).  No big hits among the three, but three solid performances.       The ShowbuzzDaily Domestic Final estimates for films opening […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Updated look at 2016 by studio.     YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2016 to date is now +5% above last year and still +5% above the average for this point the past four years ($7.021 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed over $18.6 billion worldwide […]

  As with Spectre 2 weeks ago, THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY PART 2 (Lionsgate) is making a tremendous amount of money in its opening weekend–but not as much as had been expected in light of what its franchise predecessor had earned.  According to preliminary numbers at Deadline, Mockingjay 2 will have a $47M launch, including […]

  OPENINGS:  The $40M weekend estimate for THE HEAT (20th) makes more sense than it did last night, now that the movie’s Saturday is being reported as a 6% increase rather than a 5% drop.  (But always be suspicious of round-number estimates anyway.)  The Heat is going to be profitable, thanks to its $45M production budget, […]

  It’s looking like a slow weekend at the box office, although the successive arrivals of Divergent, Noah and Captain America 2 over the next 3 weeks should keep it from becoming a trend. Based on preliminary numbers at Deadline, NEED FOR SPEED (DreamWorks/Disney) probably won’t even reach $20M for the weekend.  Its reported $6.5M […]

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 -5% below last year’s comparable span and still +1% above this point the past four years ($9.593 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed over $25.5 billion […]

  It’s impossible to know at this point how the unspeakable events in Newtown on Friday will affect family behavior over the weekend, and even though this tragedy, unlike the Aurora massacre in July, has no direct connection to movies or theaters, the crowds that might have attended matinees of a four-quadrant event like THE […]

Weekend #39 of 2014 is looking like $97 million for the top 12 films this weekend, up 3% from the norm for this weekend. Opening at around 3,234 theaters Friday (above the 2,886 average theater count for opening weekends the last two years), The Equalizer from Sony should average a solid $10,600 per theater for the […]