> No doubt the enormous success of THE LION KING hasn’t been lost on anyone at Disney, and we can expect to see 3D reissues of more classic animation over the next few years, leading into yet more homevideo editions. If not for Lion King being in the market, DOLPHIN TALE would almost certainly have […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, weekend #17 of 2015 looks like $81 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, well below the norm for this weekend. Opening at 2,991 theaters Friday, The Age of Adaline from Lionsgate is on track for a $12.2 million opening three-day weekend (somewhat above our $10.5 million ShowBuzzDaily forecast earlier this week). The film is pacing toward a […]

  OPENINGS:  This was the weekend of AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER (20th/Disney), and the epic’s launch was softer than widely expected at $134M in the US and $301M in all major overseas markets including China.  Box office apologists, who at this point resemble political press secretaries, have rushed in to spin that Way of […]

  With the only fresh competition being a young-skewing R-rated comedy, the family ticket of choice on Father’s Day was overwhelmingly MAN OF STEEL (Warners), which is now claiming an exceptional $36.3M on Sunday.  That’s for all intents and purposes dead even with Saturday’s gross (down a token $25,000), and although Father’s Day is traditionally […]

  Preliminary numbers at Deadline have the remake of EVIL DEAD (TriStar/Sony/FilmDistrict) on track for a solid weekend win, with $11.5M on Thursday night/Friday and a probable front-loaded weekend in the mid $20Ms.  That would put it midway between the January horror launches of Texas Chainsaw Massacre ($21.7M) and Mama ($28.4M), and it’ll probably end […]

  OPENINGS:  For a Wednesday opening, TRANSFORMERS: THE LAST KNIGHT (Huahua/Paramount) had a fairly good 27% Saturday bump in the US (by comparison, 2011’s Dark of the Moon went up just 5% on its parallel day), which pushed the weekend estimate a bit to $45.3M, giving the film $69.1M over 5 days.  That’s still far […]

  OPENINGS:  NOAH (Paramount/Regency) got the start it wanted and needed with $15.2M on Friday ($1.6M of that from Thursday night), which–unless word of mouth sinks the ark–should mean a $40M weekend.  The darkly revisionist biblical spectacle also has $28.3M overseas, where it’s still in just 21 markets, so for now it’s on track to […]

  OPENINGS:  LYLE LYLE CROCODILE (Columbia/Sony) arrived below expectations at $11.5M (it might reach $13.4M with the Monday holiday), unable to take advantage of the 11-week gap since the last major family movie opened.  It has more than a month until Strange World claims that audience, but even with strong holds, it still may not […]