A weekend of sequels is dancing to the beat of MAMMA MIA! HERE WE GO AGAIN (Perfect World/Universal), which had a $15.1M opening day according to preliminary numbers at Deadline.  That’s up an impressive 53% from the first day of the original Mamma Mia, although some of the gap is due to the fact […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Here is an updated look at the 2018 film slates by studio. The studio totals also include 2018 dollars for films released in late 2017. YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2018 to date is still +11% above last year and still +12% above the average for this point […]

  OPENINGS:  GODZILLA, KING OF THE MONSTERS (Legendary/Warners) didn’t have the Saturday bump that Kong: Skull Island enjoyed, instead dropping 17%, which was slightly worse even than the first Godzilla‘s 16%.  The result was a $49M US weekend, and a US total that may only reach $125M.  Although the numbers overseas were bigger, they were […]

> In future weeks, we’ll have a spiffy chart to keep you current on the progress of our Summer Movie Blockbuster Draft, but for now it’s pretty simple: Team Metcalf THOR:  $84,752,317 Team Salem $0 Over at Team Salem, I’d like to note that this somewhat lopsided total is because none of my movies have […]

  OPENINGS:  The second entry in the studio’s experiment with split theatrical/HBO Max distribution THE LITTLE THINGS (Warners) arrived with $4.8M in theatres, on the higher end of recent action movie openings ($3.1M for The Marksman, $4M for Unhinged), although of course paltry by pre-pandemic standards.  In addition, the film launched overseas with $2.8M from […]

  OPENINGS:  Even among the mostly-sad legacy of Labor Day Weekend openings, OPERATION FINALE (MGM) was notably weak at $6M ($7.7M since its Wednesday launch), and that number incorporates a studio-estimated Sunday bump that would be the highest in the Top 10.  The weekend number, which may get to $7.5M with Monday added, is considerably […]

Cartoons rule the multiplex. OPENINGS:  BRAVE (Pixar/Disney), with its $24.5M Friday, had the highest non-sequel opening day for a Pixar film, beating WALL-E‘s $23.2M.  It’s a little behind last year’s Cars 2, which started out with $25.7M, but should also be less front-loaded (Cars 2 fell 9% on its first Saturday, while WALL-E went down less than […]

  TAKEN 2 (20th), as expected, is running away with the boxoffice this weekend.  Its opening day, according to preliminary numbers at Deadline, is at $17.5M, not that much less than the $24.7M the original Taken made in its entire opening weekend in 2009.  The sequel should reach $45M or so for the weekend, although it […]