OPENINGS:  FAST & FURIOUS 6 (Universal) dropped 16% on Sunday and estimates a 13% slip on Monday–that latter number may be a little overoptimistic, but even if it turns out that the 4-day total is $119M instead of $120M, it matters very little except to Universal’s press people.  FF6 was easily the 4th best […]

STUDIO SCORECARD.  Disney remains in the #1 spot in the worldwide box office chart for 2013, but Universal has moved into second place with strong domestic and international performance from Fast & Furious 6.  Imagine if the studio could produce and distribute more films that overseas audiences wanted to see.  Some studios have slates that significantly […]

  OPENINGS:  Saturday showed an 18% drop for FAST & FURIOUS 6 (Universal), but really the number was better than it looked, because “Friday” included $6.5M from Thursday night.  With that factored out, the movie held almost dead even on Saturday, and should be headed for a $120M+ 4-day weekend, easily the 4th best Memorial […]

Scattered overseas results are in for the past week, mostly for the recent openers.Fast & Furious 6 is off to an impressive start outside of North America, as well as domestically.  In contrast, Epic is already slightly outshining The Hangover Part III worldwide (an early lead in overseas box office for Epic more than makes up for a slight estimated domestic advantage […]

Based on Friday’s and Saturday’s grosses, Weekend #21 of 2013 looks like a remarkable $254 million for the top 12 films, 50-75% above the comparable weekend the past few years.  This will be a Memorial Day Weekend record and the best three-day weekend since December 25-27, 2009 ($259.9 million for the top 12 films in […]

  OPENINGS:  The $38.2M opening day for FAST & FURIOUS 6 (Universal) was the 28th biggest opening day of all time–not bad for a franchise that was floundering without either of its original stars 3 movies ago.  It has a chance of becoming the #2 Memorial Day opening ever, a mark currently held by the […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, Weekend #21 of 2013 looks like an outstanding $256 million for the top 12 films, 50-75% above the comparable weekend the past few years.  A fairly deep bench of films is currently playing, although don’t count on Hangover III to contribute much in the coming weeks. Opening at 3,658 theaters Friday, Fast […]

  It wasn’t even a contest, let alone a drag race. FAST & FURIOUS 6 (Universal) had a sensational $36M Thursday night/Friday, according to preliminary numbers at Deadline.  That’s better than the $34.4M opening for Fast Five, and thanks to the holiday weekend, 6 should have a far better 4-day start that Fast Five‘s $92.4M.  […]