> Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 from Warner Brothers will open huge at the box office, propelling the weekend up more than 30% over this weekend last year (when Inception and the Nicolas Cage classic The Sorcerer’s Apprentice opened).  Winne the Pooh from Disney will get lost in the shuffle. Opening at […]

  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, […]

>International box office results show that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 continues to surge: its overseas gross to date is now over $850 million and its estimated worldwide total exceeds $1.2 billion.  Rise of the Planet of the Apes now stands at #14, but it is just getting started overseas.  It is probably […]

The 34th weekend of the year is looking like $99 million for the top 12 films, up a decent 10% from the average for this weekend.  Opening at 3,046 theaters Wednesday (a bit above the 2,886 average theater count for opening weekends the last two years), The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones from Sony should average $4,100 per theater for the […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Here is an updated look at the 2017 film slates by studio.   YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2017 to date is now +14% above last year and now +23% above the average for this point the past four years ($1.863 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have […]

The latest International box office summary:

Based on Friday’s grosses, weekend #24 of 2014 looks like $197 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, 28% above the norm for this weekend but no different than the same weekend last year.   Opening at 3,306 theaters, 22 Jump Street from Sony grossed $25.0 million Friday and is on track for a $63.0 million […]

The 35th weekend of 2012 is looking like $81 million for the Top 12 films Friday-Sunday, about the same as the last few Labor Day weekends.  The Possession broke out of the pack to open at #1 with an okay $16 million for the three-day portion of the holiday weekend.      The Possession from […]