Based on Friday’s grosses, weekend #9 of 2014 looks like $109 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, somewhat better than we forecast Wednesday ($100 million) but still 17% below the average for this weekend. Opening at 3,090 theaters Friday, Non-Stop from Universal grossed $10.0 million Friday, putting the film on track for a $30.0 million opening weekend […]

  Darren Aronofsky’s NOAH (Paramount) should have no trouble winning the weekend, with preliminary numbers at Deadline giving it around $15M on Friday (that includes $1.6M from Thursday night).  That’s a strong result for a film that doesn’t fit into a conventional Hollywood genre, and normally it would indicate a weekend of $40M or more, […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, weekend #17 of 2014 looks like $102 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, better than the disaster of a weekend this time last year but still 6% below the norm for this weekend over the last several years.   Opening at 3,204 theaters Friday, The Other Woman from Fox grossed $9.3 million Friday, […]

  OPENINGS:  GODZILLA (Warners/Legendary) had the opening of its dreams with $38.5M on Friday (including $9.3M from Thursday night)–higher than the openings for The Amazing Spider-Man 2 ($35.2M) and Captain America: The Winter Soldier ($36.9M).  The latter had a $95M weekend, so Godzilla is on track for $98M–but don’t be surprised if Warners seizes the opportunity […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  The studios are starting to separate from each other as we approach the midpoint of the year.  20th Century Fox is nearing $1.9 billion worldwide box office to date.  Fox had a decent week with an additional $148 million worldwide (mostly from the domestic release of The Fault in Our Stars).  Warner Brothers […]

  Although ticket sales were up from July 4th, preliminary numbers at Deadline indicate that they remained very soft on Saturday, and in general, current releases will be at the low end of their weekend expectations.  That starts with TRANSFORMERS: AGE OF EXTINCTION (Paramount), which climbed less than 35% on Saturday to perhaps $14.5M.  That […]

  OPENINGS:  GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY (Marvel/Disney) has something the summer’s other blockbusters could only dream of:  weeks ahead without any A-level competition.  When the biggest titles coming up are the rebooted Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and The Expendables 3, there’s a real opportunity to romp for the entire month of August.  With its $37.8M […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, weekend #35 of 2014 looks like $84 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, 1% below the norm for this weekend ($85 million). Opening at 2,639 theaters, As Above/So Below from Universal grossed $3.2 million Friday and is on track for a $9.3 million opening three-day weekend (somewhat below our $10.5 million […]