The 22nd weekend of the year is looking like a very good $186 million for the top 12 films, up 30% or more from the same weekend in previous years.    Opening at over 3,000 theaters Friday (a slightly above average theater count), After Earth from Sony and starring Will and Jaden Smith should average $12,100 […]

The 26th weekend of the year (halfway through already!) is looking like an on-target $189 million for the top 12 films, within a few percentage points of the comparable weekend the last few years.     Opening at around 3,000 3,222 theaters Friday (somewhat above the average 2,886 theater count for opening weekend wide releases), White […]

The 29th weekend of the year is looking like $178 million for the top 12 films, about normal for this weekend on average the past few years but down significantly from last year, which was dominated by the opening of The Dark Knight Rises and the madness of the theater shooting in suburban Denver. Opening at […]

  OPENINGS:  With a $27.4M start, 2 GUNS (Universal) is probably headed for $85M in the US, a fair if unexciting return for a movie that claims to have (post-tax credits) a $61M production budget.  With Universal taking its marketing expenses and distribution fees off the top, there won’t be much profit for financiers Emmett-Furia […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, Weekend #35 of 2013 looks like a very decent $95 million for the top 12 films, up 16% from the average Friday-Sunday portion of recent Labor Day weekends.  One Direction: All of Us and the out-of-nowhere Instructions Not Included opened well, and continued strength from The Butler and We’re the Millers […]

STUDIO SCORECARD. In the worldwide studio rankings for 2013 to date, the weekly changes look much higher than normal.  Most of those increases are a function of some September films not being fully counted in the yearly totals for the past few weeks.  All of the 2013 films are properly accounted for now. Warner Brothers […]

STUDIO SCORECARD. In the worldwide studio rankings for 2013 to date, only moderate changes for each studio.  The biggest gainer this week was Paramount, which released a film from its tiny slate: Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa. However, it shows just how slow the box office environment is right now when a $93 million weekly gain is tops among […]

Based on Friday’s and Saturday’s grosses, Weekend #47 of 2013 now looks like $222 million for the top 12 films — up from yesterday’s estimate thanks to a stronger than expected Saturday for Hunger Games: Catching Fire.  Now the overall weekend volume virtually matches the average for recent weekends before Thanksgiving. Opening at 4,163 theaters […]