OPENINGS:  FAST X (Universal) arrived with $67.5M.  In the US, that was slightly below the $70M for F9, one of the first big-ticket movies to brave a wide pandemic-era release in May 2021.  In terms of the franchise as a whole (leaving aside spinoff Hobbes & Shaw), Fast X was the 7th highest of […]

>The second weekend of 2012 looks to be fairly anemic: $103 million for the top 12 films for the traditional three-day Friday-Sunday period.  This would be down 11% from the same weekend in 2011 and down 28% from the same weekend average for the past several years.  Basically, there is just not enough heat or […]

  OPENINGS:  In what Hollywood hopes will be the last weekend of drought for a while, the TV episodes packaged as DEMON SLAYER:  KIMETSU NO YAIBA – TO THE HASHIRA TRAINING (Crunchyroll/Sony) led the newcomers with $11.6M, a bit better than the $10.1M for last year’s Demon Slayer episodes.  In addition, the film earned $13.7M […]

>Weekend #17 of 2012 looks like it will be about $112 million for the top 12 films, down 23% from last year’s comparable weekend (when Fast Five exploded with an $86 million opening weekend) and down 17% from the four-year average for this weekend.  A lack of compelling new product should make this weekend the […]

  OPENINGS:  THE BEST CHRISTMAS PAGEANT EVER (Lionsgate) is claiming “victory” among the newcomers, but its reported $11.1M comes with a huge asterisk, as $2.1M of that total was from a preview day the previous week.  Strictly on a weekend vs weekend basis, it wasn’t close to the win.  It’s also estimating the smallest Sunday […]

>THERE IS A GOD!  Adam Sandler’s latest movie in which he plays a brother and a sister will not be the #1 movie of the weekend.  While not a flop, it failed to open to the $30-35 million his fans usually pony up.  Best of all, the film will not come close to the $100 […]

    Be extra-nice to anyone you know at Universal today. OPENINGS:  BATTLESHIP (Universal) is lucky John Carter exists, because the studio can spin the numbers (Carter cost a little more, Battleship is doing a little better overseas) to obscure the fact that its movie, with a domestic opening of $25.3M ($5M less than Carter‘s) […]

>Based on Friday and Saturday box office (and estimated Sunday numbers), Paranormal Activity 3 is now looking like a $54 million opening weekend, almost matching the last big opening ($54.8 for Rise of the Planet of the Apes on August 5) and blowing past the $41 million opening for Paranormal Activity 2 this week last year.  […]