Early numbers at Deadline have the opening day (including Thursday night) of THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE (Lionsgate) at $67.5M, $200K above the launch of the original Hunger Games.  That makes it slightly puzzling that the weekend estimates, at Deadline and elsewhere, peg the weekend at around $145M, $7M or so less than Hunger […]

Updated worldwide box office chart for 2013 North American films.  Also, click here for a summary of worldwide performance by studio.

  Based on preliminary numbers at Deadline, PARANORMAL ACTIVITY: THE MARKED ONES (Paramount) is likely to win Friday but lose the weekend.  Its $8.5M start positions it not only to come in below the wide releases of all the previous installments of the Paranormal franchise (which opened in October), but also below the recent January […]

Based on Friday’s and Saturday’s grosses, weekend #5 of 2014 now looks like $72 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, even worse than the usual pace for a Super Bowl weekend and two million dollars below yesterday’s estimate. Opening at 2,809 theaters Friday, That Awkward Moment from Focus/Universal grossed a small $3.9 million Friday and a weak […]

  NON-STOP (Universal) has taken the initial lead over SON OF GOD (20th) with a tight Friday win, according to preliminary numbers at Deadline, but the weekend race is far from over.  Non-Stop reportedly took in $9.5M on Friday (including around $700K on Thursday night), with Son of God close behind at $9M+ (including $1.2M […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, weekend #13 of 2014 looks like $126 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, down 10% from the average for this weekend the past several years.   Opening at 3,567 theaters Friday, Noah from Paramount grossed $14.9 million through Friday, putting the film on track for a $40.4 million opening weekend (slightly above our […]

  This will be the last weekend without a mega-hit on top for a while. OPENINGS:  THE OTHER WOMAN (20th) will take the weekend with around $25M after a $9.3M Friday, and the potentially better news is that Diaz’s last hit Bad Teacher was even stronger overseas than in the US (not a sure thing […]

  GODZILLA (Warners/Legendary) is proving to be a somewhat frontloaded hit, with preliminary numbers at Deadline and elsewhere showing a Saturday drop of 15-20%, down from $38.5M on Friday to $32-32.5M.  If that holds, it will be a much heavier fall than the ones for Captain America: The Winter Soldier (down 6% to $34.7M) or […]