OPENINGS:  With little else new around, DRAGON BALL SUPER: SUPER HERO (Crunchyroll/Sony) seized the weekend with $20.1M, a bit lower than the studio’s Dragon Slayer: Mugen Train, which opened with $21.2M at about half the number of theaters.  Dragon Ball, like most anime titles, was heavily skewed to the M18-34 audience, and it may […]

  Nearly identical opening numbers for 3 new movies mean different things. OPENINGS:  Thanks to its older audience, TROUBLE WITH THE CURVE (Warners) may end up winning the weekend, and certainly having the highest overall gross of this weekend’s openings, even though with $4.2M, it was third place on Friday.  However, this is still a […]

  At a cost of $175M (meaning $300M+ with global marketing), SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN (Universal) is a long way from profit.  But credit the studio with making “Snow White” seem cool enough to garner a solid opening (and credit the studio as well with cannily minimizing expectations, so a solid opening passes for […]

  Based on preliminary Saturday numbers at Deadline, adjustments from the morning’s weekend estimates will be minimal, although mostly in the wrong direction.  GOOSEBUMPS (Columbia/Sony) increased 31% from Friday to Saturday, a modest result for a family movie (Hotel Transylvania 2 jumped 56% on its 2d day of release), giving it a 2-day total of […]

The Past Week: Total Box Office Volume All films in wide release playing between November 26 and December 2 grossed an terrific $146 million, up 26% from the four-year average for the week and up a big 40% from the same week last year.  The past six weeks are now 18% above the four-year average […]

  OPENINGS:  The first Sonic the Hedgehog had the final pre-pandemic smash opening in 2020 before theaters started to close, with $58M for its 3-day weekend ($70M for the full Presidents Day holiday).  Now SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 2 (Paramount) has gotten off to an even bigger start with $71M for 3 days.  Although the success […]

  As the 2018 box office enters the Martin Luther King holiday weekend, most of its strength still lies in 2017 releases.  According to preliminary numbers at Deadline, JUMANJI: WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE (Columbia/Sony) is on track to win its 4th weekend of release.  Friday’s $6M take was down 44% from last week, and with […]

  International Box Office Note:  This is the last weekend before the World Cup begins diverting much of the planet’s attention (except, of course, in the US) away from movies for the next month.  That’s expected to have a noticeable effect on the overseas box office. OPENINGS:  THE FAULT IN OUR STARS (20th) confirmed all […]