> It seems like only yesterday that we were reviewing the records for midnight openings (actually, it was March 23, when The Hunger Games opened with a 7th-highest $19.7M Thursday midnight–the highest ever for a non-sequel).  Now we’re just a few hours away from the US arrival of THE AVENGERS, which… is it a sequel?  […]

  OPENINGS:  Melissa McCarthy is now a genuine Hollywood player with the enormous debut of IDENTITY THIEF (Universal), beating all pre-release estimates with $36.6M.  (Take that, Rex Reed!)  Apart from Universal, the happiest studio in town is Fox, which has the McCarthy/Sandra Bullock vehicle The Heat coming up in the thick of summer movie season […]

Don’t look a gift boxoffice in the mouth? OPENINGS:  Unsurprisingly, both studios pushed their estimates on MADAGASCAR 3 (DreamWorks Animation/Paramount) and PROMETHEUS (20th) to the highest round number available, meaning $60M and $50M, respectively.  In order to achieve those numbers, the 2 movies with the worst Friday-to-Saturday performance in the Top 10 will need to […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Here is an updated look at the 2018 film slates by studio. The studio totals also include 2018 dollars for films released in late 2017. YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2018 to date is now +6% above last year and now +12% above the average for this point the […]

>Through Thursday, the gap between Team Salem and Metcalf has been reduced to about $172 million.  Look for Transformers: Dark of the Moon to add another $100-105 million through Monday, while Larry Crowne should garner around $20 million.  Now if only Zookeeper and Horrible Bosses were runaway hits, Team Metcalf might be able to withstand […]

  THE FAULT IN OUR STARS (20th) ran away with Friday’s box office, demonstrating the hunger out there for movies that aren’t centered on special effects extravaganzas.  Based on preliminary numbers at Deadline and elsewhere, Fault took in a huge $23.5-25M for the day (including $8.2M from Thursday night), and even if it plummets on […]

  OPENINGS:  Following several months of strong showings from the horror genre, PREY FOR THE DEVIL (Lionsgate) arrived at $7M to mop up the Halloween weekend remainder.  That was around the expected result, and considering that Prey was a low-budget effort with little national marketing, it might be enough to set a pace for minimal […]

  OPENINGS:  None of the studio releasing new films this weekend had much to be happy about.  BLAIR WITCH (Lionsgate) was the top of the newcomers in the US, but with a $9.7M start, it’s low-end even by the standards of cheap horror movies, and while its $5M production budget isn’t a problem, its $40-50M […]