The major studios didn’t try to seriously challenge HALLOWEEN (Blumhouse/Miramax/Universal) on its titular weekend, and despite a 69% Friday-to-Friday drop to $10.3M according to preliminary numbers at Deadline, it will easily win its 2nd weekend with around $33M.  At this rate, it could top $175M in the US, which would put it neck-and-neck with […]

  Franchises are the lifeblood of Hollywood, so it has to chill studios to see three of those entries falter in a single 2-weekend period, especially since the stakes are higher for this week’s arrivals than last week’s Neighbors 2. Based on the preliminary $27M Friday number at Deadline, X-MEN: APOCALYPSE (TSG/20th) is running almost […]

Weekend #52 of 2014 is looking like $156 million for the top 12 films this weekend, down -2% from the norm for this weekend and down -14% from the same weekend last year.   Opening at around 2,400 theaters Christmas Day (somewhat below the 2,886 average theater count for opening weekends the last two years), Into the Woods from Disney […]

The box office is roaring back to life this weekend after three weeks of unimpressed moviegoers.  The 23rd weekend of 2012 is looking like a killer $183 million for the Top 12 films Friday-Sunday, up 38% from this weekend last year and up 25% from a more normal second weekend in June.  As expected, Prometheus […]

  FURY (QED/Columbia/Sony) continued to win but underwhelm on Saturday.  According to preliminary numbers at Deadline, Brad Pitt’s somber action vehicle was up 3-4% at most from Friday, and possibly not up at all with around $9M for the day.  That’s not a great result for a film that should be appealing to older audiences […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, Weekend #51 is on pace for a horrifying $98 million.  This weekend of the year is tricky because sometimes it contains Christmas Day itself (such as 2009 when this weekend was December 25-27 and totaled a massive $260 million) and other times it is just a slow warm up to the […]

>Finally, The Help has been knocked off its perch, after facing one turd of a movie after another for four weeks.   Contagion will open at #1 with over $22 million (slightly above forecast) and headed for about $72 million domestic.  Don’t cry for The Help, though.  Its final domestic gross estimate has been upgraded yet […]

> The past week (seven days ending Sunday) came in up 16% versus last year’s comparable week (the second significant increase in as many weeks).  Year-to-date box office is now down 6% versus last year.    The Past Week: Total Box Office Volume All films in wide release playing between July 18 and July 24 grossed $289 million, up 16% versus […]