Rebooting an aged horror franchise can be tough.  Recent attempts to bring back Alien, Scream and Friday the 13th have faltered, and now Saw, rechristened as JIGSAW (Lionsgate), isn’t off to much of a start.  Preliminary numbers at Deadline have opening day at $7.5M, much lower than the $10.7M for Saw 3D, the last […]

Weekend #31 of 2012 looks more like a late August weekend: two films opening with very little excitement.  The top 12 films this weekend should total $116 million, down significantly from last year’s comparable weekend, which featured the surprisingly successful (and good) Rise of the Planet of the Apes.  Total Recall, however, feels like it […]

  OPENINGS:  ZERO DARK THIRTY (Sony) expanded to coincide with its Oscar nominations, and the strategy worked as planned, with the acclaimed (and, in some circles, attacked) drama easily carrying Friday with $9M, on its way to $25-27M for the weekend. It’s a massive embarrassment for GANGSTER SQUAD (Warners) that it was beaten by the […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Here is an updated look at the 2017 film slates by studio. YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2017 to date is still down -2% from last year and still +1% above the average for this point the past four years ($8.038 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed $22.4 […]

  WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Here is an updated look at the 2019 film slates by studio. BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2019 is now -5% below last year’s comparable span (2 points better than last week’s comparison) and now +1% above this point the past four years ($9.349 billion).  Over the same […]

  The calendar may say the 4th of July is approaching, but it’s looking an awful lot like Christmas at the boxoffice this weekend.  Preliminary numbers at Deadline have both TED (Universal) and MAGIC MIKE (Warners) overperforming for smash hit weekends.  Ted is reportedly having a $20.5M Friday and possibly a $50M opening weekend, which would make it one […]

Weekend #6 of 2015 is looking like $108 million for the top 12 films this weekend, well below the normal volume for this weekend ($133 million). Opening at around 3,500 theaters Friday (well above the 2,886 average theater count for opening weekends the last two years), The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water from Paramount should average […]

  For the studios, a Good Friday that generally lived up to its name. OPENINGS:  GI JOE: RETALIATION (Paramount/MGM) had a very solid second day, rising 48% for a $15.5M Friday.  That’s still only 2/3 of the $22.2M that its predecessor GIJoe: The Rise of Cobra did on its opening day (despite 3D ticket premiums […]