The Past Week: Total Box Office Volume All films in wide release playing between October 1 and October 7 grossed a very strong $163 million, up 36% from the four-year average for the week and up 41% from the same week last year.   During the week of October 3-9, 2011, four films grossed $10 […]

Taken 2 enters the worldwide chart at #10 among recent movies, with a projected $138 domestic total when all is said and done and an overseas to date total of $67 million already.  An eventual overseas total of $200 million is possible, putting the worldwide target at $338 million.  This compares to a worldwide total […]

  This is why studios love franchises. OPENINGS:  TAKEN 2 (20th) almost doubled its closest competition (even though that $50M weekend estimate, like all round number estimates, may come down a bit when final numbers are released tomorrow).  Plus the movie earned an additional $55M overseas in only 27 markets, which means the sequel will […]

The weekend still looks like a very good $132 million for the top 12 films, similar to the estimate yesterday.  Taken 2 opened well (ahead of the ShowbuzzDaily Weekend Prediction earlier this week) but probably will degrade quickly the next few weekends, while Hotel Transylvania and Looper are having decent sophomore weekends (each down only about […]

  The Saturday boxoffice news was better for some titles than others.  According to preliminary numbers at Deadline, TAKEN 2 (20th) held about even on Saturday, which is reasonable for an action-movie sequel.  Recent comparisons:  The Bourne Legacy had a 4% bump on its 2d day of release, while The Expendables 2 dropped 3%.  If […]

  Liam Neeson, superstar. OPENINGS:  TAKEN 2 (20th) is on track for an opening in the high-$40Ms, which would make it the biggest weekend #1 since late July’s 2nd weekend of The Dark Knight Rises.  Since the movie only cost around $45M to produce (not including substantial marketing costs), it’s already assured of success, and […]

Another strong weekend at the box office: this weekend is looking like it will be over 50% higher than comparable weekends in recent years (improving from the +18% weekend last week).      Taken 2 from 20th Century Fox opened with a very good $18.6 million Friday and is on pace for $50.0 million Friday-Sunday.   […]

  TAKEN 2 (20th), as expected, is running away with the boxoffice this weekend.  Its opening day, according to preliminary numbers at Deadline, is at $17.5M, not that much less than the $24.7M the original Taken made in its entire opening weekend in 2009.  The sequel should reach $45M or so for the weekend, although it […]