OPENINGS:  The only new arrival in wide US release was the woebegone VOYAGERS (Lionsgate), which got a minimal push from its studio and opened at a low $1.4M, fated for $5M or so in the US. The major new international opening was MORTAL KOMBAT (Warners), which brought in $10.7M from 17 territories.  It opens […]

  THE MAIN EVENT:  As the roof caved in on BATMAN V SUPERMAN:  DAWN OF JUSTICE (DC/RatPac/Warners), the studio had two last-ditch goals:  to avoid a Weekend 2 result that dropped 70% from last week or dipped below $50M in the US.  Pending tomorrow’s final numbers, it appears to have managed that, with a 68% […]

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 still -5% below last year’s comparable span and still +1% above this point the past four years ($9.593 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed over $25.5 billion […]

> … and here we go.  BREAKING DAWN PART 1 narrowly set a Twilight franchise record last night with the 2d highest midnight screening grosses on record, $30.25M.  This was (very slightly) ahead of Eclipse‘s $30.1M last June, as well as the November 2009 opening of New Moon, which reached $26.3M for its midnight screenings. […]

With the only two movies that have opened so far in the ShowBuzzDaily Summer Movie Draft, Team Metcalf has expanded the early lead to $402.8 million.  Dark Shadows (the #17 pick overall) opened this past weekend with an okay $29.7 million, but no one expects the Tim Burton film to have much impact long term.  However, Marvel’s The […]

The 2015 holiday box office continues its blistering pace. For the 12 days December 16-27, top 10 films in North America have totaled $783 million, +78% ahead of the same period last year, +92% above the average since 2002, and now +50% ahead of the record for this period (2009, the year of Avatar).  This is when Avatar really kicked […]

Based on Saturday’s grosses, Weekend #8 of 2013 is looking a little stronger than it did yesterday but still down versus previous years.  The top 12 films Friday-Sunday should total $89 million (down 22% from the same weekend last year and down 11% from the average for the weekend the last few years).  Snitch had a […]

  OPENINGS:  CIVIL WAR (A24) marked its studio’s biggest swing to date, with costs that will approach $100M for production and worldwide marketing.  (A24 limited its risk by pre-selling some overseas territories to subdistributors.)  The early results were promising, with a studio-record $25.7M weekend, alhough tepid audience surveys and the fact that the audience was […]