OPENINGS:  We had a new wide release this weekend, and THE WAR WITH GRANDPA (101) managed a win over the weary Tenet with $3.6M.  That’s certainly not a number that would make anyone feel good in non-pandemic times, and since War With Grandpa had a semblance of a national marketing campaign, it’s not at […]

Updated STUDIO SCORECARD: TOTAL NORTH AMERICAN BOX OFFICE. Looking at wide-release films in North America (those that play on at least 400 screens at some point), 2013 now totals over $8.2 billion, now basically even with last year’s pace and 3% above the prior four-year average 2009-2012 ($8.005 billion). Each year-to-date period below is defined as […]

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 still +8% above the average for this point […]

> Well-played, Marvel/Disney. THE AVENGERS:  Years of planning and marketing led to the 2d biggest opening day of all time, $80.5M, that was behind only Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 and its $91.1M.  (And Deathly Hallows 2 was far more front-loaded with Thursday midnight money, $43.5M compared to Avengers’ $18.7M.)  Now, the […]

  Deadline is reporting that THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (Sony) has set a new all-time Tuesday record with $32-35M, beating previous record-holder Transformers, the last movie to open on a Tuesday that fell on July 3, which had $27.9M in 2007.  (There are, admittedly, very few movies that open on Tuesdays–after Transformers, the next was the […]

  If preliminary numbers at Deadline hold, GRAVITY (Warners) will own the new record for all-time best October opening.  It had a superb $23.5M Saturday, up 35% from its $17.5M opening day, for what should be a $55M+ weekend.  That would handily break the current October record of $52.6M for Paranormal Activity 3.  More importantly, […]

Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 enters the worldwide chart with $200 million overseas to date.  Ultimately, we expect the overseas number to rise to about $425 million, putting the final Twilight on track for $710 million ( a touch ahead of New Moon as the highest Twilight worldwide gross).  For a complete track of worldwide/ domestic/ overseas […]

  Movie ticket sales were down significantly on December 31, as audiences found other things to do with their New Year’s Eves, but the results still gave Les Miserables a symbolic turnaround, putting it back in 2d place after a weekend behind Django Unchained.  Business should zoom today for the holiday finale, before settling into mundane […]