Based on Friday’s grosses, Weekend #37 of 2013 looks like a very good $97 million for the top 12 films, up 18% from the average for the same weekend the past few years. Opening at 3,049 theaters Friday, Insidious Chapter 2 from FilmDistrict grossed $20.1 million Friday and is on track for a $42.3 million opening weekend (above the […]

  The big box office news this weekend is happening far from these shores, as AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON (Disney) opens in slightly over half the world in advance of its US launch next Thursday night.  It had already racked up $44.5M just from Wednesday/Thursday results in some of those territories.  Here, a soft pre-Avengers weekend allowed FURIOUS […]

  HOLDOVERS: NOMADLAND (Searchlight/Disney, also on Hulu) earned $500K at 1175 theatres after 2 weeks in limited release for which the studio didn’t provide numbers.  That’s, a weekend per-theatre average a bit over $400.  Even by the standards of split theatrical/streaming Oscar contending releases like Judas and the Black Messiah (which averaged about $1100 at […]

  The Super Bowl will take a chunk out of everyone today, the only Sunday that plays like a Monday with 60-70% drops from Saturday across the board.  That’s why the studios, for the most part, stay away. OPENINGS:  Given that fact, WARM BODIES (Summit/Lionsgate) did fairly well with a $20M weekend (that includes $500K […]

  The long holiday movie weekend began without much interest from audiences. OPENINGS:  TAMMY (Warners) got underway with a so-so $6.2M, which includes $1.3M from Tuesday night shows.  That suggests $32-35M for the 5-day weekend, around $20M of it during the Friday-Sunday period.  Considering that both reviews and exit poll responses have been dismal, a […]

  OPENINGS:  Despite a bounty of new titles, nothing touched the holdover at the top of the weekend box office.  The newcomer with the closest claim to “success” in the US was THE POPE’S EXORCIST (Screen Gems/Sony), with $9.2M.  The horror movie also reported $27.4M in overseas release, which would put it on a road […]

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 now +7% above last year and now +10% above the average for this point the past four years ($4.022 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed over $12.6 […]

  OPENINGS:  STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON (Legendary/Universal) turned out to be somewhat frontloaded, with a 20% drop on its 2d day of release.  But no one will complain about its huge $56.1M weekend, the #6 August opening ever (and #2, behind only Signs, among non-franchise titles).  It should add plenty of gold to Universal’s 2015 pile […]