OPENINGS:  BIG HERO 6 (Disney) was a convincing winner in the US, riding a 52% Saturday bump to a $56.2M weekend.  Word of mouth can be expected to be strong, and there’s no reason to think Big Hero 6 won’t hold solidly at least until the Thanksgiving weekend arrival of The Penguins of Madagascar […]

  The holiday movie season is getting off to a very slow start this weekend–and since this is the same time last year when the 2d Hobbit opened to $73.6M, the early December date can’t be blamed for it.  (This year’s Hobbit has opted to open next Wednesday.)  Preliminary numbers at Deadline give Ridley Scott’s […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, weekend #1 of 2015 looks like $140 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, up from the norm for this weekend and up somewhat from the same weekend last year.   Opening at 2,602 theaters Friday, The Woman in Black 2 from Relativity is on track for a $16.0 million opening three-day weekend (above […]

  Note:  due to last week’s low-grossing Super Bowl Sunday, all weekend-to-weekend comparisons appear unusually strong this week. OPENINGS:  THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE:  SPONGE OUT OF WATER (Nickelodeon/Paramount) notched the #5 February opening ever with $56M (although not quite in a league with last year’s The LEGO Movie, which was #2 with $69.1M).  The studios seem […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD. YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2015 to date is still +4% above last year and +6% above the average for this point the past four years ($1.794 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed almost $5.3 billion worldwide when we add overseas box office (that’s […]

Everyone knew that FURIOUS 7 (MRC/Universal) was going to have an enormous weekend, but the franchise is toppling even the most optimistic forecasts.  According to preliminary numbers at Deadline, opening day (which includes $15.8M from Thursday night shows) could reach $68M, an amazing 75% increase over the first day of Fast & Furious 6, which […]

Based on Friday’s and Saturday’s grosses, weekend #19 of 2015 looks like a wobbly $120 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, a little better than yesterday’s estimate ($117 million) but still well below the norm for this weekend. Opening at 3,003 theaters Friday, Hot Pursuit from Warner Brothers is now on track for a $13.3 million opening three-day weekend […]

Based on Friday’s and Saturday’s grosses, weekend #30 of 2015 now looks like $140 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, lower than yesterday’s projection and now slightly below the norm for this weekend and a touch above last year’s weekend. Opening at 3,723 theaters Friday, Pixels from Sony is now on track for a $24.0 million opening three-day weekend […]