Franchises are the lifeblood of Hollywood, so it has to chill studios to see three of those entries falter in a single 2-weekend period, especially since the stakes are higher for this week’s arrivals than last week’s Neighbors 2. Based on the preliminary $27M Friday number at Deadline, X-MEN: APOCALYPSE (TSG/20th) is running almost […]

  STAR TREK BEYOND (Skydance/Alibaba/Huahua/Paramount) is showing a fair franchise hold by the standards of this summer.  Based on preliminary numbers at Deadline, it had a $23M opening day (including $5.5M from Thursday), down about 26% from the start of 2009’s Star Trek reboot.  (2013’s Into Darkness opened on a Thursday, changing its weekend dynamic.)  That suggests a $57M […]

  OPENINGS:  The big studios wanted no part of the weekend after Thanksgiving, and the only arrivals were a pair of fringe indies.  Even for a micro-budgeted horror product, INCARNATE (High Top/Blumhouse/Universal) was a flop at $2.7M. In a barely-wide release at 639 theatres, the Christian-themed BELIEVE (Freestyle) attracted no one outside the flock (and […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Updated look at 2016 films by studio.  We will begin tracking the 2017 slate in a few weeks.   YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2017 to date is now +8% above last year and now +12% above the average for this point the past four years ($0.858 billion). […]

  Considering the almost laughably low level of the competition it faced, THE FATE OF THE FURIOUS (Universal) didn’t hold up well on its 2d Friday.  Preliminary numbers at Deadline have the day at $11.4M, down 75% from last week’s opening day.  That’s worse than the 72% Friday-to-Friday drop for Furious 7 (which was coming […]

  OPENINGS:  BOO 2! A MADEA HALLOWEEN (Lionsgate) took the weekend with $21.7M, down 24% from last year’s first Boo.  That puts it behind all the previous Madea openings except A Madea Christmas, which had the entire holiday corridor for its run.  Last year’s installment had an exceptionally good Weekend 2 hold, down just 40% […]

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 down less than -1% from last year and now +2% above the average for this point the past four years ($10.280 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films […]

  OPENINGS:  It’s very possible that the news is going to get even worse for THE HAPPYTIME MURDERS (H Brothers/Black Bear/STX), which is grimly insisting on a studio estimate of the best Sunday hold in the weekend’s Top 10 to claim a $10M opening–even after dropping 15% on Saturay.  That number may easily slip to […]