Holdovers saved the boxoffice this weekend. OPENINGS:  Although the studio flew to announce that a 5th installment will be opening a year from now, the weak start for PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 4 (Paramount) is a signpost to the (probably temporary) end of the franchise.  PA4, which desperately claimed an opening of $30.2M but will probably […]

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 […]

  OPENINGS:  THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY (Warners/MGM), with its currently estimated $84.8M opening, has broken the previous December record (2007’s I Am Legend) by about 10%.  However, it’s also on track to be the first Lord of the Rings-related film to make less than $300M at the US boxoffice, despite being the first in […]

The first weekend of 2013 should total about $117 million for the top 12 films, somewhat below average for a normally sluggish weekend as life and movie-going returns to normal.  Texas Chainsaw 3D has the most promise of the films going wide this weekend and will duel with Django Unchained for second place (and possibly […]

  Storms be damned:  according to preliminary numbers at Deadline, despite (or because of) the snows on the East Coast, Saturday was a very healthy day at the multiplexes.  Far from taking a Day 2 hit, IDENTITY THIEF (Universal) had a 33% Saturday bump comparable to the 2d day track of Bridesmaids, and now looks […]

Oz the Great and Powerful joins the worldwide chart just outside the top 10.  With $70 million overseas to date, the foreign total should approach $300 million, making $500 million worldwide an achievable goal (behind Life of Pi in 5th place). The other films were relatively quiet overseas this past week.  The next best was A Good Day to […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, Weekend #14 of 2013 is looking a little weaker than it appeared yesterday but still ahead of prior years.  The top 12 films are looking like $127 million this weekend, now 10% above the same weekend in recent years.  Two decent openers and two strong returning films dominate the top of […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, Weekend #18 of 2013 kicks of the summer with a very solid $203 million for the top 12 films, below the Avengers-fueled same weekend last year but above the four-year average for this weekend.    Disney is very happy to have Marvel and its films now in its orbit: three years […]