OPENINGS;  It’s no surprise that a sequel has already been announced (and scheduled for June 3, 2016, for those who like to get their Fandango orders in early) for TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES (Nickelodeon/Paramount), which blew past all expectations with a reported $65M opening weekend.  The CG action spectacle dipped only 14% on Saturday, […]

  OPENINGS:  NO GOOD DEED (Screen Gems/Sony) surged ahead of expectations with a $8.8M Friday.  The level of its frontloadedness, however, isn’t yet clear.  2009’s Obsessed, an April 2009 Screen Gems thriller that also starred Idris Elba (with Beyonce instead of Tarji P. Henson), had an $11.2M Friday, and reached $28.6M for its weekend (and […]

  Despite the new competition flooding in from all sides, GONE GIRL held on beautifully for its second consecutive weekend win. OPENINGS:  DRACULA UNTOLD (Legendary/Universal) earned $23.5M in the US, a fair result.  Dracula plays as much as an action movie in the 300 genre as a horror thriller, which may explain its 2% Saturday […]

  Belying its title, DUMB AND DUMBER TO (Red Granite/Universal) picked a strategically smart weekend to debut, facing very little fresh competition (because of last weekend’s Big Hero 6/Interstellar double bill and next week’s The Hunger Games installment) and even less comedy.  The result was a strong $13.9M Friday (including $1.6M from Thursday night) according […]

  OPENINGS:  The big box office news of this weekend happened overseas, where THE HOBBIT:  THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES (New Line/MGM/Warners) has already opened in 37 territories to a massive $117.6M in advance of its US launch next week.  The Hobbit movies have done overwhelmingly well overseas, with the previous installments earning respectively […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD. Scroll down for domestic and overseas grosses for each film individually so far in 2014. YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2014 is now running -6% behind last year (versus -7% through last week) and now -2% below the average for this point the past four years […]

  FIFTY SHADES OF GREY (Universal/Focus) had the giant box office start that’s been anticipated since the movie was announced.  According to preliminary numbers at Deadline, it earned $31M on Friday (that includes $8.6M from Thursday evening shows), and if that number holds up, it would be the 2d biggest one-day February gross (and the […]

Weekend #13 of 2015 is looking like $123 million for the top 12 films this weekend, slightly below the comparable weekends the past few years. Opening at around 3,150 theaters Friday (above the 2,886 average theater count for opening weekends the last two years), Get Hard from Warner Brothers should average $9,200 per theater for the three-day weekend (for […]