The studios remained largely averse to going wide on the weekend before The Last Jedi devours the universe.  JUST GETTING STARTED (Broad Green) was thrown with little ceremony and no advance reviews into 2161 theatres, and according to preliminary numbers at Deadline, it had a dismal $1.1M on Friday, which with word of mouth […]

  BLACK PANTHER (Marvel/Disney) is, in a word, colossal.  According to preliminary numbers at Deadline, opening day was $76.6M (including $25.2M from Thursday night), which would make it the #8 opening day of all time, and the highest non-Avengers opening day in Marvel history.  Let’s remember, though, that it’s impossible to tell from opening day […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Here is an updated look at the 2018 film slates by studio. The studio totals also include 2018 dollars for films released in late 2017. YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2018 to date is now +6% above last year and now +15% above the average for this point […]

  OPENINGS:  MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: FALLOUT (Skydance/Alibaba/Paramount) rode almost unanimous rave reviews to a franchise-high $61.5M weekend opening in the US.  (That record doesn’t adjust for inflation, and comes with an asterisk because the first two in the series opened on Wednesdays, with Mission 2 at $78.8M by its first Sunday.)  If Fallout runs like Rogue […]

  OPENINGS:  HALLOWEEN (Blumhouse/Miramax/Universal) was front-loaded, with a Saturday drop that hit 18%, but that only prevented it from setting records, not from being a giant hit at $77.5M for the weekend.  That instantly makes it the highest-grossing entry in the 40-year old Halloween franchise (not adjusting for inflation).  With one more weekend before the […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Here is an updated look at the 2018 film slates by studio. The studio totals also include 2019 dollars for films released in late 2018. We will continue to track the 2018 slates until mid-February, when we will switch to tracking the 2019 slates. YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American […]

  OPENINGS:  THE LEGO MOVIE 2: THE SECOND PART (Warners Animation) had a solid 83% family matinee bump on Saturday, but its $34.4M weekend studio estimate is still down more than 50% from the opening of the original Lego Movie, and down 35% from The Lego Batman Movie.  (It’s considerably better than the relatively disastrous […]

  OPENINGS:  THE INTRUDER (Screen Gems/Sony) performed on target with $11M, and given the massive competition and the fates of the weekend’s other arrivals, that counted as a win.  It still wasn’t anything to get excited about, considering that similar Screen Gems releases like When The Bough Breaks ($14.2M), No Good Deed ($24.3M) and The […]