> Deadline has some early updated weekend numbers, and there are no major surprises from the Friday results.  The top 3 are DOLPHIN TALE, MONEYBALL and THE LION KING with $14M, $12M and $11M respectively, with the family pictures garnering the benefit of stepped-up Saturday matinee business.   After that, 3 new titles–50/50, COURAGEOUS and DREAM […]

> BREAKING DAWN PART 1:  Although BD1 had greater declines on Friday (as opposed to Thursday midnight) and Saturday than New Moon did in 2009, Summit’s weekend estimate assumes exactly the same 34% drop for Sunday.  So it’s possible their $139.5M figure could come down a bit in the actuals tomorrow (which could move the […]

> According to Deadline, most films were down 20-30% from Friday, which is par for the course on New Year’s Eve, due to early theater closings and non-movie plans for the night.  But there are a few oddities: Most notably, Deadline’s numbers have WAR HORSE suddenly jumping up more than 20% for the day.  If […]

> Now the only question is when they announce the start of  pre-production on LORAX 2. OPENINGS:  It turned out THE LORAX (Universal) wasn’t frontloaded at all.  Quite the contrary, its 80% Saturday bump put the movie through the roof, a triumph of great marketing over cruddy filmmaking.  Lorax is currently the 3d highest March […]

> The absence of last weekend’s Good Friday holiday is sending week vs. week comparisons downward, but according to Deadline, even with no holiday this time around, THE HUNGER GAMES (Lionsgate/Summit) is headed for its 4th straight weekend win, with a $6.5M Friday that should lead to a $20M weekend.  This ties The Dark Knight […]

> According to preliminary numbers at Deadline, THE PIRATES!  BAND OF MISFITS (Sony) will pull ahead of THE FIVE-YEAR ENGAGEMENT (Universal) for the weekend thanks to Saturday and Sunday matinee business, although Engagement is still ahead as of Saturday and the race will be close.  (Both, however, will be behind Think Like A Man and […]

Weekend #25 of 2012 looks like another disappointment: a soft $150 million for the top 12 films, down 12% from last year’s comparable weekend and down 14% from the four-year average for the weekend.  Pixar’s Brave should open well, but the other two openers will struggle to find any audience and there certainly won’t be […]

  Everyone enjoys a quiet weekend before the Bat-attack begins at 12:01AM Thursday night. OPENINGS:  The important number for ICE AGE:  CONTINENTAL DRIFT (20th) isn’t the $46M US opening (the lowest of the franchise), but the $95.2M earned overseas, giving it a total of $339.2M internationally since the movie started opening in foreign territories more […]