> A movie called JOHN CARTER opened a few days ago.  It cost a few bucks, and as you may have heard, didn’t make as much money as its studio, Disney, would have liked.  Notwithstanding the supposed mandate from Disney CEO Bob Iger that blame not be targeted at any individual for the failure, twin […]

  AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR (Marvel/Disney) exists on that rarefied box office plane where even a reported $450M in production/marketing costs can be waved off in comparison to the certain returns to come.  Deadline is reporting its opening day at $104M ($39M from Thursday night), which would be just slightly the #3 opening day in US […]

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 +17% above last year and now +24% above the average for this point the […]

  Friday’s boxoffice was like The Good, The Bad & The Ugly–except without the “good.” OPENINGS:  All the stunt casting in the world couldn’t make anyone want to see ROCK OF AGES (Warners).  The anemic $5.4M opening day was low even by the standards of Broadway adaptations, and there’s no reason to expect a lift […]

Weekend #14 of 2014 is looking like a robust $159 million for the top 12 films, 41% above the typical volume for this weekend the past few years ($113 million). Opening at around 3,900 theaters Friday (well above the 2,886 average theater count for opening weekends the last two years), Captain America: The Winter Soldier from Disney should average […]

  The only new opening on Black Friday was a limited release, but everything already in the market took the customary post-holiday leap.  COCO (Pixar/Disney) will easily win the 3-day weekend, after $19.1M on Friday according to preliminary numbers at Deadline.  Coco continues to be on pace with Tangled ($19.5M on Black Friday), and it […]

  The big box office news this weekend is happening far from these shores, as AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON (Disney) opens in slightly over half the world in advance of its US launch next Thursday night.  It had already racked up $44.5M just from Wednesday/Thursday results in some of those territories.  Here, a soft pre-Avengers weekend allowed FURIOUS […]

  OPENINGS:  HUNTER KILLER (Millenium/Summit Premiere/Lionsgate) had a weak $6.7M start, and probably won’t reach $20M in the US, not even enough to pay for the costs of its US release, and a low for a Gerard Butler action movie.  Its international campaign has a sluggish $4M so far, with $3.2M this weekend in 16 […]