>Finally, The Help has been knocked off its perch, after facing one turd of a movie after another for four weeks.   Contagion will open at #1 with over $22 million (slightly above forecast) and headed for about $72 million domestic.  Don’t cry for The Help, though.  Its final domestic gross estimate has been upgraded yet […]

> The Hollywood Reporter has early Friday numbers, and they foretell some surprises for the weekend boxoffice.  Chief among them is the remarkable $7-8M that the 3D pre-Blu-Ray reissue of Disney’s THE LION KING grossed on Friday alone, which should mean a weekend of close to $24M, far above expectations.  The combination of nostalgia and […]

> With Monday and Tuesday numbers in, here are some notes about how the new arrivals are holding up: THE HELP continues its impressive run:  its $8.3M on Monday-Tuesday represents a very robust 32% of its weekend total.  All signs continue to point to a strong second weekend hold, especially since early reviews for its […]

>Two full weeks into 2012, domestic box office is running well ahead of last year’s anemic pace but just ahead of the pace for the same period’s average for the last several years.        The Past Week: Total Box Office Volume All films in wide release playing between January 9 and January 15 grossed […]

  Mothers Day made for a happy holiday at the multiplex. OPENINGS:  The Marketing department did its job extremely well, and THE GREAT GATSBY (Warners) overperformed to the tune of $51.1M for the weekend.  However, the 9% Saturday drop suggests the film may not hold up so well in the long-term.  The first sign will […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, Weekend #25 of 2013 looks like an excellent $223 million for the top 12 films, up 32-42% from the same weekend in recent years.  The two wide openers clicked with audiences, with Monsters University doing as well as we forecast but World War Z opening much stronger than expected. Opening at […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.   YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2015 to date is now +5% above last year and now +1% above the average for this point the past four years ($6.833 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed $18.4 billion worldwide when we add overseas box office (that’s +5% […]

Weekend #2 of 2015 is looking like $118 million for the top 12 films this weekend, very close to the norm for this weekend and down slightly from the same weekend last year. Opening at 3,500 theaters Friday (above the 2,886 average theater count for opening weekends the last two years), Taken 3 from Fox should average a decent $8,700 per […]