OPENINGS:  As expected, FANTASTIC FOUR (20th) plunged 25% on Saturday as word of mouth caught up with it (by comparison, Ant-Man lost just 14% on its 2d day of release), giving it a sad $26.2M weekend.  Things didn’t get any better when international was factored in, as the franchise-killer managed just $34.1M in 43 […]

  If preliminary numbers at Deadline hold, GRAVITY (Warners) will own the new record for all-time best October opening.  It had a superb $23.5M Saturday, up 35% from its $17.5M opening day, for what should be a $55M+ weekend.  That would handily break the current October record of $52.6M for Paranormal Activity 3.  More importantly, […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.   YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2015 to date is now +6% above last year and now +2% above the average for this point the past four years ($7.066 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed over $18.6 billion worldwide when we add overseas box office (that’s […]

  OPENINGS:  GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL 2 (Marvel/Disney) had a solid Saturday hold for a blockbuster, down 9% on its 2d full day of release.  That compares to the performance of the Iron Man sequels, respectively down 11% and 10%, and much better than Avengers: Age of Ultron‘s 33% plunge, although a tad less […]

  OPENINGS:  The traditional horror movie start of the new year was provided by NIGHT SWIM (Blumhouse-Atomic Planet/Universal), although at $12M it was the lowest such arrival since The Grudge started with $11.4M in 2020.  The final number for that one was $21.2M, and Night Swim probably won’t be much higher.  The international launch was […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Updated look at 2016 by studio.   YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2016 to date is now +4% above last year and now +5% above the average for this point the past four years ($6.767 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed almost $17.8 billion worldwide when […]

The weekend still looks like a very good $123 million for the top 12 films, a little better than it looked yesterday.  Argo and Sinister flipped places in the weekend rankings.  Argo opened with $5.93 million Friday and jumped to $8.75 million Saturday.  A conservative estimate of $5.4 million today would put the 1979 Iranian Hostage rescue drama over $20 […]

The 11th weekend of 2013 looks like it will be off the pace of the last few years.  The top 12 films Friday-Sunday should total $96 million, down 7% from the four-year average for this weekend.  Two new movies will give it the old college try this weekend, and neither should excel. Opening at about […]