> 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 […]

  Twas the day after Christmas, and all through the multiplex, theater owners were startled to see a lot more empty seats than they had the day before.  Normally the boxoffice is basically stable on the day following Christmas, but this year business declined fairly sharply, and especially for the previous day’s openings. LES MISERABLES […]

The 40th weekend of the year is looking like a good $107 million for the top 12 films, way down from this weekend last year (boosted by Taken 2) but up 9% from the multi-year average for this weekend. Opening at over 3,450 theaters Friday (way above the 2,886 average theater count for opening weekends the […]

  OPENINGS:  ELVIS (Warners) opened at the higher end of low expectations with $30.5M.  That technically put it into a dead heat with Top Gun: Maverick for the weekend crown, although that’s misleading because like virtually all big-studio openings, Elvis essentially had a 4-day opening, while Maverick‘s weekend didn’t get to count any of its […]

  Universal, having eaten a poisoned apple with Battleship, is relieved by this weekend’s tastier produce. OPENINGS:  SNOW WHITE & THE HUNTSMAN (Universal) muscled its way to a $56.3M opening, which is what it needed, considering its $175M (plus marketing) cost.  The $39.3M pulled in from 45 territories overseas is initially underwhelming, although there’s plenty […]

>Ah, the dog days of summer in August.  It’s the time when studios start dumping movies.  Sure there can be a surprise in this month (see District 9 two years ago this weekend), but the lower box office volume in August simply works against most films succeeding.  A quick look at the numbers: a typical […]

  JASON BOURNE (Universal) is performing in line with expectations.  Preliminary numbers at Deadline have its opening day at $22M (including $4.3M from Thursday night), down just 10% from the $24.7M start (with no Thursday screenings) for 2007’s Bourne Ultimatum, the last Matt Damon/Paul Greenglass title in the franchise.  Great word of mouth gave Ultimatum […]

> The past week (seven days ending Sunday) came in down 8% versus last year’s comparable week.  Year-to-date box office is still down 7% versus last year.    The Past Week: Total Box Office Volume All films in wide release playing between June 13 and June 19 grossed a relatively soft $206 million, down 20% […]