OPENINGS:  Here are the records FURIOUS 7 (Universal) has racked up:  #4 worldwide opening at $384M (behind the final Harry Potter, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and The Avengers)–although that may be cheating a bit because it opened in a few territories on Wed-Thurs–#3 international opening at $240M (behind the last Harry Potter and […]

  OPENINGS:  With a $10M production budget (and tens of millions in marketing on top), the $10.6M weekend for SINISTER 2 (Blumhouse/Gramercy/Focus/Universal) will test Blumhouse’s ability to make money out of just about anything.  The opening is far below the $18M start for 2012’s Sinister, and its US total won’t be near the $48.1M gross […]

  OPENINGS:  It’s very possible that the news is going to get even worse for THE HAPPYTIME MURDERS (H Brothers/Black Bear/STX), which is grimly insisting on a studio estimate of the best Sunday hold in the weekend’s Top 10 to claim a $10M opening–even after dropping 15% on Saturay.  That number may easily slip to […]

Weekend #48 of 2014 is looking like $165 million for the top 12 films this weekend, down 8% from the norm for Thanksgiving weekend but down a bigger 15% from the same weekend last year (when Frozen opened its long run). Opening at over 3,600 theaters Wednesday (above the 2,886 average theater count for opening […]

  Even though Labor Day Weekend is historically slow at the multiplex, the Monday holiday still boosted the Sunday takings for most titles. OPENINGS:  Frontloading 101:  on Thursday night/Friday, ONE DIRECTION: THIS IS US (Sony) made a robust $8.9M… then the bottom fell out on Saturday, when the fans had been sated, and the concert […]

Based on Friday’s and Saturday’s grosses, Weekend #51 of 2013 now looks like $137 million for the top 12 films from Friday-Sunday, up substantially from the same weekend last year (see comparisons to previous years at the bottom).   Opening at 3,507 theaters Wednesday, Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues from Paramount grossed $13.2 million before Friday ($8.1 Wednesday […]

The complete Friday Box Office report will be posted at its usual time Saturday morning, but in the meantime we have one big over-performer in Despicable Me 2, one opener slightly above forecast (Kevin Hart) and one flat-out, embarrassing bomb (Lone Ranger), doing even worse than our bearish expectations. With $34.3 million Wednesday and $24.5 million […]

  Hollywood continued to have box office gifts to unwrap on the day after Christmas. WIDE RELEASE:  THE HOBBIT:  THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES (New Line/MGM/Warners) gained 19% from Christmas Day on Friday to $15.7M, putting it back in first place, which it will probably hold for the 3-day weekend.  That 19% increase is […]