OPENINGS:  FINDING DORY (Pixar/Disney) had a 17% Saturday drop, which is on the high side for an animated blockbuster (Inside Out fell 10% on its 2d day, Monsters University was down 6%, and Minions 16%).  That suggest that the overall multiple from opening weekend may not reach the heady heights that Pixar is used […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, Weekend #4 of 2013 is pretty much a disaster: only $80 million for the top 12 films (20% behind the pace for the same weekend the last few years).   Opening at 3,372 theaters Friday, Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters grossed $6 million Friday and is on track for a $16 million opening […]

Based on Friday’s and Saturday’s grosses, weekend #41 of 2014 looks like a still very strong $137 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, just a shade below yesterday’s estimate ($138 million) and a still hefty 29% above the norm for this weekend ($106 million).   Opening at 2,885 theaters, Dracula Untold from Universal grossed […]

The 31st weekend of 2012 is looking like a soft $115 million for the Top 12 films Friday-Sunday, down 27% from the same weekend last year.  Dark Knight Rises stays at #1 as two new films fail to impress.             Total Recall from Sony grossed $9.1 million Friday, on a pace […]

> Deadline has preliminary numbers for Friday, and this won’t be one of those weekends where the winner is unclear up to the wire.  ACT OF VALOR (Relativity), the low-budget (but highly marketed) Navy SEAL recruitment vehicle/action movie swept the day with over $9M, about 50% ahead of anything else.  The only question now is […]

> The 17th weekend of 2012 is looking like a poor $97 million for the Top 12 films, down 33% from this weekend last year and down 28% from the four-year average for the same weekend.  Think Like a Man should retain the top spot in its second weekend with $18 million, declining about 46% […]

  OPENINGS:  The box office for TWISTERS (Warners/Universal) was paradoxical.  In the US, the movie strongly outperformed expectations with $80.5M.  However, it showed much less appeal overseas, with $27.1M in 76 territories this weekend ($42.7M to date including some revenue from markets that opened last week).  Twisters is also about to lose virtually all its […]

> Despite the gloom of yesterday, this weekend is now looking like it will be up slightly versus 2010.  Saturday business was higher than expected for films across the board, with the exception of Scre4m.       Based on Saturday’s performance, Rio is now headed for about $40.0 million this weekend.  The Saturday “bump” for Rio was […]