So much for tracking.  Defying all expectations, LONE SURVIVOR (Universal) is romping with what might be called the Duck Dynasty audience that goes underreported in pre-opening surveys, and according to preliminary numbers at Deadline, its Friday may be as high as $14M, which could give it a $35M+ weekend.  Peter Berg’s film only cost […]

STUDIO SCORECARD. In the worldwide studio rankings for 2013 to date, Warner Brothers solidified its first place position, thanks to Gravity.  As we do with all films, the full estimated domestic tally has been added to the studio year to date total, while the overseas numbers will be added as those actual results come in.  So […]

Based on Friday’s and Saturday’s grosses, weekend #39 of 2014 looks like $99 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, 5% above the norm for this weekend ($95 million) and just a shade under yesterday’s estimate ($100 million). Opening at 3,236 theaters, The Equalizer from Sony grossed $12.6 million Friday and $13.6 million Saturday, now […]

  OPENINGS:  GODZILLA, KING OF THE MONSTERS (Legendary/Warners) didn’t have the Saturday bump that Kong: Skull Island enjoyed, instead dropping 17%, which was slightly worse even than the first Godzilla‘s 16%.  The result was a $49M US weekend, and a US total that may only reach $125M.  Although the numbers overseas were bigger, they were […]

> Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides hits an even $1 billion worldwide, while Kung Fu Panda skips past Rio right on the heels of Hangover Part II.  Cars 2 debuts at #10 with a lot of upside. Read more and see the updated Top 20 chart by clicking below. Super 8 is starting […]

  OPENINGS:  PIXELS (Columbia/Sony) isn’t the first Adam Sandler movie to approach a $90M production budget–incredibly, the first Grown Ups reportedly cost that much–but as his audience shrinks, it becomes more difficult to justify a greenlight for him at that level.  Pixels is reporting a very mild $24M weekend in the US (that number assumes […]

  It’s been 7 weeks since Christopher Robin arrived for the family audience, and THE HOUSE WITH A CLOCK IN ITS WALLS (Universal) took advantage of that drought with a $7.7M opening day according to early numbers at Deadline, which should give it a $24M weekend.  House had a moderate production budget and a marketing […]

STUDIO SCORECARD. The race for second place is very interesting thanks to The Conjuring, which puts Warner Brothers very much on Universal’s heels for year to date worldwide box office.  Fox also had a reasonably good week, getting it closer to fourth-place Paramount for the year. If the studios were divided into geographic leagues, the Valley […]