Preliminary box office numbers at Deadline give Friday, as expected, to CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS 2 (Sony), and it will easily win the weekend as well.  Its $10M opening day is above the original Cloudy in 2009 ($8.1M) but below last year’s Hotel Transylvania ($11M), and with a sequel’s usual frontloading, it’s […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, Weekend #44 of 2013 looks like $123 million for the top 12 films, now up 3% from the same weekend’s average in recent years. Opening at 3,407 theaters Friday, Ender’s Game from Lionsgate/Summit grossed $9.8 million Friday and $10.8 million Saturday, still on track for a $28.0 million opening weekend (very close to the $28.5 […]

  Happy Thanksgiving to all!  Wednesday was a great day for both THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE (Lionsgate) and the new FROZEN (Disney), setting the stage for a sensational holiday box office weekend for the pair. Catching Fire zoomed 30% from Tuesday to $20.7M, blowing past the record for the Wednesday before Thanksgiving ($14.4M for […]

Updated worldwide box office chart for 2013 North American films.  The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug and to some extent The Hunger Games: Catching Fire are the top American performers overseas by far.  Also, click here for a summary of worldwide performance by studio.

  OPENINGS:  The only question for LONE SURVIVOR (Universal) to ponder as all concerned count their entirely unexpected riches this weekend (a $14.4M Friday and a weekend that could hit $40M) is whether they miscalculated by waiting to go wide until after polls were closed for the Oscar nominations.  Survivor is very much on the […]

  OPENINGS:  After Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, 21 Jump Street, and now THE LEGO MOVIE (Warners), writer/directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller will be able to do just about anything they want:  all 3 of their projects have not only been smash hits, but they’ve greatly overperformed expectations, spawning 3 new franchises in […]

Based on Friday’s and Saturday’s grosses, weekend #10 of 2014 now looks like $131 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, slightly ahead of the the average for this weekend the past few years. Opening at 3,470 theaters Friday, 300: Rise of an Empire from Warner Brothers grossed $17.6 million Friday and $16.2 million Saturday, putting the film […]

  OPENINGS:  The $37M Friday for CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER (Disney) was the highest ever in the month of April, ahead of Fast Five‘s $34.4M.  Fast Five fell 13% on Saturday to hit a $86.2M weekend, and Winter Soldier will hope to beat that.  Depending on word of mouth, it could get as high […]