OPENINGS:  Is it a danger sign or just one of overexuberance that the Friday estimates for MAN OF STEEL (Warners) diminished during the day, slipping from over $50M to the final estimate of $44.1M?  We’ll know a lot more on Sunday, when word of mouth has kicked in.  In any case, the gigantic amount […]

  From the start, THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN (DreamWorks/Reliance/Universal) was perceived as a lower-intensity version of the Gone Girl phenomenon, and that’s holding with the opening of its film version.  Where Gone Girl had a $13.2M Friday start on its way to a $37.5M weekend, preliminary numbers at Deadline give Train $9.3M on Friday, […]

  THE LEGO MOVIE 2: THE SECOND PART (Warners Animation) is looking like a textbook example of a studio watering down its own franchise.  Warners jumped into 2 spin-offs before even reaching its first official sequel, and the result according to early numbers at Deadline is a $8.9M opening day, down 48% from the first […]

> BRIDESMAIDS is having a very solid opening weekend, particularly given its relatively low budget.  We’ll see how word of mouth holds up the rest of the weekend, but for now Universal has to be very happy–as do Kristen Wiig’s talent reps. THOR‘s hold is OK, but on a weekend where it faced no new […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, Weekend #38 of 2013 looks like a lame $72 million for the top 12 films, down 19% from the average for the same weekend the past few years. Opening at 3,260 theaters Friday, Prisoners from Warner Brothers grossed $6.9 million Friday and is on track for a $20.2 million opening weekend (somewhat above the $18.5 […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Here is an updated look at the 2018 film slates by studio. The studio totals also include 2018 dollars for films released in late 2017. YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2018 to date is still +11% above last year and still +12% above the average for this point […]

> TRANSFORMERS:  DARK OF THE MOON is reporting (pending actual numbers tomorrow) a 4-day weekend gross of $116.7M, giving it a total of $181.1M since opening Tuesday evening.  That puts it around 10% ahead of the original Transformers and 15% behind Transformers 2.  The original Transformers declined only 47% in its second weekend (the first […]

  OPENINGS:  The blockbusters are delivering even if other box office segments still aren’t, and that’s good news for pandemic-weary theater owners and studios.  In the US, VENOM: LET THERE BE CARNAGE (Columbia/Marvel/Sony) set a new Covid-era record with a remarkable $90.1M opening, larger than the $75.4M earned by Shang-Chi a month ago, the $80.4M […]