OPENINGS:  DON’T BREATHE (Screen Gems/Sony) had an unusually strong Saturday for a horror movie, down just 1% from Friday (which, remember, these days includes Thursday night).  By way of comparison, Lights Out fell 22% on its 2d day of release.  That propelled Don’t Breathe to an exceptional $26.1M weekend, the biggest opening for a […]

  OPENINGS:  Following several months of strong showings from the horror genre, PREY FOR THE DEVIL (Lionsgate) arrived at $7M to mop up the Halloween weekend remainder.  That was around the expected result, and considering that Prey was a low-budget effort with little national marketing, it might be enough to set a pace for minimal […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, weekend #8 of 2014 looks like $100 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, slightly below this weekend’s average the past several years but well above last year’s weak showing this weekend.  Two new films misfired this weekend, while Lego Movie continues to reign. Opening at 2,872 theaters Friday, 3 Days to […]

  An oddity of this year’s box office is that while a few very big hits (American Sniper, 50 Shades of Grey, The SpongeBob Movie) have pushed the total 2015 take well above last year’s start, there have been no shortage of high-profile failures alongside them, including Mortdecai, Jupiter Ascending, Focus and Blackhat.  Add to […]

  OPENINGS:  PAUL BLART: MALL COP 2 (MGM/Sony/Columbia) was at the high end of diminished expectations with $24M.  That’s roughly 25% below the $31.8M start for the first Paul Blart, not a surprise considering that the Blart franchise was far from universally beloved.  The question will be whether Blart 2 can have anything like its […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Here is an updated look at the 2019 film slates by studio. BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2019 is now -18% below last year’s comparable span (1 point better than last week) and still -16% below the average for this point the past four years ($2.929 billion).  Over the same […]

  Valentine’s Day is an enormous moviegoing event each year, so it remains to be seen whether Friday’s brisk business will translate to the rest of the holiday weekend. OPENINGS:  ABOUT LAST NIGHT (Screen Gems/Sony) barely missed 1st place with $13M on Friday, beaten by $30K, but it’s off to an impressive start, especially when […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, weekend #20 of 2014 looks like $177 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, up a very good 21% from the norm for this weekend.   Opening at 3,952 theaters, Godzilla from Warner Brothers grossed $38.5 million Friday and late Thursday, putting the film on track for a great $98 million opening weekend (well […]