Based on Friday’s grosses, Weekend #7 of 2013 is not as bad as the last few weeks: $123 million for the top 12 films during the traditional Friday-Sunday period of this holiday weekend (only 4% behind the pace for the same weekend the last few years).         Opening at 3,552 theaters Thursday […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.   YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2015 to date is still +4% above last year and now +1% above the average for this point the past four years ($8.615 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed $23.1 billion worldwide when we add overseas box office (that’s still +6% […]

  OPENINGS:  ARGYLLE (Apple/Universal) arrived within blah expectations at $18M.  That makes it the third consecutive wildly expensive theatrical flop for Apple (with worldwide marketing included, costs were around $300M), and while the company has a few more projects on the calendar, including a pair of Brad Pitt vehicles, one has to wonder how many […]

  PITCH PERFECT 2 (Gold Circle/Universal) is shaping up as one of the best investments of the summer season, with an opening day estimated by Deadline at $27M (including $4.6M from Thursday night)–almost equal to its entire production cost.  Pitch 2 may be frontloaded, as movies aimed at young women often are, but even so, […]

The Past Week: Total Box Office Volume All films in wide release playing between November 26 and December 2 grossed an terrific $146 million, up 26% from the four-year average for the week and up a big 40% from the same week last year.  The past six weeks are now 18% above the four-year average […]

> Full weekend drops can be expected to hit a little harder than usual this week, because last week’s holiday weekend boosted Sunday receipts. TRANSFORMERS 3 had a second Friday about midway between those of its two predecessors ($14.9M compared to $10.8M and $18M, respectively), with a decline that was slightly worse than, but in […]

  At a cost of $175M (meaning $300M+ with global marketing), SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN (Universal) is a long way from profit.  But credit the studio with making “Snow White” seem cool enough to garner a solid opening (and credit the studio as well with cannily minimizing expectations, so a solid opening passes for […]

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 +10% above last year and still+11% above the average for this point […]