OPENINGS:  NO GOOD DEED (Screen Gems/Sony) hit in a big way with an unexpected $24.5M start.  That’s not quite the equal of 2009’s Obsessed ($28.6M), but it’s close enough.  And while Obsessed had to contend with the opening of X-Men Origins: Wolverine in its 2d weekend, No Good Deed will face much less blockbusterish […]

  FURY (Columbia/Sony) was expected to dominate the multiplexes this weekend, and it will indeed have no trouble notching the win, but it’s not performing with particular strength.  Preliminary numbers at Deadline give it a $8-9M Friday ($1.2M of it from Thursday night), which suggests a weekend no higher than $25M.  That compares to $37.5M […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD. Scroll down for domestic and overseas grosses for each film individually so far in 2014. YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2014 is still running -5% behind last year and -3% below the average for this point the past four years ($8.399 billion).  Over the same period, […]

  THE HOBBIT:  THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES (New Line/MGM/Warners) opened on Wednesday to $24.5M, which is both the 12th-highest opening Wednesday ever (and 3rd-highest in December) and the lowest opening day for a Peter Jackson Tolkien adaptation since The Fellowship of the Ring ($18.2M) back in 2001.  The Armies start was below the Wednesday […]

Weekend #2 of 2015 is looking like $118 million for the top 12 films this weekend, very close to the norm for this weekend and down slightly from the same weekend last year. Opening at 3,500 theaters Friday (above the 2,886 average theater count for opening weekends the last two years), Taken 3 from Fox should average a decent $8,700 per […]

  OPENINGS:  This year’s Saturday night Valentine’s Day worked out well for everyone this weekend, but especially for FIFTY SHADES OF GREY (Universal/Focus).  The prospect of some kink refreshed the movie’s audience from Friday’s fan-girls to a horde of couples, and the result was that despite the huge $30.3M opening day, the box office went […]

Based on Friday’s and Saturday’s grosses, weekend #13 of 2015 now looks like $146 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, above the norms for this weekend. Opening at 3,708 theaters Friday, Home from Fox and DreamWorks Animation is on track for a $54.0 million opening three-day weekend (way above our non-believing $28.0 million ShowBuzzDaily forecast earlier this […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD. YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2015 to date is now +5% above last year and +8% above the average for this point the past four years ($2.827 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed $8.6 billion worldwide when we add overseas box office (that’s +9% […]