It was foretold by the gods of Marvel that THOR: THE DARK WORLD (Disney) would rule this weekend, and preliminary numbers at Deadline confirm that it will, with a $31M Friday (including $7.1M from Thursday night).  That should get it to a weekend around $80M.  It’s certainly a huge number, likely to be the […]

The Past Week: Total Box Office Volume All films in wide release playing between August 20 and August 26 grossed a fairly typical $146 million, down 1% from the four-year average for the comparable week and up 6% from the same week in 2011. Year to date (now over $7 billion for wide-release films) continues […]

  It was Bombs Away! for the weekend’s new openings, and even though SULLY (Village Roadshow/RatPac/Warners) will easily win the stanza, it’s not performing thrillingly either.  According to preliminary numbers at Deadline, its second Friday was $6.3M, down 48% from last week’s opening day.  By comparison, the 2d Friday for Bridge of Spies was down […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, Weekend #17 of 2013 is looking like a very weak $80 million for the top 12 films, down 34% from the average the past few years for this weekend and down 18% from the same weekend last year.  Michael Bay’s Pain and Gain opened fairly quietly — not a total disaster but […]

  OPENINGS: As studio greenlight and release strategies continue to morph, one thing that’s clear is that there will never be a shortage of low-budget horror movies.  SMILE (Paramount) is the latest successful arrival with $22M, following such recent releases as Barbarian, The Invitation, Pearl, and The Black Phone.  Although Smile will have to face […]

  There was general glee last weekend when Guardians of the Galaxy overperformed to a record-breaking degree, proving that audiences could appreciate a blockbuster that was a cut above the rest.  The rejoicing is likely to be more muted this weekend, as the surprise smash this time is the latest incarnation of TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA […]

> … and here we go.  BREAKING DAWN PART 1 narrowly set a Twilight franchise record last night with the 2d highest midnight screening grosses on record, $30.25M.  This was (very slightly) ahead of Eclipse‘s $30.1M last June, as well as the November 2009 opening of New Moon, which reached $26.3M for its midnight screenings. […]

  OPENINGS:  THE CALL OF THE WILD (20th/Disney) did a bit better than expected at $24.8M, but in the long run that’s not likely to make much difference.  Similarly to Dolittle (although much more quietly), Call of the Wild was extremely expensive, with $200M+ in production/marketing costs, so a $75M US total won’t get it […]