>The week after Thanksgiving is always a let down in movie attendance, and 2011 was even softer than the past few years.  Another week or so of limited business and then the box office will explode as Christmas turns to New Year’s.  Last year, for example, the week of December 6-12 grossed $105 million, followed […]

> Studios exaggerate the gross of Rio and Scre4m (shocking!).  Specialty films The Conspirator and Atlas Shrugged: Part 1 open to average results. The past week is up versus 2010 — the slump is not over but progress was made.  Compared to the Sunday Studio Estimates (which combine actual numbers for Friday and Saturday with a studio-supplied estimate […]

>Updated international figures follow.  Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol is surging, as Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked and especially Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows is just getting going. Click “read more” for the complete chart.

> Green Lantern debuts on the Worldwide Ranking at #15, while Mr Popper’s Penguins appears outside the Top 20.  Pirates of the Caribbean closes in on $1 billion worldwide. Green Lantern debuts at #15 on the Top 20 Worldwide list with a very limited overseas release so far, while Mr Popper’s Penguins finds itself way […]

> The 10% drop for CARS 2 on Saturday is unusual, but by no means unheard of, for a big animated film (Toy Story 3 and Wall-E had similar drops, and they worked out OK).  Any additional slippage on Sunday beyond the 19% Disney is projecting, though, could be cause for concern.  The similar Saturday […]

Bridesmaids and Priest to open at decent levels, but Thor will continue to lead the box office this weekend.  Fast Five will continue to hang around the Top 3. Opening at over 2,700 theaters, Bridesmaids should average a decent $7,300 per theater (for almost $20 million total).  Priest should average $6,100 at around 2,800 theaters […]

> Deadline has a more complete set of Saturday numbers, and the news just gets better and better for RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES.  It now appears the picture didn’t drop at all from Friday, and it could edge as high as $55M for the weekend.  (No such luck for CHANGE-UP, still looking […]

> Deadline has updated early Friday numbers, and it’s looking like another too-close-to-call weekend:  all the movies in the Top 5–MONEYBALL, THE LION KING, DOLPHIN TALE, COURAGEOUS and 50/50–have Friday grosses between $3.2-3.8M.  Courageous is probably the most front-loaded, due to its focused church-based audience (although it’s per-theatre number will be very impressive), and while […]