WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Updated look at 2016 by studio.   YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2016 to date is now even with last year and still +2% above the average for this point the past four years ($5.943 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed $15.3 billion worldwide when […]

  STAR TREK BEYOND (Skydance/Alibaba/Huahua/Paramount) is showing a fair franchise hold by the standards of this summer.  Based on preliminary numbers at Deadline, it had a $23M opening day (including $5.5M from Thursday), down about 26% from the start of 2009’s Star Trek reboot.  (2013’s Into Darkness opened on a Thursday, changing its weekend dynamic.)  That suggests a $57M […]

Weekend #30 of 2016 forecasts for films opening wide and major returning films: NEW FILMS THIS WEEKEND July 22-24, 2016 Critics Positive ($ millions) Opening Weekend Forecast Domestic Total Projection Overseas Total Projection Worldwide Total Projection Star Trek Beyond Par PG13 93% 66.5 195 255 450 Ice Age: Collision Course Fox PG 15% 35.5 120 […]

  OPENINGS:  GHOSTBUSTERS (Village Roadshow/Columbia/Sony) is reporting a $46M weekend (that number assumes the lowest Sunday drop in the Top 10, so it may come down a bit in finals), about 10% higher than the start for Independence Day: Resurgence and 20% higher than The Legend of Tarzan, all on similar $275M+ production/marketing budgets.  None […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Updated look at 2016 by studio.   YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2016 to date is now down -1% from last year and still +2% above the average for this point the past four years ($5.690 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed almost $14.7 billion worldwide […]

  The $17.1M opening day (including $3.4M from Thursday night) for GHOSTBUSTERS (Columbia/Sony) reported in preliminary numbers at Deadline would be fine if the movie were at the same budget level as previous Paul Feig/Melissa McCarthy collaborations The Heat or Spy.  But Ghostbusters cost 2-3x as much, $275M+ including production and global marketing, and a […]

Weekend #29 of 2016 forecasts for films opening wide and major returning films: NEW FILMS THIS WEEKEND July 15-17, 2016 Critics Positive ($ millions) Opening Weekend Forecast Domestic Total Projection Overseas Total Projection Worldwide Total Projection Ghostbusters Sony PG13 75% 53.0 150 140 290 The Infiltrator Broad Green R 57% 5.0 20 15 35 Note: […]

  OPENINGS:  THE SECRET LIFE OF PETS (Illumination/Universal) quintupled the next-highest grosser of the weekend, with the biggest opening in US history for an animated non-sequel at $103.2M, easily passing last year’s $90.4M for Inside Out.  It remains to be seen if Pets can match Inside Out‘s nearly 4x multiple, but whatever happens from here, […]