And the race begins.  Team Metcalf is off to an early lead in the second annual ShowBuzzDaily Summer Movie Draft, thanks to a big head start from Marvel’s The Avengers (Metcalf’s top pick and the #2 pick overall).  The Avengers came in officially at a resounding $207.4 million for its record-setting domestic opening weekend.  Keep […]

> DreamWorks/Disney’s decision to open the lengthy, serious THE HELP on a Wednesday in mid-August looked like a questionable strategy, but so far it’s paying off:  Deadline reports that its opening day gross is headed for $5.5M, very solid for a mid-week debut.  By way of comparison, Eat Pray Love, also based on a bestseller […]

> Sony is taking an interesting strategy this fall:  with MONEYBALL in release, THE IDES OF MARCH opening on Friday and ANONYMOUS coming on October 28, they’re cornering the market on upscale, wide-release drama until Warner Bros opens J. EDGAR on November 11.  (On that date, Sony will go as downscale as is humanly possible […]

> Per a Box Office Mojo tweet, the final actual number for BREAKING DAWN PART 1‘s opening weekend fell a bit to $138.1M.  This isn’t a major surprise, as the first 2 days of the weekend had indicated numbers more front-loaded than New Moon‘s opening, yet Summit estimated Breaking Dawn 1‘s Sunday with the same […]

> With one startling exception and a couple of smaller ones, the holiday crop of movies declined on Saturday and are expected to recover on New Year’s Day. PARAMOUNT:  MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – GHOST PROTOCOL went down 18% and is expected to rise 33% today.  It should hit $142M by the end of the 4-day holiday […]

> Deadline‘s preliminary numbers for Friday have JOHN CARTER (Disney) at around $10M for the day, which depending on how much it plays as a family movie on Saturday, should mean a $25-30M weekend.  That’s not a horribly low number–it’s one of the half-dozen highest openings of the year so far–unless you’re trying to earn […]

> First at your boxoffice and first in your hearts:  Katniss Everdeen. THE HUNGER GAMES:  The juggernaut of The Hunger Games (Lionsgate/Summit) rolls on, with what should be a $20M+ weekend that should bring it to $335M by its 24th day in release.  That puts it ahead of all the Twilights and every Harry Potter […]

Weekend #24 of 2012 looks like it will total a just okay $146 million for the top 12 films, down 1% from last year’s comparable weekend and down 6% from the four-year average for the weekend.  Two films with once-big stars should open with just under $30 million each.  Not an embarrassment to be sure, […]