OPENINGS:  TED 2 (MRC/Universal) suffered a 16% Friday-to-Saturday drop, and is currently projected by its studio to have a $33M weekend, down 40% from the $54.4M start for the original Ted 3 years ago.  Overseas, Ted 2 opened to $20.3M in 26 markets.  That leaves much of the world still to come, but a […]

  OPENINGS:  It was the Thanksgiving holiday of Hollywood’s dreams, spearheaded by the record-breaking performance of MOANA 2 (Disney), which shoveled in $221M during the Wed-Sun period and $135.5M for the weekend itself.  Most Thanksgiving blockbusters launch the weekend before the holiday, so there aren’t a lot of direct comparisons to make.  In contrast to […]

>Through Sunday, Team Metcalf has a $52 million lead in the ShowBuzzDaily Summer Movie Draft.  Metcalf’s Captain America outpaced Salem’s Harry Potter weekend two, and Salem’s Friends with Benefits opening was cancelled out by Metcalf’s Transformers and Horrible Bosses.  Next weekend Metcalf’s final two films open.  Salem has three films in August, which collectively should […]

  The answer to yesterday’s box office question–would THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES (New Line/MGM/Warners) look more like The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King or Twilight: Eclipse along the course of its 5-day weekend opening–it leaning toward the vampires, which is not good news for Middle-Earth.  On its 2d full day […]

  We’re now officially in the Christmas-to-New-Year’s holiday box office period, and the general form is going to follow 2015 fairly closely, with a Star Wars installment clearly in the lead (albeit much less lucratively than last year’s), a family vehicle in 2d place, and an assortment of also-rans behind them. Comparisons between ROGUE ONE […]

>The Help sits at the top of the heap thanks to a terrific 19% drop in its second weekend and especially thanks to the very weak crop of openers that make up that heap.  Spy Kids 4, Conan the Barbarian and Fright Night all are opening below forecast and headed for a quick end on […]

  OPENINGS:  Even in a normal box office marketplace, a mild rom-com with no big-name stars like THE BROKEN HEARTS GALLERY (TriStar/Sony) probably wouldn’t have made much money, and it has both a low production budget and limited marketing costs going for it.  All that being said, though, there’s nothing about a $1.1M weekend at […]

>Through Monday, July 4, Team Metcalf has pulled within $60 million of Team Salem.  Metcalf will enjoy another few weeks of Transformers: Dark of the Moon and two more marginal openings before Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 on July 15 puts Salem back in the driver’s seat.  Next update on Friday.