After a sub-par Thursday, preliminary numbers at Deadline have THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES (New Line/MGM/Warners) surging to $16.1M on Friday.  If that number holds, it will be a tremendous 62% jump from Thursday, which would be a better percentage result than any of the Lord of the Rings movies (which […]

  OPENINGS:  TAKEN 3 (Europa/20th) had a very decent 5% Saturday bump (so much for the movie’s quality affecting word of mouth), and is currently claiming a $40.4M weekend, which would make it the #2 January opening ever, right behind last year’s Ride Along at $41.5M.  In addition, Taken 3 earned another $40.1M in just […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Here is the updated 2015 Scorecard, with Universal pulling past Warner Brothers by a nose.  Each studio has a nearly identical profile of its slate: one successful blockbuster, an expensive sci-fi/ fantasy movie that tanked domestically but it is somewhat bailed out by some overseas business, and one or two outright bombs. […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, weekend #14 of 2015 looks like $225 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, way above the norms for this weekend and setting a new record for early April. Opening at 4,004 theaters Friday, Furious 7 from Universal is on track for a $149.5 million opening three-day weekend (well above our $117.5 million ShowBuzzDaily forecast […]

  AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON (Marvel/Disney) continues to be a monstrous hit–but not as monstrous as expected.  Based on preliminary numbers at Deadline, its 2d Friday will be $21.9M, down 74% from last Friday’s $84.4M, and down 25% from the $29.2M 2d Friday of The Avengers.  Ultron is heading for a Weekend 2 drop of […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.   YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2015 to date is now +3% above last year and +4% above the average for this point the past four years ($4.194 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed almost $11.8 billion worldwide when we add overseas box office […]

  PIXELS (Columbia/Sony) was marketed on its high concept rather than as an Adam Sandler star vehicle, perhaps reflecting not just Sandler’s dwindling value, but the shuttering of his long-term acting relationship with the studio as he moves to Netflix.  The result was better than some of Sandler’s recent flops, but far from exciting:  according […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.     YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2015 to date is still +6% above last year and still +2% above the average for this point the past four years ($6.833 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed $18.1 billion worldwide when we add overseas box office (that’s […]