The failure of ALLEGIANT (Summit/Lionsgate) puts its studio in an unusually awkward position.  Even though Lionsgate may be able to put the 3rd Divergent movie on its books as a profit (most of the international rights were pre-sold, providing revenues that can off-set the oncoming US losses), the economics are going to get much […]

Weekend #10 of 2014 is looking like $127 million for the top 12 films, right in line with the same weekend the last few years.  Opening at around 3,400 theaters Friday (well above the 2,886 average theater count for opening weekends the last two years), 300: Rise of an Empire from Warner Brothers should average a solid $10,800 per theater […]

  OPENINGS:  ALIEN: ROMULUS (20th/Disney) became the latest franchise product to hit big this summer, arriving at the high end of expectations with $41.5M.  That was higher than 2017’s Alien: Covenant ($36.2M), although below 2012’s Prometheus ($51.1M).  The film was also solid overseas, with a $66.7M start sparked by $25.7M from China.  Romulus was budgeted […]

  OPENINGS:  Despite the advantage of a Father’s Day weekend start, CARS 3 (Pixar/Disney) had the lowest opening of its franchise with $53.5M, 19% below Cars 2, and even 11% behind 2006’s original Cars.  It’s likely to end up at the low end of Pixar titles, with a US total closer to A Bug’s Life […]

  OPENINGS:  NIGHT SCHOOL (Perfect World/Universal) had a surprising 18% Saturday bump (by comparison, both Central Intelligence and Girls Trip dropped 4% on their first Saturdays), suggesting that it’s appealing to a family audience.  That pushed the weekend to $28M, still not in the top rank of Kevin Hart openings ($34-35M for Get Hard, Ride […]

  It’s been 7 weeks since Christopher Robin arrived for the family audience, and THE HOUSE WITH A CLOCK IN ITS WALLS (Universal) took advantage of that drought with a $7.7M opening day according to early numbers at Deadline, which should give it a $24M weekend.  House had a moderate production budget and a marketing […]

Weekend #29 of 2012 looks like what last weekend should have been: $272 million for the top 12 films, up 50% from last year’s comparable weekend and up 67% from the four-year average for the weekend. Opening at 4,404 theaters, The Dark Knight Rises from Warner Brothers should average $43,600 per theater (for a $192 million […]

>The ninth weekend of the year should generate about $125 million for the top 12 films, a fairly typical weekend for the first weekend in March — up 2% from last year’s comparable weekend and down a negligible 1% from the four-year average for this weekend.  Universal should stand tall with a $44 million opening […]