OPENINGS:  Beyonce’s concert documentary RENAISSANCE (Variance/AMC Theaters) led the traditionally slow first weekend of December with $21M, a shadow of the $92.8M for the Eras Tour movie a couple of months ago, but within expectations.  As with Eras Tour, it’s likely that the Renaissance box office will be front-loaded with fans, so the US […]

  OPENINGS:  TRANSFORMERS ONE (Hasbro/Paramount) underdelivered vs projections by about 20%, and its dim $25M start didn’t even give it the weekend’s #1 ranking at the box office.  Paramount was taking a calculated risk by rebooting the franchise via PG-rated animation, and it doesn’t seem to have worked out.  It faces direct competition next weekend […]

>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 […]

> Rise of the Planet of the Apes should open easily at #1 with over $43 million.  With broadly positive reviews behind it, this prequel should have decent holds in the following few weeks.  The Smurfs should slide into #2 with a decent second week decline ($21 million, down 41%).  Fighting for #3 should be […]

Weekend #34 of 2012 looks like a typically bad fourth weekend of August.  Three shitty new films open and a political documentary goes semi-wide, and each should be well under $10 million for the weekend.  The top 12 films this weekend should total $89 million, about the same pace for the comparable weekend the last […]

The box office is starting to stabilize after a rough first quarter of the year.  This weekend’s top 12 films should total about $120 million, within 3% of the same weekend in recent years and the second weekend in a row to buck the strong downward trend most of the winter. Opening at a slightly […]

The 36th weekend of the year (usually the lowest-grossing weekend of the year) is looking like $73 million for the top 12 films, actually above the four-year average for this weekend ($65 million) and way above last year’s stuning bad $52 million on this weekend.  Nothing to get excited about, but not the black hole it could be.  A […]

Weekend #5 of 2014 is looking like $74 million for the top 12 films, a significant 17% below the average for this challenging weekend the past few years.  Super Bowl weekend is always a tough one, with the distraction of the largest TV event of the year on Sunday and weak movies released in its wake.  […]