The tricks arrived early and the treats were nonexistent on a bleak pre-Halloween weekend. Let the second-guessing begin on STEVE JOBS (Legendary/Universal).  Last week’s limited expansion suggested softness as the awards hopeful widened beyond NY/LA, and national release has crumbled its box office hopes entirely.  Preliminary numbers at Deadline have Steve Jobs at $2.5M […]

>The sixth weekend of the year should generate about $142 million for the top 12 films — up 5% from last year’s comparable weekend but down a similar percentage from a “normal” weekend this time of year.  The Vow and Safe House should open very solidly at #1 and #2.            […]

>Accurate theater counts are in, and we have adjusted the per theater averages, as well as updated critical sentiment as we head into the very slow Labor Day weekend. Apollo 18 opens today at 3,328 theaters, and we expect a low $4,000 average per theater this weekend (Friday-Sunday only, as we always do).  We have […]

  OPENINGS:  CHRISTOPHER ROBIN (Disney) led the newcomers with $25M (as is always the case with studio estimates that barely exceed a round number, that may decline in finals tomorrow), 16% better than Disney’s debut of Pete’s Dragon in August 2016.  However, the films had different trajectories, with Robin down 9% on Saturday, while Dragon […]

  OPENINGS:  On such a razor-thin margin, the standings could change tomorrow with final numbers, but for now, THE BOSS (Universal) has the weekend edge with $23.48M, barely a nose ($45K) ahead of those creaky superheroes.  Bragging rights are nice, but even if it falls behind on Monday, this is still a win for The […]

  OPENINGS:  At $6.5M, THE POSSESSION OF HANNAH GRACE (Screen Gems/Sony) performed adequately for a low-budget horror item placed in one of the lower-grossing weekends of the year.  Possession also earned $4.1M in 17 international territories, the start of a release that will extend into early 2019.  It has around $30M in production and worldwide […]

Weekend #18 of 2015 is looking like $263 million for the top 12 films this weekend, well above the norm for this weekend, as the next Avengers film kicks off summer early and gets Disney into the game for 2015 in a big way. Opening at around 4,200 theaters Friday (well above to the 2,886 average theater count […]

  OPENINGS:  THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER (Universal) stirred little interest from critics or audiences, and set sail with a flat $6.5M.  It hasn’t yet opened overseas, but will have a difficult time trying to recoup $100M or so in production/marketing costs. The tiny JULES (Bleecker Street) launched for some reason at 780 theaters, […]