This weekend is solid but definitely cooler than last weekend’s torrid pace:  $180 million for the top 12 films this Friday-Sunday, up 10% from a typical fourth weekend in November.  The final Twilight installment will remain at the top of the chart this weekend, while Skyfall’s third weekend will challenge the family-friendly Rise of the […]

The 27th weekend of the year is looking like an excellent $218 million for the top 12 films, up 20-35% from the comparable weekend the last few years. Opening at around 3,900 theaters Wednesday (well above the top 10% theater count for opening weekend wide releases of 3,690 theaters), Despicable Me 2 from Universal should average $20,000 per theater for the three-day weekend […]

The 47th weekend of the year is looking like $238 million for the top 12 films, just about where the weekend before Thanksgiving should be. Opening at over 4,100 theaters Friday (well above the 2,886 average theater count for opening weekends the last two years), The Hunger Games: Catching Fire from Lionsgate/Summit should average a superior $40,800 per […]

Weekend #17 of 2014 is looking like a not so hot $99 million for the top 12 films, 11% below the typical volume for this weekend the past few years ($111 million).  Opening at around 3,000 theaters Friday (somewhat above the 2,886 average theater count for opening weekends the last two years), The Other Woman from Fox should […]

[UPDATE: The predictions for the films opening this weekend have been revised, reflecting corrections to some key computations.] Weekend #43 of 2014 is looking like $100 million $109 million for the top 12 films this weekend, up 23% from the norm for this weekend. Opening at around 2,700 theaters Friday (just below the 2,886 average theater […]

  OPENINGS:  Here’s a telling stat for TOMORROWLAND (Disney):  although the movie was aimed squarely at a family audience, only 30% of the people who showed up were in that demo.  Instead, 60% of the audience was over 25, meaning the older George Clooney fans.  That suggests that Disney marketing wasn’t able to get the […]

  OPENINGS:  As expected, FANTASTIC FOUR (20th) plunged 25% on Saturday as word of mouth caught up with it (by comparison, Ant-Man lost just 14% on its 2d day of release), giving it a sad $26.2M weekend.  Things didn’t get any better when international was factored in, as the franchise-killer managed just $34.1M in 43 […]

  This was never going to be much of a box office weekend, and the east coast snowstorms certainly won’t help.  According to preliminary numbers at Deadline, all 3 of the newcomers are closely packed with $3.5-4M Fridays and probable $9.5-11M weekends, so word of mouth could put any of them ahead. The early leader, […]