OPENINGS:  THE SECRET LIFE OF PETS (Illumination/Universal) quintupled the next-highest grosser of the weekend, with the biggest opening in US history for an animated non-sequel at $103.2M, easily passing last year’s $90.4M for Inside Out.  It remains to be seen if Pets can match Inside Out‘s nearly 4x multiple, but whatever happens from here, […]

  OPENINGS:  It was no picnic opening against the historic 2nd weekend of Black Panther, and all of the new arrivals may have left some money on the table.  GAME NIGHT (New Line/Warners) fared best, and ran a healthy 25% Saturday bump into a $16.6M weekend, but that points toward a $45M US total, far […]

  OPENINGS:  HUNTER KILLER (Millenium/Summit Premiere/Lionsgate) had a weak $6.7M start, and probably won’t reach $20M in the US, not even enough to pay for the costs of its US release, and a low for a Gerard Butler action movie.  Its international campaign has a sluggish $4M so far, with $3.2M this weekend in 16 […]

  OPENINGS:  WINCHESTER (CBS/Lionsgate) didn’t benefit from having the weekend to itself, with a $9.3M opening that was undistinguished even by the standards of low-budget horror Super Bowl Weekend arrivals.  (The Messengers: $14.7M, Rings:  $13M, Darkness Falls:  $12M, The Uninvited: $10.3M, to name a few.)  It might reach $20M or so in the US, which […]

Weekend #39 of 2015 is looking like $137 million for the top 12 films this weekend, well above the norm for this weekend (see comparisons below). Hotel Transylvania 2 from Sony should open with a $37.5 million weekend. Reviews are non-existent: nothing yet at RottenTomatoes. The film is on track for around $123 million domestic. Overseas the film could bring in […]

  OPENINGS:  With the latest MCU extravaganza waiting in the wings, Hollywood studios kept their wares out of the market, and the only arrival was the latest Liam Neeson vehicle (incredibly, he’s had 6 films in release since Covid hit), this one entitled MEMORY (Open Road).  It launched with $3.1M, very similar to February’s Blacklight, […]

  OPENINGS:  The box office may not have hit bottom yet (see “Next Weekend” below), but it’s getting close, with the horror movie THE INVITATION (Screen Gems/Sony) topping the weekend at a painful $7M.  Things were no better overseas, where the film opened at $1.6M in 19 markets.  Despite these numbers, The Invitation may still […]

Weekend #27 of 2016 forecasts for films opening wide and major returning films: NEW FILMS THIS WEEKEND July 1-3, 2016 Critics Positive ($ millions) Opening Weekend Forecast Four Day Fri-Sun Domestic Total Projection Overseas Total Projection Worldwide Total Projection Purge: Election Year Uni R 67% 23.0 28.5 65 45 110 The BFG Dis PG 71% […]