OPENINGS:  The theatrical box office continued to pick itself up off the floor this weekend with two high-performing R-rated action movies, which thrived despite an overlapping target audience and the availability of one on a streaming service.  MORTAL KOMBAT (Warners, also on HBO Max) emerged the victor with $22.5M for the weekend, and could […]

  OPENINGS:  After an interruption for The Batman, the MCU resumed its place at the top of popular culture with the arrival of DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS (Marvel/Disney), which launched within the industry’s very high expectations at $185M in the US.  That’s roughly the same as Avengers: Age of Ultron ($191.3M), and […]

  OPENINGS:  MAGIC MIKE’S LAST DANCE (Warners) was produced as an HBO Max original, and then the new Warners ownership decided to give it a mid-level theatrical release in 1500 theaters.  The result was an $8.2M weekend, considerably below the $12.9M launch of Magic Mike XXL in 2015 (at 3355 theaters).  XXL had a leggy […]

  OPENINGS:  What are we to make of the $23M start for KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON (Paramount/Apple)?  As serious 3+hour historical epics go, while it’s a small fraction of Oppenheimer‘s $82.5M launch, it’s better than the $22M 5-day opening for House of Gucci, and the $18.4M for 2013’s Scorsese/DiCaprio The Wolf of Wall Street […]

  OPENINGS:  IT ENDS WITH US (Wayfarer/Columbia/Sony) roared past expectations with a remarkable $50M.  That studio estimate comes with a couple of asterisks–it includes an unspecified amount from wide Wednesday screenings, and assumes an extremely strong Sunday hold–but even so, it’s a great start for a drama that may not even have $75M in production/worldwide […]

>The 13th weekend of the year should be very strong: about $169 million for the top 12 films up 49% from last year’s comparable weekend and up 32% from the four-year average for this weekend.  Wrath of the Titans should open just below $40 million, far behind the pace of Clash of the Titans from […]

Weekend #30 of 2012 looks like $143 million for the top 12 films, the same as last year’s comparable weekend but down 16% from the four-year average for the weekend.  Two new movies will try to take on The Dark Knight Rises without any chance of success. Opening at about 3,000 theaters, The Watch from 20th […]

The 10th weekend of 2013 looks to be the first up weekend after six down weekends in a row.  The top 12 films Friday-Sunday should total $128 million, up 6 to 11% from the same weekend the last few years.  Keep in mind this is the weekend that has given us John Carter, Battle: Los […]