OPENINGS:  The first weekend of December brought the usual assortment of indies seeking a toehold before the holiday giants arrive, although this year was unusual in being dominated by Thanksgiving blockbusters, which grew the weekend box office total to a new record.  The most impressive of the newcomers was the Indian-language PUSHPA: THE RULE […]

  OPENINGS:  THE POST (DreamWorks/Reliance/Participant/20th) expanded to wide release with $18.6M over 3 days (which should become $22M with Monday).  That’s a bit better than the $15.4M 3-day start for Steven Spielberg’s Bridge of Spies, which didn’t have the benefit of a holiday weekend opening.  Bridge got to $72.3M in the US, and The Post […]

  OPENINGS:  GOOD BOYS (Good Universe/Universal) easily led the weekend with $21M, a solid start for a comedy that probably had production/marketing costs under $75M.  It was somewhat frontloaded with a 12% Saturday drop, but summer Sundays have been running strong this year, so it should still have a fair weekend multiple.  Good Boys has […]

  OPENINGS:  EVIL DEAD RISE (Warners) modestly exceeded expectations with $23.5M, although that was still below the franchise’s last reboot in 2013 at $25.8M (which only reached a $54.2M total in the US and didn’t spawn a sequel).  Horror has become the most dependable genre in Hollywood, and Evil Dead Rise is the only one […]

  OPENINGS:  TRANSFORMERS: RISE OF THE BEASTS (Hasbro/Paramount) launched at the higher end of tracking expectations with $60.5M.  Beasts is a much bigger-budgeted effort than its immediate predecessor, 2018’s Bumblebee (which opened with $21.7M but had a 6x multiple thanks to word of mouth and the dynamics of the Christmas box office).  More impressively, Beasts […]

  OPENINGS:  ANT-MAN (Marvel/Disney) is claiming a very low 18% Sunday drop in order to reach a $58M weekend estimate, so that number may shrink on Monday.  Even at $58M, Ant-Man opened in the same range as Superman Returns ($52.5M), The Incredible Hulk ($55.4M) and The Green Lantern ($53.2M), all of which stopped their franchises–at […]

>The third weekend of the year should generate about $114 million for the top 12 films.  This would be a marked improvement from last year’s very weak comparable weekend, but in line with most other years for this weekend.  Underworld Awakening should open at #1 with $25+ million, but don’t look for this installment in […]

  OPENINGS:  There were no new wide openings on this pre-holiday season weekend in the US, but things were busier overseas.  AQUAMAN (DC/Warners), which won’t arrive in the US until December 21, launched in China with a huge $93.6M, the best start for any Warner Bros film in that country, and almost as much as […]