Weekend #32 of 2014 is looking like $152 million for the top 12 films this weekend, up 11%from the norm for this weekend and the second up weekend in a row after six straight down weekends. Opening at over 3,700 theaters Friday (above the 2,886 average theater count for opening weekends the last two years), Teenage Mutant […]

Weekend #12 of 2015 is looking like $139 million for the top 12 films this weekend, very much in line with comparable weekends the past few years. Opening at around 3,750 theaters Friday (well above the 2,886 average theater count for opening weekends the last two years), Insurgent from Lionsgate/Summit should average $15,700 per theater for the three-day […]

Weekend #29 of 2015 is looking like $195 million for the top 12 films this weekend, somewhat above the norm for this weekend and way above last year’s very soft weekend (see comparisons below).   Ant-Man from Disney and Marvel should open with a $64.5 million three-day weekend. Early reviews at RottenTomatoes are decent: 75% positive overall so far. Ant-Man is on track […]

  OPENINGS:  THE MARTIAN (20th) barely missed setting a new October opening record at $55M, just $800K behind Gravity (which had a much shorter running time and the advantage of IMAX ticket prices).  Gravity made it all the way to $274.1M in the US, and although Martian may have a tough time getting near that […]

  The failure of ALLEGIANT (Summit/Lionsgate) puts its studio in an unusually awkward position.  Even though Lionsgate may be able to put the 3rd Divergent movie on its books as a profit (most of the international rights were pre-sold, providing revenues that can off-set the oncoming US losses), the economics are going to get much […]

  In its time of need, Hollywood looked to Pixar for salvation, and FINDING DORY (Pixar/Disney) is delivering.  According to preliminary numbers at Deadline, its opening day was $53M (including $9.2M from Thursday evening), more than any animated film has ever made in a single day, ahead of the $47.1M that Shrek The Third earned […]

  OPENINGS:  The big studios wanted no part of the weekend after Thanksgiving, and the only arrivals were a pair of fringe indies.  Even for a micro-budgeted horror product, INCARNATE (High Top/Blumhouse/Universal) was a flop at $2.7M. In a barely-wide release at 639 theatres, the Christian-themed BELIEVE (Freestyle) attracted no one outside the flock (and […]

  This weekend is looking like a battle of the family films, with no clear victor at this point.  THE BOSS BABY (DreamWorks Animation/20th) is performing quite a bit better than expected, with preliminary numbers at Deadline giving it nearly $15M on Friday (including $1.5M from Thursday night), which should lead it to a $50M […]