OPENINGS:  The Gerard Butler vehicle PLANE (Lionsgate) launched with $10M over the 3-day weekend ($11.6M with the Monday holiday), a sturdy number although not up to the $21.4M for Butler’s pre-pandemic Angel Has Fallen.  It hasn’t yet opened overseas. HOUSE PARTY (Warners), originally set for HBO Max, had a mild start with $3.8M ($4.5M […]

  OPENINGS:  THE EXORCIST: BELIEVER (Blumhouse/Morgan Creek/Universal) was at the low end of expectations with $27.2M, and it was also below projections internationally with $17.9M in 52 markets.  It’s hard to tell just what this means in terms of the bottom line, because while a $125M worldwide total wouldn’t look terrible against $30M in production […]

  OPENINGS:  DEADPOOL AND WOLVERINE (Marvel/Disney) landed at the top of sky-high expectations with $205M in the US and $233.3M overseas, the best US (and MCU) start since Spider-Man: No Way Home in 2021, the best worldwide launch since Avatar: The Way of Water in 2022, and by far the biggest opening ever for an […]

>Weekend #15 of 2012 looks like it will be about $105 million for the top 12 films, down 11% from last year’s comparable weekend (dominated by Rio) and about even with the four-year average for this weekend.  After three weeks of blazing box office, The Three Stooges and The Cabin in the Woods should struggle […]

>The complete WEEKEND PREDICTIONS will be posted later this morning.  Until then, an early look.  Contagion should open at #1 with $20.5 million this weekend.  Warrior should open with about $10 million, battling with The Help for second place.  Finally, in the DOA department, Bucky Larson: Born to be a Star (produced by Adam Sandler) […]

Weekend #28 of 2012 looks fairly soft: $159 million for the top 12 films, down 37% from last year’s comparable weekend (the opening of the last Harry Potter — talk about a high bar) and down 23% from the four-year average for the weekend. Opening at around 3,800 theaters, Ice Age: Continental Drift from 20th Century […]

The 8th weekend of 2013 looks like another down weekend: $95 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, down 16% from the same weekend last year.  Two more movies will open this weekend, both with little potential. Opening in about 2,500 theaters Friday, Snitch from Summit and starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson should average a perfectly […]

The 33rd weekend of the year is looking like $133 million for the top 12 films, up a sizable 17% from the average for a normally extremely sleepy weekend.  Opening at around 2,800 2,940 theaters Friday (very close to the 2,886 average theater count for opening weekends the last two years), Kick-Ass 2 from Universal should average $8,900 $8,500 per […]