OPENINGS:  Considering that DOWNTON ABBEY: A NEW AGE (Focus/Universal) is something like a fresh MCU chapter for the older female audience, the fact that the sequel opened at $16M despite solid reviews–a painful 48% drop from the first theatrical entry in the franchise just 3 years ago–is a sobering sign that this demo just […]

  OPENINGS:  The surprise isn’t so much that COCAINE BEAR (Universal) “overdelivered,” but that expectations were so low for a picture that had been the subject of pop culture fascination for months.  The $23.1M weekend seems like a realistic reflection of that fact, and although business is likely to drop quickly now that audiences have […]

  OPENINGS:  THE MARVELS (Marvel/Disney) fulfilled the ghastliest projections assigned to it, setting a new low for the MCU with a $47M US opening, and it was similarly dismal overseas, with $63.3M from 51 territories.  The internet is already bursting with theories that include “No one liked Captain Marvel in the first place” and the […]

  OPENINGS:  None of the weekend’s wide arrivals found much of an audience.  BLINK TWICE (MGM/Amazon) led the weak group with $7.3M, and given its relatively low $20M+ production costs, it might hit breakeven, depending on how much the studio spent on marketing.  It was equally slow overseas with $6.7M in 73 markets. The Christian […]

Weekend #21 of 2012 (the traditional Friday-Sunday portion of this Memorial Day weekend) looks like it will total about $153 million for the top 12 films, down 29% from last year’s comparable weekend and down 11% from the four-year average for the weekend.  Two movies open Friday, Men in Black 3 and Chernobyl Diaries.  Although […]

> This weekend looks like it will have a very solid opener (the best since August 5, when Rise of the Planet of the Apes bowed) but the weekend as a whole should still lag behind the same weekend last year.  The third Paranormal Activity has its sights set on over $41 million this weekend, while […]

The first weekend of 2013 should total about $117 million for the top 12 films, somewhat below average for a normally sluggish weekend as life and movie-going returns to normal.  Texas Chainsaw 3D has the most promise of the films going wide this weekend and will duel with Django Unchained for second place (and possibly […]

  The weekend looks highly promising for THE CONJURING (Warners), which haunted up $3.3M in screenings that began 7PM on Thursday night.  Although other summer openings have had similar mid-$3M starts (including The Great Gatsby and World War Z), the closest analogue here is probably the $3.4M earned by low-budget The Purge in its Thursday […]