Weekend #30 of 2015 is looking like $170 million for the top 12 films this weekend, above the norm for this weekend (see comparisons below). Pixels from Sony should open with a $37.5 million three-day weekend. Early reviews at RottenTomatoes are dreadful: 11% positive overall so far. Pixels is on track for around $95 million domestic. […]

  OPENINGS:  PAN (RatPac-Dune/Warners) now owns a dubious place in box office history, as one of Hollywood’s biggest flops ever.  On a production/worldwide marketing cost that will exceed $300M, its $15.5M US opening makes John Carter ($30.2M), Battleship ($25.5M), The Lone Ranger ($29.2M), and this year’s Tomorrowland ($33M), Fantastic Four ($25.7M) and even Jupiter Ascending ($18.4M) […]

  The underperforming spectacle of the week is INDEPENDENCE DAY: RESURGENCE (20th), which found out that not all that many people cared to see a sequel to a two-decade old hit without its original star.  According to preliminary numbers at Deadline, opening day was $17.5M (including $4M from Thursday evening), 33% below the already not-great […]

Weekend #37 of 2016 forecasts for films opening wide and major returning films: NEW FILMS THIS WEEKEND September 9-11, 2016 Critics Positive ($ millions) Opening Weekend Forecast Domestic Total Projection Overseas Total Projection Worldwide Total Projection Sully WB PG13 79% 29.0 95 90 185 When the Bough Breaks Sony PG13 n/a 16.5 41 4 45 The […]

  HOLDOVERS:  On a weekend without new wide releases, COCO (Pixar/Disney) had no trouble holding its crown with $26.1M.  Its 49% drop from Thanksgiving weekend was better than other Disney animations in that slot (50% for Moana, 56% for Tangled, 53% for Frozen), and it should be on track for $225M+ in the US.  Coco […]

  OPENINGS:  CRAZY RICH ASIANS (Color Force/SK Global/Warners) had a strong 42% Saturday bump, an especially bright sign for a film that might have been expected to play as front-loaded for a niche audience.  That pushed its weekend to $25.2M, with a total of $34M since its Wednesday opening.  It was just slightly below the […]

  ALADDIN (Disney) marked a rebound from the opening day of Dumbo, with preliminary numbers at Deadline projecting $30.8M on Friday (including $7M from Thursday afternoon/evening), compared to $15.3M for Dumbo.  The Memorial Day holiday will provide an extra boost, so the 3-day weekend should be around $86M, with $106M by Monday.  Aladdin wasn’t cheap, […]

  OPENINGS:  THE GRUDGE (Columbia/Sony) tried to take advantage of Hollywood’s early January fallow period, but at $11.3M, the reboot of a remake found few takers, far below the $29.6M for 2018’s Insidious: The Last Key, and also less than the $13.7M for 2017’s Underworld: Blood Wars and the $15M for 2015’s The Woman In […]