OPENINGS:  THE LITTLE MERMAID (Disney) began its run with $95.5M over the 3-day weekend, projected to $117.5M with the Monday holiday.  That’s within the range of pre-release projections, and if the numbers hold, it would be slightly higher than the $116.8M earned over the 2019 4-day Memorial Day weekend by Aladdin.  However, it’s a […]

  OPENINGS:  KUNG FU PANDA 4 (DreamWorks Animation/Universal), the first new all-ages animated release since the holiday season, arrived at the high end of projections with $58.3M, impressively above the $41.3M start for 2016’s Panda 3.  (And at a reported production budget 40% lower than its predecessor.)  It faces no direct competition for months, and […]

>No new wide releases this weekend, the final weekend of the year as we welcome the arrival of 2012.  We are estimating a box office volume of $145 million for Friday-Sunday for the top 12 films, up 27% from $114 million last weekend (which was limited by Christmas Eve on Saturday) and down only 2% […]

>This weekend will be the first one in a while to underperform the same weekend in 2010.  One highly-anticipated film is looking like it will do well but not great, and one kid/teen movie is looking like it will come and go very quietly. Opening at about 3,200 theaters, Super 8 should average a strong […]

This weekend is on track to be the fifth weekend in a row to be up over the previous years.  None of the openers look like big hits — it’s just that Argo is hanging around very well in its third week and there are more films at or near $10 million this weekend than […]

The 23rd weekend of the year is looking like a wobbly $127 million for the top 12 films, well under the same weekend the last few years.  Three out of four weekends in May were anchored by solid commercial films (Iron Man 3, Star Trek Into Darkness and Fast & Furious 6).  But the first […]

The 45th weekend of the year is looking like $174 million for the top 12 films, which would be a record for the second weekend of November. Opening at over 3,800 theaters Friday (well above the 2,886 average theater count for opening weekends the last two years), Thor: The Dark World from Disney and Marvel should […]

Weekend #14 of 2014 is looking like a robust $159 million for the top 12 films, 41% above the typical volume for this weekend the past few years ($113 million). Opening at around 3,900 theaters Friday (well above the 2,886 average theater count for opening weekends the last two years), Captain America: The Winter Soldier from Disney should average […]