OPENINGS:  THE INVISIBLE MAN (Blumhouse/Universal) had a 12% Saturday bump, evidence of extremely strong word of mouth in the horror genre (among recent uncommonly leggy horror releases, Get Out rose 17% on its 2nd day of release, and A Quiet Place was up 1%).  That brought it to a strong $29M weekend, and with […]

  OPENINGS:  TOM & JERRY (Warners, also on HBO Max) had a solid opening for this moment in time with $13.7M, an especially impressive number since the movie is available at no extra cost to anyone with an HBO Max subscription.  If Tom & Jerry can have the kind of sustained run that other family […]

  OPENINGS:  UNCHARTED (Columbia/Sony) had a strong start with $44.2M ($51M with the holiday Monday), once again largely due to the M18-34 demo, but also suggesting that Tom Holland may be emerging as an action star even without webs to spin.  (Of course it didn’t hurt that Uncharted followed his mega-smash Spider-Man so closely that […]

  OPENINGS:  Following several months of strong showings from the horror genre, PREY FOR THE DEVIL (Lionsgate) arrived at $7M to mop up the Halloween weekend remainder.  That was around the expected result, and considering that Prey was a low-budget effort with little national marketing, it might be enough to set a pace for minimal […]

  OPENINGS:  INSIDIOUS: THE RED DOOR (Screen Gems/Sony) reaffirmed the strength of the low-budget horror genre with a $32.7M start, better than the $29.6M launch of 2018’s The Last Key (which didn’t feature the full original cast).  Red Door should reach $65M+ in the US, guaranteeing profitability on a reported $16M production budget and relatively […]

  OPENINGS:  Pundits have been quick to celebrate the current fade of the comic book genre, but the truth is that Hollywood hasn’t yet found anything to reliably replace it at the top of the box office.  After years of Marvel sagas kicking off the summer movie season with extravagant grosses, this year the studio’s […]

> After a nice Friday bump, TRANSFORMERS:  DARK OF THE MOON took a small step backwards yesterday, with a lower % of increase than either of its predecessors had on their first Saturdays.  As Mitch Metcalf noted in his piece on holiday weekend boxoffice, films in general should benefit from smaller than usual declines today, […]

> Happy Voice/Smash Bowl, everyone!  (And go Giants!!!) OPENINGS:  CHRONICLE (20th) is claiming bragging rights for the weekend over THE WOMAN IN BLACK (CBS) by $1M.  But both films are assuming almost identical Super Bowl Sunday drops (69% and 67%, respectively), so the win will depend on whether one or the other faces more audience […]