The see-saw continues in the 2013 studio rankings.  Disney moved back into first (thanks to the domestic release of Frozen with overseas still to come) and Warner Brothers moved back into second place. Meanwhile continued strength from The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (a big increase in overseas grosses and an upgrade in the domestic forecast total) pushed Lionsgate/Summit to […]

STUDIO SCORECARD. In the worldwide studio rankings for 2013 to date, Warner Brothers has moved back ahead of Universal in a very tight race for second place. Reminder: the chart below has been reformatted and expanded to include a look at all releases from each studio, divided into three buckets: worldwide grosses of over $300 […]

  OPENINGS:  A Friday Valentines Day that leads into a long holiday weekend is a bonanza for Hollywood, and the movie that cleaned up the most was SONIC THE HEDGEHOG (Paramount), with a remarkable $57M over the 3-day weekend and $68M with Monday.  That’s the biggest opening ever for a videogame-based property, and it gives […]

> Due to the Martin Luther King holiday on Monday, all studios are estimating low Sunday drops, although some are projecting more aggressively than others. UNIVERSAL:  CONTRABAND held almost even on Saturday, which is good for an action movie, and is projecting a reasonable (given the holiday) 21% drop on Sunday.  It should get to […]

  OPENINGS:  THE BEST MAN HOLIDAY (Universal) had a strong Saturday bump for a movie aimed at the African-American audience, up 16% from Friday (in comparison, Think Like A Man increased 9% and Tyler Perry’s last 2 movies dropped 16% and 8%). That suggests very positive word of mouth, which may give Best Man unexpected […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.   YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2015 to date is now +6% above last year and now +2% above the average for this point the past four years ($7.066 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed over $18.6 billion worldwide when we add overseas box office (that’s […]

The Holiday Season at the North American box office is off to a fairly solid start in 2013.  Over the past seven days (December 16-22), the top 10 films in the North American each day have totaled $193 million, a big 32% jump over the lackluster 2012 total over the same period ($146 million) and […]

  OPENINGS:  With a $10M production budget (and tens of millions in marketing on top), the $10.6M weekend for SINISTER 2 (Blumhouse/Gramercy/Focus/Universal) will test Blumhouse’s ability to make money out of just about anything.  The opening is far below the $18M start for 2012’s Sinister, and its US total won’t be near the $48.1M gross […]