WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Here is the first look at the 2015 Scorecard, with of course Warner Brothers breaking away into an early lead in worldwide box office thanks to American Sniper.  If you are interested in the 2014 Scorecard, scroll down to the bottom of the post (as the remnants of overseas box office for […]

  Universal, having eaten a poisoned apple with Battleship, is relieved by this weekend’s tastier produce. OPENINGS:  SNOW WHITE & THE HUNTSMAN (Universal) muscled its way to a $56.3M opening, which is what it needed, considering its $175M (plus marketing) cost.  The $39.3M pulled in from 45 territories overseas is initially underwhelming, although there’s plenty […]

  OPENINGS:  NIGHTCRAWLER (Open Road) and Ouija are in a dead heat for the weekend title, with Nightcrawler claiming a temporary $9000 edge at $10.909M.  We won’t know the real winner until tomorrow, but Ouija is already admitting a 52% Sunday drop, while Nightcrawler maintains that it will only fall 35% today.  That number is […]

  OPENINGS:  BRAVE (Pixar/Disney) opened right in the Pixar range at $66.7M.  That’s better than WALL-E ($63.1M), not quite as good as Up ($68.1M).  Those 2 movies ended up with $224M and $293M, respectively, so the magnitude of Brave‘s success has yet to be determined.  The film is in only 10 overseas territories, where it grossed $13.5M for […]

  OPENINGS:  Coming into this weekend, the discussion about BLADE RUNNER 2049 (Alcon/Sony/Warners) was mostly about whether with its critical raves it could exceed expectations by 20% or so and become October’s #1 opening.  But things went in the other direction, and its current $31.5M estimate doesn’t even put it in the month’s Top 20.  […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Here is an updated look at the 2018 film slates by studio. The studio totals also include 2018 dollars for films released in late 2017. YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2018 to date is still +9% above last year and still +11% above the average for this point […]

  OPENINGS:  The box office may not have hit bottom yet (see “Next Weekend” below), but it’s getting close, with the horror movie THE INVITATION (Screen Gems/Sony) topping the weekend at a painful $7M.  Things were no better overseas, where the film opened at $1.6M in 19 markets.  Despite these numbers, The Invitation may still […]

  OPENINGS:  The Saturday hold for DUNKIRK (Warners) wasn’t as strong as those for other Christopher Nolan non-sequels, down 11% where Inception stayed steady, and Interstellar actually rose 8%, pushing the weekend studio estimate to $50.5M.  Nevertheless, that’s a terrific start for a film that was far from a sure thing as a summer blockbuster.  […]