The Super Bowl will take a chunk out of everyone today, the only Sunday that plays like a Monday with 60-70% drops from Saturday across the board.  That’s why the studios, for the most part, stay away. OPENINGS:  Given that fact, WARM BODIES (Summit/Lionsgate) did fairly well with a $20M weekend (that includes $500K […]

  OPENINGS:  THE CONJURING (Warners) behaved like a horror movie on Saturday, falling 18% despite the great reviews and exit polls, but that didn’t stand in the way of its estimated huge $41.5M weekend.  That made it the biggest non-sequel R-rated horror movie ever, and bigger than all the thrillers Warners released under its now-defunct […]

  Yesterday’s studio estimate for THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE (Lionsgate) seemed high, with a Sunday drop predicted to be by far the lowest in the Top 10, so it’s not much of a surprise to see the weekend number reduced now that final figures are out, down $3M from $161.1M to $158.1M.  Even with […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Year to date, Warner Brothers remains head and shoulders above the other studios, while Sony and Universal form a second tier with about $500 million worldwide each for 2014 to date.  Lionsgate/Summit and Disney now join Fox and Paramount in the third tier (between $200 million and $300 million worldwide each). Scroll […]

  OPENINGS:  DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES (20th) brought in $73M in the US, and added $31.1M in 26 (mostly smaller) international markets.  While a terrific boost to the franchise (which rebooted at $54.8M with Rise 3 years ago), it’s still a level below the summer’s mega-franchises.  However, Dawn has weeks to play […]

  OPENINGS:  The race between DUMB AND DUMBER TO (Red Granite/Universal) and Big Hero 6 may get a bit closer tomorrow, since Universal has aggressively estimated a 28% Sunday drop even though Dumb fell 2% on Saturday.  (By comparison, Beyond the Lights climbed 14% on Satuday, yet is acknowledging a 40% Sunday drop.)  But even […]

OPENINGS:  Fill in the ball/glass slipper/fairy tale reference of choice, because CINDERELLA (Disney) performed beautifully, with $70.1M in the US.  That puts it ahead of the $69.4M opening of Maleficent (unless adjusted numbers change things tomorrow), and below the $116.1M for Alice in Wonderland and the $79.1M for Oz the Great and Powerful.  Cinderella‘s 18% […]

  OPENINGS:  PIXELS (Columbia/Sony) isn’t the first Adam Sandler movie to approach a $90M production budget–incredibly, the first Grown Ups reportedly cost that much–but as his audience shrinks, it becomes more difficult to justify a greenlight for him at that level.  Pixels is reporting a very mild $24M weekend in the US (that number assumes […]