WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  The 2014 Scorecard, updated with additional overseas grosses, has been updated below.  The 2015 Scorecard will be introduced toward the end of January. YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2015 to date is -4% behind last year but +7% above the average for this point the past […]

  OPENINGS:  The answer to the question of whether the Day 2 drop for SUICIDE SQUAD (RatPac/DC/Warners) would be as bad as the one for Batman v Superman turned out to be no–it was worse.  Suicide plunged 41% on Saturday, compared to BvS‘s 38%.  That’s the kind of drop usually associated with the hugely-frontloaded Twilight series, […]

  OPENINGS:  Box office receipts for Mothers Day haven’t been counted yet, but SNATCHED (TSG/20th) is assuming (probably justifiably) that it will be the holiday choice, which brings the studio’s weekend estimate to $17.5M.  That’s still 43% below the start for Trainwreck, and with roughly $125M in production/marketing costs, it’s going to be an uphill […]

  OPENINGS:  As summer kick-off weekends go, the $92M for THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (Sony)–which may go down by $1M or so in final numbers tomorrow, given an aggressively high Sunday estimate–was pretty mild.  It came in below the openings of 2007, 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2013 (above only the first Thor and the first Wolverine […]

  OPENINGS:  CLIFFORD THE BIG RED DOG (Nickelodeon/Paramount, also on Paramount+) opened on Wednesday and earned $22M over 5 days, $16.4M of it over the weekend.  That’s somewhat above the $13.1M start for Paw Patrol, which was also simultaneously released on Paramount+ and opened on a Friday.  Paw Patrol totaled $40.1M in the US, and […]

  OPENINGS:  The big studios wanted no part of the weekend after Thanksgiving, and the only arrivals were a pair of fringe indies.  Even for a micro-budgeted horror product, INCARNATE (High Top/Blumhouse/Universal) was a flop at $2.7M. In a barely-wide release at 639 theatres, the Christian-themed BELIEVE (Freestyle) attracted no one outside the flock (and […]

  As Hollywood becomes more and more dependent on action and animation franchises, the US market becomes increasingly less relevant. OPENINGS:  NEED FOR SPEED (DreamWorks/Disney) made more money in China ($21.2M) on its opening weekend than it did in the US ($17.8M).  Combined with $24.4M from 39 other territories around the world, Need is likely […]

> NEW YEAR’S EVE (Warners):  Hardly any bump from Saturday night couples meant about as low an opening as anyone could have reasonably imagined.  Even with some play during Christmas week, the picture may struggle to earn more than its $56M production budget (which is separate from a likely $100M+ worldwide marketing budget).  After J. […]