OPENINGS:  A MADEA FAMILY FUNERAL (Lionsgate) launched at $27.1M, and with the exception of the outliers Madea Goes To Jail ($41M) and A Madea Christmas ($16M), that puts it in the standard $21-30M range of the franchise.  It should be headed for $65M in the US, and that’s the only number that counts, since […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Here is an updated look at the 2019 film slates by studio. BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2019 is still -9% below last year’s comparable span (same as the -9% last week) and still -1% below the average at this point the past four years ($5.168 billion).  Over the […]

  OPENINGS:  The entertainment business revolves these days around IP, but not all franchises are created equal, and there turned out to be a thunderous lack of interest in TERMINATOR: DARK FATE (Skydance/Tencent/20th/Disney/Paramount), which opened to just $29M in the US against production/marketing costs of $300M+.  A big-budget action epic in that predicament normally hopes […]

  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 […]