OPENINGS:  The news was good and bad for POWER RANGERS (Lionsgate).  Its US opening was very solid at $40.5M (even if that number turns out to be a bit overstated, with an ambitious Sunday estimate).  But it carries at least $200M in production/marketing costs, and to reach profit, it also needs to be strong […]

  OPENINGS:  There were no new wide openings on this pre-holiday season weekend in the US, but things were busier overseas.  AQUAMAN (DC/Warners), which won’t arrive in the US until December 21, launched in China with a huge $93.6M, the best start for any Warner Bros film in that country, and almost as much as […]

  OPENINGS:  INSIDE OUT (Pixar/Disney) had the largest opening for an animated non-sequel ever at $91.1M.  (Disney is claiming a slightly more abstract record as well, the largest opening for a film that isn’t based on any preexisting source material–excluding The Hunger Games, for example, because it began as a book–but the animation record will […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Here is an updated look at the 2017 film slates by studio. YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2017 to date is now down -2% from last year and now +2% above the average for this point the past four years ($7.598 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed […]

STUDIO SCORECARD. In the worldwide studio rankings for 2013 to date, Warner Brothers solidified its first place position, thanks to Gravity.  As we do with all films, the full estimated domestic tally has been added to the studio year to date total, while the overseas numbers will be added as those actual results come in.  So […]

  OPENINGS:  The $9M start for THE MENU (Searchlight/Disney) was below the $10.1M launch of Barbarian–and The Menu cost about $20M more to produce.  Combine that with the fact that The Menu is really more of a very dark satire than a horror movie, and its prospects look questionable.  The film also opened in 36 […]

  OPENINGS:  THE POSSESSION (Lionsgate) is doing quite well for a low-budget horror quickie, with $17.7M for the 1st 3 days of the holiday weekend, and is on track to be the #2 Labor Day opening ever, behind only the 2007 remake of Halloween.  LAWLESS (Weinstein Company), though, at $9.7M, is behind last year’s The […]

  HOLDOVERS: NOMADLAND (Searchlight/Disney, also on Hulu) earned $500K at 1175 theatres after 2 weeks in limited release for which the studio didn’t provide numbers.  That’s, a weekend per-theatre average a bit over $400.  Even by the standards of split theatrical/streaming Oscar contending releases like Judas and the Black Messiah (which averaged about $1100 at […]