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 now +11% above last year and now +12% above the average for this point […]

  OPENINGS:  $17.1M for THE CALL (TriStar/Sony) is more than the movie cost to produce (although it won’t pay for the marketing), and sets the Halle Berry vehicle up to be a modest hit.  However, there’s no spinning the $10.3M for THE INCREDIBLE BURT WONDERSTONE (Warners), which will lose much more than its $35M production budget […]

  OPENINGS:  With the latest MCU extravaganza waiting in the wings, Hollywood studios kept their wares out of the market, and the only arrival was the latest Liam Neeson vehicle (incredibly, he’s had 6 films in release since Covid hit), this one entitled MEMORY (Open Road).  It launched with $3.1M, very similar to February’s Blacklight, […]

  OPENINGS:  INSIDE OUT 2 (Pixar/Disney) overdelivered massively compared to expectations with $155M in the US, a remarkable $65M higher than the start for 2015’s original Inside Out, and depending whether you count the “live-action” CG remake of The Lion King ($191.8M) as animated, either the #2 or #3 US opening for an animated feature […]

  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:  Nothing improved for the weekend’s newcomers after Friday’s dim numbers.  THE LAST WITCH HUNTER (QED/Summit/Lionsgate) led with a soft $10.8M, and whether or not Lionsgate is being entirely frank when it claims to have little exposure, someone is going to be feeling a tug on their wallet.  The results overseas, not unexpectedly, were […]

  OPENINGS:  US (Blumhouse/Perfect World/Universal) slipped 12% on Saturday, and while that doesn’t compare to Get Out‘s amazing 17% increase on its 2nd day of release, it’s in the range of the 11% drop for It, and better than the 18% for both The Conjuring and the 2018 Halloween.  That pushed Us to a $70.3M […]

  There was no miraculous Saturday save for the weekend’s one pitiful arrival. OPENINGS:  PLAYING FOR KEEPS (FilmDistrict) rose only 11% from Friday to Saturday, and since it’s claiming one of the lower Sunday drops in the Top 10, once the real tickets are counted it may not even hang on to its current $6M […]