OPENINGS:  THE WOMAN KING (TriStar/Sony) launched at the higher end of expectations with $19M, boosted by strong reviews (94% on Rotten Tomatoes) and enthusiastic audience response as measured by exit polls.  In the current market, with few openings arriving each week (and even fewer for Woman King‘s older female target demo), the film should […]

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 now -13% below last year’s comparable span (5 points better than last week) and now -7% below the average for this point the past four years ($3.123 billion).  Over the same […]

  OPENINGS:  Considering its 17% Saturday drop, GODZILLA (Warners/Legendary) may ease down a bit from its $93.2M weekend estimate when final numbers are released on Monday.  (It’s assuming a 30% Sunday drop, equal to Amazing Spider-Man 2‘s and less than Captain America: The Winter Soldier‘s, even though those 2 movies fell only 6% from their […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Updated look at 2016 by studio.   YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2016 to date is now -1% below last year and now +1% above the average for this point the past four years ($5.137 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed almost $13.5 billion worldwide […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.   YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2015 to date is now +7% above last year and now +5% above the average for this point the past four years ($9.588 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed almost $26.0 billion worldwide when we add overseas box office (that’s now […]

  OPENINGS:  TRAP (Blinding Edge/Warners) had the unenviable task of facing the 2nd weekend of Deadpool and Wolverine and wasn’t up to the task, emerging at the low end of expectations with $15.6M.  That’s in between the results for M. Night Shyamalan’s last 2 releases, Old ($16.9M) and Knock At the Cabin ($14.1M), but like […]

  OPENINGS:  42 (Warners) had no trouble taking the weekend with an estimated $27.3M.  With very limited overseas appeal, the picture isn’t likely to be a huge moneymaker (production and marketing costs will reach at least $100M worldwide, and it probably won’t make that much in US theatres alone), but even a small amount of […]

  OPENINGS:  Early January is a potent slot for horror movies, and M3GAN (Blumhouse/Universal) kicked off the year with a strong $30.2M, essentially the same as last year’s $30M for the rebooted Scream, despite all the franchise value of the latter (Scream also had the advantage of opening over the month’s holiday weekend).  M3gan has […]