OPENINGS:  The first Sonic the Hedgehog had the final pre-pandemic smash opening in 2020 before theaters started to close, with $58M for its 3-day weekend ($70M for the full Presidents Day holiday).  Now SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 2 (Paramount) has gotten off to an even bigger start with $71M for 3 days.  Although the success […]

  OPENINGS:  This was the weekend of AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER (20th/Disney), and the epic’s launch was softer than widely expected at $134M in the US and $301M in all major overseas markets including China.  Box office apologists, who at this point resemble political press secretaries, have rushed in to spin that Way of […]

  OPENINGS:  THE EQUALIZER 3 (Escape Artists/Columbia/Sony) performed both within expectations and at around the same level as its predecessors, with $34.5M for the 3-day weekend compared to $36M for Equalizer 2 and $34M for the first in the franchise.  (The Monday holiday is projected to bring the total to $42M.)  Also like the previous […]

  OPENINGS:  THE BIKERIDERS (Regency/Focus/Universal) seized the opportunity to open on a prime summer weekend without any new tentpole releases, and the studio estimate (which assumed the strongest Sunday hold in the Top 10) was $10M, in line with expectations.  The question is how well the indie will hold up next week against new action […]

    Be extra-nice to anyone you know at Universal today. OPENINGS:  BATTLESHIP (Universal) is lucky John Carter exists, because the studio can spin the numbers (Carter cost a little more, Battleship is doing a little better overseas) to obscure the fact that its movie, with a domestic opening of $25.3M ($5M less than Carter‘s) […]

> Live by Cinemascore, die by Cinemascore. THE DEVIL INSIDE:  The most hilarious studio event of the last 24 hours has been Paramount‘s frantic attempt to argue that an “F” Cinemascore for THE DEVIL INSIDE, making it one of the half-dozen worst exit-polled movies of the past several years, isn’t really that bad if you […]

  This weekend’s boxoffice wasn’t so much a case of multiple winners as none at all. OPENINGS:  The closest thing to a victor was END OF WATCH (Open Road), which did about what one might have expected with a projected $13M total and a $4800 per-theatre average.  Its 11% Friday-to-Saturday bump wasn’t much to speak […]

  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 […]