OPENINGS:  GODZILLA VS KONG (Warners, also on HBO Max) had the biggest US theatrical debut since the onset of pandemic closings with $48.5M over 5 days ($32.2M for the 3-day weekend).  It will clearly roar past Tenet‘s $57.9M to become the highest-grossing title in over a year, and could pass $100M in the US.  […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  The studio rankings remain unchanged, and #1 Fox continues to do well, thanks to more overseas grosses from both Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and How to Train Your Dragon 2.   The second best week worldwide belongs to #6 Universal, not so much because of the domestic release of As Above/So Below but mostly […]

  STAR WARS:  Whether one considers Avatar‘s proper US all-time box office record to be $749.8M (initial release) or $760.5M (includes “director’s cut” re-release), the crown will be changing hands in the next few days.  STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS (Lucasfilm/Disney), which declined 41% on its 3rd weekend to $88.3M (setting yet another record by […]

STUDIO SCORECARD.  No change in the studio worldwide box office rankings this week.  Universal is extremely hot with the broad international appeal of Fast & Furious 6, but there is still about $500 million to go to catch #1 Disney.  Fox, Paramount and Warner Brothers are very tightly bunched in the next tier. Looking at […]

  OPENINGS:  SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE (Marvel/Sony Animation) flew past expectations with a $120.5M US opening, more than triple Into the Spider-Verse‘s $35.4M start in 2018.  That made it the 2nd biggest opening of 2023, behind only The Super Mario Bros Movie.  Across probably won’t have the 5.4x multiple that Into did (Across is more […]

  OPENINGS:  INSURGENT (Summit/Lionsgate) had a stronger Saturday hold than Divergent (down 7% instead of 13%), and based on that, Liosgate is also claiming a stronger Sunday hold (down 35% instead of 40%).  That gives Insurgent a $54.1M weekend studio estimate, just a breath away from Divergent‘s $54.6M, although even if those numbers hold up […]

> As schools close and vacations begin, a lot of money is about to flood into Hollywood for about 2 blissful weeks.  But not enough to make up for the rest of a doleful year. SHERLOCK HOLMES:  GAME OF SHADOWS (Warners):  With a studio estimate that just barely managed to nudge above $40M–and needed an […]

  OPENINGS:  Not much changed between Friday’s results and weekend studio estimates.  THE DARK TOWER (MRC/Columbia/Sony) was unsurprisingly frontloaded between fans of the novels and bad word of mouth, and it dropped 13% on Saturday.  Sony is projecting a $19.5M weekend (the fact that the studio didn’t push the number past $20M indicates either honesty […]