OPENINGS:  GOOD BOYS (Good Universe/Universal) easily led the weekend with $21M, a solid start for a comedy that probably had production/marketing costs under $75M.  It was somewhat frontloaded with a 12% Saturday drop, but summer Sundays have been running strong this year, so it should still have a fair weekend multiple.  Good Boys has […]

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 still -4% below last year’s comparable span and still +1% above this point the past four years ($10.234 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed almost $27.1 billion […]

  OPENINGS:  The only new wide release on Halloween weekend was the low-budget horror movie COME PLAY (Focus/Universal), which was relatively impressive compared to last week’s $1.3M for Empty Man with $3.2M.  It seemed to be helped by pandemic considerations, because while normally a Saturday Halloween would be a down day, this year moviegoing appeared […]

  OPENINGS:  In the US, NO TIME TO DIE (UA/MGM) opened at $56M, at the low end of expectations–and “expectations” are usually already set low so that the press will report that a film has “overperformed”–and below the last three Bond films (Quantum of Solace $67.5M, Skyfall $88.4M, Spectre $70.4M).  Obviously the pandemic is a […]

  OPENINGS:  Although JURASSIC WORLD: DOMINION (Universal) is being billed as the “conclusion of the trilogy,” the studio certainly won’t be abandoning the franchise, as Dominion opened to $143.4M, almost identical to the $148M for 2018’s Fallen Kingdom, and with a very similar trajectory, down 22% on Saturday (Fallen Kingdom dropped 15%, but that was […]

  OPENINGS:  CREED III (UA/MGM/Amazon) launched with an impressive $58.7M, higher than the 5-day Thanksgiving weekend starts for the previous entries in the series ($42.1M/$56M), and also higher than any of the Rocky movies (not adjusted for inflation).  As is typical for this franchise, overseas was somewhat softer, with $41.8M from 75 markets.  Nevertheless, the […]

  OPENINGS:  NAPOLEON (Apple/Sony) launched at the higher end of expectations, with $20.4M over the 3-day weekend and $32.5M for the 5-day holiday.  As with Apple’s Killers of the Flower Moon, however, that leaves it a long way from any hope of breakeven on roughly $300M in production/marketing costs (particularly considering that audience polling indicated […]

> REAL STEEL had a nice Saturday bump of 27%, but that’s far lower than the 40% it was initially claiming (and only 4% higher than the one for Ides of March, which is decidedly not a family matinee movie).  The picture could benefit, though, from some additional matinee business on Columbus Day tomorrow.  Also […]