OPENINGS: ONE PIECE FILM: RED (Crunchyroll/Sony) opened at $9.5M, on the low end of recent national anime releases compared to Jujutsu Kaisen‘s $18M and Dragon Ball Super‘s $21.1M. As is typical for the genre, it was extremely frontloaded, earning more than 50% of its weekend total by the end of Friday. However, its US […]
OPENINGS: There had been an expectation, or at least a hope, that MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – DEAD RECKONING PART I (Skydance/Paramount) would get a boost from the spectacular performance of Top Gun: Maverick, but that didn’t come to pass, and Mission 7 performed in line with others in the franchise. That meant $56.2M over the […]
> BREAKING DAWN PART 1: After a full week of running behind New Moon on a day-to-day basis, often by more than $1M per day, Summit’s estimates for the past 2 days suddenly have Breaking Dawn 1 ahead by a few thousand dollars. These are among several numbers that may change when Actuals are released […]
The 41% Weekend 3 drop for THE DARK KNIGHT RISES (Warners) is a bit better than Dark Knight‘s parallel 43% decline, but in actual numbers, Dark Knight‘s 3d weekend is $6.3M ahead ($42.7M vs $36.4M), and the $39M gap that separates them probably can’t be bridged. Internationally, though, Rises is at $378M in only […]
The Rock’s second-worst opening is second-best at the boxoffice this slow Oscar weekend. OPENINGS: Boosted by a 36% Saturday rise, SNITCH (Summit/Lionsgate) is projecting a $13M weekend, although like all round numbers, that one will likely come down, beginning with a “12” when final figures are released tomorrow. The best that can be said […]
On Sunday mornings, the devout go to church, and movie studios lie. (There’s not much overlap between the two groups.) The studios lie (or fudge, if you’re sensitive about the L Word), fundamentally, because they can get away with it: when “estimated” box office returns are announced on Sunday mornings, they’re simply repeated–one might […]
OPENINGS: THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG (Warners/MGM) had a better Saturday hold than last year’s An Unexpected Journey (-22% vs. -25%), suggesting that positive word of mouth is kicking in, and no doubt easing the minds of Warners executives. The studio’s $73.7M weekend estimate still puts it 13% below Journey‘s start, but if […]
Marvel brings summer ticket sales to April. OPENINGS: The record-breaking $96.2M US opening weekend for CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER (Disney), the highest ever in April (it may come down $1M or so tomorrow thanks to an aggressive studio prediction for Sunday, but it would still be far ahead of the previous record, $86.2M […]