> Well, there’s something you don’t see every day:  2 studios both content to forego bragging rights for the Sunday weekend estimates and wait for actual numbers on Monday, when public attention is lower. (Note:  The Hot Blog, which calculates its own numbers, has COWBOYS & ALIENS up by $100K.)  The important thing to remember […]

> Get ready for the flood of jokey 80s TV show remakes that will now be unleashed upon us. OPENINGS:  21 JUMP STREET (Sony) fell ever-so-slightly on Saturday, and if it fails to hit its $35M weekend estimate, it won’t miss by much.  CASA DE MI PADRE (Pantelion/Lionsgate), though, is predicting a highly suspect 19% […]

  OPENINGS:  KILLING THEM SOFTLY (Weinstein) is estimating a pathetic $7M weekend, just about the worst of Brad Pitt’s starring career, and even that may be pushing it, since the studio is claiming a relatively soft Sunday drop.  The same is true of the even more dismal THE COLLECTION (LD), which for reasons best known […]

  OPENINGS:  NOW YOU SEE ME (Summit/Lionsgate) had a fine $28.1M opening weekend considering its moderate cost ($75M plus marketing, but with 2/3 of that covered by foreign pre-sales), and with little competition coming next week, it could have a solid hold–plus it’s exactly the kind of light entertainment that thrives on home viewing platforms.  […]

STUDIO SCORECARD. In the worldwide studio rankings for 2013 to date, Warner Brothers again distanced itself from the others as Gravity enjoyed an upgraded domestic final and the start of overseas dollars, which will soon turn into a gusher.  Sony also had a good week as Captain Phillips came aboard and overseas results from other […]

  OPENINGS:  Saturday wasn’t pretty for ABOUT LAST NIGHT (Screen Gems/Sony), which tumbled 38% on the day after Valentine’s Day to $8.1M, and is now projecting $27M for the 3-day weekend ($30M or so with the holiday Monday).  That’s still a strong opening for a moderately-budgeted movie, and while About won’t get anywhere near Ride […]

  OPENINGS:  MALEFICENT (Disney) is claiming a $70M weekend, and like all round-number estimates, that should be viewed with some skepticism.  But even if it dips slightly in final numbers tomorrow, it’s a fine start.  It’s not, however, the equal of Disney’s other revisionist fairy tales Alice In Wonderland ($116.1M) or Oz: The Great and […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Fox had a great week worldwide last week ($167 million worldwide), partly from the domestic release of Gone Girl this weekend but also from strong overseas returns for The Maze Runner.  Fox is now over $4 billion for the year worldwide, the #1 Hollywood studio by far, and saddled with surprisingly few duds on its […]