OPENINGS:  With an assortment of excuses (the World Series!  a video game release!  Halloween!  birthday parties?!?), VENOM: THE LAST DANCE (Marvel/Columbia/Sony) tottered to $51M in the US, down 43% from 2021’s Let There Be Carnage.  At this point it seems to be heading for $125M domestically, down from $213.6M.  Things are much stronger overseas, […]

> Now the only question is when they announce the start of  pre-production on LORAX 2. OPENINGS:  It turned out THE LORAX (Universal) wasn’t frontloaded at all.  Quite the contrary, its 80% Saturday bump put the movie through the roof, a triumph of great marketing over cruddy filmmaking.  Lorax is currently the 3d highest March […]

  OPENINGS:  FIRST MAN (Perfect World/Universal) had an underwhelming $16.5M start, and considering its older-skewing audience, its 10% Saturday bump wasn’t impressive either.  It carries $150M+ in production/marketing costs, and a $50M US total would leave it at risk for red ink, since its very American story (flag controversy notwithstanding) makes foreign appeal questionable.  It […]

  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 now -5% below last year’s comparable span (2 points better than last week’s comparison) and now +1% above this point the past four years ($9.349 billion).  Over the same […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Strong overseas grosses for Captain America: The Winter Soldier continue to pad Disney’s lead over Warner Brothers in worldwide box office to date (Disney has $929 million compared to $861 million for Warner Brothers).  Fox is next with $723 million, and Sony has pulled to over $600 million with Heaven Is for Real this weekend. […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD. YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2015 to date is now +4% above last year and +7% above the average for this point the past four years ($1.485 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed $4.3 billion worldwide when we add overseas box office (that’s […]

  OPENINGS:  There’s no way to spin the $10.5M US opening of  Steven Spielberg’s WEST SIDE STORY (20th/Disney), and its even worse $4.4M start in 37 overseas territories (with $2.8M of that from France and the UK), as anything but flat-out bad.  Unlike other 2021 musicals like In the Heights ($11.5M opening even with a […]

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 […]