OPENINGS:  The world, if not the galaxy, belonged to GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY (Marvel/Disney) this weekend.  In the US, its $94M start (as is typical, Disney estimated an aggressively strong Sunday, down just 19% from Saturday, so that number may reduce a bit tomorrow) pulverized the previous August record-holder (The Bourne Ultimatum) to the tune […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Guardians of the Galaxy has pushed Disney ahead of Warner Brothers in the 2014 to date totals for worldwide box office.  And there is much more upside to come for Guardians, which will push Disney toward $2.7 billion in the next few weeks.  Sony remains on top with almost $3.2 billion worldwide for the […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD. Scroll down for domestic and overseas grosses for each film individually so far in 2014. YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2014 is still running -8% behind last year and now -6% below the average for this point the past four years ($5.904 billion).  Over the same […]

  OPENINGS:  LUCY (Universal) is claiming the lowest Sunday drop in the Top 10, so the studio’s $44M weekend estimate may come down a bit tomorrow, but it’s still a very solid hit for all concerned.  That’s especially true for Scarlett Johansson, who now has non-Avenger action movie bona fides.  The only question is whether […]

  Strong holds by Dawn of the Planet Of the Apes and some longer-running titles made this weekend look less terrible than it was. OPENINGS:  THE PURGE: ANARCHY (Universal) topped the newcomers with $28.4M, but that was 17% below the $34.1M opening weekend for last year’s Purge.  While Purge 2 will turn a profit, it […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  20th Century Fox has pushed past $2.9 billion worldwide in 2014 to date, as Dawn of the Planet of the Apes gets rolling overseas.  Paramount is the other studio with more than $100 million this past week (thanks to continued strong overseas receipts for Transformers: Age of Extinction) now past $1.5 billion worldwide for the […]

  OPENINGS:  DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES (20th) brought in $73M in the US, and added $31.1M in 26 (mostly smaller) international markets.  While a terrific boost to the franchise (which rebooted at $54.8M with Rise 3 years ago), it’s still a level below the summer’s mega-franchises.  However, Dawn has weeks to play […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  20th Century Fox has broken away from the pack with over $2.8 billion worldwide to date for 2014, with another almost $400 million worldwide last week.  Dawn of the Planet of the Apes has enormous upside overseas and it will quickly move out of the middle $100-299 million category to the $300+ million […]