WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Here is an updated look at the 2019 film slates by studio. BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2019 ends -4% below last year’s comparable 52-week span and basically even with this point the past four years ($10.656 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed over $27.7 billion […]

  OPENINGS:  FREAKY (Blumhouse/Universal) led the weekend at $3.7M.  It was the third consecutive weekend that a Universal-branded film opened at #1 (aided by the studio’s deal with AMC that allows its films to hit digital 3 weeks after theatrical release) and the fifth new #1 to open in the $3.1-4.1M range.  Like the others, […]

  OPENINGS:  DUNE (Legendary/Warners, also on HBO Max) launched in US theaters at $40.1M, the highest start for a film also premiering on HBO Max.  (And while Warners had previously preserved Thursday night for theatrical-only, the studio allowed Dune to hit HBO Max nationwide simultaneous with its first East Coast screenings.)  The film should also […]

  OPENINGS:  ELVIS (Warners) opened at the higher end of low expectations with $30.5M.  That technically put it into a dead heat with Top Gun: Maverick for the weekend crown, although that’s misleading because like virtually all big-studio openings, Elvis essentially had a 4-day opening, while Maverick‘s weekend didn’t get to count any of its […]

  OPENINGS:  JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 4 (Lionsgate) roared to a $73.5M start, more than 20% higher than its predecessor Parabellum‘s $56.8M.  If it holds at that pace–and it has no direct competition until Renfield on April 14–it should become the first title in the franchise to pass $200M in the US.  (Already, Lionsgate is pushing […]

  OPENINGS:  Hiyao Miyazaki’s THE BOY AND THE HERON (GKids) exceeded expectations and set a high-water mark for its filmmaker and for non-franchise Japanese animation with a $12.8M launch.  The film will lose its Imax screens next week and faces challenges from other family-oriented films, but if word of mouth is strong and it can […]

> The Saturday drop for PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3 turned out to be very much in line with Paranormal 2‘s.  Paramount is estimating a better Sunday hold than the second installment had; if the result is instead the same as last time, the weekend gross will dip below $54M, but to a still-giant number.  Paranormal 3 […]

  Spidey is in the books… so we’re officially on the clock for The Dark Knight Rises. OPENINGS:  In addition to its $140M 6-day US opening, THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (Sony) is reporting $129M for the weekend from 74 international territories (it had already earned $72M from territories where it opened last week, for an overseas […]