This was the weekend that the COVID-19 crisis hit the box office in earnest, and while that fact pales in importance compared to the human cost of the pandemic, it’s going to represent a multi-billion dollar hit that will reverberate through the lives of many throughout the world.  As bad as the numbers below […]

  OPENINGS:  Beyonce’s concert documentary RENAISSANCE (Variance/AMC Theaters) led the traditionally slow first weekend of December with $21M, a shadow of the $92.8M for the Eras Tour movie a couple of months ago, but within expectations.  As with Eras Tour, it’s likely that the Renaissance box office will be front-loaded with fans, so the US […]

  OPENINGS:  There were no truly wide openings this weekend, but the pandemic horror movie IN THE EARTH (Neon) arrived at the low end of “wide” in 547 theatres and started quietly at $500K. Next weekend’s likely #1 US opening MORTAL KOMBAT (Warners) has reached $19.2M overseas after a $5.7M weekend in 28 territories. HOLDOVERS:  […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Here is an updated look at the 2017 film slates by studio. YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2017 to date is now down -2% from last year and now +2% above the average for this point the past four years ($7.197 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have […]

  OPENINGS:  The adult-oriented OFFICE CHRISTMAS PARTY (DreamWorks/Paramount) had a 3% Saturday bump and wound up with a fair $17.5M for the weekend  If it can hold decently against next week’s monstrous arrival, it might find its way to $50M in the US, although its dream is to have the kind of holiday legs Sisters did […]

  Note:  The Father’s Day tide is expected to lift virtually all movie boats on Sunday, and the studios have factored that into their weekend estimates.  However, next weekend’s declines may be steeper than usual as a result. OPENINGS:  MEN IN BLACK: INTERNATIONAL (Tencent/Columbia/Sony) was the latest big-budget franchise entry to perform dimly, with a […]

  OPENINGS:  TRANSFORMERS: RISE OF THE BEASTS (Hasbro/Paramount) launched at the higher end of tracking expectations with $60.5M.  Beasts is a much bigger-budgeted effort than its immediate predecessor, 2018’s Bumblebee (which opened with $21.7M but had a 6x multiple thanks to word of mouth and the dynamics of the Christmas box office).  More impressively, Beasts […]

  OPENINGS:  For a Wednesday opening, TRANSFORMERS: THE LAST KNIGHT (Huahua/Paramount) had a fairly good 27% Saturday bump in the US (by comparison, 2011’s Dark of the Moon went up just 5% on its parallel day), which pushed the weekend estimate a bit to $45.3M, giving the film $69.1M over 5 days.  That’s still far […]