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:  LIGHTYEAR (Pixar/Disney) was a tricky attempt to extend the hugely lucrative Toy Story franchise, both a prequel and a spinoff that featured a different version of the titular character than the one audiences have loved for decades.  Disney didn’t manage to convince fans that it was essential viewing, and the result was a […]

  OPENINGS:  Although JURASSIC WORLD: DOMINION (Universal) is being billed as the “conclusion of the trilogy,” the studio certainly won’t be abandoning the franchise, as Dominion opened to $143.4M, almost identical to the $148M for 2018’s Fallen Kingdom, and with a very similar trajectory, down 22% on Saturday (Fallen Kingdom dropped 15%, but that was […]

  OPENINGS:  David Cronenberg is a venerated filmmaker, but not a source of many box office hits:  in a career that spans more than 4 decades, his highest-grossing film in the US is still 1986’s The Fly at $40.5M (a little over $100M adjusted for inflation).  That won’t change with his brooding and frequently grotesque […]

  OPENINGS:  Although TOP GUN: MAVERICK (Paramount) is a 36-years-later sequel, the franchise that it really represents is Tom Cruise unto himself.  The last true Hollywood megastar brought in a massive audience that was mostly older men and between the coasts, to the tune of $124M for the 3-day weekend and $151M including Monday, making […]

  OPENINGS:  Considering that DOWNTON ABBEY: A NEW AGE (Focus/Universal) is something like a fresh MCU chapter for the older female audience, the fact that the sequel opened at $16M despite solid reviews–a painful 48% drop from the first theatrical entry in the franchise just 3 years ago–is a sobering sign that this demo just […]

  OPENINGS:  No one, including its studio, expected much from the remake of FIRESTARTER (Blumhouse/Universal, also on Peacock), and it delivered a weak $3.8M that suggests an eventual $10M US total.  Economics become murky when films also premiere on streaming, but that certainly isn’t good.  Things were no better overseas, where Firestarter limped to $2.1M […]

  OPENINGS:  After an interruption for The Batman, the MCU resumed its place at the top of popular culture with the arrival of DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS (Marvel/Disney), which launched within the industry’s very high expectations at $185M in the US.  That’s roughly the same as Avengers: Age of Ultron ($191.3M), and […]