OPENINGS:  Franchises continued to be the lifeblood (so to speak) of Hollywood, and this week it was SCREAM VI (Paramount) breaking its saga’s previous record with $44.5M, almost 50% higher than the $30M for last year’s Scream reboot.  It was also above the $40M for 2000’s Scream 3, although that would change with an […]

  OPENINGS:  There were no new wide openings on this pre-holiday season weekend in the US, but things were busier overseas.  AQUAMAN (DC/Warners), which won’t arrive in the US until December 21, launched in China with a huge $93.6M, the best start for any Warner Bros film in that country, and almost as much as […]

Based on Friday’s and Saturday’s grosses, Weekend #40 of 2013 looks like a decent $115 million for the top 12 films, down 13% from last year’s atypical weekend but up 17% from the average for the same weekend the past few years.  One movie is driving the entire weekend: Gravity and its new record for […]

>Based on Friday and Saturday box office (and estimated Sunday numbers), Twilight Saga Breaking Dawn Part 1 will drop another 59% this weekend but remain at #1, and its final domestic estimate has been downgraded to $269 million.  The Muppets dropped a very surprising 62%, and its final domestic estimate has been taken down below […]

  OPENINGS:  This was the weekend of AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER (20th/Disney), and the epic’s launch was softer than widely expected at $134M in the US and $301M in all major overseas markets including China.  Box office apologists, who at this point resemble political press secretaries, have rushed in to spin that Way of […]

  OPENINGS:  There wasn’t any good news for this week’s wide releases, and that began with the weekend’s leader, as THE FLASH (DC/Warners) failed to meet even the lowest expectations with a sluggish $55.1M start.  (The studio’s 4-day estimate, including the Monday Juneteenth holiday, was an optimistic $64M.)  The 3-day total was significantly lower than […]

> Based on Friday and Saturday box office (and estimated Sunday numbers), we have a photo finish for #1, with Real Steel in its second weekend probably edging opener Footloose.  As for the other openers, The Thing opened weakly, and The Big Year was a complete bomb.  After weeks of progress versus last year’s box […]

Based on Friday’s and Saturday’s grosses, weekend #32 of 2014 still looks like a very good $173 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, well above our forecast ($152 million) and 26% above the norm for this weekend ($138 million). Opening at 3,845 theaters, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles from Paramount grossed $25.6 million through Friday and $22.1 […]