OPENINGS:  INDIANA JONES AND THE DIAL OF DESTINY (Paramount/Lucasfilm/Disney) barely scraped the bottom of weekend expectations with $60M, and that studio estimate assumes an very strong Sunday.  The extremely expensive tentpole–$400M+ in production and worldwide marketing costs–combined an elderly franchise built around an 80-year old star with mediocre reviews following an ill-advised Cannes premiere, […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, Weekend #14 of 2013 is looking a little weaker than it appeared yesterday but still ahead of prior years.  The top 12 films are looking like $127 million this weekend, now 10% above the same weekend in recent years.  Two decent openers and two strong returning films dominate the top of […]

Based on Friday’s and Saturday’s grosses, weekend #13 of 2015 now looks like $146 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, above the norms for this weekend. Opening at 3,708 theaters Friday, Home from Fox and DreamWorks Animation is on track for a $54.0 million opening three-day weekend (way above our non-believing $28.0 million ShowBuzzDaily forecast earlier this […]

Based on Friday’s and Saturday’s grosses, weekend #26 of 2015 now looks like $175 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, better than it looked yesterday and closer to hitting the norms for this weekend.  Jurassic World and Inside Out look stronger than they appeared yesterday, while the weekends for both openers have been downgraded slightly […]

  OPENINGS:  MALEFICENT: MISTRESS OF EVIL (Disney) had a weak $36M start in the US, down 48% from the $69.4 opening of the first Maleficent 3 years ago.  If Mistress of Evil manages the same multiple as its predecessor, it could reach $125M in the US, but that may be a stretch, because Maleficent opened […]

  OPENINGS:  INSIDIOUS: THE RED DOOR (Screen Gems/Sony) reaffirmed the strength of the low-budget horror genre with a $32.7M start, better than the $29.6M launch of 2018’s The Last Key (which didn’t feature the full original cast).  Red Door should reach $65M+ in the US, guaranteeing profitability on a reported $16M production budget and relatively […]

  OPENINGS:  The combination of the typically low early-December box office and the approach of Avatar 2 dissuaded the studios from introducing any new product this week.  The closest thing to a wide release in the US was the expansion of SPOILER ALERT (Focus/Universal) to 783 theaters, where it fared badly with $700K, averaging $900 […]

Based on Friday’s and Saturday’s grosses, Weekend #23 of 2013 looks like an okay $152 million for the top 12 films (very similar to yesterday’s estimate), down 13% from last year but 4% above the average for this weekend the past few years.  The Purge is doing much better than forecast and is propping the […]