OPENINGS:  CREED III (UA/MGM/Amazon) launched with an impressive $58.7M, higher than the 5-day Thanksgiving weekend starts for the previous entries in the series ($42.1M/$56M), and also higher than any of the Rocky movies (not adjusted for inflation).  As is typical for this franchise, overseas was somewhat softer, with $41.8M from 75 markets.  Nevertheless, the […]

Based on Friday’s and Saturday’s grosses, Weekend #22 of 2013 now looks like a solid $157 million for the top 12 films, up over 10% from comparable weekends the past few years.  Now You See Me is the one film that exceeded our forecast earlier this week, while the other opener (After Earth) and all of the major holdovers remain […]

  OPENINGS:  The 18-34 audience that now defines theatrical distribution in the US showed up for SCREAM (Skyglass/Paramount), propelling the reboot to $30.6M for the 3-day weekend and $35M for the 4-day holiday.  Reportedly, that demo was responsible for 2/3 of all tickets sold for Scream, a fact that won’t be ignored as studios plan […]

  OPENINGS:  The numbers for STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER (Lucasfilm/Disney) were always going to be huge, but despite all the “dog ate its homework” excuses like pre-holiday shopping syndrome that are ricocheting around the trades today, a $175.5M start in the US is a significant disappointment.  Anyone who’s seen Skywalker knows that it […]

Based on Friday’s and Saturday’s grosses, Weekend #39 of 2013 looks like an okay $98 million for the top 12 films, up 5% from the average for the same weekend the past few years. Opening at 4,001 theaters Friday, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 from Sony grossed $9.3 million Friday and $15.2 million Saturday, now on […]

>Solid opening for Bridesmaids, Priest disappoints, and Thor remains #1.  Nonetheless, the weekend is down only a bit versus last year, when Robin Hood opened and Iron Man 2’s second weekend was #1. The ShowbuzzDaily Domestic Final estimates now show that Bridesmaids should finish its run with $90 million domestic (with upside), while Priest should […]

Based on Friday’s and Saturday’s grosses, weekend #42 of 2014 looks like a decent $123 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, a little lower than yesterday’s early estimate ($126 million) but still 11% above the norm for this weekend ($111 million). Opening at 3,173 theaters, Fury from Sony grossed $8.8 million Friday and $9.1 million […]

  OPENINGS:  The major studios abandoned this normally prime summer-season weekend, and a flood of indies rushed in to grab the available theaters.  None were able to capitalize to a particularly notable extent, with the anime HAIKYUU: THE DUMPSTER BATTLE (Crunchyroll/Sony) faring best at $3.5M.  The genre is typically very frontloaded, so Haikyuu may not […]