OPENINGS:  THE ADDAMS FAMILY (BRON/MGM) proved to be a still-fertile source of IP with a solid $30.3M US start, and the cartoon should benefit from closed schools on Columbus Day for a robust 4-day weekend total.  Production costs were reportedly on the low end of animation, so a 3x multiple to $90M should go […]

  OPENINGS:  Under the current circumstances, the 5-day $17M opening ($9.7M Friday-Sunday) for THE CROODS: A NEW AGE (DreamWorks Animation/Universal) counts as a win, with comparisons to the original Croods or any other Thanksgiving release fairly pointless.  The film also earned $19.2M in China and $1.6M in 6 smaller international markets.  New Age reportedly had […]

  OPENINGS:  ETERNALS (Marvel/Disney) opened at the low end of expectations with $71M, not a surprise given its lousy reviews (48% on Rotten Tomatoes, unprecedented for the MCU) and blah audience exit polls.  Even so, that makes it the #4 US opening of the pandemic era, and all of those quartet members are Marvel movies.  […]

  OPENINGS:  THOR: LOVE & THUNDER (Marvel/Disney) opened within expectations at $143M, although it’s worth noting that while the Friday-to-Saturday drop was steeper than those for Thor: Ragnarok and Doctor Strange In the Multiverse of Madness (39% vs. 5%/36% respectively), the studio estimate assumes a better Saturday-to-Sunday hold than both (25% vs. 27%/33%).  If the […]

  OPENINGS:  Box office expectations were high for THE SUPER MARIO BROS MOVIE (Nintendo/Illumination/Universal), but the video game adaptation blew past them with a record-smashing $204.6M 5-day opening (passing the $200.1M for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen) that was huge in all quadrants.  Even though Friday was its 3rd day of release, the 3-day weekend […]

  OPENINGS:  Christmas Day is one of the highest-grossing days of the year, and it will give a major bump to everything in the market.  Even with that boost, AQUAMAN & THE LOST KINGDOM (DC/Warners) was only able to muster a $40M 4-day weekend studio estimate after $28.1M in 3 days (and given the 34% […]

  OPENINGS:  Amazingly, the 58% first weekend plunge from $96.2M for 2019’s Joker to $40M for JOKER: FOLIE A DEUX (DC/Warners) understates how much audiences hated the new film.  For that, you have to look to the respective Friday-to-Saturday drops, after word of mouth had a chance to set in:  44% compared to 18%, which […]

>The Devil Inside looks like a $34-35 million opening weekend based on studio estimates (Friday and Saturday actual results with estimates for Sunday).  The top 12 films combined total this weekend has been reduced to $128 million, still 7% ahead of the typical total for the comparable weekend in past years and 30% above the […]