OPENINGS:  The news was good and bad for POWER RANGERS (Lionsgate).  Its US opening was very solid at $40.5M (even if that number turns out to be a bit overstated, with an ambitious Sunday estimate).  But it carries at least $200M in production/marketing costs, and to reach profit, it also needs to be strong […]

  OPENINGS:  GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL 3 (Marvel/Disney) launched with $114M in the US, within tracking expectations but 22% lower than 2017’s Guardians 2, despite marketing that emphasized the end of a beloved (sub-)franchise.  Guardians 2 ended with a 2.66 multiple to its opening, and if Guardians 3 performs the same way, its US total […]

Based on Friday’s and Saturday’s grosses, Weekend #31 of 2013 still looks like a surprisingly weak $126 million for the top 12 films, down 4% from the average for this weekend the past few years (the first such decline since the weekend of June 7-9 eight weeks ago).  Opening at 3,025 theaters Friday, 2 Guns from Universal grossed […]

  OPENINGS:  The major studios took the weekend off in anticipation of next week’s The Batman overwhelming the market.  STUDIO 666 (Open Road) didn’t find much of a crowd for its Foo Fighters horror with a $1.6M weekend, and it probably won’t reach $10M in the US. CYRANO (UA/MGM) may have outsmarted itself, scheduled for […]

Based on Friday’s and Saturday’s grosses, Weekend #43 of 2013 now looks like $95 million for the top 12 films, a shade under yesterday’s estimate but still up 11% to 17% from the same weekend in recent years. Opening at 3,336 theaters Friday, Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa from Paramount grossed $12.6 million Friday and $11.5 million Saturday, […]

>The weekend studio estimates (based on Friday and Saturday actuals and projections for Sunday) are coming in slightly stronger than the weekend numbers posted yesterday (based on Friday actuals only).  The box office volume for the top 12 films is now looking like a very good $116 million for the weekend, up 21% from last […]

  OPENINGS:  January is often welcoming to low-budget horror, but that didn’t help THE DAMNED (Vertical), which found $800K at 732 theaters, a meager $1100 weekend per-theater average. HOLDOVERS:  Flooding the holiday zone with family entertainments worked out very well for the studios, which had a quartet of bona fide smash hits between Thanksgiving and […]

> Despite the gloom of yesterday, this weekend is now looking like it will be up slightly versus 2010.  Saturday business was higher than expected for films across the board, with the exception of Scre4m.       Based on Saturday’s performance, Rio is now headed for about $40.0 million this weekend.  The Saturday “bump” for Rio was […]