OPENINGS:  Both of the weekend’s R-rated arrivals had fair Saturday bumps, reflecting their older audiences.  However, that’s also the demo for Oscar viewing, so we’ll see if their Sunday estimates are overly optimistic.  For now, RED SPARROW (TSG/20th) is at $17M for the weekend after its 12% Saturday climb, a mediocre total for a […]

  OPENINGS:  It was no picnic opening against the historic 2nd weekend of Black Panther, and all of the new arrivals may have left some money on the table.  GAME NIGHT (New Line/Warners) fared best, and ran a healthy 25% Saturday bump into a $16.6M weekend, but that points toward a $45M US total, far […]

  OPENINGS:  Disney is the land where dreams come true, but not even their wizards could have imagined the scale of BLACK PANTHER (Marvel/Disney), which has crashed through all expectations–not just as a big-budget action film that exists almost completely in an African universe, but as a solo character superhero debut in general.  Current studio […]

  OPENINGS:  FIFTY SHADES FREED (Perfect World/Universal) declined a mild 17% from Fifty Shades Darker to $38.8M, suggesting that Freed will end up around $95M in the US  That wouldn’t be great compared to roughly $150M in production/marketing costs, but the Fifty Shades franchise has always made the bulk of its revenue overseas, and that’s […]

  OPENINGS:  WINCHESTER (CBS/Lionsgate) didn’t benefit from having the weekend to itself, with a $9.3M opening that was undistinguished even by the standards of low-budget horror Super Bowl Weekend arrivals.  (The Messengers: $14.7M, Rings:  $13M, Darkness Falls:  $12M, The Uninvited: $10.3M, to name a few.)  It might reach $20M or so in the US, which […]

  OPENINGS:  In the US, THE MAZE RUNNER: THE DEATH CURE (20th) had an OK start with $23.5M, down from $32.5M/$30.3M for the first 2 films in the series.  It’s on track for $60-65M here.  However, it’s off to a much better start overseas, where it’s in 70 markets (with about half a dozen still […]

  OPENINGS:  THE POST (DreamWorks/Reliance/Participant/20th) expanded to wide release with $18.6M over 3 days (which should become $22M with Monday).  That’s a bit better than the $15.4M 3-day start for Steven Spielberg’s Bridge of Spies, which didn’t have the benefit of a holiday weekend opening.  Bridge got to $72.3M in the US, and The Post […]

  OPENINGS:  By horror movie standards, INSIDIOUS: THE LAST KEY (Blumhouse/Universal) didn’t collapse on Saturday (down 13%), and that propelled it to a very solid $29.3M weekend, which among horror product in that first-weekend-in-January slot puts it behind only The Devil Inside‘s $33.7M (by way of comparison, that one fell 30% on its Saturday).  Last […]