OPENINGS:  THE MEG (Gravity/Warners) had a fair hold on Saturday, down 2%, which brought it to a $44.5M weekend.  That’s 83% better than Skyscraper‘s start, and 27% better than Rampage, and with no new direct competition next weekend, The Meg could reach $125M in the US.  However, the mega-B-movie had a reported $300M+ in […]

  OPENINGS:  CHRISTOPHER ROBIN (Disney) led the newcomers with $25M (as is always the case with studio estimates that barely exceed a round number, that may decline in finals tomorrow), 16% better than Disney’s debut of Pete’s Dragon in August 2016.  However, the films had different trajectories, with Robin down 9% on Saturday, while Dragon […]

  OPENINGS:  MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: FALLOUT (Skydance/Alibaba/Paramount) rode almost unanimous rave reviews to a franchise-high $61.5M weekend opening in the US.  (That record doesn’t adjust for inflation, and comes with an asterisk because the first two in the series opened on Wednesdays, with Mission 2 at $78.8M by its first Sunday.)  If Fallout runs like Rogue […]

  OPENINGS:  THE EQUALIZER 2 (Escape Artists/Columbia Sony) rode a relatively stable Saturday (down 5% from Friday) to a $35.8M weekend win, up about 5% from the opening for the first Equalizer in 2014.  That film had an 8% Saturday bump, suggesting that the sequel, like most sequels, will burn out faster than the original, […]

  OPENINGS:  HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA 3: SUMMER VACATION (Sony Animation/Columbia/Sony) clocked in with a reliable $44.1M weekend, just about midway between the first Transylvania‘s $42.5M and the second’s $48.5M.  (Sticklers might note that this the first of the franchise to feature Thursday night screenings, giving it a slightly longer “weekend”.)  There are some other family movies […]

  OPENINGS:  ANT-MAN & THE WASP (Marvel/Disney) turned out to be rather front-loaded, with a 30% Saturday drop (compared to 14% for the 2nd day of Ant-Man).  That pushed the studio weekend estimate down to $76M, which is still 33% better than Ant-Man‘s debut, but at the low end for Marvel, ahead of only the […]

  OPENINGS:  SICARIO: DAY OF THE SOLDADO (Black Label/Columbia/Sony) had a modest $19M start, which was better than the first Sicario‘s $12.1M (in October, after 2 weeks of limited release), but perhaps not by enough to justify the pricetag of opening in the crowded summer marketplace.  (Note that the risk here is Black Label’s, since […]

  OPENINGS:  JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM (Legendary/Perfect World/Universal) is claiming a round-number $150M US opening (actually $150.001M, which is cute), a number that relies on an extremely strong Sunday projection.  If it goes down by a million or two tomorrow in finals, it won’t be a meaningful change except for PR purposes, and the result […]