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:  The 3-day weekend in the US went narrowly to MEG 2: THE TRENCH (CMC/Warners) with $30M.  That was down more than 1/3 from the $45.4M start for The Meg in 2018, which would ordinarily be concerning for a film with $250M in production/marketing costs, but Meg 2 overperformed internationally even more strongly than […]

  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:  POKEMON: DETECTIVE PIKACHU (Legendary/Warners) started strong in the US with $58M, not that far off the $69.1M launch of The LEGO Movie.  Pikachu may not have that movie’s legs, especially with Aladdin just 2 weeks away, but it should total $175-200M here.  Pokemon in general is a more worldwide phenomenon than LEGO, which […]

>Green Lantern stumbled on Saturday and the opening weekend now looks like $52.7 million.  Overall, the weekend is down 24% from last year.    The ShowbuzzDaily Domestic Final estimates now show that Green Lantern will should finish its domestic run with $146 million, while Mr Popper’s Penguins is headed for $64 million.  Super 8 has […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, the final weekend of 2013 looks like a great finish: $186 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, down a touch from yesterday’s estimate but still up significantly from the same weekend last year (see comparisons to previous years at the bottom).  The new films this long weekend are actually not […]

  OPENINGS:  THE WOMAN KING (TriStar/Sony) launched at the higher end of expectations with $19M, boosted by strong reviews (94% on Rotten Tomatoes) and enthusiastic audience response as measured by exit polls.  In the current market, with few openings arriving each week (and even fewer for Woman King‘s older female target demo), the film should […]

>The weekend studio estimates (based on Friday and Saturday actuals and projections for Sunday) are coming in very similar to the weekend numbers posted yesterday (based on Friday actuals only).  Contraband is leading the pack, but the 3D re-issue of Beauty and the Beast should have slightly better legs in the long run.  Joyful Noise […]