OPENINGS:  For a movie aimed at children that isn’t a frontloaded franchise installment, WONDER PARK (Nickelodeon/Paramount) had an unimpressive 19% Saturday bump, and it emerged with a $16M weekend that won’t do it much good against production/marketing costs in the neighborhood of $200M–especially with Disney’s Dumbo just 2 weeks away.  The initial overseas results […]

  OPENINGS:  DARK WATERS (Focus/Universal) expanded into wide release at 2012 theatres, and emerged with a mild $4.1M.  (By comparison, Focus’s previous release Harriet opened at 2059 with an $11.7M weekend.)  Its lack of awards traction thus far suggests that it’s going to have a hard time building any momentum for a run through the […]

  OPENINGS:  THE MARKSMAN (Open Road) allows Liam Neeson to lay claim to being the most prolific movie star of the pandemic, following on the releases of Honest Thief and the smaller-scale Made In Italy.  Despite a holiday weekend opening, Marksman‘s 3-day $3.2M start is below the $4.1M for Honest Thief, with a 4-day total […]

  HOLDOVERS:  Pandemic box office champion SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME (Marvel/Columbia/Sony) had no trouble keeping its throne over New Year’s weekend, down 38% to $52.7M, with a running US total of $609.9M.  The January ahead is sparse on competition, so the film should top $700M, which will make it the #2 MCU title in the […]

  OPENINGS:  The box office may not have hit bottom yet (see “Next Weekend” below), but it’s getting close, with the horror movie THE INVITATION (Screen Gems/Sony) topping the weekend at a painful $7M.  Things were no better overseas, where the film opened at $1.6M in 19 markets.  Despite these numbers, The Invitation may still […]

  OPENINGS:  THE LITTLE MERMAID (Disney) began its run with $95.5M over the 3-day weekend, projected to $117.5M with the Monday holiday.  That’s within the range of pre-release projections, and if the numbers hold, it would be slightly higher than the $116.8M earned over the 2019 4-day Memorial Day weekend by Aladdin.  However, it’s a […]

  OPENINGS:  KUNG FU PANDA 4 (DreamWorks Animation/Universal), the first new all-ages animated release since the holiday season, arrived at the high end of projections with $58.3M, impressively above the $41.3M start for 2016’s Panda 3.  (And at a reported production budget 40% lower than its predecessor.)  It faces no direct competition for months, and […]

>Based on Friday and Saturday box office (and estimated Sunday numbers), Twilight Saga Breaking Dawn Part 1 will drop 70% this weekend but remain at #1, and its final domestic estimate has been upgraded to over $300 million because the second weekend drop could have been even worse.  The Muppets opened decently in second place […]