Based on Friday’s grosses, weekend #47 of 2014 now looks like $187 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, down from yesterday’s estimate ($194 million) and now basically even with the norm for this weekend ($186 million) and down a sizable -14% from the same weekend last year. Opening at 4,151 theaters, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay […]

  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 […]

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 […]

Not a bad weekend for the box office this weekend.  Overall business is up about 8% from the similar weekend average.  Three new movies opened (each with a different feel and target demographic target).  No big hits among the three, but three solid performances.       The ShowbuzzDaily Domestic Final estimates for films opening […]

Based on Friday’s and Saturday’s grosses, Weekend #1 of 2013 is now on pace for $126 million, a touch stronger than it looked yesterday and still very much line with the comparable weekend in previous years.  Both Texas Chainsaw 3D and Django Unchained are also looking a little stronger than they seemed yesterday, but the […]

Based on Friday’s and Saturday’s grosses, weekend #2 of 2014 looks like $124 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, down 10% from the average for the same weekend the past few years (but better than we forecast earlier this week and now 2% above last year’s comparable weekend). Opening at 2,876 theaters Friday, Lone Survivor from Universal […]

  OPENINGS:  KONG: SKULL ISLAND (Legendary/Tencent/Warners) is playing as a quasi-family movie, perhaps in response to the R-rated Logan and Get Out.  That gave it a much more muscular Saturday than similar big-budget monster movies, up 19% on Saturday where Godzilla fell 16% and Pacific Rim dropped 13%.  With that boost, Kong should hit its […]

  OPENINGS:  TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: OUT OF THE SHADOWS (Nickelodeon/Movie Media Group/Alibaba/Paramount) opened 46% below the TMNT reboot 2 years ago at $35.3M.  That suggests a $100M US total, and with $250M+ in production/marketing costs, the bulk of that will have to be recovered overseas.  So far, it’s earned $34M in 40 territories, not […]