OPENINGS:  The weekend’s tallest dwarf was WAR DOGS (RatPac/Warners) with a soft $14.3M start.  The 12% Saturday drop indicates that word of mouth isn’t great, and early international numbers are weak as well, with $6.5M in 31 markets.  War Dogs cost $125M+ in production and worldwide marketing, and it seems likely to add to […]

  HOLDOVERS:  On a weekend without new wide releases, COCO (Pixar/Disney) had no trouble holding its crown with $26.1M.  Its 49% drop from Thanksgiving weekend was better than other Disney animations in that slot (50% for Moana, 56% for Tangled, 53% for Frozen), and it should be on track for $225M+ in the US.  Coco […]

  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:  At $53.5M, SHAZAM (DC/New Line/Warners) had the lowest opening weekend of the current DC run of superhero movies (it was also below all the Marvel openings), but it was produced to be a lower-budget companion piece to the megabusters, and with that in mind, its opening was fine.  Overseas was bigger at $102M, but […]

  OPENINGS:  LITTLE WOMEN (Columbia/Sony) had a solid start with $16.5M over the 3-day weekend ($29M since Wednesday).  The next week will be particularly difficult to predict because of the midweek holiday, after which schools will mostly remain closed but some adults will be going back to work.  If Little Women can reach $50M by […]

  OPENINGS:  Even in healthy times, Super Bowl weekend isn’t a fertile time for movie openings, the exceptions being counterprogramming like 2008’s Hannah Montana concert movie.  In that vein, this weekend featured the limited release of the animated EARWIG AND THE WITCH (GKids) at 430 theatres, for a $100K total that translated into a $230 […]

  OPENINGS:  Pedro Almodovar’s PARALLEL MOTHERS (Sony Classics) expanded to wide release at 684 theaters in anticipation of the Oscar nominations that are little more than a week away, but its $300K weekend translated into a per-theater average under $500. HOLDOVERS:  The lack of any new Hollywood competition was as usual good for the films […]

  OPENINGS:  LYLE LYLE CROCODILE (Columbia/Sony) arrived below expectations at $11.5M (it might reach $13.4M with the Monday holiday), unable to take advantage of the 11-week gap since the last major family movie opened.  It has more than a month until Strange World claims that audience, but even with strong holds, it still may not […]