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 […]

Based on Friday’s and Saturday’s grosses, weekend #17 of 2014 looks like $102 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, better than the disaster of a weekend this time last year but still 8% below the norm for this weekend over the last several years.   Opening at 3,204 theaters Friday, The Other Woman from Fox grossed $9.3 […]

  OPENINGS:  NOBODY (Universal) had a fair start at $6.7M, better than the $4.1M opening for Let Him Go and the $3.1M for The Marksman.  Following the Universal pattern it will hit premium VOD after 2 more weekends, and may hope to reach $20M in US theatres.  Overseas, it launched with $5M. The much bigger […]

  OPENINGS:  BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE (DC/RatPac/Warners) weathered a 38% Saturday drop and is currently estimating a $170.1M weekend.  That would make it Warners’ #1 US opening ever, beating the final Harry Potter‘s $169.2M, but that includes an aggressive Easter Sunday estimate, so it may fall behind by tomorrow.  (Depending on how that […]

  OPENINGS:  A $34.1M US launch for a movie that reportedly carries about $350M in production and marketing costs likely means a nine-figure loss in theatrical release, which traditionally is considered less than desirable.  But the ways of Box Office Magical Thinking are infinite (and the number of pundits willing to parrot such spin similarly […]

  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:  We’re starting to get a feel for what this pandemic box office looks like, absent big-studio blockbusters.  This week’s HONEST THIEF (Open Road) opened at $3.7M in 2425 theatres (a weekend per-theatre $1525 average), just about the same as last week’s The War With Grandpa, even though they’re in completely different genres.  Honest […]

  OPENINGS:  LEAP (Weinstein) was the weekend’s tallest dwarf, claiming to have cleared $5M for the weekend, but that number will require an extremely strong Sunday hold.  Even if it’s sustained in tomorrow’s finals, it’s hardly anything to be enthused about–except in comparison to the weekend’s other losers. BIRTH OF THE DRAGON (WWE/Blumhouse/BH Tilt/Universal) couldn’t […]