OPENINGS:  Horror has been one of the more reliable genres at the pandemic box office, and CANDYMAN (MGM/Universal) opened with a solid $22.4M, buoyed by unusually good reviews (85% on Rotten Tomatoes).  That offset a weaker showing overseas, where it earned $5.2M in 51 markets. HOLDOVERS:  FREE GUY (20th/Disney) enjoyed its final pre-Shang Chi […]

  DIVERGENT (Summit/Lionsgate), in case you hadn’t heard, is purportedly The Next Big YA Thing.  It’s off to a $4.9M start in Thursday night shows that began at 8PM, and that’s a solid but–for this genre–unimpressive number.  YA movies, especially those aimed at young women audiences, are notoriously frontloaded, and back in November 2008, the […]

  WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Here is an updated look at the 2019 film slates by studio.   BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2019 is now -5% below last year’s comparable span (1 point better than last week) and now basically even with this point the past four years ($7.325 billion).  Over the […]

  STAR TREK BEYOND (Skydance/Alibaba/Huahua/Paramount) is showing a fair franchise hold by the standards of this summer.  Based on preliminary numbers at Deadline, it had a $23M opening day (including $5.5M from Thursday), down about 26% from the start of 2009’s Star Trek reboot.  (2013’s Into Darkness opened on a Thursday, changing its weekend dynamic.)  That suggests a $57M […]

Based on Friday’s and Saturday’s grosses, weekend #13 of 2015 now looks like $146 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, above the norms for this weekend. Opening at 3,708 theaters Friday, Home from Fox and DreamWorks Animation is on track for a $54.0 million opening three-day weekend (way above our non-believing $28.0 million ShowBuzzDaily forecast earlier this […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.   YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2015 to date is now +6% above last year and now +3% above the average for this point the past four years ($9.312 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed over $25.0 billion worldwide when we add overseas box office (that’s […]

Based on Saturday’s grosses, Weekend #52 is now on pace for $168 million, very similar to the outlook yesterday.  However, Django Unchained and Les Miserables continue to move in opposite directions.   Yesterday, it looked like both films would be around $29 million for the weekend (with Les Mis only $400,000 behind Django).  But based […]

  Sunday numbers will likely be a bit stronger than usual this week due to the Columbus Day holiday tomorrow. OPENINGS:  CAPTAIN PHILLIPS (Sony) didn’t even come close to taking the weekend, but its $26M is quite strong given its older-skewing star and story, not to mention the giant competition from Gravity–it’s better, for example, […]