>Six full weeks into 2012, domestic box office continues to run well ahead of last year’s anemic pace and now has moved slightly ahead of the comparable period’s average for the last several years.  The Vow officially opened at #1 with $41,202,458 the first three days (missing the studio estimate of $41,700,000 issued Sunday morning).  […]

In the movie 42, Jackie Robinson (played by Chadwick Boseman) repeatedly asks Branch Rickey why he is breaking baseball’s unwritten whites-only rule.  Rickey (played by Harrison Ford) gives very vague, unsatisfying responses each time.  What a blown dramatic opportunity.  In Ken Burns’ nine-part documentary masterpiece “Baseball,” an aged Red Barber (the Dodgers’ radio broadcaster) describes the […]

> Sony jump-started the release of THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO last night with early runs starting at 7PM at its slightly less than 3000 theatres.  Early reports are that it pulled in $1.6M for those showings.  There aren’t a lot of R-rated Tuesday night “preview” comparisons to draw on (OK, there are none), […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Here is an updated look at the 2018 film slates by studio. The studio totals also include 2018 dollars for films released in late 2017. YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2018 to date is now +11% above last year and now +12% above the average for this point […]

> FOOTLOOSE has the advantage of facing no new direct competition on Friday.  That, along with what should be fairly good word of mouth, could give it some legs in the marketplace.  THE THING, on the other hand, had a make-or-break weekend this week with PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3 about to hit, and it’s not going […]

> The past week came in up 10% versus last year’s comparable week.  Year-to-date box office is now down 12% versus last year.    The Past Week: Total Box Office Volume All films in wide release playing between May 16 and May 22 grossed $202 million, up 10% versus the same week in 2010.  Year […]

No changes in the studio rankings this week, the top two studios had enormous weeks (each around $250 million) from The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug (Warner Brothers) and Frozen (Disney), with each film experiencing a significantly upgraded domestic total forecast and very big grosses overseas.  For a complete ranking of 2013 films individually by worldwide performance click here. TOTAL NORTH […]

>Thor opens solidly but not enough to push the weekend past Iron Man 2’s torrid pace last year. The ShowbuzzDaily Domestic Final estimates now show that Thor should finish its run with $190 million, while Fast Five has been upgraded to $212 million and Rio has been downgraded slightly to $138 million.  The other openers, […]