WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Universal and Warner Brothers again flipped positions in the year to date worldwide box office chart.  Universal didn’t have much this week (the lame domestic opening of Kick-Ass 2 and some continued overseas business from Despicable Me 2), but it was certainly more than Warner Brothers, which has grown very quiet here […]

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 still -24% below last year’s comparable span and now -17% below the average for this point the past four years ($1.733 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed $4.0 […]

>The biggest gainer in the international box office this week was The Smurfs.  Now with an overseas total of $321 million, The Smurfs has moved past Thor into the #9 position.  Rise of the Planet of the Apes is starting to stall out overseas and will probably remain in 11th place, just behind Thor. The […]

The top 10 films Christmas Day 2014 totaled $71.2 million, well above the 12-year average of $55.9 million for the day and above the very high December 25 totals the last two years: $67.2 million in 2013 and $68.1 million in 2014.  Only 2009 had a higher Christmas Day: $82.6 million in the season of […]

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 […]

  OPENINGS:  Kevin Hart has been hanging around the edges of being a movie star for a few years now, and RIDE ALONG (Universal) makes it official.  With a $14.5M Friday start, it could challenge Cloverfield for the Martin Luther King weekend title, currently at $46.1M.  For Universal, this is the start of a nicely […]

>   Hold all tickets for 2d place. OPENINGS:  As of now, THE PIRATES!  BAND OF MISFITS (Sony), THE FIVE-YEAR ENGAGEMENT (Universal), THE LUCKY ONE (Warners) and THE HUNGER GAMES (Lionsgate/Summit) are all projected to gross within a $243,000 range for the weekend, with Pirates on top with $11.4M and Engagement bringing up the rear […]

The 10th weekend of 2013 looks to be the first up weekend after six down weekends in a row.  The top 12 films Friday-Sunday should total $128 million, up 6 to 11% from the same weekend the last few years.  Keep in mind this is the weekend that has given us John Carter, Battle: Los […]