>Based on Friday and Saturday box office (and estimated Sunday numbers), Contagion is #1 and is headed for a final of about $74 million.  The other openers were either quiet or stillborn.  The Help, now #2, nonetheless has been upgraded to a domestic final estimate of $174 million.  The weekend overall is now looking like it […]

>Now 12 full weeks into 2012, year-to-date domestic box office is running 26% ahead of last year’s worrisome pace, and the year-to-date total is now fully 15% ahead of the comparable period’s average for the last several years.  The Hunger Games lived up to the hype and played like an early summer tentpole in March. […]

> The past week (seven days ending Sunday) came in up 19% versus last year’s comparable week (the fourth significant increase in as many weeks).  Year-to-date box office is now down 4.6% versus last year.  Rise of the Planet of the Apes from 20th Century Fox set the pace for a solid weekend: it beat its weekend forecast […]

> Worth A Ticket. Of all the “Friends” who kept America company in its collective living room for a decade, David Schwimmer has taken the most concerted step away from the work that made him famous.  While Courtney Cox, Matthew Perry, Matt LeBlanc and Lisa Kudrow have mostly continued in TV comedy, and Jennifer Aniston’s […]

>Four new films opened this weekend in North America and have joined our worldwide box office tracking chart.  Three of the four are toward the bottom of the chart and are destined to stay there.  The other film, Act of Valor, is currently in the middle of the pack but should rise as moderate overseas […]

>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 […]

> As we discussed yesterday, first a couple of bar bets.  Which film grossed more worldwide: Megamind or The King’s Speech?  The answer is King’s Speech.  Although Megamind grossed more domestically ($148 million to $132 million), the international audience preferred King’s Speech ($226 million to $171 million), giving the Best Picture winner a $40 million […]

>Team Metcalf is now $102 million ahead of Team Salem in the first annual Summer Movie Draft.  The weekday business of Transformers 3 the next few days will push the margin a little higher, but the opening weekend of the final Harry Potter Friday will erase these recent gains and position Salem for a commanding […]