Based on Friday’s grosses, Weekend #38 of 2013 looks like a lame $72 million for the top 12 films, down 19% from the average for the same weekend the past few years. Opening at 3,260 theaters Friday, Prisoners from Warner Brothers grossed $6.9 million Friday and is on track for a $20.2 million opening weekend (somewhat above the $18.5 […]

As Dark Shadows followed The Avengers last year in the second weekend of May, The Great Gatsby will try to follow Iron Man 3’s huge opening last weekend.  Let’s face it, the TV spots for Gatsby make the film look like a lame costume party or some kind of high school production, and the racing […]

>Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 opened with a record  $168.6 million and is on a phenominal track.  Winnie the Pooh is a very quiet opener in contrast.  This weekend is up a stunning 46% from the same weekend last year.   The ShowbuzzDaily Domestic Final estimates now show that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part […]

> Hollywood Hearts this weekend. OPENINGS:   It turned out that THE VOW (Screen Gems/Sony) was indeed slightly more frontloaded than SAFE HOUSE (Universal), but not by enough to rob it of 1st place.  Vow‘s massive $41.7M haul was higher than any opening weekend for a Julia Roberts, Sandra Bullock or Katherine Heigl vehicle–ever.  (Cut to […]

> One of the enduring questions of Madonna’s illustrious quarter-century career is how someone so brilliant in managing every other facet of her persona has consistently made such terrible decisions when it comes to movies.  It’s the one medium where she’s never succeeded, and even when she’s occasionally done something right, she instantly follows it […]

>Year to date box office is now back down to -4.0% versus the comparable period last year, similar to where the comparison was back around Labor Day.  As late as mid-April the box office total was -20% behind 2010, but by early June the comparison had dropped to -9% behind the 2010 pace.  In mid-August […]

  We’re just days away from the launch of the summer movie season, the most important part of the year for all of the major studios.  Literally billions of dollars will be on the line over the next several months, with almost every weekend bringing a high-stakes bet to the table from one or more […]

>Not a lot of change in the numbers as early Saturday results are factored in.  Deadline reports THE LION KING at #1 with $22M, MONEYBALL 2d with $21M, and DOLPHIN TALE 3rd with $20M, so any or all of those could shift as fuller counts are completed.  ABDUCTION is reported to have edged up to […]