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 -5% below last year’s comparable span and now even with this point the past four years ($6.705 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed over $17.7 billion […]

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 -18% below last year’s comparable span (1 point better than last week) and now -16% below the average for this point the past four years ($2.351 billion).  Over the same […]

>Three films join the worldwide box office tracking chart this weekend.  With a profile similar to Tintin‘s (very good overseas appeal but limited domestic interest), The Secret World of Arrietty is just outside of the top 10 movies over the last three months.  The anime import from Japan has grossed $126 million overseas, but we […]

  A fairly sturdy set of Saturday numbers firmed up the weekend a bit, but the start of the holiday movie season is still just mediocre. OPENINGS:  JACK REACHER (Paramount) had a 13% Saturday bump and is predicting an 18% drop on Sunday, for a $15.6M weekend.  That tracks for a holiday period of about $50M, […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, weekend #2 of 2014 looks like $121 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, down 12% from the average for the same weekend the past few years (but better than we forecast earlier this week). Opening at 2,876 theaters Friday, Lone Survivor from Universal grossed $14.4 million Friday, putting the Peter Berg-directed Afghanistan War […]

STUDIO SCORECARD. Warner Brothers has moved past Universal to take the #2 spot on the worldwide box office chart for 2013.  The opening of We’re the Millers and continued overseas strength from Pacific Rim and to a lesser extent The Conjuring powered Warner Brothers to the best week of the studios. Reminder: the chart below has been reformatted and expanded […]

> Although Fox Searchlight didn’t actually acquire Steve McQueen’s film Shame until last Saturday, in a sense the marketing campaign for the film began when the producers made it clear that the film would not be edited for US release, and would be distributed with an NC-17 rating. This quickly became the most memorable fact […]

> When the inevitable US remake of the French thriller SLEEPLESS NIGHT arrives, it’ll benefit from some sharper dialogue (assuming the subtitles in Toronto were fully translating the original), a bit more characterization and a slightly more varied tone.  But the framework already exists for a solid action hit. The picture begins as a variant […]