> 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 […]

> Deadline has some early Saturday and weekend numbers, the highlight of which is that REAL STEEL is claiming a 40% Saturday bump, which would lead it to a $29M weekend, somewhat higher than expected.  Since Steel is a family movie, a big increase for matinees is possible, but we’ll see if it bears out […]

> The Hollywood Reporter has preliminary Friday numbers suggesting that BREAKING DAWN PART 1 will gross $65-75M for the day, including $30.3M in Thursday midnight showings.  Even at the high-end, that would make Breaking Dawn more front-loaded with midnight viewers than its November 2009 predecessor New Moon, which made $72.7M on its opening Friday, of […]

> UPDATE:  More detailed numbers are proving even better for MI4, which reportedly made $6.6M on Wednesday.  The action sequel is close to a $2K average at 3400 theatres, and looks like the hit of the season with $25M already in the bank. Things are less promising for THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO, which […]

> The festival has its first crowd-pleaser in CELESTE AND JESSE FOREVER, a light but heartfelt romantic comedy-drama in the Woody Allen vein. Written by Rashida Jones (who also stars as Celeste) and Will Mc McCormack (on hand as well as a supportive weed dealer), it takes a different slant on the usual rom-com by […]

> According to Deadline, ACT OF VALOR (Relativity) is reporting a mild 5% Saturday bump.  That’s modest, but still less frontloaded than The Expendables’ 10% drop on its 2d day, and if the number holds, could mean a $24M+ weekend.  GOOD DEEDS (Lionsgate/Summit) is looking better with around a 30% Saturday increase, comparing favorably with […]

> Monday boxoffice is tricky to analyze, because as you’d expect, the all-time list of Monday grosses is largely a history of long holiday weekends, namely Memorial Day, July 4th, Martin Luther King Day, and Christmas/New Year’s week.  So strictly speaking, THE HUNGER GAMES’ $10.8M gross on its 4th day in theatres is only the […]

  Worth a ticket.   It’s a little mysterious that Michael Connelly’s trim, twisty crime novels have so rarely hit the screen. Perhaps it was the tepid reception received by Blood Work in 2002, unfortunately one of Clint Eastwood’s more dismal films of the last decade. Or just the usual horror stories of movie industry […]