International box office for 2013 releases through January 5, 2014. Click here for a summary of worldwide performance by studio.

> Deadline is reporting a fairly spectacular Saturday for THE LORAX (Universal), considering the size of its Friday:  $32M, representing more than an 80% increase from the day before.  As a point of comparison, Horton Hears A Who! increased only 40% on its second day of release.  If this number holds, it puts Lorax in […]

>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 […]

On Homevideo and VOD:  Still Not Worth Seeing. James L Brooks is legendarily responsible for some of the great comedies and comedy-dramas of his generation, with a record that stretches from “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” to “The Simpsons” on TV, and Terms of Endearmentto Broadcast News in film. Recently, though, he’s stumbled as a […]

Weekend #36 of 2015 is looking like $54 million for the top 12 films this weekend, a touch better than last year but still below the norm for this weekend, normally the slowest of the year (see comparisons below). The Transporter Refueled from EuropaCorp should open with a $7.8 million three-day weekend and about $9.6 million Friday-Monday. No early […]

UPDATE: We have revised the numbers for Marvel’s The Avengers to reflect Disney’s outlook for the film based on Friday’s opening, which puts the film on track for the biggest opening weekend of all time. The 18th weekend of 2012 is looking like an outstanding $228 million for the Top 12 films, up 47% from […]

  On Sunday mornings, the devout go to church, and movie studios lie.  (There’s not much overlap between the two groups.)  The studios lie (or fudge, if you’re sensitive about the L Word), fundamentally, because they can get away with it:  when “estimated” box office returns are announced on Sunday mornings, they’re simply repeated–one might […]

Based on Friday’s and Saturday’s grosses, Weekend #23 of 2013 looks like an okay $152 million for the top 12 films (very similar to yesterday’s estimate), down 13% from last year but 4% above the average for this weekend the past few years.  The Purge is doing much better than forecast and is propping the […]