WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Here is a first look at the 2020 film slates by studios (films entering wide release in the 2020 calendar year). BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2020 is now +14% above last year’s comparable span but -7% below this point averaged over the past four years ($1.110 billion).  Over […]

> The 12th weekend of 2012 is truly exceptional for a fourth weekend of March: $180 million for the Top 12 films, up 66% from the same weekend in 2011 and up 58% from the weekend’s multi-year average.  The Hunger Games was everything it promised to be — and more.  One of the greatest movie […]

>The Help sits at the top of the heap thanks to a terrific 19% drop in its second weekend and especially thanks to the very weak crop of openers that make up that heap.  Spy Kids 4, Conan the Barbarian and Fright Night all are opening below forecast and headed for a quick end on […]

>The weekend studio estimates (based on Friday and Saturday actuals and projections for Sunday) are coming in slightly above the weekend numbers posted yesterday (based on Friday actuals only).  The box office volume for the top 12 films is now looking like $123.5 million for the weekend, up 2% from last year’s weekend but up […]

>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 […]