In the movie 42, Jackie Robinson (played by Chadwick Boseman) repeatedly asks Branch Rickey why he is breaking baseball’s unwritten whites-only rule.  Rickey (played by Harrison Ford) gives very vague, unsatisfying responses each time.  What a blown dramatic opportunity.  In Ken Burns’ nine-part documentary masterpiece “Baseball,” an aged Red Barber (the Dodgers’ radio broadcaster) describes the […]

For the 17 days December 16-January 1, top 10 films in North America have totaled $1.065 billion, now +66% ahead of the same period last year, +68% above the average since 2002, and +30% ahead of the previous record for this period (2009, the year of Avatar). Box Office Volume — Top 10 Films North America […]

>The year to date box office tally picked up a tiny bit of ground moving from -3.8% versus last year to -3.7% this week.        The Past Week: Total Box Office Volume All films in wide release playing between October 24 and October 30 grossed a mediocre $123 million, up 4% versus the same week in 2010 but down […]

Weekend #44 of 2015 is looking like a very weak $69 million for the top 12 films this weekend, well below the norm for this weekend (see comparisons below) as Halloween and all its distractions lands on a Saturday and derails movie attendance. Our Brand Is Crisis from Warner Brothers should open with a $6.5 million weekend. The film is on track […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Here is a final look at the 2019 film slates by studios (films entering wide release in the 2019 calendar year), including worldwide box office for those films during 2020. We will begin the track of the 2020 slate next week. BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2020 is now […]

> The 13th weekend of 2012 is looking like $146 million for the Top 12 films, up 28% from this weekend last year and up 14% from the four-year average for the first weekend in April.  The Hunger Games had a sizable drop in its second weekend but not unlike other huge openers, and the […]

> As Hurricane Irene marches up the East Coast from North Carolina to Boston this weekend, the full impact on the weekend box office remains unclear, but there will be a significant impact.  News reports say that 65 million Americans will be touched by the storm (about 20% of the population), and many theaters will […]

>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 $100 million for the weekend, down 31% from last year’s weekend and down […]