Audiences to Hollywood:  Happy New Year!  And… what have you done for us lately?  2013 turned out to be a terrific year for high-quality movies, with so many good films and performances that some will inevitably be squeezed out of the Oscar race.  But that was so last year.  What does 2014 have in […]

Based on Friday’s and Saturday’s grosses, Weekend #36 of 2013 now looks like $67 million for the top 12 films, a few million dollars better than yesterday’s estimate and now up slightly from the average post-Labor Day weekends the past few years. Opening at 3,107 theaters Friday, Riddick from Universal grossed $7.3 million Friday and a […]

Weekend #22 of 2015 is looking like $123 million for the top 12 films this weekend, significantly below the norm for this weekend. San Andreas from Warner Brothers should open with a $36.0 million three-day weekend. Early reviews at RottenTomatoes are barely tilting negative: 45% positive overall. San Andreas is on track for around $104 million domestic. Overseas the film could bring […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, weekend #48 of 2014 looks like $156 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, down 14% the norm for Thanksgiving weekend ($180 million) and down 20% from the same weekend last year.  Pretty soft. Opening at 3,764 theaters, Penguins of Madagascar from Fox and DreamWorks Animation is on track for a $25.8 million opening […]

Based on Friday’s and Saturday’s grosses, Weekend #49 of 2013 still looks like $87 million for the top 12 films from Friday-Sunday, right on target for the usually slow post-Thanksgiving weekend.   Opening at 2,101 theaters Friday, Out of the Furnace from Relativity grossed $1.9 million Friday and $2.1 million Saturday, now on track for a $5.3 million […]

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 […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Here is an updated look at the 2017 film slates by studio.   YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2017 to date is still down -2% from last year and still +1% above the average for this point the past four years ($8.536 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed […]

>Weekend #16 of 2012 looks like it will be about $105 million for the top 12 films, down 14% from last year’s comparable weekend (led by Rio’s second weekend) but up 6% from the four-year average for this weekend.  The Hunger Games should finally fall out of first place, dropping about 38% this weekend to […]