>Based on Friday and Saturday box office (and estimated Sunday numbers), Captain America opens at #1 this weekend with almost $66 million, a slightly higher estimate than we had yesterday.  Friends with Benefits opens at #3 with $18.5 million.  Declining an eye-popping 72%, the final Harry Potter slide to #2 with $48 million.     The ShowbuzzDaily […]

The 51st weekend of the year is looking like $141 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, above last year’s similar weekend but -7% below the multi-year average for this weekend. Opening at around 3,450 theaters today (well above the 2,886 average theater count for opening weekends the last two years), Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues from Paramount should average […]

The year-to-date rankings are very similar to last week, with some studios showing small negative changes versus last week’s totals (as the final domestic estimates for some films have been adjusted downward).  For a complete ranking of 2013 films individually by worldwide performance click here. TOTAL NORTH AMERICAN BOX OFFICE. Looking at wide-release films in North […]

> Not Even For Free Let’s give a little love to the devious people at Universal who cut the trailers.  The masterminds behind the red-band for YOUR HIGHNESS managed to find, in its 102 dull minutes, roughly 3 and a half that, when cut together with fiendish skill, suggested the movie had actual laughs.  Bow […]

  With hundreds of millions of dollars on the line, the opening dates for blockbuster movies are carefully calculated months–sometimes years–in advance.  So a last minute change doesn’t come from nowhere, and it’s notable that with less than 2 months to go, Sony has moved its Will Smith/M. Night Shyamalan vehicle AFTER EARTH from its previous […]

Based on Friday’s and Saturday’s grosses, weekend #14 of 2014 looks like $160 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, up over 40% from the four-year average for this weekend.  All credit goes to the second Captain America, as Disney has succesfully transformed April into the new May on the evolving movie release calendar.   […]

  IN TIME:  Watch It At Home – The Clock Never Really Starts Ticking   Andrew Niccol wants to be a populist moviemaker of ideas, but he just doesn’t have the knack.  Niccol’s ideas are genuinely impressive:  he’s the man who wrote The Truman Show and Gattaca, and less successfully, S1mOne and Lord of War.  […]

Weekend #5 of 2015 is looking like $104 million for the top 12 films this weekend, actually well above the normal volume for this weekend ($77 million), which is hobbled by the Super Bowl and its massive television audience.  American Sniper on Friday and Saturday should salvage the weekend somewhat, but there is very little […]