THE IDES OF MARCH:  Watch It At Home – An Excellent Play Becomes a Merely Good Movie   The Ides of March, one of the most eagerly awaited of this year’s festival crop, is more entertaining than it is good. Oddly both low-key and melodramatic, claptrap and high-minded drama, it represents a series […]

The 19th weekend of 2012 is looking like a solid $155 million for the Top 12 films, up 20% from both this weekend last year and the four-year average for the same weekend.  Marvel’s The Avengers will definitely smash the second weekend record — the only question is by how much.  Dark Shadows opened below […]

    HAYWIRE:  Worth A Ticket – For the Gasp-Inducing Fight Scenes Alone   You might think that if a major, celebrated filmmaker were to take the extraordinary step of announcing, years in advance, that he had set the time for his retirement from movies, and that, even though he was only middle-aged, he would […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, weekend #41 of 2014 looks like a very strong $138 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, 31% above the norm for this weekend ($106 million).   Opening at 2,885 theaters, Dracula Untold from Universal grossed $8.9 million Friday and is on track for a $24.8 million opening three-day weekend (well […]

    I DON’T KNOW HOW SHE DOES IT – Not Even For Free:  You Don’t Want To Know   The recent movie I DON’T KNOW HOW SHE DOES IT most resembles is The Nanny Diaries, which is odd because it was a flop for Harvey Weinstein and The Weinstein Company, and yet Weinstein’s studio […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.   YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2015 to date is now +5% above last year and +8% above the average for this point the past four years ($2.174 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed almost $6.4 billion worldwide when we add overseas box office […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Here is an updated look at the 2019 film slates by studio. BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2019 is still -5% below last year’s comparable span and now even with this point the past four years ($6.705 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed over $17.7 billion […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Here is an updated 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 -2% below last year’s comparable span (7 points worse than last week) and -17% below this point averaged over the […]