WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.   YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2015 to date is now +3% above last year and +4% above the average for this point the past four years ($4.194 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed almost $11.8 billion worldwide when we add overseas box office […]

Based on Friday’s and Saturday’s grosses, weekend #13 of 2014 now looks like $133 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, up from yesterday’s estimate ($126 million) and now down only 5% from the average for this weekend the past several years.   Opening at 3,567 theaters Friday, Noah from Paramount grossed $15.2 million through Friday and $17.6 […]

> Now the only question is when they announce the start of  pre-production on LORAX 2. OPENINGS:  It turned out THE LORAX (Universal) wasn’t frontloaded at all.  Quite the contrary, its 80% Saturday bump put the movie through the roof, a triumph of great marketing over cruddy filmmaking.  Lorax is currently the 3d highest March […]

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 now +2% above last year and now +4% above the average for this point the past four years ($5.158 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed almost $15.0 […]

> The new 3D action-fest IMMORTALS got off to a reasonably good start with $1.4M in Thursday midnight screenings.  This isn’t anything spectacular, but it’s slightly higher than the $1.3M RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES made in its midnight runs, and far better than the $550K pulled in last week by A VERY […]

> Deadline has preliminary numbers for Friday, and this won’t be one of those weekends where the winner is unclear up to the wire.  ACT OF VALOR (Relativity), the low-budget (but highly marketed) Navy SEAL recruitment vehicle/action movie swept the day with over $9M, about 50% ahead of anything else.  The only question now is […]

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 ($8.750 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed almost […]

    Airing on TCM March 24 and April 10:  See It On Any Screen.   The legacy of the late Elizabeth Taylor arises at least as much from her stature as one of the great, iconic Hollywood movie stars (and the prototypical tabloid goddess) as on the breadth of her acting skills.  But she […]