As the movie awards season starts to get going, here’s an early look at how the betting odds are shaping up on the Internet.  Lincoln is the clear favorite for Best Picture, with bookmakers offering a little under $2 on a $1 wager.  Steven Spielberg is also the favorite for his direction of Lincoln, but […]

The 8th weekend of 2013 looks like another down weekend: $95 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, down 16% from the same weekend last year.  Two more movies will open this weekend, both with little potential. Opening in about 2,500 theaters Friday, Snitch from Summit and starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson should average a perfectly […]

Updated International Box Office tracking chart:

Looking at wide-release films in North America (those that play on at least 400 screens at some point), 2013 now totals just over $3.1 billion, down 13% from 2012 and down 5% from the prior four-year average 2009-2012.  Still a very mediocre year.  Each year-to-date period below is defined as the first Monday after New […]

The 27th weekend of the year is looking like an excellent $218 million for the top 12 films, up 20-35% from the comparable weekend the last few years. Opening at around 3,900 theaters Wednesday (well above the top 10% theater count for opening weekend wide releases of 3,690 theaters), Despicable Me 2 from Universal should average $20,000 per theater for the three-day weekend […]

Based on Friday’s and Saturday’s grosses, Weekend #31 of 2013 still looks like a surprisingly weak $126 million for the top 12 films, down 4% from the average for this weekend the past few years (the first such decline since the weekend of June 7-9 eight weeks ago).  Opening at 3,025 theaters Friday, 2 Guns from Universal grossed […]

Updated international box office chart:

Based on Friday’s and Saturday’s grosses, Weekend #48 of 2013 looks like $195 million for the top 12 films from Friday-Sunday — 3% below last year’s Thanksgiving weekend but 11% above the four-year average for Thanksgiving weekend.  The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is on pace to score $74.5 million this weekend, and we have revised […]