> Let the summer begin!  The fourth Pirates of the Caribbean will open all by itself with close to $95 million this weekend. Opening at over 4,000 theaters, Pirates 4 should average a killer $23,500 per theater (for $94 million total).  On Stranger Tides is the most coolly-received movie in the franchise by critics (read […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Here is an updated look at the 2018 film slates by studio. The studio totals also include 2018 dollars for films released in late 2017. YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2018 to date is now +6% above last year and still +8% above the average for this point […]

Weekend #4 of 2015 is looking like $134 million for the top 12 films this weekend, way up from both the norm for this weekend and the same weekend last year.  After missing the American Sniper opening weekend number by a mile in last week’s forecast, forgive us if we are a little gun shy.  But […]

> It’s too little to make any meaningful difference for JOHN CARTER (Disney), but according to Deadline, the giant-budgeted spectacle didn’t have a bad Saturday.  Preliminary numbers have Carter rising by around 30% over its Friday total, which could mean a weekend over $30M.  A nice weekend multiple, though, still won’t touch the mountain of […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Updated look at 2016 by studio.   YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2016 to date is still +4% above last year and still +5% above the average for this point the past four years ($6.905 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed $18.3 billion worldwide when we add […]

>The weekend studio estimates (based on Friday and Saturday actuals and projections for Sunday) are coming in significantly stronger than the weekend numbers posted yesterday (based on Friday actuals only).  The box office volume for the top 12 films is now looking like an impressive $174 million for the weekend, up a very strong 29% […]

The weekend after Labor Day normally has the lowest box office volume of any weekend on the calendar.  Weekend #36 of 2012 will follow this pattern, and it could be the softest weekend since 2008: only about $51 million for the top 12 films this weekend.  No film will have a weekend over $10 million, […]

> Sundance announced the second group of its 2012 titles today (Competition entries were announced yesterday; Premieres will be unveiled on Monday), mostly in what are traditionally the most untraditional categories of the Festival:  Park City At Midnight, Next, and New Frontier. Also announced were the Spotlight films, which is where Sundance puts films that […]