So much for front-loading. The preliminary Saturday number for THE AVENGERS (Disney), as reported by Deadline, is genuinely extraordinary.  If it holds up, Avengers will have one of the best 2d day holds of a mega-opening film in history, and be well on its way to the best opening weekend ever.  The current […]

Looking at wide-release films in North America (those that play on at least 400 screens at some point), 2013 now totals just over $2.7 billion, down 12% from 2012 and down 6% from the prior four-year average 2009-2012.  Each year-to-date period below is defined as the first Monday after New Year’s Day through the most […]

  V/H/S, which screened as part of Sundance’s Park City At Midnight series, is a gimmick piled upon a gimmick. First is the horror anthology itself, familiar from the Twilight Zone movie and Rod Serling’s Night Gallery TV show, among many others.  In this case, half a dozen unrelated short films, each from a different […]

> Worth A Ticket; A tasty croissant from Woody Allen. Woody Allen interrupts the opening credits of his new comedy MIDNIGHT IN PARIS to insert a montage of lovely Paris locations.  I mention this because after more than 40 years and as many films, the rules of Woody-land seem as fixed and immutable as the […]

> Fast Five enters the worldwide January-April box office chart in the #2 position, with plenty more upside in its overseas numbers.  When the final results are in, Fast Five will probably be the #1 movie worldwide for the first third of the year, followed by Rio and Rango.    The graphic below shows the […]

Weekend #34 of 2012 looks like a typically bad fourth weekend of August.  Three shitty new films open and a political documentary goes semi-wide, and each should be well under $10 million for the weekend.  The top 12 films this weekend should total $89 million, about the same pace for the comparable weekend the last […]

The top 10 films December 26, 2014 totaled $63.3 million,right at the average $63.1 million for the days since 2002 when December 26 landed on a Friday-Sunday.  The last time December 26 fell on a Friday (2008), the day’s top 10 films added up to a similar $63.5 million.  The 11 days December 16-26 total […]

> This weekend is looking unusually strong for late September: the top 12 films should gross over $100 million, about 14% above a normal weekend this time of year.  The strong 3D reissue of The Lion King should remain at #1 with close to $20 million and a very family-friendly, small second weekend decline.  Challenging […]