>2012 is underway, and the first week of the year (January 2-8) which includes strong early week business for the holiday holdovers and a better than expected weekend from low-budget The Devil Inside was up substantially from both the same week last year (absolutely jinxed by Nic Cage’s Season of the Witch) and a broader […]

>Thanks to strong weekday business, the past week is up 5% versus last year.  The year-to-date total is now down 14% from last year (after being off as much as 26% in February).  The Past Week: Total Box Office Volume All films in wide release playing between May 2 and May 8 grossed $206 million, up […]

>Updated international figures follow.  Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol is surging, as Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked and especially Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows is just getting going. Click “read more” for the complete chart.

> Reviews of some of the more prominent movies in theatres right now: X-MEN:  FIRST CLASS MIDNIGHT IN PARIS THE HANGOVER PART II KUNG FU PANDA 2 THE TREE OF LIFE

> The 10% drop for CARS 2 on Saturday is unusual, but by no means unheard of, for a big animated film (Toy Story 3 and Wall-E had similar drops, and they worked out OK).  Any additional slippage on Sunday beyond the 19% Disney is projecting, though, could be cause for concern.  The similar Saturday […]

>Through Sunday, Team Metcalf is holding on to a $39 million lead over Team Salem in the ShowBuzzDaily Summer Movie Draft.  The terrific opening of Harry Potter was balanced somewhat by decent holds for Transformers 3, Horrible Bosses and to some extent Zookeeper.  We expected Salem to pull ahead by Sunday, but that should happen sometime […]

> Normally a relatively quiet period, the weekend before Halloween usually offers only one new release and well under $100 million in total volume for the top 12 movies.  But this year, we have three releases, with one poised to do solid business.  Puss In Boots should do well over $40 million in its opening […]

> Hop (Universal) is set to be #1 with almost $25 million, although this weekend the last two years has boasted top openings in the $61-71 million range.  Overall, it looks like another soft weekend of box office numbers. The well-reviewed Source Code from Summit (92% positive rating at rottentomatoes) is headed for about $15 million this weekend.  Bringing […]