> Worth A Ticket:  Superheroes Behind the Camera, Too. The most substantial movie of the summer so far is, depending on how you calculate, the fifth in a comic book series, a prequel or a reboot.  X-MEN:  FIRST CLASS arrives with its own secret weapons, namely a smart script, a well-chosen cast, some genuine thematic […]

Weekend #14 of 2014 is looking like a robust $159 million for the top 12 films, 41% above the typical volume for this weekend the past few years ($113 million). Opening at around 3,900 theaters Friday (well above the 2,886 average theater count for opening weekends the last two years), Captain America: The Winter Soldier from Disney should average […]

  Yesterday we looked at some of the ways that the costs of producing a feature film are higher and more complicated than they might seem.  Today, some additional obstacles that lie between any movie and profitability.   These may be the most important and least-understood part of profitability calculations.  Every entity that distributes a […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Here is an updated look at the 2019 film slates by studio. BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2019 is now -6% below last year’s comparable span (two points better than last week) and now basically even with this point the past four years ($5.987 billion).  Over the same period, […]

The Past Week: Total Box Office Volume All films in wide release playing between August 13 and August 19 grossed a decent $196 million, up 7% from the four-year average for the comparable week and up 3% from the same week in 2011. Year to date (now over $6.8 billion for wide-release films) is now […]

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 still +8% above last year and still +11% above the average for this point […]

> 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 […]

The 44th weekend of the year is looking like $114 million for the top 12 films, better than last weekend but 4-8% below comparable weekends the past few years.   Opening at over 3,350 theaters Friday (slightly above the 2,886 average theater count for opening weekends the last two years), Ender’s Game from Lionsgate/Summit should average $8,600 per […]