> In a battle of two comedies this weekend, Arthur (Warner Bros) and Your Highness (Universal) should split the comedy audience, with Arthur having a slight edge (despite horrific reviews on rottentomatoes — I guess most critics share my disbelief that Russell Brand is opening a movie).  Read Mitch Salem’s review of Arthur to see what he thinks. […]

Based on Friday’s and Saturday’s grosses, weekend #18 of 2014 continues to look like $144 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, down 25% from the norm for this weekend.   Opening at 4,324 theaters, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 from Sony grossed $35.5 million Friday and $33.1 million Saturday, putting the film on track for a $92.0 million […]

This weekend is on track to be the fifth weekend in a row to be up over the previous years.  None of the openers look like big hits — it’s just that Argo is hanging around very well in its third week and there are more films at or near $10 million this weekend than […]

  Plot and character revelations are a critical part of James Marsh’s subtle, complex spy drama SHADOW DANCER, adapted by Tom Bradby from his own novel, so I’ll be circumspect in describing its plot beyond the initial set-up.  (Then again, I saw it at an 8:30AM screening at Sundance, so I’m not altogether sure I […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  The studio rankings remain unchanged, although Warner Brothers had a nice week ($141 million worldwide the past seven days thanks to the domestic debut of Dolphin Tale 2 and a good start overseas for the sequel).  No other studio was over $100 million worldwide for the week, and most were well below that. Scroll […]

Weekend #26 of 2014 (the halfway mark for the year already) is looking like $175 million for the top 12 films this weekend, 8% below the norm for this weekend and 4% below the same weekend last year, which featured two moderate openers rather than one big one (The Heat and White House Down).  Although Transformers should […]

Total Recall joins the chart this week in the middle of the pack, with a projected $66 million final domestic total and $6 million to date overseas.  It might get to $95 million overseas ultimately, which would put its eventual worldwide total around $160 million (just behind The Dictator, not what Sony was banking on). Diary of […]

The 48th weekend of the year is looking like $164 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, well below the normal pace for a normal Thanksgiving weekend. Opening at 3,742 theaters Wednesday (well above the 2,886 average theater count for opening weekends the last two years), Frozen (3D) from Disney should average $12,200 per theater for the weekend […]