Weekend #21 of 2016 forecasts for films opening wide and major returning films: NEW FILMS THIS WEEKEND May 20-22, 2016 Critics Positive ($ millions) Opening Weekend Forecast Domestic Total Projection Overseas Total Projection Worldwide Total Projection Angry Birds Movie Sony PG 54% 39.5 135 305 440 Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising Universal R 67% 38.5 125 […]

Weekend #30 of 2015 is looking like $170 million for the top 12 films this weekend, above the norm for this weekend (see comparisons below). Pixels from Sony should open with a $37.5 million three-day weekend. Early reviews at RottenTomatoes are dreadful: 11% positive overall so far. Pixels is on track for around $95 million domestic. […]

> Get all the stench jokes out of your system:  come August 19, the new SPY KIDS:  ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD won’t just be in tired old 3D, but in what they’re calling the 4D of Aromascope.  In other words, everyone will be issued scratch ‘n sniff cards, and at various times in […]

> Watch It At Home:  Scrupulously accurate, to a fault. In an era that so recently gave us “The Kennedys,” possibly the worst piece of pop culture history ever produced for American television, it seems downright rude to criticize Robert Redford’s new film THE CONSPIRATOR for sticking to the facts.  Accuracy and drama, however, are […]

>Not a lot of change in the numbers as early Saturday results are factored in.  Deadline reports THE LION KING at #1 with $22M, MONEYBALL 2d with $21M, and DOLPHIN TALE 3rd with $20M, so any or all of those could shift as fuller counts are completed.  ABDUCTION is reported to have edged up to […]

> Saturday was a little weaker than expected, according to preliminary boxoffice figures reported by Deadline, resulting in some shortfalls compared to initial weekend estimates.  21 JUMP STREET (Sony) had a small Saturday decline of about 5%, which should get it to around $34M for the weekend.  The novelty of Will Ferrell speaking Spanish in […]

  The Toronto International Film Festival is, of the major North American festivals, by far the most pleasant to attend.  Its line-up of films and clout are matched only by Sundance’s, and it substitutes balmy 70 degree weather and large, well-appointed theaters for that festival’s snowy winds and converted high school auditoriums and hotel ballrooms.  […]

In recent years, the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film has come to stand for not much more than a fair level of craftsmanship and a comfortable pitch of moral predicament (The Secret In Their Eyes, Departures, and The Counterfeiters are the most recent undistinguished winners).  This year’s winner, Susanne Bier’s IN A BETTER WORLD, […]