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 still -5% below last year’s comparable span and still basically even with this point the past four years ($7.738 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed almost […]

> 50/50:  Worth A Ticket –  A Genuinely Feel-Good Cancer Comedy With The Big C renewed for its third season on Showtime, the concept of a comedy getting laughs from the experiences of a cancer patient is no longer especially shocking, which means that the new 50/50 has to be judged on its comedy-drama merits, […]

> The Hollywood Reporter has fresher boxoffice numbers.  MONEYBALL’s start isn’t quite as high as it had looked, but a Friday close to $7M is still excellent, and should lead to a $20M or so weekend, especially since exit polls indicate audiences are in line with critics on this one.  THE LION KING, entering what’s […]

  FINAL DESTINATION 5 – Watch It At Home:  Death Takes No Holiday   There’s only one thing worth mentioning in FINAL DESTINATION 5… and it’s the one thing I can’t talk about.  Let’s just say that if you’ve been a follower of the series all along, the filmmakers (whether it was screenwriter Eric Heisserer […]

> As detailed in Mitch Metcalf’s Boxoffice Report, Friday’s numbers were solid but lacking any breakout excitement.  First, let’s take a quick look at the limited-run Oscar hopefuls: THE IRON LADY (Weinstein):  Meryl-Streep-as-Margaret-Thatcher came roaring into the awards mix with a terrific $19K average in 4 theatres that should lead it to a $75-80K average […]

> The probable effect of Irene is most evident in the weekend’s limited releases, where loss of NY business would have been most damaging.  HIGHER GROUND, seemingly headed for a per-theatre average of $12K, could only manage $7600, while CIRCUMSTANCE, on track for a $8K average, made it to only $6200.  Similarly, some expansions were […]

> TRANSFORMERS:  DARK OF THE MOON is reporting (pending actual numbers tomorrow) a 4-day weekend gross of $116.7M, giving it a total of $181.1M since opening Tuesday evening.  That puts it around 10% ahead of the original Transformers and 15% behind Transformers 2.  The original Transformers declined only 47% in its second weekend (the first […]

> If you want to see THE HUNGER GAMES in IMAX, the best visual format available, you’re going to have to hurry:  it’s currently scheduled to screen in IMAX theatres for only a single week.  Even though Hunger is expected to be one of the highest-opening pictures of the year, with a 2d weekend that […]