> This weekend is looking unusually strong for late September: the top 12 films should gross over $100 million, about 14% above a normal weekend this time of year.  The strong 3D reissue of The Lion King should remain at #1 with close to $20 million and a very family-friendly, small second weekend decline.  Challenging […]

And the race begins.  Team Metcalf is off to an early lead in the second annual ShowBuzzDaily Summer Movie Draft, thanks to a big head start from Marvel’s The Avengers (Metcalf’s top pick and the #2 pick overall).  The Avengers came in officially at a resounding $207.4 million for its record-setting domestic opening weekend.  Keep […]

> Deadline reports that Warners has set the release schedule for its 2 Oscar contenders.  Clint Eastwood’s biography of FBI patriarch (and cross-dresser) J. EDGAR, starring Leonardo DiCaprio in the title role, is opening November 9 in a few big cities, with wide release on November 11; and EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE, the Stephen […]

> It turned out to be a great boxoffice weekend for movies aimed at adults, led of course by THE HELP.  THE DEBT had an extraordinarily strong Saturday for a new opening (up 40% from Friday), and is riding that to a surprising weekend finish above its more youth-oriented competition–and at considerably fewer theatres.  APOLLO […]

> MONEYBALL‘s debut looks to be in line with the opening weekend of The Social Network ($22.4M) just about a year ago.  That movie rode the Oscar race to a $97M gross.  Moneyball is more likable but less incisive than Network, and while it’s going to be part of the Oscar conversation, it’s less likely […]

> The tiny 3% drop in PUSS IN BOOTS‘ second weekend is truly remarkable, and could well lead to studios adopting DreamWorks’ strategy in the future of opening an animated movie on Halloween weekend and then having a de facto 2d opening the following week.  (However, the picture is still running $13M below Megamind‘s 10 […]

> Deadline has preliminary numbers for the Friday boxoffice, and if they hold, it looks to be a thoroughly terrible weekend for Hollywood.  NEW YEAR’S EVE appears to be under $6M for Friday, meaning a weekend of $15-17M, far below Mitch Metcalf’s $25M projection.  Even with a longer playing period than Valentine’s Day had last […]

> Dateline has preliminary figures for Saturday and the weekend, and as expected, Paramount’s THE DEVIL INSIDE took a significant 25+% hit in its second day, a trend that will no doubt continue as stories of audiences in open revolt at the movie’s lack of an ending multiply.  Even so, it’s looking at a $35M […]