It takes about an hour, but Nicholas McCarthy’s THE PACT, which premiered in the Park City At Midnight section at Sundance, eventually turns out to have a neat twist up its sleeve, one that switches the movie from haunted house horror to an entirely different subgenre of thriller.  And after that, a solid reel […]

With six of eight movies open, Team Metcalf’s slate is closing in on $1 billion in domestic box office ($929 million through Sunday).  Metcalf’s seventh film opens Friday (Rock of Ages).  And then he will wait to see if the early lead will hold up as the other two teams really get going. Team Salem […]

Team Weil, with Ice Age 4, had the biggest gain this week, up $97 million to $325 million to date.  The coming week will be huge for this slate as Dark Knight Rises opens Friday. Team Salem had a decent week with an $88 million gain (thanks to continued strong business from Amazing Spider-Man).  The slate now totals $644 million […]

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 […]

After three tough weekends with 20-25% declines versus prior years, the 39th weekend of 2012 is looking like $101 million for the Top 12 films Friday-Sunday, up 13% from the same weekend last year.  Sony opened two films to two completely different segments: Hotel Transylvania opened very well to kids and families, while Looper opened […]

The Past Week: Total Box Office Volume All films in wide release playing between November 5 and November 11 grossed an excellent $207 million, up 22% from the four-year average for the week and up 30% from the same week last year.    The past six weeks are now 12% above the four-year average and […]

  After a strong start with Skyfall and Breaking Dawn Part 2, the holiday boxoffice seems to be at risk of languishing. OPENINGS:  The thing about the Christmas/New Year’s week boxoffice multiple is that it’s real and will help every movie in theatres during the holiday season, but it’s only as good as the number it’s mutiplying. So […]

After its Golden Globes win for Best Drama, the odds of winning Best Picture for Argo improved a bit (moving from a $7.50 payout on a $1 wager to $5.25 and moving past Les Miserables into second place).  But the favorite remains Lincoln, which also actually tightened to a $1.29 payout (from $1.40 last week), as Les Miz and especially Zero […]