OPENINGS:  THE EQUALIZER (Columbia/Sony) was a bit softer on Saturday than Denzel Washington’s other hits at this box office level, up 8% compared to 11% for American Gangster and 19% for Safe House.  (Possibly because Equalizer is a terrible movie.)  That resulted in a $35M weekend that was slightly lower than Friday’s start had […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD. Scroll down for domestic and overseas grosses for each film individually so far in 2014. YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2014 is still running -5% behind last year and -3% below the average for this point the past four years ($8.653 billion).  Over the same period, […]

The 2014 holiday box office has pulled slightly ahead 2013 and remains somewhat above the average for the last decade or so. The top 10 films on Saturday January 3, 2015 totaled a very good $46.8 million, somewhat above the average $42.5 million for the days since 2002 when this date landed on a weekend. […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, weekend #5 of 2015 looks like $84 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, somewhat above the norm for this weekend but not as strong as our optimistic forecast.   Opening at 2,893 theaters Friday, Project Almanac from Paramount is on track for an $8.2 million opening three-day weekend (well below our $16.5 million […]

Weekend #13 of 2015 is looking like $123 million for the top 12 films this weekend, slightly below the comparable weekends the past few years. Opening at around 3,150 theaters Friday (above the 2,886 average theater count for opening weekends the last two years), Get Hard from Warner Brothers should average $9,200 per theater for the three-day weekend (for […]

Weekend #21 of 2015 is looking like $162 million for the top 12 films this weekend, well below the norm for this weekend. Opening at around 3,800 theaters Friday (well above the 2,886 average theater count for opening weekends the last two years), Tomorrowland from Disney should average an okay $9,700 per theater for the three-day weekend (for a $37.0 million […]

Based on Friday’s and Saturday’s grosses, weekend #29 of 2015 looks like $185 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, a touch above the norm for this weekend and way above last year’s weak weekend. Opening at 3,856 theaters Friday, Ant-Man from Marvel and Disney is on track for a $58.0 million opening three-day weekend (slightly below our $64.5 million […]

Weekend #38 of 2015 is looking like $120 million for the top 12 films this weekend, well above the norm for this weekend (see comparisons below). Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials from Fox should open with a $40.5 million weekend. Reviews are fairly positive: 59% positive at RottenTomatoes. Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials is on track for around $119 million domestic. […]