THE GUARD – Worth A Ticket:  The Art of Performance, Crispy and Well-Done   I don’t know that there’s an actor in movies today more fun to watch than Brendan Gleeson.  Gleeson is probably best known for playing Mad-Eye Moody in several of the Harry Potter movies, but he’s been giving sensational performances since […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Here is an updated look at the 2017 film slates by studio. YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2017 to date is now +11% above last year and now +20% above the average for this point the past four years ($2.762 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed over $9.5 […]

The weekend predictions will return next week, when Exodus: God and Kings and Top Five are released nationally.  This weekend, typical for the post-Thanksgiving weekend, is extremely quiet.  Only The Pyramid is opening at a very small 589 theaters.

> The Hollywood Reporter has preliminary boxoffice numbers for Friday, and early indications are good for IMMORTALS, which appears to have already earned $13.5-14M (including $1.4M from Thursday midnight screenings).  That should get it to an overperforming $33-35M for the weekend.  A couple of cautions about these extrapolations, though:  Friday was Veterans Day, which means […]

The 49th weekend of the year is looking like $97 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, down from last year but up from the usual performance for this weekend over the past several years. Opening at around 2,000 theaters Friday (well below the 2,886 average theater count for opening weekends the last two years), Out of […]

>Now we slog through September.  The top 12 films usually gross $73 million the weekend after Labor Day, and the September weekends afterward average around $85 million.  By October, however, the typical weekend perks up to over $100 million.  Contagion should takeover the #1 spot this weekend, with Warrior fighting The Help for #2 and […]

>The third weekend of the year should generate about $114 million for the top 12 films.  This would be a marked improvement from last year’s very weak comparable weekend, but in line with most other years for this weekend.  Underworld Awakening should open at #1 with $25+ million, but don’t look for this installment in […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.     YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2015 to date is now +2% above last year and +3% above the average for this point the past four years ($3.737 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed $10.6 billion worldwide when we add overseas box office (that’s […]