>With Christmas coming this Sunday a host of films arrive this important weekend, with three films opening wide Wednesday (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Adventures of Tintin, and the wide expansion of Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol), one major film opening Friday (We Bought a Zoo), and two major films in effect previewing […]

Django Unchained continues to gain on Les Miserables (also released Christmas Day).  Quentin Tarantino’s Django collected $29 million overseas since last week, compared to $17 million for Les Miserables.  With a projected $350 million worldwide, Django is within striking distance of Les Miserables ($366 million). Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters also had a strong week, up $22 million overseas last week to $84 million overseas to […]

> Once upon a time, there was a series of fantasy adventures by a hugely bestselling author, and a grand, ambitious plan to film them all.  In the end, they were adapted into gigantically successful movies, and the last one set the world’s record for the most successful opening weekend ever… But this is not […]

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 still down -2% from last year and still +1% above the average for this point the past four years ($7.899 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed over […]

Looking at wide-release films in North America (those that play on at least 400 screens at some point), 2013 now totals $2.37 billion, down 15% from 2012 and down 8% from the prior four-year average 2009-2012.  Each year-to-date period below is defined as the first Monday after New Year’s Day through the most recent Sunday. […]

> Worth a ticket. The director and writer of Saw, James Wan and Leigh Whannell, combine again to bring us–hey, where are you going?  No, seriously:  don’t run away.  Leaving aside that Saw is rather unfairly maligned (before it became the poster child for “torture porn” and a dumb sequel machine for Lionsgate, the original […]

>Four new films opened this weekend in North America and have joined our worldwide box office tracking chart.  Three of the four are toward the bottom of the chart and are destined to stay there.  The other film, Act of Valor, is currently in the middle of the pack but should rise as moderate overseas […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, Weekend #20 of 2013 looks like $145 million for the top 12 films, somewhat above the same weekend last year but slightly below the four-year average for the weekend.  Star Trek Into Darkness opened at #1 for the weekend but is performing well below our expectations. Opening at 3,762 theaters Thursday, Star […]