This weekend will definitely be up over the disaster that was last weekend.  We expect the top 12 films to total around $74 million, although that is still down 15% from the same weekend last year.  The returning films won’t contribute much to the weekend total, but two new films this weekend (the 3D re-release […]

Among films currently playing in North America, the big gainers overseas were Taken 2 and Hotel Transylvania (each up $23 million overseas since last week), as well as Paranormal Activity 4 (just behind at +$22 million). But the biggest action overseas went to James Bond: $77 million in 25 markets for Skyfall.  The Daniel Craig action film comes to America on November […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, Weekend #49 is on pace to fall below the  multi-year average for this weekend by 9% — ending a solid four-week winning streak at the box office.  One movie dared to open on one of the weakest weekends of the year (usually ranked #49 out of 52 weeks in terms of […]

  As the movie awards season starts to get going, here’s an early look at how the betting odds are shaping up on the Internet.  Lincoln is the clear favorite for Best Picture, with bookmakers offering a little under $2 on a $1 wager.  Steven Spielberg is also the favorite for his direction of Lincoln, but […]

The 8th weekend of 2013 looks like another down weekend: $95 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, down 16% from the same weekend last year.  Two more movies will open this weekend, both with little potential. Opening in about 2,500 theaters Friday, Snitch from Summit and starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson should average a perfectly […]

Updated International Box Office tracking chart:

Looking at wide-release films in North America (those that play on at least 400 screens at some point), 2013 now totals just over $3.1 billion, down 13% from 2012 and down 5% from the prior four-year average 2009-2012.  Still a very mediocre year.  Each year-to-date period below is defined as the first Monday after New […]

The 27th weekend of the year is looking like an excellent $218 million for the top 12 films, up 20-35% from the comparable weekend the last few years. Opening at around 3,900 theaters Wednesday (well above the top 10% theater count for opening weekend wide releases of 3,690 theaters), Despicable Me 2 from Universal should average $20,000 per theater for the three-day weekend […]