> It’s actually harder to come up with a manageable list of Honorable Mention movies than a Top 10, because there are so many films that are eminently worth seeking out and seeing, but perhaps a little bit flawed–sometimes too thin, sometimes too audacious for their own good.  It wouldn’t have been much of a […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Here is an updated look at the 2018 film slates by studio. The studio totals also include 2018 dollars for films released in late 2017. YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2018 to date is now +10% above last year and now +21% above the average for this point the […]

Weekend #13 of 2014 is looking like $122 million for the top 12 films, 14% below the typical volume for this weekend the past few years. Opening at around 3,400 theaters Friday (well above the 2,886 average theater count for opening weekends the last two years), Noah from Paramount should average $11,300 per theater for the weekend […]

> Sony jump-started the release of THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO last night with early runs starting at 7PM at its slightly less than 3000 theatres.  Early reports are that it pulled in $1.6M for those showings.  There aren’t a lot of R-rated Tuesday night “preview” comparisons to draw on (OK, there are none), […]

  In our week-long look at the box office prospects of the nearly-here summer movie season on a studio by studio basis, we’ve examined Sony and Universal.  Today our eye is on Warner Bros, typically one of the busiest of the studios. LAST SUMMER:  Overall a success, although not quite to the extent Warners was […]

Updated international box office chart:  

  Sundance, like most major film festivals, makes an extended process out of the unveiling of its yearly offerings, and today the festival announced its 2013 competition entries (fiction and documentary, US and foreign), as well as the avant-garde NEXT category.  The really high-profile Premieres and the sometimes more commercial Midnight titles are among those […]

  CARS 2 – Watch It At Home:  Pixar Shifts Into Second Gear CARS 2 is preceded by a short subject, the first in what’s intended as a series called Toy Story Toons.  Entitled Hawaiian Vacation, it features all the familiar characters and voices, runs about 10 minutes, and effortlessly recaptures the joy, wit and […]