>The weekend studio estimates (based on Friday and Saturday actuals and projections for Sunday) are coming in somewhat stronger than the weekend numbers posted yesterday (based on Friday actuals only). The box office volume for the top 12 films is now looking like $112 million for the weekend, up fully 26% from last year’s disaster […]
OPENINGS: ANCHORMAN 2: THE LEGEND CONTINUES (Paramount) eked out a Friday victory over The Hobbit, $8.7M to $8.6M, but Hobbit will likely take the weekend fairly easily, with perhaps $30M to $27M for Anchorman. Thanks to the holiday week coming up (Anchorman could take in $65M between Christmas and New Year’s), the comedy should top […]
BROADCAST FINALS ABC: AMERICA’S FUNNIEST HOME VIDEOS gained 0.08 to 0.49. The AMERICAN MUSIC AWARDS were at 0.63, down 0.40 from last year’s edition. CBS: Compared to its last week with the late national NFL game, 60 MINUTES dropped 0.15 to 1.40, THE EQUALIZER lost 0.14 to 0.65, EAST NEW YORK gained 0.03 to […]
> It takes about an hour, but Nicholas McCarthy’s THE PACT, which premiered in the Park City At Midnight section at Sundance, eventually turns out to have a neat twist up its sleeve, one that switches the movie from haunted house horror to an entirely different subgenre of thriller. And after that, a solid reel […]
Audiences to Hollywood: Happy New Year! And… what have you done for us lately? 2013 turned out to be a terrific year for high-quality movies, with so many good films and performances that some will inevitably be squeezed out of the Oscar race. But that was so last year. What does 2014 have in […]
BROADCAST FINALS: ABC’s NBA game was at 0.80. FOX’s COLLEGE BASKETBALL was at 0.38. CW’s WORLD’S FUNNIEST ANIMALS ticked up to 0.06. In late night, NBC’s SNL rose 0.14 to 0.85. Broadcast Official Nationals Program Ratings Chart CABLE HIGHLIGHTS: On ESPN, the HEISMAN TROPHY CEREMONY was at 0.41, an NCAA CHAMPIONS special […]
> A surprisingly strong start for 2 low-budget arrivals, although the upside is limited by tomorrow’s Super Bowl. OPENINGS: CHRONICLE (20th) had a slight $350K edge over THE WOMAN IN BLACK (CBS Films) on Friday, and both are in frontloaded genres, appealing to young men and young women, respectively. Young men are more likely to […]
Franchises are the lifeblood of Hollywood, so it has to chill studios to see three of those entries falter in a single 2-weekend period, especially since the stakes are higher for this week’s arrivals than last week’s Neighbors 2. Based on the preliminary $27M Friday number at Deadline, X-MEN: APOCALYPSE (TSG/20th) is running almost […]