Based on Friday’s and Saturday’s grosses, weekend #16 of 2014 now looks like $126 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, up $4 million from yesterday’s estimate and now 12% above the average for this weekend the past few years.   Opening at 2,417 theaters Wednesday (with $7.0 million across Wednesday and Thursday), Heaven Is for […]

  Despite the arrivals of a quartet of newcomers, CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER (Disney/Marvel) appears in the preliminary numbers at Deadline to be having no trouble keeping its lead for a third consecutive weekend.  Its $10M Saturday was down only about 40% from last week, and should give it a $26M weekend, lifting its […]

  Seasonal Note:  Good Friday is traditionally a strong day for moviegoing, which explains the generally solid Friday-to-Friday holds below.  Easter Sunday, though, is less of a movie day, potentially bringing down weekend multiples. OPENINGS:  HEAVEN IS FOR REAL (TriStar/Sony) is impressively overperforming, its $7.9M Friday added to $7M from Wednesday and Thursday for a […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, weekend #16 of 2014 looks like $122 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, not as high as forecast but still up 9% from the typical total for this weekend.   Opening at 2,417 theaters Wednesday (with $7.0 million across Wednesday and Thursday), Heaven Is for Real from Sony grossed $7.8 million Friday, putting […]

  In an appropriately biblical development for this Easter weekend, it appears from preliminary numbers at Deadline that David will defeat Goliath, and the $12M-budgeted HEAVEN IS FOR REAL (TriStar/Sony) will handily outgross the $100M+ TRANSCENDENCE (Warners).  On Friday, Heaven pulled in a reported $8M (on top of $7M from Wednesday and Thursday), and although […]

  Some shows said farewell to their seasons more effectively than others. ABC:  SCANDAL had its biggest season finale to date, up 0.4 from last week to 3.4 and (with Big Bang Theory in reruns) easily the highest-rated show of the night.  It towered over lead-in GREY’S ANATOMY, which fell 0.1 to 2.5 after an […]

Thursday preliminary broadcast ratings:

  The hunger for religious-themed movies hasn’t been dissipated at all by the recent Son of God, God’s Not Dead and Noah, as HEAVEN IS FOR REAL (TriStar/Sony) had a very healthy $3.7M start on Wednesday at 2417 theatres despite indifferent reviews (50% positive on Rotten Tomatoes), edging out CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER (Disney) […]