SEASON TO DATE through ten weeks (68 nights of official ratings and 2 nights of adjusted fast nationals through Sunday, December 2, 2012): NBC is averaging a 2.81 adult 18-49 rating in prime time (up 23% from the same period last year). CBS is in second place with a 2.33 (down 18%). FOX is in third […]

> Studios exaggerate the gross of Rio and Scre4m (shocking!).  Specialty films The Conspirator and Atlas Shrugged: Part 1 open to average results. The past week is up versus 2010 — the slump is not over but progress was made.  Compared to the Sunday Studio Estimates (which combine actual numbers for Friday and Saturday with a studio-supplied estimate […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, Weekend #50 is on pace to exceed the  multi-year average for this weekend by a very solid 27%, and the $142 million total for the top 12 films is the best since December 14-16, 2007 ($152 million).  This weekend is all about Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit, which is on track to […]

> Thor will be #1 as expected this weekend, as expected, but a few million dollars below forecast, while the two female-skewing comedies are a few million dollars above forecast.  The weekend looks to be around 11% below the same weekend last year. Thor should open with $62 million this weekend and is on a […]

Weekend #15 of 2015 is looking like $130 million for the top 12 films this weekend, somewhat above the norm for this weekend but a touch below the same weekend last year. Opening at around 3,300 theaters Friday (above the 2,886 average theater count for opening weekends the last two years), The Longest Ride from Fox should average $4,600 […]

Twelve days into the three-week holiday movie season, 2012 is now 9.0% behind the average for the same period over the last several years ($362 million this year versus $398 million on average 2004-2011).  Further, 2012 is 12.1% behind the last time Christmas fell on a Tuesday (2007’s $412 million over this period).   After […]

  OPENINGS:  Universal continued to be the main supplier of fresh product to gasping theatres, with both of the weekend’s wide openings.  They will, per the studio’s deals, be available at home in about 3 weeks–an arrangement that looks awfully good for theatres compared to Warners’ new plan to day-and-date releases at home from opening […]

> NEW SHOWS in CAPS.  New Time Periods in Italics. WHAT WE LIKE.  As stated in the network press release about the new 2011/12 schedule, NBC is attempting a nice blend of stability (Tuesday, Sunday, and parts of Wednesday and Thursday) and aggressive risk-taking (Monday, early Wednesday, and Friday).  NBC does not have a lot […]