The first weekend of the new year is looking like $125 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, slightly above average for this weekend versus previous years. Opening at around 2,500 theaters Friday (slightly below the 2,886 average theater count for opening weekends the last two years), Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones from Paramount should average about $7,000 per theater for […]

  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 […]

  New Year’s Eve box office results were all over the place, with kids still home from school while adults chose some movies (but not others) as their picks to see out the year.  Also, not all studios have yet reported their Tuesday numbers, notably Sony, Universal, Lionsgate and The Weinstein Company.  Still, here’s what […]

  Happy New Year to all, as we dust off the last ratings of 2013: ABC:  NEW YEAR’S ROCKIN EVE, aka the Ryan Seacrest New Year’s Eve show, had no trouble disposing of NBC with a 3.7 that more than doubled the competition.  That was, however, down 0.5 from last year.  The late-night portion of […]

  At least there was a little variety in which reruns scored best last night. CBS:  It was MIKE & MOLLY on top with a 1.5 rerun, and 2 BROKE GIRLS behind it at 1.4, both ahead of the usual leader, HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER and also MOM, both at 1.2.  The network threw […]

  NBC bid adieu for the season to its highest-rated show. NBC:  Despite speculation that the season’s finale of SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL would be a bust with Tony Romo out due to injury, the game turned out to be an edge-of-the-seat thriller, and with Dallas and Philadelphia in a win-or-go-home game, NBC had a huge […]

The ratings below are household ratings from the 56 television markets with local Nielsen meters for Friday December 27, Saturday December 28 and Sunday December 29, 2013. The 56 markets (out of 210 total) cover about 70% of the US television population.   College Football Early Bowls Friday 1.6 rating ESPN 2:30 Military Bowl Marshall […]

  Truth be told, “weekend” box office doesn’t mean much in a week where Friday/Saturday/Sunday are no stronger than the weekdays that surround them, and virtually all the openings took place on Wednesday.  (Also, morning estimates aren’t very different from the preliminary numbers we posted last night.)  Nevertheless, a few thoughts. OPENINGS:  THE WOLF OF […]