> This weekend is looking unusually strong for late September: the top 12 films should gross over $100 million, about 14% above a normal weekend this time of year.  The strong 3D reissue of The Lion King should remain at #1 with close to $20 million and a very family-friendly, small second weekend decline.  Challenging […]

  Things didn’t improve for AFTER EARTH (Sony) on Saturday.  According to preliminary numbers at Deadline, Will Smith’s gift to his son Jaden (and, some say, to the Church of Scientology) increased only a miniscule 3% in its second day of release, and probably won’t top $27M for the weekend.  The caper sleeper NOW YOU […]

  BROADCAST FINALS: ABC:  After a SHARK TANK rerun at 0.30, there were 2 episodes of 20/20 at 0.48/0.43. CBS:  A RACE AGAINST TIME special was st 0.31, followed by a BLUE BLOODS rerun at 0.17. NBC:  An AMERICAN NINJA WARRIOR rerun at 0.30 was followed by DATELINE at 0.33. FOX:  WWE SMACKDOWN gained 0.03 […]

> Zooey Deschanel in FOX’s New Girl The second Tuesday of the new season was relatively surprise-free.  FOX’s New Girl established itself as the hit of the new season, and CBS turned in a reliable performance thanks to the NCIS pair, although Unforgettable looks shaky at best.  NBC and ABC are floundering thanks to aging […]

  OPENINGS:  PAN (RatPac-Dune/Warners) now owns a dubious place in box office history, as one of Hollywood’s biggest flops ever.  On a production/worldwide marketing cost that will exceed $300M, its $15.5M US opening makes John Carter ($30.2M), Battleship ($25.5M), The Lone Ranger ($29.2M), and this year’s Tomorrowland ($33M), Fantastic Four ($25.7M) and even Jupiter Ascending ($18.4M) […]

  FRIDAY STARZ:  The season finale of DA VINCI’S DEMONS didn’t suggest much enthusiasm for Season 2, with a 0.1 rating in the 18-49 demo and less than 400K total viewers on its initial airing.  It didn’t earn a particularly young audience, either, with about 60% of its viewers over 50. SYFY:  CONTINUUM had an […]

  BROADCAST FINALS:  The primetime leader was ABC’s COLLEGE FOOTBALL game at 0.85, although it was outrated by the late-night season premiere of NBC’s SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE at 0.92.  Back in primetime, FOX’s MLB game was at 0.29, and the first part of CW’s IHEARTRADIO MUSIC FESTIVAL was at 0.07.   Broadcast Official Nationals Program […]

> Aside from NFL Sunday Night Football, there is nothing close to a dominant show on the night.  A lot of mid-2 and low-3 rated shows.  Even with the football competition, the night is filled with opportunity to build off the moderate successes.  ABC saw declines week to week in their 9 and 10 pm […]