>The third weekend of the year should generate about $114 million for the top 12 films.  This would be a marked improvement from last year’s very weak comparable weekend, but in line with most other years for this weekend.  Underworld Awakening should open at #1 with $25+ million, but don’t look for this installment in […]

  After a string of disappointments at the box office, this weekend’s franchise centerpiece looks like it will deliver.  Preliminary numbers at Deadline have the opening day for HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON: THE HIDDEN WORLD (DreamWorks Animation/Universal) at $17.3M (including $3M from Thursday night and $2.5M from earlier paid previews), better than the $12.1M […]

The 51st weekend of the year is looking like $141 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, above last year’s similar weekend but -7% below the multi-year average for this weekend. Opening at around 3,450 theaters today (well above the 2,886 average theater count for opening weekends the last two years), Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues from Paramount should average […]

  NETWORK FINALS:  ABC’s primetime COLLEGE FOOTBALL was at 1.25, although CBS’s afternoon game led the day at 2.06, while Fox’s primetime game was at 0.84.  On CW, MAGIC WITH THE STARS gained 0.02 to 0.07, and WORLD’S FUNNIEST ANIMALS was steady at 0.04.  NBC’s Dave Chappelle-hosted SNL rose 0.11 to 0.90.   Broadcast Official […]

> AMERICAN IDOL‘s best days are behind it. FOX:  Idol gave FOX an easy win for the night, but it continues to be 30% below last season, and last night dipped 0.3 from its first Thursday.  It appears as though the show didn’t even win the time-slot for its first half-hour, falling behind BIG BANG […]

  OPENINGS:  THE WOLF OF WALL STREET (Paramount/Red Granite) fell behind American Hustle on Friday, dropping 6% to $6.3M, but considering that it’s a polarizing, 3-hour, hard-R saga that people aren’t even sure whether to call a black comedy or a drama, that’s still a fine result, and the film is likely to earn $50M+ […]

  BROADCAST FINALS (except where otherwise noted, comparisons are to 2 weeks ago) ABC:  SHARK TANK dropped 0.04 to 0.41, and 20/20 was up 0.05  to 0.34. CBS:  SWAT fell 0.13 to 0.39, FIRE COUNTRY lost 0.05 to 0.39, and BLUE BLOODS was down 0.08 to 0.34. NBC:  LOPEZ VS LOPEZ gained 0.03 to 0.33, […]

> Question for the class:  are the travails of AMERICAN IDOL and THE X FACTOR good or bad for NBC’s THE VOICE?  Discuss among yourselves for the next 4 days. FOX:  It’s becoming a familiar song:  Idol easily wins the night for FOX, dominates its hour… but at a substantially lower level than it has […]