Saturday remains one tough neighborhood. NBC aired Game 5 of the NHL Stanley Cup Final (Chicago skated to a 3-1 victory over the Boston Bruins, bringing their series lead to 3 games to 2). The game scored a preliminary 1.8 rating with adults 18-49 last night from 8-11 pm, which we are generously estimating will rise […]

Based on Friday’s and Saturday’s grosses, Weekend #25 of 2013 still looks like an excellent $223 million for the top 12 films, up 32-42% from the same weekend in recent years. The two wide openers clicked with audiences, with Monsters University doing as well as we forecast but World War Z opening much stronger than […]

  OPENINGS:  A bit surprisingly, perhaps, Pixar’s recent movies haven’t exploded at the Saturday/Sunday matinee box office, with merely normal (as opposed to “family”) weekend multiples off their Friday openings.  So MONSTERS UNIVERSITY (Disney/Pixar) is likely headed to a $75-78M weekend after a $30.5M Friday, slightly less than anticipated.  That’s still Pixar’s 2d-best opening ever (behind […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, Weekend #25 of 2013 looks like an excellent $223 million for the top 12 films, up 32-42% from the same weekend in recent years.  The two wide openers clicked with audiences, with Monsters University doing as well as we forecast but World War Z opening much stronger than expected. Opening at […]

Updated with official national ratings below for Game 7. ABC may be as happy this morning as Miami’s fans are, with what will probably be the highest network rating we see for quite a while. ABC:  Per Mitch Metcalf:  NBA Finals Game 7 scored a preliminary 8.7 adult 18-49 in the fast nationals, and we […]

  Another good night for sports on network TV. NBC:  Per Mitch Metcalf:  NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS GAME 4 scored a 2.2 adult 18-49 rating in the fast nationals, which should go up to a 2.3 in the official nationals later today.  Game 1 a week ago Monday (the last game on NBC) registered a […]

  Whatever may have happened in that New Jersey diner after the sudden, famous cut to black, we now sadly know how The Sopranos ends:  James Gandolfini, forever a part of television history as Tony Soprano, has reportedly died in Italy at age 51 of an apparent heart attack.  Gandolfini won 3 Best Actor Emmys […]

The 25th weekend of the year is looking like a very good $217 million for the top 12 films, well above the same weekend the last few years.   Opening at over 3,800 4,004 theaters Friday (just above the top 10% of theater counts), Monsters University from Pixar and Disney should average $21,100 per theater for the […]