According to preliminary numbers at Deadline, MAN OF STEEL (Warners) dropped 18% on its second full day of release to $36.1M.  That’s a good but not exceptional hold for a mega-opening; some recent comparisons are a 10% slip for Iron Man 3, 9% for The Great Gatsby, and an 18% decline for Fast & […]

  OPENINGS:  Is it a danger sign or just one of overexuberance that the Friday estimates for MAN OF STEEL (Warners) diminished during the day, slipping from over $50M to the final estimate of $44.1M?  We’ll know a lot more on Sunday, when word of mouth has kicked in.  In any case, the gigantic amount […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, Weekend #24 of 2013 looks like a really good $192 million for the top 12 films, not quite the $200+ million we forecast but still up 27% from the average for this weekend the past few years. Man of Steel is opening exactly at our expectations, while most of the holdovers […]

  MAN OF STEEL (Warners) had the opening it was looking for, with preliminary numbers at Deadline giving it $46M on Friday.  That includes $9M from Friday midnight shows, but not an additional $12M from Wal-Mart tie-in screenings at 7PM Thursday night.  Assuming the $46M number holds up, it should mean a $115-120M weekend ($132M […]

  In midnight shows last night, MAN OF STEEL (Warners) grossed $9M, a fine but hardly exceptional result for a mega-movie opening.  (Nowhere near the $18.7M for The Avengers, let alone the $30.7M for The Dark Knight Rises or the $22-43M earned by various Harry Potters and Twilights.)  However… earlier on Thursday, Man took in […]

  Nothing last night came close to basketball. ABC:  Per Mitch Metcalf:  NBA FINALS GAME 3 came to life last night with a 5.8 unadjusted fast national rating with adults 18-49.  We are estimating that rating will go up to a 6.7 rating in the official (time-zone-adjusted) nationals to be released later today.  This still lags […]

  Hockey had a big–and epic–night. NBC:  Per Mitch Metcalf:  A very good rating for the NHL STANLEY CUP FINAL GAME 1.  The match lasted over five hours, and it was well into the third overtime period (almost two full games) when Chicago beat Boston 3-2.  The fast national rating of 2.4 with adults 18-49 […]

  According to published reports, CBS, CW and now FOX have largely concluded their upfront sales of advertising time for the 2013-14 broadcast season.  (“Upfront” meaning sales closed before the season begins, as opposed to the “scatter” market, which sells time during the course of the season–normally networks try to sell 70-80% of their ad […]