Based on Friday’s grosses, weekend #33 of 2014 looks like a modest $124 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, below our forecast ($140 million) and 7% above the norm for this weekend ($116 million). Playing at 3,094 theaters, Let’s Be Cops from Fox grossed $5.6 million Friday and is on track for a $17.1 million opening […]

    Not Even For Free   Remember Ken Russell’s movie of The Who’s Tommy?  The scene where Ann-Margret’s nervous breakdown was visualized by her television set vomiting out baked beans, chocolate and similar goo?  Watching Zach Snyder’s SUCKER PUNCH is like having that TV on permanent DVR.

  JEOPARDY remained champion. DEMOGRAPHIC DETAIL: For each broadcast program (or hour segment), the chart below displays preliminary live+same day key advertiser demographics (adult 18-34, 18-49 and 25-54 ratings), audience skews (women 18-49, men 18-49 and adults 50+ shares) and total viewership (thousands of people over the age of 2). Ratings analysis and comparisons follow the […]

  Big Brother had no trouble with preseason football. CBS:  BIG BROTHER rose 0.3 from last week to 2.5, easily the top show of the night.  60 MINUTES was also up 0.3 to 1.1, and UNFORGETTABLE grew by 0.1 to 0.9, while RECKLESS stayed at 0.5. NBC:  NFL PRESEASON FOOTBALL was at 1.9 in preliminary […]

    STRAW DOGS:  Watch It At Home – Pointless In Every Way   Forget about the artistic comparisons, the insult to film history, and the lack of respect to a great filmmaker no longer with us.  There’s not even a commercial reason to remake Sam Peckinpah’s 1971 STRAW DOGS.  The title is virtually valueless […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Here is an updated look at the 2017 film slates by studio. YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2017 to date is now +3% above last year and now +12% above the average for this point the past four years ($1.389 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed […]

Weekend #36 of 2014 is looking like $54 million for the top 12 films this weekend, down 13% from the norm for this weekend, which is usually the weakest weekend of the year.  In the last two years, this weekend has produced Riddick, The Words and The Cold Light of Day.  But those look like […]

  NEW YEAR’S EVE:  Not At Any Price – Calling it a “Sit-Com” Insults TV   NEW YEAR’S EVE is such a calculated piece of commercial manufacture that it deserves a Powerpoint presentation more than a review.  Although strictly speaking it isn’t a sequel to Valentine’s Day (and in fact a few of the same […]