OPENINGS:  TEXAS CHAINSAW (Lionsgate) did what most horror movies do, dropping 23% on Saturday for a lousy 2.3x weekend multiple of its Friday gross.  It was actually in 2d place on both Saturday and Sunday, but that frontloaded Friday was enough to give it a comfortable $23M win for the weekend.  With a $20M […]

NBC’s prime time Wild Card game Saturday night (Minnesota at Green Bay) easily destroyed the competition — a 9.2 rating with Adults 18-49 from 8-11 pm against a 1.9 rating combined for CBS (0.8), FOX (0.7) and ABC (0.4).   The 9.2 fast national rating should rise to around a 10.6 rating in the official nationals. But […]

Monday night features the premiere of NBC’s temporary schedule until The Voice returns.  The Biggest Loser settles into its new night (after a preview tonight featuring the return of trainer Jillian Michaels) from 8-10 pm, followed by the premiere of new drama Deception.  ABC premieres The Bachelor directly against Biggest Loser and follows that up with a new episode of Castle.  FOX’s schedule includes […]

Based on Friday’s and Saturday’s grosses, Weekend #1 of 2013 is now on pace for $126 million, a touch stronger than it looked yesterday and still very much line with the comparable weekend in previous years.  Both Texas Chainsaw 3D and Django Unchained are also looking a little stronger than they seemed yesterday, but the […]

  Today’s shipment of critical praise comes courtesy of the National Society of Film Critics, a small (60-member) but prestigious group, which today gave Michael Haneke’s AMOUR one of its biggest boosts of the season, with awards for Picture, Director and Actress (Emmanuelle Riva).  Oscar nomination voting is now closed, so these prizes will only […]

  They deleted Massacre from its title, but it’s still mowing down the competition. OPENINGS:  Why does Hollywood make ultraviolent movies?  Because they sell tickets.  TEXAS CHAINSAW (Lionsgate) is overperforming its way to a surprisingly strong weekend win, with $10.2M on its first night.  Horror movies are hugely front-loaded, so it’s unlikely to be higher […]

You can’t go wrong with football. FOX:  Most of the major college bowl games have migrated to ESPN, but the COTTON BOWL remains on broadcast (for now), and gave FOX an easy win for the night, with a preliminary 3.1 rating in 18-49s that’s solidly higher than last year’s 2.5 for the game. ABC:  All […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, Weekend #1 of 2013 is on pace for $124 million, very much line with the comparable weekend in previous years.  Texas Chainsaw 3D is opening somewhat better than forecast ($22.5 million versus our forecast of $17.8 million), while Django Unchained continues to perform solidly. In limited release, The Impossible is stronger than forecast […]