The Past Week: Total Box Office Volume All films in wide release playing between December 3 and December 9 grossed only $101 million, down 3% from the four-year average for the week but up 13% from the same week last year.  The past six weeks are still 18% above the four-year average and 25% above […]

  The big prizes this weekend were the Los Angeles Film Critics Association awards, LAFCA has a habit of showcasing its iconoclasm (the organization has only given its Best Picture prize to the eventual Oscar winner once in the past 18 years, for The Hurt Locker), and this year was no exception. Best Picture went […]

Not so Amazing. CBS:  The cycle finale of THE AMAZING RACE tied its all-time finale low at 2.6, down more than a ratings point from last fall’s finale.  Instead of Race boosting THE MENTALIST at 10PM, that show was down 0.2 for the week to 1.6. ABC:  A night of Christmas specials, with 1.4s for […]

FOX had a very strong NFL Sunday doubleheader.  The late afternoon time period (4:30 pm ET games) was the highest-rated of the four slots (as usual) with a 14.8 household rating in the 56 metered-markets that cover 70% of the country.  The extraordinary number was the first half of the doubleheader at 1:00 pm, a […]

SEASON TO DATE through 11 weeks (through Sunday, December 9, 2012, including adjusted fast national ratings for the last three nights): NBC is averaging a 2.79 adult 18-49 rating in prime time (up 22% from the same period last year). CBS is in second place with a 2.32 (down 17%). FOX is in third place with […]

Life of Pi is gathering a lot of momentum overseas, with $45 million more internationally (bringing its overseas tally to $106 million to date).   Worldwide, the film is sitting at $188 million and 17th on our chart.  It could keep climbing to over $200 million, bringing it to 15th or maybe 14th on the chart. […]

  There was no miraculous Saturday save for the weekend’s one pitiful arrival. OPENINGS:  PLAYING FOR KEEPS (FilmDistrict) rose only 11% from Friday to Saturday, and since it’s claiming one of the lower Sunday drops in the Top 10, once the real tickets are counted it may not even hang on to its current $6M […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, Weekend #49 is on pace to fall below the  multi-year average for this weekend by 9% — ending a solid four-week winning streak at the box office.  One movie dared to open on one of the weakest weekends of the year (usually ranked #49 out of 52 weeks in terms of […]