NETWORK UPDATE:  On ABC, the season premiere of DANCING WITH THE STARS fell 0.2 from preliminary numbers, but DANCEBATTLE AMERICA gained 0.1.  The AMERICAN NINJA WARRIOR season finale also rose 0.1.  All of the CBS reruns were down:  THE BIG BANG THEORY and SCORPION by 0.2, and THE ODD COUPLE and NCIS: LA by […]

  PRISONERS (Warners) had a strong Saturday at the box office, according to preliminary numbers at Deadline.  The dark thriller increased by 28% on its second day to $9M, and should reach $21-22M for the weekend.  That would put it right in between Argo ($19.5M) and The Town ($23.8M), the successes Warners hopes to emulate […]

Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 enters the worldwide chart with $200 million overseas to date.  Ultimately, we expect the overseas number to rise to about $425 million, putting the final Twilight on track for $710 million ( a touch ahead of New Moon as the highest Twilight worldwide gross).  For a complete track of worldwide/ domestic/ overseas […]

        NETWORK FINALS:  The rerun of THE WALL lost 0.1 in final numbers.         Broadcast Official Nationals Program Ratings Chart     CABLE HIGHLIGHTS:  News was at the top of cable on Friday, but this time it was CNN’s ANDERSON COOPER 360 in the lead at 0.28/0.38/1.7M, with Fox […]

  The weekend looks bright for a couple of the new openings.  According to preliminary numbers at Deadline, WRECK-IT RALPH (Disney) had a $13.5M opening day, on its way to a $50M weekend.  If those numbers hold, the weekend will top the (non-Pixar) Walt Disney Animation record $48.8M opening for Tangled 2 years ago, which […]

  After announcing its competition titles yesterday, today the Sundance Film Festival continued its gradual release of the 2013  line-up with most of its remaining films, leaving only the highest-profile Premieres for Monday.  Among the instantly promising: MUD:  The latest film by Jeff Nichols, who gave us Take Shelter last time out.  Mud has already […]

> Through Memorial Day, the Summer Movie Draft is starting to tighten up.  Team Metcalf leads $318 million to $298 million for Team Salem.  But keep in mind that Salem has two movies opening (the well-reviewed X-Men: First Class and the eagerly anticipated Super 8) before Metcalf’s next movie (Mr Popper’s Penguins).  The race  should […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, Weekend #29 of 2013 looks like a decent $178 million for the top 12 films, about even with the average for this weekend over the past several years (but down significantly from last year’s same weekend which was dominated by the opening of The Dark Knight Rises).   Opening at 2,903 […]