> TIFF’s Midnight Madness program is exactly what you think it is:  10 flat-out, unapologetic genre movies that premiere each night at midnight in front of a raucous crowd at the 1200-seat Ryerson Theatre.  In any given year, the Madness may include unexpected gems like last year’s Insidious and 2006’s Borat, interestingly weird pictures such […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Here is an updated look at the 2019 film slates by studios (films entering wide release in the 2019 calendar year), including worldwide box office for those films during 2020. We will begin the track of the 2020 slate soon. BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2020 is now +14% […]

  NETWORK UPDATE:  ABC got its afternoon gift from Nielsen, as once again, every one of its shows gained in adjusted numbers, this time by 0.1 across the board.  The only other change was THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL settling into a 5.9, down 0.1 from last week’s game. Ratings in key demos for the Top 25 […]

This is already an Oscars like no other, thanks to the Academy’s decision–at the behest of ABC and its concern over ratings–to give out 8 awards before the telecast begins, with brief taped excerpts to air throughout the show.  (Spoiler alert:  Dune took Original Score, Production Design, Editing and Sound, with Eyes of Tammy Faye […]

> The New York Film Critics Circle famously (notoriously?), having decided that they simply couldn’t wait to announce their 2011 awards until, y’know, they had actually seen all the movies (when Warners couldn’t rush them a copy of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close–which doesn’t open until December 25–the Circle simply ignored it), has made its […]

  BROADCAST FINALS: ABC:  Returning from a week off, HOLEY MOLEY held at 0.37, WHEN NATURE CALLS was steady at 0.20, and THE HUSTLER dropped 0.08 to 0.19. CBS:  BIG BROTHER lost 0.05 to 0.87, followed by a promo special for the fall season at 0.22, and reruns at 0.17/0.12. NBC:  The NFL season officially […]

        NETWORK FINALS:  THE X-FILES dropped 0.1 in final numbers.         Broadcast Official Nationals Program Ratings Chart     CABLE HIGHLIGHTS:  Basketball was at the top of Wednesday cable.  Tru’s continuing coverage of the NCAA TOURNAMENT play-in games was at 0.74/0.45.  ESPN’s NBA doubleheader was at 0.71/0.62.  VH1’s BLACK […]

  It’s never good news for the networks when the calendar brings typically low-rated Halloween–lots of parents and others with other plans–into November sweeps. ABC:  By 8PM most kiddies were back from treat or treating, so the nine zillionth run of IT’S THE GREAT PUMPKIN, CHARLIE BROWN doubled last week’s Once Upon A Time In Wonderland number with 2.2, which […]