In an entertainment universe changing with bewildering speed, two stories today spoke to the difficulties and opportunities of old and new media.  First, let’s take a look at what’s happening to the traditional mode of seeing movies in theaters Big-budget adventure-adventure spectacles have long been the bread and butter of the Hollywood studios, and […]

  OPENINGS:  TED 2 (MRC/Universal) suffered a 16% Friday-to-Saturday drop, and is currently projected by its studio to have a $33M weekend, down 40% from the $54.4M start for the original Ted 3 years ago.  Overseas, Ted 2 opened to $20.3M in 26 markets.  That leaves much of the world still to come, but a […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, weekend #36 of 2015 looks like $63 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, actually fairly good versus the norm for the dreadful Labor Day weekend (see track below). Opening at 1,960 theaters Wednesday, A Walk in the Woods from Broad Green Pictures is on track for a $7.7 million opening three-day weekend and $9.7 […]

        NETWORK FINALS:  The PENN & TELLER: FOOL US rerun lost 0.1 in final numbers.         Broadcast Official Nationals Program Ratings Chart     CABLE HIGHLIGHTS:  ESPN’s NBA doubleheader was at 1.02 (Lakers vs. Milwaukee)/0.57 (New Orleans vs. Miami).  Discovery’s GOLD RUSH was at 0.60/0.43/0.32 compared to last week’s […]

Not a good night for newcomers. NBC:  Even though THE BIGGEST LOSER was steady from last week at 2.4, DECEPTION fell a heavy 0.4 to a third-place 1.6 in its hour.  Worse yet, it slid during the course of the broadcast, with a 1.5 at 10:30PM suggesting that it hasn’t yet found its level.  At […]

  OPENINGS:  THE LEGO MOVIE 2: THE SECOND PART (Warners Animation) had a solid 83% family matinee bump on Saturday, but its $34.4M weekend studio estimate is still down more than 50% from the opening of the original Lego Movie, and down 35% from The Lego Batman Movie.  (It’s considerably better than the relatively disastrous […]

DEMOGRAPHIC DETAIL: For each broadcast program (or hour segment), the chart below displays preliminary 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). ###

  Broadcast coverage of the 2d PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE was down from Round 1, but the fracas was also covered on only 3 of the major networks. DEMOGRAPHIC DETAIL: For each broadcast program (or hour segment), the chart below displays preliminary key advertiser demographics (adult 18-34, 18-49 and 25-54 ratings), audience skews (women 18-49, men 18-49 and […]