FOX:  The season premiere episodes of KITCHEN NIGHTMARES ran at 1.2/1.1, far better in the 9PM hour than sitcoms have done for FOX all season.  They were also up from last season’s 0.9 premiere. ABC:  The night started with 1.1 for LAST MAN STANDING, down 0.3 from last week.  That didn’t help the season […]

  OPENINGS:  KUNG FU PANDA 4 (DreamWorks Animation/Universal), the first new all-ages animated release since the holiday season, arrived at the high end of projections with $58.3M, impressively above the $41.3M start for 2016’s Panda 3.  (And at a reported production budget 40% lower than its predecessor.)  It faces no direct competition for months, and […]

> BEST FRIENDS FOREVER:  Premieres Wednesday 8:30PM on NBC – If Nothing Else Is On… NBC isn’t exactly swinging for the multigender fences with BEST FRIENDS FOREVER, the newest entry into the deathtrap known as the network’s Wednesday night schedule.  The term “chick show” is rightly viewed as perjorative, but it’s hard to avoid when […]

  Comedy will notch one weekend win between the 3 weeks dominated by Captain America: The Winter Soldier and the parade of summer spectacles that begins with next week’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2, as THE OTHER WOMAN (20th) will easily take the multiplexes this weekend according to preliminary numbers at Deadline.  The Other Woman earned […]

  OPENINGS:  A $34.1M US launch for a movie that reportedly carries about $350M in production and marketing costs likely means a nine-figure loss in theatrical release, which traditionally is considered less than desirable.  But the ways of Box Office Magical Thinking are infinite (and the number of pundits willing to parrot such spin similarly […]

>The calendar turns to the second quarter of the year, and the 14th weekend of the year should be another strong one: about $141 million for the top 12 films up 37% from last year’s comparable weekend and up 31% from the four-year average for this weekend.  Three films have a good shot at earning […]

  BACHELOR IN PARADISE stayed steady with 2018. DEMOGRAPHIC DETAIL: For each broadcast program (or hour segment), the chart below displays preliminary live+same day 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). Ratings analysis […]

  THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 (Sony) didn’t succeed in outperforming other recent superhero movies in its Saturday matinees, and probably won’t supplant Captain America 2 as the year’s #1 opening to date, but it’s still rolling in money.  According to preliminary numbers at Deadline, Amazing 2 dropped 4-6% on Saturday (by comparison, Captain 2 fell […]