The second and final night of the “First Four” play-in games of the NCAA Basketball Tournament were right on target versus past years.  The 6:30 pm game on TRU TV Wednesday night was almost identical to same time period last year, while the 9:15 pm was up slightly in the 18-49 sales demographics and right […]

  OPENINGS:  KILLING THEM SOFTLY (Weinstein) is estimating a pathetic $7M weekend, just about the worst of Brad Pitt’s starring career, and even that may be pushing it, since the studio is claiming a relatively soft Sunday drop.  The same is true of the even more dismal THE COLLECTION (LD), which for reasons best known […]

  OPENINGS:  In the US, DADDY’S HOME 2 (Paramount) eked out a victory among the newcomers at $30M, thanks to a 6% family audience bump on Saturday.  That’s still 22% below the opening for the first Daddy’s Home, and it’s likely that spread will increase greatly through the week, since the original comedy opened on […]

  HOME (DreamWorks Animation/20th) should soothe the embattled studio and its investors a bit.  According to preliminary numbers at Deadline, Home earned $15M on Friday, almost double the $8M start for DWA’s Mr. Peabody and Sherman, and almost in a league with the $18.8M first day for How To Train Your Dragon 2.  That should […]

It was quite the 10PM hour on broadcast TV last night, as both NBC and ABC aired episodes largely revolving around their shows’ cancer patients. NBC:  PARENTHOOD scored a convincing win in the hour, matching its season high 2.0 with about the most wrenching “holiday” episode you’ll ever see on network TV. That beat CBS […]

        NETWORK FINALS:  ABC’s COLLEGE FOOTBALL game adjusted to 1.0, and FOX’s game adjusted to 0.2.  In addition, the 10PM 48 HOURS gained 0.1 in final numbers.         Broadcast Official Nationals Program Ratings Chart     CABLE HIGHLIGHTS:  COLLEGE FOOTBALL dominated Saturday cable, with ESPN’s games at 0.50/0.42/0.35/0.21, ESPN2’s […]

> Plot spoilers are even more problematic when it comes to limited releases, because by definition they’re only being seen by a few people in certain selected locations, and–if they’re good–will ideally be discovered by audiences over time.  Which is a roundabout way of saying that I strongly recommend, but can reveal almost nothing about, […]

  The bulk of the week’s openings arrived on Wednesday, and as usual for this weekend they were led by a Disney family attraction.  This year it was COCO (Pixar/Disney), which was more or less on target at $13.2M, down 15% from last year’s Moana and its $15.5M opening day.  That suggests the 5-day weekend […]