The hunger for religious-themed movies hasn’t been dissipated at all by the recent Son of God, God’s Not Dead and Noah, as HEAVEN IS FOR REAL (TriStar/Sony) had a very healthy $3.7M start on Wednesday at 2417 theatres despite indifferent reviews (50% positive on Rotten Tomatoes), edging out CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER (Disney) […]

  OPENINGS:  THE BIKERIDERS (Regency/Focus/Universal) seized the opportunity to open on a prime summer weekend without any new tentpole releases, and the studio estimate (which assumed the strongest Sunday hold in the Top 10) was $10M, in line with expectations.  The question is how well the indie will hold up next week against new action […]

>Wrath of the Titans joins our worldwide box office chart about a quarter of the way down the chart (ranking #13 out of 47 films released since Christmas).  We are estimating Wrath will end its domestic run with $92 million, and its current overseas total to date is a solid $78 million (probably headed for […]

  THE BACHELORETTE’s season is going out with a bang. 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). […]

  This week, as the clock ticks toward the start of the summer movie season, we’re taking a studio-by-studio look at each company’s line-up and prospects.  Last time we covered Sony, and today we’ll examine Universal. LAST SUMMER:  Universal’s 2013 summer was anchored by two gigantic sequels:  Fast & Furious 6 ($239M US/$789M worldwide) and […]

> Gary Ross should probably think twice before leaving THE HUNGER GAMES. THE HUNGER GAMES: Because of the Good Friday holiday, Friday numbers were unusually strong this week and Saturday’s will appear unusually weak. That could mean a 3rd weekend of around $33M for Hunger Games (Lionsgate/Summit) (depending on the Easter Sunday drop), which could […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Here is an updated look at the 2019 film slates by studio. BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2019 is still -5% below last year’s comparable span and now even with this point the past four years ($6.705 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed over $17.7 billion […]

  Once again, CW demonstrated that it operates under different economics than the other broadcast networks.  Much of its revenue comes from episodes streamed online via Netflix and Hulu, which makes sometimes puny on-air ratings acceptable.  Also, virtually everything it airs is produced by one of its in-house studios, Warner Bros Television or CBS Television […]