> Hop will be–by far–Russell Brand’s biggest opening as a featured performer:  both Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Get Me To the Greek opened to around $17M.  All of which makes this week’s opening of Arthur, his first bona fide shot as a leading man, that much more interesting.  Be sure to read Mitch Metcalf’s Arthur […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Here is an updated look at the 2017 film slates by studio. YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2017 to date is still down -2% from last year and still +1% above the average for this point the past four years ($8.353 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed $23.4 billion […]

The ratings below are household ratings from the 56 television markets with local Nielsen meters for Saturday March 21 and Sunday March 22, 2015. The 56 markets (out of 210 total) cover about 70% of the US television population. College Basketball Saturday 3.60 rating CBS 12:00 pm #11-UCLA vs #14-UAB 6.69 rating CBS 2:30 pm #1-Kentucky […]

SEASON TO DATE through ten weeks (68 nights of official ratings and 2 nights of adjusted fast nationals through Sunday, December 2, 2012): NBC is averaging a 2.81 adult 18-49 rating in prime time (up 23% from the same period last year). CBS is in second place with a 2.33 (down 18%). FOX is in third […]

> Studios exaggerate the gross of Rio and Scre4m (shocking!).  Specialty films The Conspirator and Atlas Shrugged: Part 1 open to average results. The past week is up versus 2010 — the slump is not over but progress was made.  Compared to the Sunday Studio Estimates (which combine actual numbers for Friday and Saturday with a studio-supplied estimate […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, Weekend #50 is on pace to exceed the  multi-year average for this weekend by a very solid 27%, and the $142 million total for the top 12 films is the best since December 14-16, 2007 ($152 million).  This weekend is all about Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit, which is on track to […]

> Thor will be #1 as expected this weekend, as expected, but a few million dollars below forecast, while the two female-skewing comedies are a few million dollars above forecast.  The weekend looks to be around 11% below the same weekend last year. Thor should open with $62 million this weekend and is on a […]

Weekend #15 of 2015 is looking like $130 million for the top 12 films this weekend, somewhat above the norm for this weekend but a touch below the same weekend last year. Opening at around 3,300 theaters Friday (above the 2,886 average theater count for opening weekends the last two years), The Longest Ride from Fox should average $4,600 […]