It’s appropriate for GOSSIP GIRL, of all shows, that news about it be conveyed via online buzz.  That buzz says that the series’ upcoming 6th season will be shortened and final–and really, it’s time.  Past time, in fact.  The show has reached that point where its characters are simply being moved around like chess […]

For the 10 days December 16-25, the top 10 films each day in North America have totaled $503 million, still -16% below last year’s record pace but a healthy +56% above the average since 2002. Holiday Box Office Volume — Top 10 Films North America $ millions by year $ millions (2002-2015) # days Period 2016 2015 2014 […]

Weekend #28 of 2014 is looking like $135 million for the top 12 films this weekend, -30% below the norm for this weekend.  Another really weak weekend in what is turning out to be a troubling summer at the box office.   Opening at over 3,800 theaters Friday (well above the 2,886 average theater count for opening weekends […]

  There’s a reason CBS is as successful as it is.  PERSON OF INTEREST is just a procedural–albeit one with an unusually complicated premise–but it mixes solid plotting, well-paced action and just enough character backstory to give it a little substance, and the result is an hour of television that works.   Person starts with […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  20th Century Fox has pushed past $2.9 billion worldwide in 2014 to date, as Dawn of the Planet of the Apes gets rolling overseas.  Paramount is the other studio with more than $100 million this past week (thanks to continued strong overseas receipts for Transformers: Age of Extinction) now past $1.5 billion worldwide for the […]

    J and K aren’t the only ones wearing black today. OPENINGS:  In what’s starting to look like a bad summer for any movie not called The Avengers, MEN IN BLACK 3 (Sony) opened with a subpar $18M on Friday.  Sony is doing the only thing it can do, which is to point at […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Guardians of the Galaxy has pushed Disney ahead of Warner Brothers in the 2014 to date totals for worldwide box office.  And there is much more upside to come for Guardians, which will push Disney toward $2.7 billion in the next few weeks.  Sony remains on top with almost $3.2 billion worldwide for the […]

American Idol ended its season down a third from last year’s finale, but still over a 6 rating — enough to win the night handily and put the May Sweep away.  Look for a Sweep ratings update posting soon.   FOX ended its season with the two-hour finale of American Idol, averaging a preliminary 6.1 rating with Adults […]