The 4th of July extended “weekend” box office got underway last night at 7PM with screenings of DESPICABLE ME 2 (Universal) and THE LONE RANGER (Disney).  (Note:  there were also 10PM screenings of the Kevin Hart concert picture LET ME EXPLAIN, but Lionsgate hasn’t provided figures for those.)  As expected (Mitch Metcalf’s weekend predictions […]

  BROADCAST FINALS ABC:  SHARK TANK rose 0.15 to 0.68, outdone by its lead-out 20/20, which had a tremendous performance for the night, jumping 0.55 to 1.02. CBS:  Following a rerun SWAT at 0.33, MAGNUM PI edged up 0.02 to 0.43, and BLUE BLOODS was up 0.05 to 0.46. NBC:  THE WALL dropped 0.06 to […]

STUDIO SCORECARD. Another very strong week for Universal (primarily overseas grosses for Despicable Me 2 which were understated in last week’s chart), enough to pass Warner Brothers and move into the #2 spot in terms of worldwide box office.  The perennial also-ran Universal finds itself in an odd position: in the upper tier of the worldwide […]

  BROADCAST FINALS ABC:  SHARK TANK aired a new episode for the first time since November 19, and fell 0.18 to 0.50, and 20/20 was down 0.02 from 2 weeks ago to 0.34. CBS:  SWAT was steady at 0.54, MAGNUM PI gained 0.07 to 0.49, and BLUE BLOODS was up 0.11 to 0.50. NBC:  THE […]

  TBS has done extremely well with off-network reruns of Family Guy, and now it’s getting into the Seth MacFarlane business in a bigger way.  After the upcoming 2013-14 broadcast season, his AMERICAN DAD will move to cable, with 15 episodes ordered (its affiliated Adult Swim will air the new TBS episodes after their premieres […]

  BROADCAST FINALS:  Primetime was led by ABC’s coverage of the JIMMY KIMMEL BOWL at 0.49, although that was outrated by the network’s afternoon INDEPENDENCE BOWL at 0.60.  The highest-rated show on broadcast was NBC’s part-quasi-live, part clip-show Covid-burdened SNL at 0.89.   Broadcast Official Nationals Program Ratings Chart   CABLE HIGHLIGHTS:  NFL Network’s primetime […]

> Los Angelenos will have a chance to get advance looks at some of this year’s Oscar candidates at the AFI Film Festival, which begins in just about 2 weeks.  Today the Festival announced the Gala and Special Screenings, which typically make up the bulk of the high-profile titles, and they include quite a few […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Here is an updated look at the 2018 film slates by studio. The studio totals also include 2018 dollars for films released in late 2017. YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2018 to date is now +10% above last year and still +11% above the average for this point […]