> According to preliminary numbers at Deadline, THE PIRATES!  BAND OF MISFITS (Sony) will pull ahead of THE FIVE-YEAR ENGAGEMENT (Universal) for the weekend thanks to Saturday and Sunday matinee business, although Engagement is still ahead as of Saturday and the race will be close.  (Both, however, will be behind Think Like A Man and […]

  NETWORK UPDATE:  THE BACHELORETTE climbed 0.2 in final numbers, while MASTERCHEF and AMERICAN NINJA WARRIOR gained 0.1.  (The NINJA WARRIOR clip show, however, lost 0.1.)   MONDAY CABLE:  It was ESPN’s turn for the NBA PLAYOFFS, and the network was tops by far with 2.8, while NBC Sports Network’s NHL PLAYOFFS were at 0.7.  […]

> The Marvel superhero audience likes to get its sleep.  Despite the fact that THE AVENGERS is expected to do record-challenging business this weekend, last night’s midnight screenings totaled $18.7M–a tremendous amount of money, to be sure, the 8th largest midnight opening of all time, but 8th place isn’t where Avengers mostly expects to be.  […]

  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 still basically even with this point the past four years ($7.895 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed $20.9 […]

  THE FAULT IN OUR STARS (20th) was unable to attract ticket buyers beyond its core of young female fans, and according to preliminary numbers at Deadline and elsewhere, the result was a mammoth Friday-to-Saturday drop of at least 50%, pushing the film’s Saturday box office down to $12-13M, and its weekend to $46-48M.  The […]

      NBC’s early pick-up spree continued late today with orders for 2 more sitcoms in addition to the previously ordered Go On, Save Me and The New Normal. The more high-concept entry is 1600 PENN, a single camera family comedy from 20th Television whose twist is that the main characters are the First […]

  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 still +1% above this point the past four years ($8.203 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed over $21.9 […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Updated look at 2016 by studio. YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2016 to date is still +3% above last year and still +3% above the average for this point the past four years ($9.143 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed $24.0 billion worldwide when we […]