OPENINGS:  THE EQUALIZER (Columbia/Sony) was just a tad below the opening day for Denzel Washington’s Safe House, $12.6M vs. $13.6M.  That suggests a $36-37M weekend, which would be the 3rd highest of his career, behind only Safe House and American Gangster.  More impressively, it continues a remarkable record in which every movie he’s made […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, weekend #39 of 2014 looks like $100 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, 5% above the norm for this weekend ($95 million). Opening at 3,236 theaters, The Equalizer from Sony grossed $12.6 million Friday and is on track for a $36.4 million opening three-day weekend (slightly above our $34.5 million […]

  CBS:  Not a successful night.  THE AMAZING RACE kicked off its move to Fridays at 1.1, slightly over half of last fall’s Sunday premiere, and 0.4 below the start of the spring 2014 arc.  HAWAII 5-0, at 1.3, was 0.3 below last fall’s start, and BLUE BLOODS lost half a point from last fall’s […]

  This weekend, Denzel Washington is proving himself yet again one of the last truly reliable movie stars.  Just a week after Liam Neeson flopped with A Walk Among the Tombstones, preliminary numbers at Deadline have THE EQUALIZER (Columbia/Sony) at $12.5-13M on Friday (including $1.5M from Thursday night)–roughly the same amount ($12.7M) Tombstones made in […]

  NETWORK UPDATE:  Things only got better for ABC in final numbers, as GREY’S ANATOMY, SCANDAL and HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER all climbed an extra 0.1.  THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL adjusted to 6.0, again significantly higher than last week’s game. Ratings in key demos for the Top 25 original cable telecasts Thursday (plus a […]

  Shondaland is open for business. DEMOGRAPHIC DETAIL: For each broadcast program (or hour segment) Thursday, the chart below displays preliminary 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). Ratings analysis and comparisons follow […]

  NETWORK UPDATE:  MODERN FAMILY gained 0.2 in final numbers, and both THE MIDDLE and THE GOLDBERGS climbed 0.1, although BLACK-ISH and NASHVILLE remained where they were.  SVU found an extra 0.1, as did RED BAND SOCIETY (which still left the latter at a sad 1.1). Ratings in key demos for the Top 25 original […]

  There was good news last night for ABC, none (again) for FOX. DEMOGRAPHIC DETAIL: For each broadcast program (or hour segment) Wednesday, the chart below displays preliminary 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 […]