Author Archive
 

 

EARLY FRIDAY BOX OFFICE: “Interstellar” Takes Friday, Battles “Big Hero 6″” For Weekend

  Hollywood bounced back swiftly from last weekend’s Halloween doldrums, thanks to a pair of A-level openings.  INTERSTELLAR (Par/Warners) is in line for a win on Friday, according to preliminary numbers at Deadline...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

SHOWBUZZDAILY Season Finale Review: “The Originals”

  THE ORIGINALS has some recurring problems.  For one thing, since its antihero family the Mikaelsons are ageless supernaturals who emigrated to the US over the centuries, their foes–and even the family members who ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED: “Community” and “Whitney” Stay On the Shelf

  Adjust all those DVRs set for the season premiere of the newly revamped COMMUNITY.  (And both of those set to record WHITNEY as well.)  The two shows had been scheduled to join the NBC Friday line-up on October 19, but...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

Behind the US/Worldwide Weekend Box Office – 11.24.2019

  OPENINGS:  After several weeks of big-studio disappointments, FROZEN 2 (Disney) performed as the blockbuster it was expected to be, with $127M in the US.  Comparisons to the first Frozen in 2013 are a bit dicey, becaus...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

EARLY FRIDAY BOX OFFICE: “Godzilla” Stomps on Expectations

  The moviegoer love affair with CG spectacles continues in full force, as GODZILLA (Warners/Legendary) appears, on the basis of preliminary numbers at Deadline and elsewhere, to be headed for a $36M Friday (including $9.3...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED SERIES PREMIERE REVIEW: “Broadchurch”

  BROADCHURCH:  Wednesday 10PM on BBCAmerica – Potential DVR Alert BROADCHURCH suffers a bit, through no fault of its own, from murder fatigue.  Since The Killing, we’ve seen quite a few of these extended mys...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED: More Bad “Neighbors” Scripts On the Way

  Typically when a network orders additional scripts for a series, it does so at the Writers Guild minimum, so it’s a very minimal investment compared to ordering additional episodes–thousands rather than milli...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

Behind the US/Worldwide Weekend Box Office – 9.2.2018

  OPENINGS:  Even among the mostly-sad legacy of Labor Day Weekend openings, OPERATION FINALE (MGM) was notably weak at $6M ($7.7M since its Wednesday launch), and that number incorporates a studio-estimated Sunday bump t...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED 2013 UPFRONTS: ABC Trailer – “Betrayal”

  BETRAYAL will be the latest inhabitant of ABC’s Sunday 10PM soap hour, trying to outdo such recent occupants as GCB, Red Widow, 666 Park Avenue and Pan Am.  It stars Hannah Ware as the wife of a prosecutor who dis...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SHOWBUZZDAILY REVIEW: “War Horse”

  WAR HORSE:  Watch It At Home –  Spielberg’s Beautiful Muzak   Earlier this year, audiences were presented with Super 8, J. J. Abrams’s pastiche of Steven Spielberg’s classic sci-fi adventures f...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

SOURCE CODE: If At First You Don’t Succeed…

> Worth a ticket. They say that the definition of madness is repeating the same action with the expectation of a different result.  But that diagnosis doesn’t allow for this:  a man (Jake Gyllenhaal) wakes up an...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

Behind the US/Worldwide Weekend Box Office – 8.13.2017

  OPENINGS:  There have been a lot of busted franchises this summer, but ANNABELLE: CREATION (New Line/Warners) held strong, with a $35M opening weekend that was down just 5% from the first Annabelle.  The new entry is c...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED PILOT + 1 REVIEW: “Rogue”

  ROGUE:  Wednesday 9PM on Audience Network (DirecTV only) A lot can happen between the creation of a TV pilot in the spring and the production of episodes for the regular season: a writing/producing team is hired, audien...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

THE SKED’S THURSDAY NETWORK SCORECARD – 12/13/12

Another Thursday where football simulcasts could affect ratings on 2 networks.  For now, at least, Scandal is having a moment. ABC:  The midseason finale of SCANDAL, pre-football adjustment in Philadelphia, is at what would b...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

EARLY WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: “Lego” Even More Awesome on Saturday

  Two of the weekend’s openings drew upon their core audiences for strong Saturday results.  Weekend matinees are prime time for family movies, and according to preliminary numbers at Deadline, THE LEGO MOVIE (Warn...
by Mitch Salem