Author Archive
 

 

Behind the US/Worldwide Weekend Box Office – 9.30.2018

  OPENINGS:  NIGHT SCHOOL (Perfect World/Universal) had a surprising 18% Saturday bump (by comparison, both Central Intelligence and Girls Trip dropped 4% on their first Saturdays), suggesting that it’s appealing to...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

EARLY FRIDAY BOX OFFICE: “Venom” & “A Star Is Born” Big, “The Hate U Give” Starts OK

  VENOM (Tencent/Columbia/Sony) is the first big-budget action movie to open since The Meg in mid-August, and that (plus a huge marketing campaign) seems to have gotten it past murderous reviews for an enormous start, the ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

Behind the US/Worldwide Weekend Box Office – 10.7.2018

  VENOM (Tencent/Columbia/Sony) easily set a new October opening record with a studio-reported $80M weekend, far ahead of Gravity‘s $55.8M.  However, Venom dropped 19% on Saturday, worse than Thor: The Dark World (1...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

SHOWBUZZDAILY Season Premiere Review: “The Walking Dead”

  THE WALKING DEAD:  Sunday 9PM on AMC THE WALKING DEAD has never been prized for its subtlety, and it didn’t attempt any with the title of its crossroads Season 9 premiere:  “A New Beginning.”  Which ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

SHOWBUZZDAILY Season Finale Review: “Better Call Saul”

  BETTER CALL SAUL reached a milestone in the final scene of its fourth season, as Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk) formally assumed the mantle of Saul Goodman, the character he’ll be in Breaking Bad.  As the prequel ser...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

SHOWBUZZDAILY Series Premiere Review: “All American”

  ALL AMERICAN:  Wednesday 9PM on CW The ALL AMERICAN of CW’s pilot may or may not be fully representative of the series going forward, since creator and original showrunner April Blair is no longer involved with th...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

EARLY FRIDAY BOX OFFICE: “Venom” Drops, “A Star Is Born” Holds, “First Man” Sluggish

  There may be a pair of tight races at the box office this weekend.  Based on preliminary numbers at Deadline, VENOM (Tencent/Columbia/Sony) has the early lead with $9.5M on Friday, down 71% from last week’s openin...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

Behind the US/Worldwide Weekend Box Office – 10.14.2018

  OPENINGS:  FIRST MAN (Perfect World/Universal) had an underwhelming $16.5M start, and considering its older-skewing audience, its 10% Saturday bump wasn’t impressive either.  It carries $150M+ in production/marke...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

SHOWBUZZDAILY Series Premiere TV Review: “Camping”

  CAMPING:  Sunday 10PM on HBO Although HBO’s new comedy CAMPING is set in the great outdoors, it has the dynamics of a filmed play.  The concept is simple:  throw a number of mismatched characters together in a c...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

SHOWBUZZDAILY THURSDAY NETWORK SCORECARD – 10.18.2018

  ABC’s lesson for the night is that lead-ins matter. DEMOGRAPHIC DETAIL: For each broadcast program (or hour segment), the chart below displays preliminary live+same day key advertiser demographics (adult 18-34, 18...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

EARLY FRIDAY BOX OFFICE: “Halloween” Bloodthirsty, “The Hate U Give” Soft, “A Star Is Born” Stays Strong

  A piece of beloved genre IP that gets rave reviews is hard to beat, and the newest iteration of HALLOWEEN (Blumhouse/Miramax/Universal) is headed toward a huge opening.  Preliminary numbers at Deadline put Friday at $33...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

Behind the US/Worldwide Weekend Box Office – 10.21.2018

  OPENINGS:  HALLOWEEN (Blumhouse/Miramax/Universal) was front-loaded, with a Saturday drop that hit 18%, but that only prevented it from setting records, not from being a giant hit at $77.5M for the weekend.  That insta...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

SHOWBUZZDAILY Series Premiere Review: “Legacies”

  LEGACIES:  Thursday 9PM on CW CW’s LEGACIES brings the Vampire Diaries extended universe once again close to its roots, after the older-skewing adventures of The Originals.  We’re not only back in Mystic Fa...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

EARLY FRIDAY BOX OFFICE: “Halloween” Slashes “Hunter Killer,” “Mid90s”

  The major studios didn’t try to seriously challenge HALLOWEEN (Blumhouse/Miramax/Universal) on its titular weekend, and despite a 69% Friday-to-Friday drop to $10.3M according to preliminary numbers at Deadline, it...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

SHOWBUZZDAILY Season Premiere Review: “Ray Donovan”

  RAY DONOVAN:  Sunday 9PM on Showtime On the occasion of its 6th season, Showtime’s RAY DONOVAN has relocated across the country to New York, and the surprise is that although the series has always been very LA-int...
by Mitch Salem