They deleted Massacre from its title, but it’s still mowing down the competition. OPENINGS:  Why does Hollywood make ultraviolent movies?  Because they sell tickets.  TEXAS CHAINSAW (Lionsgate) is overperforming its way to a surprisingly strong weekend win, with $10.2M on its first night.  Horror movies are hugely front-loaded, so it’s unlikely to be higher […]

> Well, that didn’t last long. After an Oscars+1 day where Best Picture winner THE ARTIST had the smallest Monday decline of any movie in the Top 10,  by Tuesday the glow was gone.  On a day when almost every Top 10 film was significantly up, ccording to Box Office Mojo, Artist had an increase […]

  OPENINGS:  THE MARKSMAN (Open Road) allows Liam Neeson to lay claim to being the most prolific movie star of the pandemic, following on the releases of Honest Thief and the smaller-scale Made In Italy.  Despite a holiday weekend opening, Marksman‘s 3-day $3.2M start is below the $4.1M for Honest Thief, with a 4-day total […]

For the 9 days December 16-24, the top 10 films each day in North America have totaled $430 million, nearly identical to last year’s pace and above all other years except 2015, when Star Wars: The Force Awakens dominated the holiday season. With Rogue One last year and The Last Jedi this year, the Star Wars franchise has definitely taken the holiday movie season […]

  The Super Bowl will take a chunk out of everyone today, the only Sunday that plays like a Monday with 60-70% drops from Saturday across the board.  That’s why the studios, for the most part, stay away. OPENINGS:  Given that fact, WARM BODIES (Summit/Lionsgate) did fairly well with a $20M weekend (that includes $500K […]

Wow.  It’s time to haul out the superlatives and the sports cliches like grand slam and buzzer-beating three-point shot.  Marvel’s The Avengers is headed for a $200 million opening weekend, shattering the record previously held by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 ($169.2 million).  Beating a record by 18% is truly extraordinary.  While […]

Based on Friday’s and Saturday’s grosses, Weekend #26 of 2013 now looks like $185 million for the top 12 films, up a bit from yesterday’s $181 million estimate and still very close to the same weekend in recent years.   Opening at 3,181 theaters Friday, The Heat from 20th Century Fox grossed $13.6 million Friday and $14.3 million […]

  OPENINGS:  ABIGAIL (Universal) launched at the low end of expectations with $10.2M, lower than the $11.8M for Night Swim and virtually the same as the $9.9M for Imaginary.  Those films are respectively at $32.5M and $28M in the US, which is the likely range for Abigail.  However, the new film reportedly cost $28M before […]