OPENINGS:  The question for IF I FALL (Warners/MGM), as with any movie that has a high proportion of young female appeal, is just how frontloaded it will turn out to be.  Friday’s $6.8M included $1.1M from Thursday night, about 16% of the total.  The Fault In Our Stars was much more frontloaded, earning more […]

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 […]

Based on Friday’s and Saturday’s grosses, weekend #43 of 2014 still looks like a decent $103 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, 16% above the norm for this weekend ($89 million). Opening at 2,858 theaters, Ouija from Universal grossed $8.3 million Friday and $7.6 million Saturday, still on track for a $20.0 million opening three-day weekend […]

  OPENINGS:  It’s official:  THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY PART I (Lionsgate) opened to $123M in the US, down 20% from the first Hunger Games and down 23% from Catching Fire.  That’s still the #1 opening of the year by 23% (beating Transformers: Age of Extinction), and the 15th biggest opening ever, but there’s no way […]

  December 24, along with December 31, will be the lowest box office days of the holiday season, because so many people have non-movie plans those nights.  Nevertheless, INTO THE WOODS (Disney) had a highly promising start with screenings that began at 7PM on Christmas Eve, earning $1.1M.  (That compares with the $325K that Annie […]

  A strong Saturday lifted everything at the multiplex. OPENINGS:  Obviously AMERICAN SNIPER (Warners/Village Roadshow) wouldn’t be what it is without Clint Eastwood and Bradley Cooper, but the contributions of the Warners marketing group shouldn’t be overlooked.  Building the trailer and the initial TV ads almost entirely around the one moment in the film where […]

  OPENINGS:  When studios trot out “bad weather” as their excuse for an underwhelming opening, it’s the industry equivalent of citing a homework-eating dog–and this week, it’s particularly clear that the inclement conditions that supposedly affected FOCUS (RatPac Dune/Warners) didn’t interfere at all with the holdovers that performed very strongly over the past 3 days.  […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, weekend #15 of 2015 looks like $130 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, above the norm for this weekend but a touch below the same weekend last year. Opening at 3,366 theaters Friday, The Longest Ride from Fox is on track for a $14.0 million opening three-day weekend (slightly below our $15.5 million ShowBuzzDaily forecast […]