STUDIO SCORECARD. In the worldwide studio rankings for 2013 to date, Sony moved ahead of Paramount (taking over 5th place) with $70 million of revenue this week (from continued overseas revenues from Mortal Instruments, White House Down and Smurfs 2).  Warner Brothers had an even better week ($76 million, mostly from overseas grosses for We’re the […]

Updated international box office chart:

  OPENINGS:  THOR: THE DARK WORLD (Disney) held essentially even on Saturday, an excellent result for a franchise movie, especially where a chunk of its “Friday” number had come from Thursday night screenings.  (In comparison, Iron Man 3 dropped 10% on its second day of release.)  Presumably because of that strong Saturday hold, Disney is […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, Weekend #49 of 2013 looks like $87 million for the top 12 films from Friday-Sunday, right on target for the usually slow post-Thanksgiving weekend.   Opening at 2,101 theaters Friday, Out of the Furnace from Relativity grossed $1.9 million Friday and is on track for a $5.5 million opening weekend (below the already bearish […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, the final weekend of 2013 looks like a great finish: $193 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, up substantially from the same weekend last year (see comparisons to previous years at the bottom).  The new films this long weekend are actually not breaking through in a big way: it’s the […]

Based on Friday’s and Saturday’s grosses, weekend #3 of 2014 now looks like $160 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, even better than it looked yesterday and now 47% above the average for the comparable weekend the past few years. Opening at 2,663 theaters Friday, Ride Along from Universal grossed $14.5 million Friday and $16.7 million Saturday, […]

  OPENINGS:  Saturday wasn’t pretty for ABOUT LAST NIGHT (Screen Gems/Sony), which tumbled 38% on the day after Valentine’s Day to $8.1M, and is now projecting $27M for the 3-day weekend ($30M or so with the holiday Monday).  That’s still a strong opening for a moderately-budgeted movie, and while About won’t get anywhere near Ride […]

  As Hollywood becomes more and more dependent on action and animation franchises, the US market becomes increasingly less relevant. OPENINGS:  NEED FOR SPEED (DreamWorks/Disney) made more money in China ($21.2M) on its opening weekend than it did in the US ($17.8M).  Combined with $24.4M from 39 other territories around the world, Need is likely […]