We’ve reached the last of our major studio midsummer surveys (we’ll take a look at mini-majors and indie distributors next week), having tackled Disney, Warner Bros, Paramount, Sony,and 20th Century Fox.  Our final target is Universal Pictures. It was all going so well for Universal–until this weekend.  After going a remarkable 3 for 3 […]

> No doubt the enormous success of THE LION KING hasn’t been lost on anyone at Disney, and we can expect to see 3D reissues of more classic animation over the next few years, leading into yet more homevideo editions. If not for Lion King being in the market, DOLPHIN TALE would almost certainly have […]

The 28th weekend of 2012 is looking like a very weak $149 million for the Top 12 films Friday-Sunday, down 29% from this weekend last year and down 42% from the multi-year average for this weekend.            Ice Age: Continental Drift from 20th Century Fox (the fourth Ice Age film) opened with […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, weekend #49 of 2014 looks like $69 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, down 11% the norm for this weekend ($78 million) and down 20% from the same weekend last year.   Opening at a mere 589 theaters, The Pyramid from 20th Century Fox is on track for a $1.0 million opening three-day […]

  As holidays go, the 4th of July isn’t a bright one for moviegoing, and when it falls on a Friday, the result is a weekend no better than usual (the days before and after compensate for the holiday itself).  That held true this year as well, especially because the other studios showed more deference […]

>Through Sunday, Team Metcalf is holding on to a $39 million lead over Team Salem in the ShowBuzzDaily Summer Movie Draft.  The terrific opening of Harry Potter was balanced somewhat by decent holds for Transformers 3, Horrible Bosses and to some extent Zookeeper.  We expected Salem to pull ahead by Sunday, but that should happen sometime […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  The release of Neighbors has pushed Universal out of the Paramount and Lionsgate/Summit pack to 5th place among Hollywood studios year to date in worldwide box office (with just under $800 million).  Sony sits at #1 with close to $1.3 billion worldwide in 2014 to date, with Amazing Spider-Man 2 still producing significant overseas revenue. […]

>New this week on the Worldwide Box Office Chart: The Smurfs crosses the $500 million worldwide mark (though it is unlikely to catch the next film above it, Cars 2 at $550 million); Rise of the Planet of the Apes continues to slow down overseas and will stay at #11, just behind Thor; The Help […]