Franchises have been dropping like flies this year, but one brand name that still works is Marvel.  Its latest extravaganza DOCTOR STRANGE (Marvel/Disney) had an opening day of at least $32M according to preliminary numbers at Deadline (including $9.4M from Thursday night), which should give it a $80M+ weekend.  As the kick-off to a […]

  OPENINGS:  Although JURASSIC WORLD: DOMINION (Universal) is being billed as the “conclusion of the trilogy,” the studio certainly won’t be abandoning the franchise, as Dominion opened to $143.4M, almost identical to the $148M for 2018’s Fallen Kingdom, and with a very similar trajectory, down 22% on Saturday (Fallen Kingdom dropped 15%, but that was […]

Weekend #40 of 2014 is looking like $117 million for the top 12 films this weekend, up 13% from the norm for this weekend. Opening at around 3,000 theaters Friday (above the 2,886 average theater count for opening weekends the last two years), Gone Girl from 20th Century Fox should average a solid $10,600 per theater for the […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.   YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2015 to date is now +8% above last year and still +5% above the average for this point the past four years ($5.560 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed almost $15.2 billion worldwide when we add overseas box office (that’s now […]

Weekend #11 of 2015 is looking like $126 million for the top 12 films this weekend, up significantly from comparable weekends the past few years and putting 2015 back on track after two down weekends in a row. Opening at around 3,600 theaters Friday (well above the 2,886 average theater count for opening weekends the […]

  OPENINGS:  DESPICABLE ME 3 (Illumination/Universal) is the latest franchise to underdeliver this summer, with a 3-day studio estimate of $75.4M in the US.  That’s far below the $115.7M opening of Minions, and it compares badly with Despicable 2 as well, since that title earned $83.5M over its first weekend after having already banked $59.6M […]

  In an appropriately biblical development for this Easter weekend, it appears from preliminary numbers at Deadline that David will defeat Goliath, and the $12M-budgeted HEAVEN IS FOR REAL (TriStar/Sony) will handily outgross the $100M+ TRANSCENDENCE (Warners).  On Friday, Heaven pulled in a reported $8M (on top of $7M from Wednesday and Thursday), and although […]

Weekend #24 of 2015 is looking like $180 million for the top 12 films this weekend, somewhat above the norm for the same weekend the past few years. Jurassic World from Universal should open with a $117.0 million three-day weekend. Early reviews at RottenTomatoes are solid: 70% positive overall so far. Jurassic World is on track for around $295 million domestic. Overseas […]