Updated international box office chart:

  Hollywood’s underwhelming summer box office continues this weekend, with preliminary numbers at Deadline and elsewhere indicating that all three of the newcomers are likely to perform below expectations. The bleakest news of the weekend, though, may be about its #1 ticket seller.  Despite some of the year’s best reviews, and seemingly everything needed for […]

  OPENINGS:  CRAWL (Paramount) may be an example of a studio outsmarting itself.  Paramount held no critics screenings, presumably because disdain was expected, and thus was unable to create any advance buzz around a response that turned out to be remarkably enthusiastic (88% on Rotten Tomatoes).  The result was a tepid $12M opening, and since […]

The box office this weekend should be slightly off the pace for this weekend the last few years, cooling off a bit after a few solid weekends.  Two new films open, and it appears 42 will lead the way with just under $20 million. Opening at around 2,900 theaters Friday (a very average number), 42 from […]

Marvel’s The Avengers (distributed by Disney) increased again to $723 million to date overseas (up from $629 million last week), although the growth rate is starting to slow.  United Kingdom continues to lead the way overseas ($64.7 million so far now — up from $48.2 million this time last week).  Mexico remains the second-biggest territory ($50.3 million […]

  WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Here is an updated look at the 2019 film slates by studio. BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2019 is still -5% below last year’s comparable span and still basically even with this point the past four years ($7.738 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed almost […]

Before next weekend’s arrival of a bona fide hit, The Dark Knight Rises, this weekend was highlighted by a bit of a summer movie poser: Ice Age: Continental Drift (an estimated $46.0 million opening weekend, missing our forecast in Wednesday’s ShowbuzzDaily Weekend Predictions), looking less like a summer movie that should be given a weekend […]

Everyone knew that FURIOUS 7 (MRC/Universal) was going to have an enormous weekend, but the franchise is toppling even the most optimistic forecasts.  According to preliminary numbers at Deadline, opening day (which includes $15.8M from Thursday night shows) could reach $68M, an amazing 75% increase over the first day of Fast & Furious 6, which […]