WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.   YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2015 to date is now +7% above last year and now +5% above the average for this point the past four years ($9.588 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed almost $26.0 billion worldwide when we add overseas box office (that’s now […]

Based on Friday’s and Saturday’s grosses, weekend #7 of 2014 now looks like $160 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, much lower than yesterday’s estimate ($171 million) but still 22% ahead of this weekend’s average the past several years.  Saturday was not kind to three of the four new movies (except RoboCop).  We know […]

Based on Friday’s and Saturday’s grosses, Weekend #17 of 2013 is looking like $81 million for the top 12 films, down 33% from the average the past few years for this weekend and down 16% from the same weekend last year.  Michael Bay’s Pain and Gain opened fairly quietly — not a total disaster but nothing […]

  OPENINGS:  Here’s the crazy thing about the official record-busting $238M weekend estimate for STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS (Lucasfilm/Disney), which smashed the previous weekend record by more than 12%, and nearly tripled the prior December record:  it’s on the conservative side.  Flying in the face of most studio behavior in reporting opening weekends, Disney […]

  OPENINGS:  Universal continued to be the main supplier of fresh product to gasping theatres, with both of the weekend’s wide openings.  They will, per the studio’s deals, be available at home in about 3 weeks–an arrangement that looks awfully good for theatres compared to Warners’ new plan to day-and-date releases at home from opening […]

  OPENINGS:  With the latest MCU extravaganza waiting in the wings, Hollywood studios kept their wares out of the market, and the only arrival was the latest Liam Neeson vehicle (incredibly, he’s had 6 films in release since Covid hit), this one entitled MEMORY (Open Road).  It launched with $3.1M, very similar to February’s Blacklight, […]

The 38th weekend of the year is looking like a wobbly $71 million for the top 12 films, down 19% from the $89 million multi-year average for this weekend. Opening at over 3,100 theaters Friday (above the 2,886 average theater count for opening weekends the last two years), Prisoners from Warner Brothers should average $5,900 per theater for the weekend (for […]

Weekend #15 of 2014 is looking like a very good $149 million for the top 12 films, 41% above the typical volume for this weekend the past few years ($112 million) and the second strong weekend in a row. Opening at around 3,900 theaters Friday (well above the 2,886 average theater count for opening weekends the […]