OPENINGS:  The world, if not the galaxy, belonged to GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY (Marvel/Disney) this weekend.  In the US, its $94M start (as is typical, Disney estimated an aggressively strong Sunday, down just 19% from Saturday, so that number may reduce a bit tomorrow) pulverized the previous August record-holder (The Bourne Ultimatum) to the tune […]

The 37th weekend of the year is looking like $81 million for the top 12 films, very close to the multi-year average for this weekend. Opening at around 2,900 theaters Friday (just above the 2,886 average theater count for opening weekends the last two years), Insidious Chapter 2 from FilmDistrict and director James Wan should average $11,300 per theater for […]

STUDIO SCORECARD.  No change in the studio worldwide box office rankings this week.  Universal is extremely hot with the broad international appeal of Fast & Furious 6, but there is still about $500 million to go to catch #1 Disney.  Fox, Paramount and Warner Brothers are very tightly bunched in the next tier. Looking at […]

>International box office continues to bail out American movies released late this year.  While Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 can legitimately be called a hit domestically and abroad, Adventures of Tintin and Real Steel are both major hits only because of business outside North America. And Puss in Boots would have been a slight […]

  The final chapter in the TWILIGHT saga, BREAKING DAWN PART 2, began its swoop through the boxoffice last night, and earned $30.4M.  This is, unquestionably, a ton of money, and technically–very narrowly–a record for the Twilight franchise, just barely beating out Breaking Dawn Part 1‘s $30.3M (although nowhere near the all-time midnight record $43.5M […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, weekend #26 of 2014 looks like $172 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, 9% below the norm for this weekend and 6% below the same weekend last year as the lackluster summer 2014 rolls on.   Opening at 4,233 theaters, Transformers: Age of Extinction from Paramount grossed $41.1 million through Friday […]

  OPENINGS:  TRANSFORMERS ONE (Hasbro/Paramount) underdelivered vs projections by about 20%, and its dim $25M start didn’t even give it the weekend’s #1 ranking at the box office.  Paramount was taking a calculated risk by rebooting the franchise via PG-rated animation, and it doesn’t seem to have worked out.  It faces direct competition next weekend […]

  OPENINGS:  It’s possible to make money on Super Bowl weekend, as hits like Dear John ($30.5M), Taken ($24.7M) and Chronicle ($22M) have shown.  But MISS BALA (Columbia/Sony) didn’t have what it takes, with a sluggish $6.7M start.  The 5% Saturday bump suggests that word of mouth isn’t bad, but next weekend it will have […]