OPENINGS:  SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 3 (Sega/Paramount) was within expectations at $62M, although that was lower than the $72.2M for Sonic 2 in 2022, and while Sonic 2 had a 2% Friday-to-Saturday gain, Sonic 3 slumped by 24% on Saturday.  There’s every chance, though, that Sonic 3 will beat its predecessor’s $190.9M in the US, […]

> BREAKING DAWN PART 1:  Christmas comes but once a year, and for Summit that day is the 24 hours after a Twilight movie opens.  (A little credit to the studio, too, for not fudging the numbers, which would have been easy enough to do since they’re so close, in order to claim a franchise […]

  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 […]

> THE HUNGER GAMES ended its first week of release with a $189.9M total that was the 7th highest in history.  That result was exceeded only by the blockbuster summer sequels The Dark Knight, Transformers:  Revenge of the Fallen, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, Pirates of the Caribbean:  Dead Man’s Chest, Spider-Man […]

  OPENINGS:  IF (Paramount) was at the low end of projections with $35M, although that was an improvement over where it seemed to be headed after Friday’s $10.4M.  The key was strong family turnout on Saturday, but while IF benefited from being the first major release for that demographic in the 11 weeks since Kung […]

> The 17th weekend of 2012 is looking like a poor $97 million for the Top 12 films, down 33% from this weekend last year and down 28% from the four-year average for the same weekend.  Think Like a Man should retain the top spot in its second weekend with $18 million, declining about 46% […]

>With Christmas coming this Sunday a host of films arrive this important weekend, with three films opening wide Wednesday (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Adventures of Tintin, and the wide expansion of Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol), one major film opening Friday (We Bought a Zoo), and two major films in effect previewing […]

>The weekend studio estimates (based on Friday and Saturday actuals and projections for Sunday) are coming in somewhat stronger than the weekend numbers posted yesterday (based on Friday actuals only).  The box office volume for the top 12 films is now looking like $99 million for the weekend, up a modest 7% from last year’s […]