OPENINGS:  With the pandemic raging throughout the country and about 20% fewer theatres open than last week, box office numbers plunged across the board.  There were no truly wide openings, but the Jackie Chan vehicle VANGUARD (Gravitas) opened at 1375 theatres with a low $400K start, a per-theatre weekend average of just $290. Similarly, […]

> Let’s take a look at just how remarkably THE HELP is performing so far.   The most obvious points of comparison are the literary-sourced, female-skewing hits of the last 2 Augusts:  Julie & Julia in 2009, and last year’s Eat Pray Love.  Julia had a $20M opening that led to a $94M domestic gross; Eat […]

>Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 debuts on the international box office chart with a very solid $400+ million worldwide mark.  The latest Twilight has an overseas total to date of $144 million already with an expected domestic final of $292 million. Adventures of Tintin is now up to almost $190 million overseas, while Real […]

> X-Men: First Class added to the Worldwide gross list in the top 10, while Pirates 4 continues to dominate. X-Men: First Class enters the 2011 Worldwide gross list at #8, while Hangover Part II is closing in on Thor and should take fourth place as early as next week.  Kung Fu Panda 2 jumped […]

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 […]

    Don’t hold your breath for Men In Black 4.   OPENINGS:  The US 3-day weekend numbers on MEN IN BLACK 3 (Sony) are in accord with last night’s lackluster preliminary estimate of $55M.  Sony is predicting $70M for the full holiday weekend, which may be a stretch, as it would allow for only […]

Bridesmaids and Priest to open at decent levels, but Thor will continue to lead the box office this weekend.  Fast Five will continue to hang around the Top 3. Opening at over 2,700 theaters, Bridesmaids should average a decent $7,300 per theater (for almost $20 million total).  Priest should average $6,100 at around 2,800 theaters […]

> Deadline has early numbers for Saturday and the weekend, and there aren’t any major surprises. PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3 is overwhelming everything else in the market even after its expected big drop from Friday (which included $8M from Thursday midnight shows).  If the preliminary $18M Saturday number bears true, the movie will have a better […]