OPENINGS:  It’s likely that THE 355 (Universal) would have been challenged at the box office even in normal times, considering that its level of action spectacle is significantly lower than superhero movies can afford, and that the cast features performers who are extremely talented but with little proven appeal to ticketbuyers.  (The 27% score […]

> Paranormal Activity 3 is THE story at the nation’s theaters this weekend.  An opening weekend of almost $52 million (with almost $26 million in the bank Friday), blasting past Paranormal Activity 2’s $41 million opening weekend this time last year.  And yet the weekend overall is down from last year.  Blame two incredibly lame […]

Based on Friday’s and Saturday’s grosses, weekend #37 of 2014 looks like $79 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, only 5% below the norm for this weekend ($83 million). Opening at 2,175 theaters, No Good Deed from Sony/Screen Gems grossed $8.8 million Friday and a solid $9.8 million Saturday, now on track for a $24.7 million opening three-day weekend (well […]

Based on Friday’s and Saturday’s grosses, weekend #35 of 2014 looks like $86 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, now 1% above the norm for this weekend ($85 million) but 8% below this weekend last year (detailed track below). Opening at 2,639 theaters, As Above/So Below from Universal grossed $3.2 million Friday and $2.8 million […]

  It’s clear, based on preliminary numbers at Deadline, that DIVERGENT (Summit/Lionsgate) isn’t going to reach prerelease hopes of an opening in line with the $69M of the original Twilight, much less that movie’s sequels or The Hunger Games.  The question is how low it will go.  Divergent had around $22M on Friday (which includes […]

> Deadline has preliminary boxoffice figures for Wednesday, and there doesn’t seem to be great news for anyone.  BREAKING DAWN PART 1 appears to be the easy winner for the day and probably for Thanksgiving weekend, but its $12.5M for Wednesday, if it holds, would be more than 10% off the parallel date for 2009’s […]

>The past week (seven days ending Sunday) is up 5% versus last year’s comparable week.  Year-to-date box office is now down 3.2% versus last year, the smallest year-to-year margin we’ve seen so far this year.        The Past Week: Total Box Office Volume All films in wide release playing between October 10 and October 16 grossed an awful $116 million, down 5% versus the same week in 2010 but down the same […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Updated look at 2016 by studio. YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2016 to date is now +4% above last year and still +5% above the average for this point the past four years ($7.134 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed almost $18.8 $19.0 billion worldwide when we […]