> The 12th weekend of 2012 is truly exceptional for a fourth weekend of March: $180 million for the Top 12 films, up 66% from the same weekend in 2011 and up 58% from the weekend’s multi-year average.  The Hunger Games was everything it promised to be — and more.  One of the greatest movie […]

  OPENINGS:  Saturday showed an 18% drop for FAST & FURIOUS 6 (Universal), but really the number was better than it looked, because “Friday” included $6.5M from Thursday night.  With that factored out, the movie held almost dead even on Saturday, and should be headed for a $120M+ 4-day weekend, easily the 4th best Memorial […]

>Rise of the Planet of the Apes will remain #1, followed closely by The Help, which is running well above its ShowBuzzDaily weekend forecast.  Final Destination 5 should be in third place with a decent number but still below its forecast.  30 Seconds or Less and Glee: The 3D Concert Movie are lagging, both under forecast.  […]

>Based on Friday and Saturday box office (and estimated Sunday numbers), the two sequels opening wide this weekend are not doing the business generally forecast, and they are under-performing the preceding movies in their series.  As a whole, the weekend is looking like $111 million for the top 12 films, down 13% from the same […]

>Thor opens solidly but not enough to push the weekend past Iron Man 2’s torrid pace last year. The ShowbuzzDaily Domestic Final estimates now show that Thor should finish its run with $190 million, while Fast Five has been upgraded to $212 million and Rio has been downgraded slightly to $138 million.  The other openers, […]

>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 […]

  Vulture picked the wrong weekend to predict Universal’s demise. OPENINGS:  SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN (Universal) had a very good $20.3M Friday, and will do better than $50M for the weekend, successfully selling (male) audiences on the revisionist fairy tale as an epic action movie.  All that epic action and spectacular CG came at […]

>The holiday film season is upon us.  Based on Wednesday numbers, Twilight Breaking Dawn Part 1 should hold on to the #1 spot this weekend despite an anticipated precipitous drop, followed closely by The Muppets.  The other kid-friendly openers, Arthur Christmas and Hugo, are fighting over table scraps.  The weekend is shaping up to be […]