The 9th weekend of 2013 looks like a problem: $96 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, down 37% from the same weekend last year.  One movie should open decently, while all the holdovers are wilting.  The last six weeks are down 21% from the same period last year and down 20% from the average […]

  Thursday openings are hard to gauge, because there aren’t very many of them, and most of them are designed to extend long holiday weekends.  Here’s what we do know about the $10.5M opening day for GI JOE: RETALIATION (Paramount/MGM).  That number includes $2.2M for Wednesday night and Thursday midnight screenings, and without those, it’s […]

Looking at wide-release films in North America (those that play on at least 400 screens at some point), 2013 now totals $2.37 billion, down 15% from 2012 and down 8% from the prior four-year average 2009-2012.  Each year-to-date period below is defined as the first Monday after New Year’s Day through the most recent Sunday. […]

Based on Friday’s and Saturday’s grosses, Weekend #20 of 2013 looks like $147 million for the top 12 films, somewhat above the same weekend last year but slightly below the four-year average for the weekend.  Star Trek Into Darkness had a decent Saturday but is still performing well below our expectations. Opening at 3,762 theaters […]

  MAN OF STEEL (Warners) had the opening it was looking for, with preliminary numbers at Deadline giving it $46M on Friday.  That includes $9M from Friday midnight shows, but not an additional $12M from Wal-Mart tie-in screenings at 7PM Thursday night.  Assuming the $46M number holds up, it should mean a $115-120M weekend ($132M […]

  OPENINGS:  DESPICABLE ME 2 (Universal) had an even better weekend overseas than it did in the US, with $88.8M (in 45 markets, with plenty more major ones to come) vs $82.5M.  (Of course, in the US it also had the benefit of a holiday week, giving it a huge $142.1M here so far.)  The […]

  OPENINGS:  While not an outright flop like The Lone Ranger, Pacific Rim, RIPD, et. al (particularly since it cost less to produce than any of those), THE WOLVERINE (20th) is underperforming in a big way.  Its estimated $21M Thursday night/Friday is the lowest start for any X-Men branded movie since the original 13 years […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Universal and Warner Brothers again flipped positions in the year to date worldwide box office chart.  Universal didn’t have much this week (the lame domestic opening of Kick-Ass 2 and some continued overseas business from Despicable Me 2), but it was certainly more than Warner Brothers, which has grown very quiet here […]