The cash has started pouring in for THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY (Warners/MGM).  In 3100 theatres, the film earned $13M in midnight screenings last night.  That was considerably higher than the $8M earned by the midnights for Return of the King, but King was in2003, before the phenomenon of midnight releases had really taken hold […]

> The Hollywood Reporter has fresher boxoffice numbers.  MONEYBALL’s start isn’t quite as high as it had looked, but a Friday close to $7M is still excellent, and should lead to a $20M or so weekend, especially since exit polls indicate audiences are in line with critics on this one.  THE LION KING, entering what’s […]

  ROGUE ONE (Lucasfilm/Disney) is performing as expected, massive but short of last year’s core Star Wars installment The Force Awakens.  According to preliminary numbers at Deadline, Friday’s take was $72M (including $29M from Thursday night), 40% below Force Awakens yet still one of the Top 10 opening days of all time.  In a sign […]

> Now that we’ve all taken a breath after the extraordinary success of The Hunger Games (and Lionsgate has had a chance to count its money), Hollywood’s real blockbuster season is about to begin, and indications are that it’s going to start off with a bang.  Audience tracking surveys normally begin measurement about 3 weeks […]

> Deadline has preliminary numbers for Friday, and this won’t be one of those weekends where the winner is unclear up to the wire.  ACT OF VALOR (Relativity), the low-budget (but highly marketed) Navy SEAL recruitment vehicle/action movie swept the day with over $9M, about 50% ahead of anything else.  The only question now is […]

  The moviegoer love affair with CG spectacles continues in full force, as GODZILLA (Warners/Legendary) appears, on the basis of preliminary numbers at Deadline and elsewhere, to be headed for a $36M Friday (including $9.3M from Thursday night).  If that number holds, it’ll be midway between the $35.2M opening day for The Amazing Spider-Man 2 […]

>DeadlineHollywood is reporting Green Lantern earned $3.35 million at midnight plays (at 1,810 theaters).  This result is similar to recent midnight previews for Thor and X-Men: First Class.  (See Mitch Salem’s Green Lantern review HERE.)  This might indicate Green Lantern could open in the high-$50 million range, although we will stick with the published $55 […]

  As the 2018 box office enters the Martin Luther King holiday weekend, most of its strength still lies in 2017 releases.  According to preliminary numbers at Deadline, JUMANJI: WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE (Columbia/Sony) is on track to win its 4th weekend of release.  Friday’s $6M take was down 44% from last week, and with […]