No authoritative boxoffice figures will be available until Sunday or Monday, as the studios would prefer that they not be associated with financial issues this weekend.   Although–properly–the focus of the stories on the senseless tragedy in Colorado has been on the madman who committed the actions, the studios are in a somewhat precarious position […]

  OPENINGS:  After a painful post-Hobbit winter, Warners was in dire need of a hit, and Jackie Robinson became its great American hero, as 24 (Warners) had a very strong $9.1M opening day.  Word of mouth should be on the movie’s side–the challenge for the studio was to get people into the theaters in the […]

  Mitch Metcalf has a great analysis of the continuing strength of THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE (Lionsgate) after its $31.3M Friday in his box office post today–highly recommended.  Catching Fire should set a slew of milestones tomorrow, including the best 3-day and 5-day Thanksgiving weekends ever, and very possibly the #2 second weekend of all […]

  OPENINGS:  GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY (Marvel/Disney) has something the summer’s other blockbusters could only dream of:  weeks ahead without any A-level competition.  When the biggest titles coming up are the rebooted Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and The Expendables 3, there’s a real opportunity to romp for the entire month of August.  With its $37.8M […]

  The failure of ALLEGIANT (Summit/Lionsgate) puts its studio in an unusually awkward position.  Even though Lionsgate may be able to put the 3rd Divergent movie on its books as a profit (most of the international rights were pre-sold, providing revenues that can off-set the oncoming US losses), the economics are going to get much […]

  With a marketplace starved of adult comedy after the failure of Bad Santa 2, and the holiday deluge of product not quite here, this weekend is proving to be good timing for the arrival of OFFICE CHRISTMAS PARTY (DreamWorks/Paramount).  According to preliminary numbers at Deadline, Office had a $6.7M Friday (including $950K from Thursday night), and depending […]

  MISS BALA (Columbia/Sony) is the only new opening this Super Bowl weekend, but it’s failing to take advantage of its status.  Deadline‘s preliminary numbers have Miss Bala‘s opening day at $2.7M ($650K of that from Thursday night), and with Sunday’s box office due to crash for everyone, it may not reach $7M for the […]

> We’ll see if SUPER 8 gets to $40M, but in any case Paramount has done the season’s best job of managing expectations.  Considering that they’ve been throwing millions into promoting the movie since the Super Bowl, the idea that the lowest action opening of the summer is somehow good news is a beautiful piece […]