The 36th weekend of the year (usually the lowest-grossing weekend of the year) is looking like $73 million for the top 12 films, actually above the four-year average for this weekend ($65 million) and way above last year’s stuning bad $52 million on this weekend.  Nothing to get excited about, but not the black hole it could be.  A […]

Weekend #5 of 2014 is looking like $74 million for the top 12 films, a significant 17% below the average for this challenging weekend the past few years.  Super Bowl weekend is always a tough one, with the distraction of the largest TV event of the year on Sunday and weak movies released in its wake.  […]

Weekend #30 of 2014 is looking like $128 million for the top 12 films this weekend, -13% below the norm for this weekend.  Not a disaster like the previous three weekends (-27% to -34%), but the sixth down weekend in a row.  Opening at 3,172 theaters Friday (somewhat above the 2,886 average theater count for opening weekends […]

Weekend #10 of 2015 is looking like $93 million for the top 12 films this weekend, significantly below the normal volume for this weekend (see track below). Opening at around 3,000 theaters Friday (slightly above the 2,886 average theater count for opening weekends the last two years), Chappie from Sony should average $7,300 per theater for […]

  MINIONS (Illumination/Universal) was expected to enfold the weekend box office in its little yellow fingers, and so it is.  Preliminary numbers at Deadline give it a $45M opening day, which appears to be the largest opening in the history of movie animation (the asterisk is because we now consider “Friday” to include Thursday night, […]

Weekend #40 of 2015 is looking like $143 million for the top 12 films this weekend, above the norm for this weekend but close to last year’s strong weekend (see comparisons below). The Martian from Fox should open with a $55.0 million weekend. Strong critical support: 93% positive reviews so far. The film is on track for around $166 million […]

  OPENINGS:  The Saturday bump for 10 CLOVERFIELD LANE (Bad Robot/Paramount) was 8%, a solid number for its genre that indicates good word of mouth.  That gave it a $25.3M weekend, a bit higher than Friday indicated, although still not where it might have gotten had the Cloverfield connection (or relative lack thereof) been clearer.  […]

  DON’T BREATHE (Screen Gems/Sony) is the 2d horror movie of the late summer, after Lights Out, to benefit from an effectively marketed premise (monsters in the dark and the quiet) and strong reviews.  According to preliminary numbers at Deadline, Breathe is starting even faster than Lights, with a $10.2M opening day (including $1.9M from […]