OPENINGS:  MINIONS (Illumination/Universal) had a surprisingly bumpy 16% drop on Saturday, but it will handily become the #2 animated opening of all time, topping Toy Story 3‘s $110.3M, even if the studio’s $115.2M forecast turns out to rely on a stronger Sunday rebound than final numbers confirm.  (Still #1: 2007’s  Shrek The Third at […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.   YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2015 to date is now +4% above last year and still +2% above the average for this point the past four years ($8.361 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed $22.6 billion worldwide when we add overseas box office (that’s still +6% […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Updated look at 2016 by studio, with Fox continuing to dominate but Disney now in the game with Zootopia.  Note: We have amended the summary categories somewhat this year with the top category now reserved for films over $500 million worldwide and the lower category for films under $150 million worldwide.   YEAR TO […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Updated look at 2016 by studio.   YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2016 to date is now basically even with last year and now +2% above the average for this point the past four years ($5.430 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed $14.1 billion […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Updated look at 2016 by studio. YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2016 to date is +3% above last year and +3% above the average for this point the past four years ($8.715 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed $23.3 billion worldwide when we add […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Here is an updated look at the 2017 film slates by studio. YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2017 to date is still down -2% from last year and still +1% above the average for this point the past four years ($8.160 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed $22.7 […]

  OPENINGS:  Disney is the land where dreams come true, but not even their wizards could have imagined the scale of BLACK PANTHER (Marvel/Disney), which has crashed through all expectations–not just as a big-budget action film that exists almost completely in an African universe, but as a solo character superhero debut in general.  Current studio […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  Here is an updated look at the 2018 film slates by studio. The studio totals also include 2018 dollars for films released in late 2017. YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2018 to date is now +7% above last year and still +12% above the average for this point the […]