WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.   YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2015 to date is now +6% above last year and now +2% above the average for this point the past four years ($7.066 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed over $18.6 billion worldwide when we add overseas box office (that’s […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.  We will continue tracking 2015 for several more weeks as the holiday films finish their runs.  We will begin tracking 2016 in a few weeks.   YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2016 to date after two full weeks is +6% above last year and +8% above the average […]

  OPENINGS:  MONEY MONSTER (TriStar/LStar/Sony) held up well over the course of the weekend, thanks to an older audience that doesn’t rush out on Friday nights, and tripled its opening day to a $15M weekend total.  Not that many years ago, that would have seemed like a crazy low number for a thriller starring George […]

  OPENINGS:  As we had forecast on Friday night, the margin of victory for the weekend box office was razor-thin, and we won’t really know who won until final numbers are released tomorrow.  For now, HIDDEN FIGURES (20th) is $172K below Rogue One at $21.8M, but Disney’s Rogue One projection relies on a speculatively strong […]

  OPENINGS:  GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL 2 (Marvel/Disney) had a solid Saturday hold for a blockbuster, down 9% on its 2d full day of release.  That compares to the performance of the Iron Man sequels, respectively down 11% and 10%, and much better than Avengers: Age of Ultron‘s 33% plunge, although a tad less […]

  OPENINGS:  LEAP (Weinstein) was the weekend’s tallest dwarf, claiming to have cleared $5M for the weekend, but that number will require an extremely strong Sunday hold.  Even if it’s sustained in tomorrow’s finals, it’s hardly anything to be enthused about–except in comparison to the weekend’s other losers. BIRTH OF THE DRAGON (WWE/Blumhouse/BH Tilt/Universal) couldn’t […]

  OPENINGS:  THE MEG (Gravity/Warners) had a fair hold on Saturday, down 2%, which brought it to a $44.5M weekend.  That’s 83% better than Skyscraper‘s start, and 27% better than Rampage, and with no new direct competition next weekend, The Meg could reach $125M in the US.  However, the mega-B-movie had a reported $300M+ in […]

  OPENINGS:  There were no new wide openings on this pre-holiday season weekend in the US, but things were busier overseas.  AQUAMAN (DC/Warners), which won’t arrive in the US until December 21, launched in China with a huge $93.6M, the best start for any Warner Bros film in that country, and almost as much as […]