Based on Friday’s grosses, the final weekend of 2013 looks like a great finish: $186 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, down a touch from yesterday’s estimate but still up significantly from the same weekend last year (see comparisons to previous years at the bottom).  The new films this long weekend are actually not […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, Weekend #44 of 2013 looks like $123 million for the top 12 films, now up 3% from the same weekend’s average in recent years. Opening at 3,407 theaters Friday, Ender’s Game from Lionsgate/Summit grossed $9.8 million Friday and $10.8 million Saturday, still on track for a $28.0 million opening weekend (very close to the $28.5 […]

  STAR WARS:  Whether one considers Avatar‘s proper US all-time box office record to be $749.8M (initial release) or $760.5M (includes “director’s cut” re-release), the crown will be changing hands in the next few days.  STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS (Lucasfilm/Disney), which declined 41% on its 3rd weekend to $88.3M (setting yet another record by […]

  OPENINGS:  RALPH BREAKS THE INTERNET (Disney) was somewhat frontloaded, with a 44% drop on Day 2, so it didn’t challenge Frozen‘s $93.6M record for the biggest 5-day Thanksgiving opening.  But Disney has nothing to complain about with a #2 ranking and $84.5M ($55.7M over the 3-day weekend), putting it on track for $250M at […]

>Based on Friday and Saturday box office (and estimated Sunday numbers), Immortals ($32 million) will beat Jack and Jill ($26 million).  Keep in mind Immortals is playing on many fewer theaters than the Adam Sandler comedy and has a much better per theater number.  J. Edgar is playing at even fewer theaters and has the […]

  The studios continued to be bullish on their holiday estimates, with preliminary Monday numbers expecting strong business that may or may not be confirmed in final box office figures tomorrow.  For now, the most optimistic film is HEAVEN IS FOR REAL (TriStar/Sony), expecting a mere 7% drop on Monday, with the older skewing NEIGHBORS […]

  OPENINGS:  The $35.4M weekend result for SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE (Sony Animation/Columbia/Sony) was in keeping with its Friday projections, and the expectation is that it will thrive through the holidays.  Its 3% Saturday bump, though, which is low for a family animated movie (The Grinch jumped 47% on its 2nd day of release) but […]

  OPENINGS:  The most hyped box office weekend of the year delivered and then some.  BARBIE (Mattel/Warners) burst into theaters with $155M, technically the best of the year (although the $146.4M for Super Mario Bros came after a Wed-Thurs start that had already brought in $58.3M).  Among the many records set by the blockbuster were […]