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 […]

  OPENINGS:  BOO 2! A MADEA HALLOWEEN (Lionsgate) took the weekend with $21.7M, down 24% from last year’s first Boo.  That puts it behind all the previous Madea openings except A Madea Christmas, which had the entire holiday corridor for its run.  Last year’s installment had an exceptionally good Weekend 2 hold, down just 40% […]

  OPENINGS:  LIGHTYEAR (Pixar/Disney) was a tricky attempt to extend the hugely lucrative Toy Story franchise, both a prequel and a spinoff that featured a different version of the titular character than the one audiences have loved for decades.  Disney didn’t manage to convince fans that it was essential viewing, and the result was a […]

Based on Friday’s and Saturday’s grosses, Weekend #28 of 2013 looks like a decent $191 million for the top 12 films, up 5% from the comparable weekend the last few years.  It was a pretty good weekend for the ShowbuzzDaily Weekend Forecast, with the top movies in the correct rank order and most films within […]

Based on Saturday’s grosses, Weekend #9 of 2013 is a little better than it appeared yesterday but still down 38% from the same weekend the last few years.  Jack the Giant Slayer opened reasonably well, but there are no others films doing significant business (weekends over $10 million).  What a mess.         […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, Weekend #30 of 2013 looks like a decent $158 million for the top 12 films, nearly identical to yesterday’s initial estimate and still comfortably above the same weekend the last few years. The Wolverine is way off our projected opening but still but still the best opening in recent years for a […]

  OPENINGS:  ONE DIRECTION: THIS IS US (TriStar/Sony) continued its frontloaded box office swoon, with a 28% Sunday drop and probably another 25% today (the Monday number will likely be 75% below what the movie earned on opening day).  Despite more than doubling the Friday box office of The Butler, it will end up losing […]

Based on Friday’s and Saturday’s grosses, weekend #27 of 2015 looks like $133 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, a little better than yesterday’s estimate but still below the norm for this weekend but slightly above last year’s similar bummer of a July 4th weekend.   Opening at 3,758 theaters Friday, Terminator: Genisys from Paramount is now on track […]