OPENINGS:  NOAH (Paramount/Regency) got the start it wanted and needed with $15.2M on Friday ($1.6M of that from Thursday night), which–unless word of mouth sinks the ark–should mean a $40M weekend.  The darkly revisionist biblical spectacle also has $28.3M overseas, where it’s still in just 21 markets, so for now it’s on track to […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, weekend #13 of 2014 looks like $126 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, down 10% from the average for this weekend the past several years.   Opening at 3,567 theaters Friday, Noah from Paramount grossed $14.9 million through Friday, putting the film on track for a $40.4 million opening weekend (slightly above our […]

  Darren Aronofsky’s NOAH (Paramount) should have no trouble winning the weekend, with preliminary numbers at Deadline giving it around $15M on Friday (that includes $1.6M from Thursday night).  That’s a strong result for a film that doesn’t fit into a conventional Hollywood genre, and normally it would indicate a weekend of $40M or more, […]

  Darren Aronofsky’s NOAH (Paramount) began screening at 7PM last night and took in $1.6M, a very respectable result for a serious film aimed at older and perhaps family audiences.  (No one expected it to be in a league with the $4.9M for Divergent or $3.6M for 300: Rise of An Empire.)  Because it’s one […]

  AFTERNOON UPDATE:  There was no joy for FOX in the day’s adjusted numbers, as AMERICAN IDOL stayed at what is now its official all-time low 1.9 and SURVIVING JACK remained at 1.3.  Adding insult to injury, the only FOX show to climb was HELL’S KITCHEN, which tied IDOL at 1.9.  The NCAA TOURNAMENT numbers […]

  SURVIVING JACK:  Thursday 9:30PM on FOX – Change the Channel SURVIVING JACK is a Mortifying Parent Sitcom, which isn’t much of a surprise, since it originated with Justin Halpern, who wrote the book that became the short-lived sitcom S#!* My Dad Says and also wrote the book I Suck At Girls, which inspired this […]

  AFTERNOON UPDATE:  As usual, AMERICAN IDOL went up 0.1 in final numbers.  Also slightly up:  MODERN FAMILY and SUBURGATORY.  But MIXOLOGY fell another 0.1, hurting its chances for survival.  The CSI rerun also slipped 0.1. WEDNESDAY CABLE:  Glass half full:  DUCK DYNASTY (A&E) was up 0.6 from last week to 2.5 for its season […]

  NBC has announced an unusually robust slate of scripted programming for summer 2014–although, since 3 of the shows were originally ordered for airing during the regular season and didn’t make it onto the schedule, and NBC hasn’t exactly been flooded with new hits this year, the cynical may surmise that quantity in this case […]