Vintage TV beat vintage Hollywood on a very slow night. CBS:  It doesn’t say much to be “#1 for the night” when the result is a 1.4 rating, but the colorized I LOVE LUCY HOLIDAY SPECIAL can claim that honor.  (In the older-skewing total viewers metric, Lucy was CBS’s least-watched show of the night.) […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, Weekend #51 of 2013 looks like $139 million for the top 12 films from Friday-Sunday, up substantially from the same weekend last year (see comparisons to previous years at the bottom).   Opening at 3,507 theaters Wednesday, Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues from Paramount grossed $13.2 million before Friday ($8.1 Wednesday and $5.1 Thursday) […]

  Early numbers at Deadline have ANCHORMAN 2: THE LEGEND CONTINUES (Paramount) and THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG (Warners/MGM) just about neck-and-neck at the Friday box office, both in the $8.5-9M neighborhood.  However, as a new arrival, Anchorman is likely to do softer business on Saturday, which should give Hobbit the weekend win. For […]

  What do Blue Is the Warmest Color and The Past have in common?  Two things, actually:  they’re both widely considered among the best foreign-language films shown in the US this year–and neither will be nominated for the Best Foreign-Language Film Oscar.  Blue was the victim of arcane Academy rules regarding its theatrical release date […]

  ANCHORMAN 2: THE LEGEND CONTINUES (Paramount) took in another $5.1M on Thursday, down a fairly standard 37% from its Wednesday opening (This Is the End dropped 43% on its first Thursday, while We’re the Millers fell 31%).  With $13.2M in the bank, he studio is predicting $30M over the Fri-Sun weekend, although $25-27M may […]

  The X Factor ended its season with no miraculous ratings recovery. FOX:  Although THE X FACTOR‘s season finale was up 0.5 from last week to 1.7, that number was down a horrific 1.4 from last year’s finale, barely more than half as strong.  With 3 weekly hours of primetime in the balance, FOX has […]

  The broadcast networks continue to finalize their midseason plans, and today CBS and NBC presented some of their decisions. HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER will bring its 9 year run to a close with a 1-hour finale on Monday, March 31.  It will be followed that night with a special premiere of the new […]

  Early numbers for the opening day of ANCHORMAN 2: THE LEGEND CONTINUES (Paramount) give it $8.1M (including $2.3M from Tuesday night shows).  It continues to run ahead of Wednesday openers This Is The End ($7.8M) and We’re The Millers ($6.8M), and is hoping to have a bigger weekend multiple than those two, since midweek […]