Sheer tonnage is keeping the total box office aloft, but on a movie-by-movie basis, things aren’t nearly as rosy. OPENINGS:  Unless things collapse today, ELYSIUM (TriStar/Sony) will do doubt report a $30M weekend tomorrow after $11.2M on Friday.  But that will be subject to downward adjustment on Monday, and in any case, it’s yet […]

Based on Friday’s grosses, Weekend #32 of 2013 looks like a decent $148 million for the top 12 films, up 11% from the average for this weekend the past few years. None of the openers this weekend look like they will finish with over $100 million domestic, although We’re the Millers has the best shot […]

The ratings for most network programs came back down to Earth in the official nationals (with the NFL preseason games filtered out of the early ratings, as we explained this morning).  As expected, Big Brother was least impacted (only down one tenth from this morning because CBS was able air it at 10 pm in the California […]

  ELYSIUM (Sony) got off to a very moderate start with $1.7M from 10PM Thursday night shows.  That’s better than the Thursday nights for 2 Guns ($1.2M) and White House Down ($1.35M), but nowhere near the $3.6M for Pacific Rim, suggesting that Elysium may skew older than the usual sci-fi epic–or that there’s limited audience […]

  Take a look at Mitch Metcalf’s Ratings Charts post today for a detailed explanation of the effect that last night’s NFL Preseason Football had on the night’s local ratings and why.  Viewers are so thrilled that some form of football is back on the air that they’ll flock even to these relatively meaningless games, […]

Thursday ratings for last night, the same night last year and last week.  The format of the chart has been changed slightly to make comparisons to last year and last week easier to read.  If you have any additional suggestions or comments, please let us know. Last night’s fast nationals are unusually impacted by live […]

Shark Week on Discovery bounced back a little on Wednesday, with the 10 pm Great White Serial Killer (is that a great title or what?) hitting a 1.6 rating with adults 18-49 (back near Monday’s levels).  But the 9 pm offering Top Ten Sharkdown (that title is a little manque, in my opinion) remained stuck at Tuesday’s not […]

  America’s summer love for R-rated comedies and YA action-adventure sequels isn’t quite over yet.  WE’RE THE MILLERS (Warners) got off to a creditable start with $6.8M on Wednesday (including $1.7M from Tuesday night screenings that began at 8PM).  That’s not far off the pace of This Is The End, which had a $7.8M Wednesday […]