Thompson on Hollywood

Weekend Top Ten Box Office: Tom Cruise's 'Oblivion' Scores At Home After Foreign Success

Box Office

The spring box office is still treading water as the industry awaits the launch of the summer season in two weeks, when Disney's "Iron Man 3" is expected to surpass any opening this year so far. For now we have to settle for the better-than-expected opening of a glossy sci-fi thriller from veteran star Tom Cruise, as "Oblivion" scored $38 million.

By Tom Brueggemann
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April 21, 2013 1:01 PM
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'Oblivion' Hauls in Nearly Half of Friday's Top 10 Gross

Box Office

With much of the nation's eyes glued to coverage of the Watertown manhunt (which ended after 9 p.m. E.D.T.), Universal's Tom Cruise-starrer "Oblivion" still managed a solid $13 million opening day gross (which includes early shows late Thursday night). The total for the Top 10 films for the day overall was around $29 million, down from $39 million last year and $32 million last week. Grosses for the rest of the weekend will likely improve with competition from real-time drama no longer a factor.

By Tom Brueggemann
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April 20, 2013 4:17 PM
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CinemaCon: Warner Bros. Reveals Slate Led by Nolan/Snyder 'Man of Steel,' 'Pacific Rim,' 'Gatsby'

Box Office

Warner Bros. believes in franchises, none more than Superman, which studio chief Jeff Robinov has been struggling to reboot for some time now--after audiences protested Bryan Singer's "Superman Returns." Thus "Man of Steel" was the high point of the 90-year-old studio's CinemaCon presentation this week, hosted by always awkward Robinov--who might as well let his popular distribution czar Dan Fellman do the honors. Robinov boasted about the studio's fourth year marking over $4 billion worldwide in 2012, and being the only studio to pass the $1 billion mark domestically 12 years in a row, as well as current hit "42," which pulled the studio out of a post-"Argo" box office dip.

By Anne Thompson
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April 19, 2013 4:29 PM
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CinemaCon: Fithian Looks Back at 2012, Universal New Model Studio

Box Office

Every year CinemaCon rolls out the $100 Million Reel; it's a tradition to remind the exhibitors of the movies that scored in their theaters. "Something for everyone" is the theme that rang out Tuesday. The 2012 boom, said NATO chief John Fithian and others, was about delivering a diversity of high quality product.

By Anne Thompson
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April 17, 2013 11:12 AM
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Weekend Box Office: '42' Leads Weekend, Breaks Baseball Movie Records, 'Scary' Series Ends

Box Office

Old-fashioned period baseball biopic "42" opened surprisingly well and shows signs of long-term play. The Jackie Robinson film provides struggling Warner Bros. with a much-needed hit. But the weekend was modest overall, with a top ten grossing about $105 million, the same as last year, but down from last week.

By Tom Brueggemann
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April 14, 2013 1:19 PM
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Friday Box Office: '42' Bright Spot on Weak Weekend

Box Office

"42," which was not a guaranteed success as a sports movie with mixed reviews about an African-American hero played by an unknown. For the first time this year, a Warner Bros. release exceeded expectations by opening at over $9 million.

By Tom Brueggemann
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April 13, 2013 3:45 PM
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Arthouse Audit: Self-Distributed 'Upstream Color' Shines in NY; 'Trance' & 'Company You Keep' Solid, Not Great

Box Office

Three new openings showed potential this weekend. In its exclusive New York date, Shane Carruth's self-distributed "Upstream Color" broke new ground as an alternative to the others' more conventional releases. The other two more expensive films directed by past Oscar director winners, Danny Boyle's "Trance" and Robert Redford's "The Company You Keep," managed to overcome mixed reviews to decent results.

By Tom Brueggemann
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April 7, 2013 4:28 PM
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Weekend Box Office: 'Evil Dead' Rises to Top, 'G.I. Joe' Plummets, Fights for Second with 'Croods'

Box Office

Sony's remake of "Evil Dead" performed better than expected, but fell just below the best horror film opening of the year. "Evil Dead" took #1 for the weekend, a position Paramount hoped to retain for its expensive "G.I. Joe: Retaliation." That film is a global hit, but is fighting for the #2 spot with Dreamworks Animation's "The Croods."

By Tom Brueggemann
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April 7, 2013 1:00 PM
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'Evil Dead' Leads Friday Pack, 'Jurassic Park 3D' Stomps in Second

Box Office

"The Evil Dead" opened well enough on Friday to make it a likely fifth horror-related film to make #1 in 2013. The twelve top-ranked horror flicks thus far have kept the year's to-date grosses from falling off more than they might have otherwise due to several underperforming costly would-be tentpoles.

By Tom Brueggemann
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April 6, 2013 4:09 PM
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Arthouse Audit: Star Power Pushes 'The Place Beyond the Pines' to Triumphant Opening

Box Office

"The Place Beyond the Pines" is the second limited opening of the month to open better than expected, and among the strongest ever early-year launches. Focus Features, coming off the disappointment of the wider release of "Admission" last week, maximized its starry cast and strong marketing to make a major initial impact. Two European films with positive festival reaction ("Renoir" and "Blancanieves") opened modestly. More disappointing was the second week of Weinstein's "The Sapphires" which doesn't seem to be headed towards any sort of breakout.