Thompson on Hollywood

'G.I. Joe: Retaliation' Opens Big Worldwide, Leads Strong Easter Weekend Box Office Top Ten

Box Office

"G.I. Joe: Retaliation" opened to a solid domestic three-day $41-million gross and twice-as-big international $80-million total to lead a strong Easter holiday weekend. The top ten grossed $139 million, improving on last year's one-week later holiday by $24 million while equaling the total for the exactly one year ago. The weekend total improved $12 million from last week. Business is not yet exactly booming, but it seems to have stabilized, marking a big improvement on 2013 thus far.

By Tom Brueggemann
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March 31, 2013 1:16 PM
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Box Office: 'G.I. Joe' Delivers Very Good Friday; 'Place Beyond the Pines' Has Excellent Limited Opening; 'The Host' Disappoints

Box Office

Last weekend's two $30-million openers have been followed by a strong Easter weekend that looks to top last year's. Led by Paramount's delayed release of "G.I. Joe: Retaliation" (with 3-D added and a beefed-up role for Channing Tatum), Friday's top ten films grossed an estimated $54 million, up from the $46 million total from both a year ago and from that of 2012's one-week-later Good Friday. The figure was also up from last week's $38 million, making this the rare Friday this year with across the board improvements.

By Tom Brueggemann
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March 30, 2013 3:23 PM
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Arthouse Audit: 'Gimme the Loot' Delivers; Two New Comedies Flounder

Box Office

With A24 taking last week's limited smash "Spring Breakers" wide quickly to mainly non-arthouses, this week's new films offer only modest promise for future bookings. IFC's "Gimme the Loot" had a standout New York opening, but the company, which thrives with appropriate Video on Demand placement, is taking the film in that direction shortly. Two other films, "The Sapphires" and "Starbuck," both comedy/dramas with formulas that have worked in the past, delivered modest openings in New York and Los Angeles.

By Tom Brueggemann
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March 24, 2013 4:18 PM
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DreamWorks' 'Croods' Leads Weekend Top Ten as Box Office Surges

Box Office

Things are picking up at the spring box office as two films opened to over $30 million this weekend. DreamWorks Animation's "The Croods" performed as expected while FilmDistrict's "Olympus Has Fallen" doubled its anticipated take. The Top Ten grossed around $129 million, a big jump from last week's $93 million. But year-to-year comparisons are doomed, as this weekend last year saw the opening of "The Hunger Games" ($152 million) which propelled those three days to a giant $202 million, meaning about a 30% drop coming on top of a 2013 that is already significantly down from last year.

By Tom Brueggemann
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March 24, 2013 12:52 PM
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Friday Box Office Top Ten: Both 'Croods' and 'Olympus' Open Solid

Box Office

"Croods," the first Dreamworks Animation entry released by new distribution partner 20th Century Fox, and "Olympus Has Fallen" from FilmDistrict both took in over $10 million Friday. Two films grossing over $30 million for the weekend will be a first for the year that has seen few with even one film performing that well, a positive sign after weeks of overall decline.

By Tom Brueggemann
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March 23, 2013 4:18 PM
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2012 Box Office: China Beats Japan as Second Market, Global Ticket Sales Up, Also Older Moviegoers

Box Office

MPAA chief Chris Dodd and NATO head John Fithian met with the press on a conference call Thursday as they revealed moviegoing stats for 2012. "The last few years have brought a whirlwind of change and challenge," said Dodd. "We are adapting to make sure our consumers and moviegoers are coming back for more at cinemas and at home." The Senator went out of his way to embrace the idea that teen moviegoers, who are still down from 2009 and 2010 levels, are welcome to consume content in any way that they want.

By Anne Thompson
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March 21, 2013 7:08 PM
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Arthouse Audit: Record Surprise 'Spring Breakers' Puts New Distrib A24 On Map

Box Office

A24’s “Spring Breakers” opened to the most unexpected limited success of any film in recent history with a two-city $90,000 per screen average: this for a filmmaker (Harmony Korine) whose past films have struggled to gross that much during their entire runs.

By Tom Brueggemann
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March 17, 2013 4:23 PM
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Weekend Box Office Top Ten: 'Oz' is Magic, 'Call' Marks Berry Comeback, 'Wonderstone' Warners' 5th Loser

Box Office

With “Oz: The Great and Powerful” holding well and “The Call” opening better than expected, this weekend showed more 2013 weakness. Total gross for the top 10 films was around $93 million, up from last year’s $88, but down from last weekend’s $124 million. Although several lower budget films are finding steady audiences and Warner Bros.’ big flop “Jack the Giant Slayer” has stabilized, the total take still represents a sign of ongoing concern for where this year is heading.

By Tom Brueggemann
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March 17, 2013 1:33 PM
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Friday Box Office: 'Spring Breakers' Top Limited Opening of Year, 'Wonderstone' Underwhelms

Box Office

A24’s SXSW hit “Spring Breakers” from veteran indie Harmony Korine opened in three New York/Los Angeles theaters to a stunning total of $95,000, by far the biggest limited opening of the year, and likely to approach a $100,000 per screen average for the weekend. To give some indication of what a shock this gross is, none of Kormine’s previous films have grossed as much in their entire runs as this likely will do for it opening weekend.

By Tom Brueggemann
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March 16, 2013 4:24 PM
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Spain Gets 'Excited' About Almodovar's Latest Before U.S. Release (TRAILER)

Box Office

Pedro Almodovar’s new comedy “I’m So Excited” (“Los Amantes Pasajeros”) opened to the highest take of any his films in his native Spain last weekend in its initial release. The film, to be released in the U.S. on June 27 by his usual American distributor Sony Pictures Classics, grossed about $2.6 million on 295 screens for the number two position behind “Oz: The Great and Powerful” (which grossed close to $2.7 million on more than twice as many screens). The per screen average for “Excited” though was slightly better than what “Oz” had, even though this was the widest release ever for an Almodovar film opening in Spain.