MEDIOCRE RATINGS — ER, TICKET SALES — FOR ANCHORMAN 2

Anchorman 2 didn’t make quite as big a splash as many box-office pundits had predicted. While many had praised the film’s marketing campaign and predicted that it would power the film’s debut to around $30-35 million, the Will Farrell starrer actually wound up with an estimated $26.7 million, placing second to the second week of […]

G.I. JOE: RETALIATION BLASTS EASTER BOX OFFICE WITH $51.7 MILLION

Seeming to vindicate Paramount’s decision to yank G.I. Joe: Retaliation from its June 2012 scheduled release in order to convert it to 3D, the movie opened with an estimated $41.2 million over the Easter weekend. With another $10.5 million added for screenings on Thursday and previews on Wednesday, the studio could boast an impressive domestic […]

THE CROODS CRUISES TO $44M OPENING (Updated)

The local multiplex turned out to be a livelier place than most pundits had prophesied for this weekend, as DreamWorks Animation’s The Croods opened at the high end of forecasts and Film District’s Olympus Has Fallen and Disney’s Oz the Great and Powerful each performed well above them. The Croods, which evokes memories of the […]

TAKEN 2 TAKES DOWN ARGO (Updated)

Taken 2, starring Liam Neeson, held off a strong challenge from Ben Affleck’s Argo to remain at the top of the box office for the second week in a row. The 20th Century Fox thriller brought in an estimated $22.5 million in its second week, down 54 percent from its opening. Meanwhile, Warner Bros. figured […]

EASTWOOD’S CURVE LOOKS MORE LIKE A SINKER (Updated)

Clint Eastwood’s return to the screen after four years in Warner Bros.’ baseball drama Trouble with the Curve displayed a lot of empty chairs in theaters all over the country this weekend. It took in a less-than-expected $12.7 million. But then nothing else at the box office scored much better. Indeed, there was a virtual […]

THE EXPENDABLES SHOW THEIR AGE AT BOX OFFICE (Updated)

The old guys won again, but their victory was not as triumphant as it was on their first go-round. Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Chuck Norris, Bruce Willis, Jean-Claude Van Damme, and the other crew members of The Expendables 2 wound up with an estimated $28.7 million for the weekend, well below the $35-40 million that […]

OLYMPICS: GREAT FOR NBC; LOUSY FOR MOVIES

The closing ceremony of the Olympic Games in London may have drawn record ratings for a non-U.S. Olympics, but clearly some of that audience opted to stay home on Sunday rather than go to movie theaters. Universal had figured that ticket sales for The Bourne Legacy on Sunday would fall, but the actual plunge that […]

NEW ICE AGE MOVIE: NEITHER HOT NOR COLD (Updated)

Ice Age: Continental Drift performed slightly better than its studio, 20th Century Fox, had predicted last week but well below the forecasts of box-office pundits. The animated movie wound up with an estimated $46 million. That’s slightly better than the $41.7 million opening weekend of the last Ice Age movie, Dawn of the Dinosaurs, in […]

THINK LIKE A MAN SUPRISES AGAIN, REMAINS NO. 1 (Updated)

Box office forecasters may have learned to underestimate Sony’s Think Like a Man at their peril. For the second weekend in a row, the film eclipsed predictions, coming in at No. 1 with $18 million, according to studio estimates. The pundits turned out to have misfired on several fronts. Coming in second was the animated […]

HUNGER GAMES IN 4TH WIN — FIRST TO DO SO SINCE AVATAR (Update)

Lionsgate’s Hunger Games has become the first film since Avatar to win four weekends in a row. (Avatar remained at No. 1 for seven weeks.) With an estimated gross of $21.5 million, it easily held off challenges from three newcomers. Its closest rival was Fox’s The Three Stooges, which nevertheless performed far better than industry […]

Next Page »