There was nothing unexpected about the box-office triumph of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey over the weekend. Tracking surveys and movie analysts had predicted that it would set a December ticket-sales record, and it did, taking in an estimated $84.8 million and thereby eclipsing the previous December record of $77.2 million set by I Am […]

$70-MILLION OPENING FOR HOBBIT PREDICTED

Forecasts that The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey will earn more than $70 million at next weekend’s box office were underscored on Tuesday when online ticket seller Fandango said that the movie accounted for 76 percent of all sales. Coming in a distant second was the musical Les Miserables. Fandango also reported that despite the controversy […]

DARK KNIGHT RISES CLOSES IN ON IMAX RECORD

The Dark Knight Rises has become only the second film (after Avatar) to cross the $100 million mark in ticket sales at IMAX theaters worldwide. IMAX announced Tuesday that as of Monday the film had taken in $65.1 million at 332 IMAX screens in North America and $37.3 million from 225 IMAX screens elsewhere. The […]

STALLONE AND CO. LIKELY TO REMAIN NO. 1

The old guys in The Expendables 2 are likely to clobber the fresh-faced contenders in three low-budget features opening this weekend. Box office pundits say that only the action flick Premium Rush has any chance of effectively challenging last week’s winner, but none is expected to earn more than $8-12 million. The other two are […]

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 […]

ATTENDANCE UP, TICKET PRICES UP — WHY NOT REVENUE, TOO?

Attendance at movie theaters may be up 9.2 percent from last year, but that percentage is not reflected in ticket-sales revenue of theater chains, reports have indicated. That anomaly left industry watchers scratching their heads even more on Friday when the National Association of Theatre Owners disclosed that the average price of a movie ticket […]

THANKS TO CHINA, FOX CROSSES $1-BILLION MARK OVERSEAS

Reflecting Hollywood’s increasing dependence on the expanding Chinese market, 20th Century Fox has become the third studio to cross the $1-billion mark in gross international earnings, following the lead of Disney and Warner Bros. Daily Variety pointed out that the studio was able to reach that milestone relatively quickly as a result of $286 million […]

THE AVENGERS SMASHES MORE RECORDS

The Avengers cast dark shadows over Johnny Depp’s latest weirdness — and over everything else at the weekend box office as well. The Disney/Marvel superhero spectacle became the first movie ever to gross more than $100 million over what trade reporters call a sophomore stanza, wiping out Avatar‘s previous record of $75.6 million. Its estimated […]

THE AVENGERS‘ FIRST DAY: $80.52 MILLION

The Avengers counted $80.52 million in ticket sales on Friday, its first day in domestic bliss. That figure for the Disney/Marvel superheroes blockbuster was topped only by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2‘s opening day gross of $91,071,119 last year. But 48 percent of the Potter movie’s first-day take came from midnight screenings, […]

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