Box Office Has A Sexy Rebound

A better than expected opening for Sex and the City, a decent second weekend for Indiana Jones, and still great legs from Iron Man powered the weekend box office up 28% from the same weekend last year. A year ago there were no meaningful new openings and the top three films were the third versions […]

Box Office Turns Up. Finally.

After falling year-over-year, often substantially for eight of the past nine weeks, the weekend box office offered a respite. Led by better than expected openings for the top two films, The Forbidden Kingdom from Lionsgate and Forgetting Sarah Marshall from GE’s Universal Pictures, the top 12 films grossed 12.4% more than the same weekend a […]

The Big Picture on Movie Studios

With all the writing I do on the movie business, sometimes I fear that I miss the big picture. Weekly box office or holiday DVD sales can be important factors in short-term trading of movie-related stocks but the long-term trends are less volatile and more important for a fundamentally based investor like me. With that […]

Weekend Box Office and Weather Channel Updates

The weekend box office fell by 33% against what is probably the toughest comparison it will face until May. The box office has now declined for 5 straight weekends but remains up almost 7% year to date. Comps may remain negative for a few more weeks but the rate of decline should moderate significantly. Analyst […]

Studios and Theatres Finalize Plans for Digital Upgrade

Reuters is reporting that theatre chains representing 40% of North American screens and the major movie studios have finally agreed to a financing plan to upgrade 14,000 movie screens to digital and 3-D capable technology. The upgrade will cost about $1.1 billion or $70,000 to $75,000 per screen. Studios, theatres, and other content providers would […]

Final Wrap-Up of 2007 Box Office

The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) released its package of theatrical market statistics for 2007 last week. Most of the data I have already recounted in my many updates about the box office. However, there is some interesting data, especially as it relates to the major movie studios which are owned by Disney, News […]

Box Office Recovery Continues

The box office continued its late year recovery with the three day weekend for the top 12 films rising 40% from a year ago. This strong performance builds the prior weekend’s gain of 37%. As recently as December 13th, the quarterly box office was running down 9.5% but two weekends of strong gains have reduced […]

A Legendary Weekend At The Box Office

Proving once again that people will buy tickets when there is appealing in the theatres, the weekend box office rose 38% for the top twelve films according to BoxOfficeMojo.com. It’s easy to point to home theatres or digital distribution but this past weekend and last summer showed that demand for the movie theatre experience remains […]

Weekend Box Office Turns Up

A strong opening for Disney’s Enchanted, a surprisingly good opening for This Christmas, and decent showing for another 6 to 8 films led the box office to an up weekend following two straight negative weekend comparisons. The top 12 films pulled in 4.4% more than a year ago according to BoxOfficeMojo.com. The depth of films […]

Box Office Struggles Again

The winning streak at the weekend box office didn’t last long. After last weekend saw a string of six straight down weekends snapped, this weekend was back in negative territory. A disappointing opening for Fred Claus from Time Warner’s Warner Brothers studios was the primary culprit in an 11% year-over-year decline for the top 12 […]