Disney (NYSE: DIS) had something of a magical weekend at the domestic box office. The company's new film, G-Force, a 3D-powered property, grossed an estimated $32 million according to Boxofficemojo, good for first place. Believe it or not, that was enough to take out Time Warner's (NYSE: TWX) Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, which dropped to second place (last weekend it debuted at number one, of course) with about $30 million.

These are estimated numbers at the time of this writing. When the final stats come out, it is conceivable that the rankings could change since we're talking about a difference of a mere $2 million. But I think they stand a good chance of staying the same.

Continue reading Disney's new rodent stars challenge Time Warner's 'Potter'

Disney's new rodent stars challenge Time Warner's 'Potter' originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 27 Jul 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

According to Boxofficemojo, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was the top film at the domestic box office over the three-day weekend. I'm sure this didn't surprise Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) shareholders. The latest installment of the popular fantasy series took in about $79 million as of early estimates. However, Prince actually opened last Wednesday. If you add in monies derived from the Wednesday and Thursday showings, you've got a gross of about $159 million so far.

This compares favorably to Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which opened in July 2007. Phoenix made just under $140 million during its five-day debut. I like such growth. It shows that the franchise retains a good quantity of demand.

Continue reading Time Warner's wizard works wonders yet again at the box office

Time Warner's wizard works wonders yet again at the box office originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 20 Jul 2009 09:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

According to Boxofficemojo, Bruno came out on top this past weekend at domestic theaters. It was expected. Since this is the follow-up to Sacha Baron Cohen's comedic phenomenon Borat, it was only natural for the rest of the competition to step aside and let the project through.

However, I have to wonder if General Electric (NYSE: GE) was truly happy with a $30 million estimated opening. Borat came out in November 2006. It opened with $26.5 million. I honestly thought Bruno would have debuted somewhere between $40 million and $50 million. Was that too high of a financial goal?

Continue reading 'Bruno' is number one -- but was the market expecting more?

'Bruno' is number one -- but was the market expecting more? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 13 Jul 2009 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The domestic box-office estimates for the July 4th holiday weekend are in. According to Boxofficemojo, at the time of this writing, the results are too close to call. Both Viacom's (NYSE: VIA) Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and News Corp.'s (NASDAQ: NWS) Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs are credited with the same amount of money: $42.5 million. Boxofficemojo is giving Dinosaurs the edge for now and calling it the top movie, presumably because the per-theater average for the computer cartoon is slightly higher.

I previously discussed News Corp.'s strong opening with Dinosaurs, but unfortunately, I'm not so sure the movie lived up to it. When the second Ice Age was released back in 2006, it scored $68 million in its three-day debut weekend. Dinosaurs didn't do as well, but let's take into account the film's Wednesday opening, and tally up the gross for the five-day period, since some of the excitement that might have been reserved for the weekend could have been spread over the mid-week showings. Even by that standard, as of the current estimate, Dinosaurs has taken in a little less than the second Ice Age.

Continue reading Were News Corp.'s 'Ice Age' sequel and GE's 'Public Enemies' disappointments?

Were News Corp.'s 'Ice Age' sequel and GE's 'Public Enemies' disappointments? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 06 Jul 2009 09:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

I found an interesting article in this morning's New York Post examining the poor performance of NBC Universal's Universal Studios of late. In fact, Jeff Zucker of NBC -- a part of General Electric (NYSE: GE) -- is "so concerned" about the unit's performance that he sent his chief financial officer to Hollywood for a month in order to "get more educated on the studio." Before I give my opinion on how to fix the studio (and you know I have one), let's take a look at how good the year has been.

Will Ferrell's Land of the Lost cost $100 million to make, but it brought in $44 million through last Friday. It is this catastrophic flop that caught the attention of Zucker and has him wanting answers from studio boss Ron Meyer. A source noted, "It's really the first time [Zucker] is asking Ron to explain things," as Meyer basically had free rein to run the studio. Zucker now wants to know Meyer's process for greenlighting movies and determining production and marketing budgets.

Continue reading Will summer flops doom Universal?

Will summer flops doom Universal? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 29 Jun 2009 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.