Scott Mendelson
Box office/industry analyst (Puck, The Outside Scoop); data‑driven analysis of grosses, release strategies, and theatrical economics.
Obsession Posts Massive 30% Second‑weekend Surge
Weekend #boxoffice -- @focusfeatures and @blumhouse's breakout sleeper smash 'Obsession' earned 30% more in its second weekend ($22.4 million) than it did in its first ($17.2 million). That’s one of the very biggest second-weekend jumps for any 600-plus screen release not opening around Christmas.
Obsession Is the Timely Blumhouse Chiller We Need
Nitpicks and criticisms aside, Curry Barker’s ‘Obsession’ is exactly the kind of here-and-now chiller that Blumhouse should be releasing in theatres.
Sheep Detectives Tops $16M, Cameron’s Film Underwhelms
‘The Sheep Detectives’ opens with $16 million. Meanwhile, for the second time in five months, a James Cameron movie only opens “pretty well" partially thanks to it debuting amid a very healthy COVID-era theatrical ecosystem. ,
Mortal Kombat Sequel Doubles Domestic
The R-rated video game follow-up opened to nearly double that of its 2021 predecessor while nearly matching the previous ‘Mortal Kombat’s lifetime domestic totals, but overseas is a different story
Cameron's New Film Breaks 30-Year #1 Streak
In non-'Mortal Kombat’ news, ‘Hit Me Hard and Soft 3-D’ will mark James Cameron’s first movie to not open atop the weekend charts since ‘The Abyss’ back in 1989. His average global gross for his last five wide-release films will...
Billie Eilish Doc Tops Weekend, Beats ‘
The Billie Ellish documentary, co-directed by James Cameron, earned $2.2 million heading into the weekend as 'The Sheep Detectives' nabbed $1 million in early showings.
The Sheep Detectives Rivals ET, Babe, Paddington 2
THE SHEEP DETECTIVES is so charming, so engrossing, so moving, and so superb a combination of movie magic, genre-specific delights and kid-friendly pathos that, yes, I'd compare it to ET, BABE and PADDINGTON 2.
Mortal Kombat II Thrives by Prioritizing Action Over Lore
While hamstrung by its predecessor’s mistakes, New Line’s ‘Mortal Kombat II’ fortunately prioritizes action and gore over mythology and lore.
Profit Drives Sequel for Truly Successful Original Films
I'd prefer almost no nostalgia-skewing IP revivals, but 'The Devil Wears Prada 2' shows the obvious commercial value in prioritizing films that were actually popular and successful.
Event Films Can Thrive Without Action or Male Focus
The Anne Hathaway and Meryl Streep-led decades-later sequel is yet another example that an event movie need not just be a fantastical action franchise flick aimed at boys. (@scott_alan_mendelson's weekend #boxoffice punditry specifically for THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA 2’s domestic...
Michael Poised to Eclipse Oppenheimer as Top Drama
Unless it plays like AMERICAN SNIPER and PASSION OF THE CHRIST, which pulled just ridiculous grosses for the first two weeks before (comparatively) slowing down, #Michael may challenge OPPENHEIMER as the biggest-grossing ($975 million worldwide) straight-up drama ever.
HOKUM And
HOKUM is set to score the fourth-biggest opening ever for NEON, while Renny Harlin’s DEEP WATER will nab Magenta Light’s biggest (by default, natch) opening weekend yet. However, ANIMAL FARM is indeed doomed to be more talked about than seen.
New Line
As likely the final follow-up to a released-in-2021 Warner Bros. box office success story, history suggests New Line’s R-rated video game-based sequel will open well above its COVID-era predecessor.
Box‑Office Hit “Michael” Poised for Oscar Run
As an aspirational box office success ($116M in 5 days) that industry folks potentially liked more than critics, in an oft-nominated genre (the music biopic) from a studio (Lionsgate) unlikely to have other FYC priorities, MICHAEL has an inside track...
Jackson Biopic's Delay Renders Him Irrelevant to Industry
In a skewed irony, the King of Pop’s much-anticipated biopic had been delayed for so long that, by the time it debuted, the theatrical industry and Lionsgate no longer needed #Michael to save their butts.