When it comes to evaluating the financial performance of top movies, it isn't about what a film grosses at the box office. The true tale is told when production budgets, P&A, talent participations and other costs collide with box office grosses and ancillary revenues from VOD to DVD and TV. To get close to that mysteri…

Not viewing himself as a comic book fan when he interviewed for 2011's Captain America: The First Avenger, visual effects supervisor Christopher Townsend was surprised that he got that job, and even more so, that his relationship with the studio has continued through several films. Townsend's collaboration with Marvel…

EXCLUSIVE: Rather than rush its movie trailer report out right after the Super Bowl, social media monitor RelishMix waits a bit to see which spots truly hit in the ether following their play before an audience of 103.4 million. In the wake of NBC charging an average of $5M per 30-second spot for this year’s Big Game…

Redbox, which has battled multiple Hollywood studios in court over its rightful place in the movie ecosystem, is now selling discounted digital downloads of Disney films despite not having a formal relationship with the No. 1 studio. Third-party sellers had previously supplied the kiosk operator with physical copies…

James Gunn has been dropping hints about something “amazing” that would be posted on social media. Seeing that he is a major player in the MCU tribe, thoughts immediately went to something involving the Guardians of the Galaxy cast involvement in the upcoming Infinity War — perhaps the trailer shown at D23 and…

Update, Aug. 5: She’s not done yet. After becoming the highest-grossing film of the summer and the second-highest of the year, Warner Bros./DC’s Wonder Woman will cross the $400M mark at the domestic box office on Monday, becoming one of 19 titles to clock in that range on the all-time U.S/Canada chart. Worldwide she…

Internationally, Disney is experiencing a nice run, with Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales crossing $100M in China and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 set to pass $800M worldwide today. The news comes as Pirates chalked up another $39.4M on Tuesday to bring its total now to $365.7M For Pirates, the…

UPDATED, Tuesday 12:19 PM: Final numbers are in for Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales and yesterday it took in another $55.5M to bring its global gross to $326M (that includes the $247.8M thru the U.S. Memorial Day holiday). The $326M earned by the fifth installment of the Jerry Bruckheimer…

UPDATE, writethru: Ridley Scott's Alien: Covenant ventured into another 52 offshore markets this frame. In 76 total, it bit off $30.3M and saw No. 1s in 30 new hubs while maintaining the top spot in six holdover plays. The international box office cume is now $81.9M. This is lower than hoped, but hope springs with…

20th Century Fox’s Alien: Covenant is expected to claw its way to the top of the weekend box office with a $35 million-$40 million opening frame, ending the two-weekend reign of Disney/Marvel’s Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 which will land in second in the low-$30M range. Covenant will be in play at about 3,600…

TUESDAY UPDATE, writethru with actuals: Offshore rollout began this weekend on Ridley Scott’s Alien: Covenant, luring $40.1M worth of moviegoers to see the Xenomorphs in action in 34 markets. That's about $2M down from the Sunday estimates, but is not attributable to any one market and is squarely within projection…

MONDAY UPDATE, 7:11 AM: Yesterday was a day for moms at the movies, with 20th Century Fox’s R-rated comedy Snatched grossing $8.05 million repping an amazing 25% Sunday box office boost over Saturday for a final opening take of $19.5M in second place. And Snatched wasn’t the only movie getting a hug from mom…