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Peter Bart and Mike Fleming Jr. worked together for two decades at Daily Variety. In this occasional column, two old friends get together and grind their axes, mostly on the movie business. BART: I am a collector of movie cycles. When I started in the movie business, Hollywood was in its ’70s indie cycle (but not…

UPDATED, 12:25 PM, 2:28 PM: Paramount Pictures just released its final grosses for the international start of its Terminator: Genisys and it earned $8.4M in 10 markets so it’s off to a good start ahead of its holiday bow stateside this weekend. Universal’s next is its worldwide animated franchise Minions, its raunch…

11th UPDATE, Monday, 3:36 PM: Jurassic World took the world’s stage for a global bow of $524.4M and 40% of that came from North American audiences. The Colin Treverrow-helmed family film accounted for 70% of the weekend’s gross among titles from the majors and lifted the box office up overall year-to-date from where…

UPDATED, MONDAY, 9:18 AM, 11:26 AM and 1:20 PM PT: Market breakdowns for Jurassic World, which broke records around the world this morning, are in below as is Disney, Fox and Warner Bros.’s titles such as San Andreas. Internationally, JW's final gross ended up with a $315.3M tally, which means it officially passed Harr…

Monday, FINAL UPDATE, 2:38 PM: All pictures (but Disney’s) were down from their Sunday studio estimates this weekend but the real news is this is the third soft box office weekend in a row. The box office is off 18.9% from 2014 when The Fault in Our Stars opened to $48M and Maleficent had $34.2M in its coffers. The…

4th UPDATE, 1:39 PM, PT: Universal Pictures’ Jurassic World, which is expected to make a large international footprint, will open in 66 markets, including China and France in only a couple of days, on Wednesday, June 10. As we wait, this weekend’s San Andreas opened in China to $51M after six days, marking the highest…

Peter Bart and Mike Fleming Jr. worked together for two decades at Daily Variety. In this weekly column, two old friends get together and grind their axes, mostly on the movie business. BART: One of the first things I learned when I started working for film studios was that every executive thinks he knows what makes…

The third time continues to be the “charm” for director Paul Feig and star Melissa McCarthy. First time out the pair scored with the massive hit, Bridesmaids which won a rare Oscar nod for McCarthy’s broad comic turn. Then came another smash, The Heat with Sandra Bullock joining McCarthy and now perhaps the best yet…

The well-reviewed Melissa McCarthy comedy Spy is playing well in matinees for Fox after a half-day of previews yesterday and looks to trump the second weekend of the disaster pic San Andreas. Spy could take in around $11.8M to $13M+ today for a possible $33M to $35.5M weekend, compared to maybe $10M to $12M for Warner…

Focus Features/Gramercy’s Insidious: Chapter 3 frightened $1.55M out of moviegoers’ wallets into theaters’ cash drawers last night while 20th Century Fox’s Spy rang up $1.5M in Thursday night previews. Previews began at 7 PM for Insidious: Chapter 3 in 2,150 theaters, while Spy kicked off at 5 PM. While the horror…

This coming weekend is so busy at the box office that it’s literally starting tonight. Warner Bros’ Entourage, the big-screen version of the glitzy Hollywood HBO series, will be the first of three wide releases to open with 7 PM previews. Friday brings 20th Century Fox/The Chernin Group’s R-rated Melissa McCarthy…

Updated with latest Disney, Warner Bros, Uni and Fox figures, Tuesday 3:51PM: Walt Disney's sci-fi adventure Tomorrowland came in first among new releases overseas with a $32.1M from 65 territories representing roughly 56% of the international marketplace. Combined with its North American 4-day tally of $42.6M that…