Box office analysis for the week of October 12th.  Happy Columbus Day. 
 

Our partners at The Numbers offer this list of top Columbus Day film openings of all time, led by Taken 2 (2012) starring Liam Neeson and Meet The Parents (2000) starring Robert DeNiro. Both actors are active in the box office this October, with DeNiro starring 101 Studio's The War with Grandpa which opened this weekend and Neeson starring in next weekend's opener Honest Thief from Open Road Films.

The War with Grandpa led all films this weekend with $3.6M playing at 2,250 locations across North America. Check out our Popcorn Previews Boxoffice Buzz video, reviewing results from opening weekend of The War with Grandpa.

Tenet produced $2.1M in week six of what should be a very long run in theatres. The Domestic cume for the Christopher Nolan thriller now stands at $48.3M.  Miraculously, Disney's re-release of its 1993 Halloween-themed family comedy Hocus Pocus played at over 2100 theatres across North America and generated $1.2M in weekend ticket sales.

Our summary of Industry News explores the dynamics driving the ever-changing studio release calendar and the impact of these changes on exhibitors. At the end of the week, Disney announced that it would bypass theatres with its Pixar animated original film Soul and release it on Disney+, available for subscribers to stream beginning Christmas Day.

Gower Street brings good news from international markets, with this week's focus on strong box office results from China. The world's second largest box office market is poised to overtake the US, at least for 2020, based on its strong ticket sales at theatres to see a steady slate of locally produced films.  While the contrast with the US market is poignant, it provides a strong indication that that US box office will recover at the point when studios are once again releasing major new titles and audiences feel safe to return to cinemas to enjoy them.

In the Hollywood Report, Martin Grove re-discovers the legendary success of American International Pictures, the prolific producer of B-movie entertainment from the 1950's through 70's.

We conclude with our regular film data tables. The Weekly Film Calendar provides details on film releases through the end of the year.  We also list last week's studio release changes, MPAA film ratings announcements and important new trailers.