What the F is going on. 3 months ago Black Panther would have been a win if it opened over 70m. Now we are talking 160 plus for 3-day weekend. Some are even saying over 200 for the 4 day. Speechless. This hype train is express. I do think social media hype is skewing this. I am saying 145m for the 3-day. #fightme #iamprobablywrong

I walk through the top films of 2017. I talk about a few clear holistic trends as well. One, women ruled the top 3. I can't think of any other year where the top 3 films all had female leads. Also props to Patty Jenkins for breaking the ceiling for female directors. Two, horror films are resurgent on both the artistic and commercial fronts. We had a perfect storm of great art happening and big bucks being made. Three, my favorite tragedy, the R-Rated comedy finally died this year. And much more!

Yeah I officially don't get Jumanji. Dropping like a feather along with Greatest Showman. Just bizarre. 

Jan genre films holding well: 12 Strong, Den of Thieves had 45% drops. Insidious 4 passed 60 million.

Oscar bump is a myth? Lots of theater expansions for Oscar movies, but I am not seeing a lot of real results. Per Theater Averages aren't pretty for these expansions.

No one can stop it. Jumanji is the Patriot's of the holiday box office. I mean we are 3 weeks into 2018 and Jumanji is cruising past 300 million in its 5th weekend. Bonkers. The Greatest Showman is also having an amazing run in the doldrums of Jan.

The genre flicks that often call Janruary home are doing well. Commuter had decent 2nd weekend. 12 Strong open ok, and Den of Thieves mildly overperformed.

Well well, we are two weeks into 2018 and Jumanji is the biggest story. Crazy talk three weeks ago. The Commuter underperformed and the Paddington and Proud Mary were even worse. The usual Jan doldrums are being warded off by the holiday holdover winners like Jumanji and Greatest Showman. Arthouse is doing alright but the Globes didn't get good tv ratings and the box office didnt get a big bump.

Well it was suppose to be quiet, but Jumanji's insane hold rocked the box office this weekend. Then Insidious puts up 30 million for an opening weekend. Really bonkers for first post-holiday weekend.

How was 2017 at the box office? Good, bad? Meh? Well it turns out it was not a great year, like I predicted during the Great Box Office Crash of Summer 2017. The losses over the summer, especially August, made it impossible for the year to break even from last year.

I also take a look at the much bigger picture. Where is the movie theater business going? The rags will say it was just a down year, next year it will be up. But will it?