June 7th, 2011
The summer is usually a really weak time for home market releases, but this week is amazing. Not only are there two $100 million hits coming out on DVD / Blu-ray this week, but there are also half-a-dozen TV on DVD releases, a few limited releases, direct-to-DVD releases, and catalog titles, many of which are worth picking up, or even contenders for Pick of the Week. I tried to narrow the list of contenders down to one, but I couldn't do it. In the end I went with Leverage: Season Three on DVD and True Grit on Blu-ray / DVD Combo Pack as co-winners of the Pick of the Week.
More...
March 15th, 2011
It was an amazing week on the per theater chart, even if you ignore Red State's special showings. The latest Kevin Smith offering added more than $100,000 over the weekend, at two special showings, for an average of $51,283. At this pace, it's going to start hitting major milestones before its theatrical debut this fall. Meanwhile, Jane Eyre had the best per theater average for a regular release this year at $45,721 in four theaters. The good news doesn't end there as Kill The Irishman opened with an average of $29,086 in five theaters, which also suggests the ability to expand significantly. Certified Copy earned close to $80,000 in five theaters for an average of $15,587. That would have been enough to lead the way many weekends so far this year. 3 Backyards opened with $11,000 in one theater, while the overall number one film, Battle: Los Angeles opened with an average of $10,411 in more than 3400 theaters.
More...
February 15th, 2011
Strong reviews and an impressive cast helped Cedar Rapids top the per theater chart with an average of $20,198 in 15 theaters. Vidal Sassoon: The Movie was the only other film to reach an average of $10,000 with $13,053 in its lone theater.
More...
February 6th, 2011
With our annual Oscar Prediction contest underway, now is the best time to look at the nominees and try and figure out who the favorites are and which films should just feel honored to be nominated. Today we look at Best Original Screenplay, which is not only one of the more competitive categories this year, it is also one of the harder ones to predict due to complications with other awards.
More...
February 1st, 2011
There's was only one film able to top $10,000 on the per theater chart and that film was Kaboom, which made $13,714 in one theater.
More...
January 25th, 2011
The Oscar nominations were announced this morning, thus ending months of speculation. Along with a (very) few surprises, the list of nominees is mostly a case of Deja Vu. Leading the way, as it has so often this year, was The King's Speech, with 12 nominations, including six in seven of the most prestigious categories (Best Picture, Director, Screenplay, and the four acting categories). But it was far from the only multi-nominated film on the list.
More...
January 11th, 2011
Phil Ochs: There But For Fortune opened on top of the per theater chart with $18,211 in one theater over the weekend and $26,846 since Wednesday. This pushed Blue Valentine into second place with an average of $17,608; however, Valentine also saw its theater count balloon from 4 to 40. Another Year added one more theater, but it wasn't enough to keeps its overall box office level, as its average slipped to $12,466. The Illusionist hung on with an average of $10,996, but I think it has taken too long and it might be too late to expand significantly.
More...
January 4th, 2011
The final weekend of the year saw no less than six films topping the $10,000 mark on the per theater chart. Leading the way was Blue Valentine with an average of $48,432 over the weekend and it already has close to $300,000 in just four theaters since Wednesday. Country Strong saw its average grow to $20,753, but it was still pushed to second place due to the competition. Another Year opened in third with $18,645 in six theaters, while Somewhere remained steady with $17,302 in eight. The Illusionist grew by 20% to $15,472, but it did have an extra day, as last weekend it opened on Saturday. The final $10,000 film was The King's Speech, which earned more than $7 million in 700 theaters for an average of $11,108.
More...
January 2nd, 2011
With no new wide releases over New Year's weekend, this week's was a battle of the holdovers at the box office, and thanks to the fact that Christmas Eve (a slow day at the box office) fell on a Friday in 2010, the weekend-to-weekend comparison for each movie generally looked good.
Curiously, though, the top three movies all declined from last weekend while all the other movies in the top 20 saw increases.
With plenty of films to choose from, audiences spent over $4 million on at least 13 different films, seven of which topped $10 million.
That's not quite a record (no less than nine movies earned over $10 million over MLK weekend in 2001), but it is unusual.
More...
December 31st, 2010
If you are interested in winning Oscars, this is the last chance for a theatrical release to qualify for the awards this year. So it comes as no surprise that there are a handful of Oscar hopefuls coming out this weekend. One of them, Blue Valentine, has already earned some success during Awards Season and it looks like that will translate into at least some success theatrically.
More...
