February 24th, 2013
Independent Spirit Award were handed out yesterday and while the average moviegoer will be more focused on the Oscars tonight, a lot of great films were honored yesterday. This includes Silver Linings Playbook, which took home numerous awards, including the top prizes.
The categories and winners are...
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February 22nd, 2013
With our annual Oscar Prediction contest underway, now is the best time to look at the nominees and try to figure out who the favorites are and which films should just feel honored to be nominated. We wrap up our look at the prestigious categories with the most prestigious of them all: Best Picture. Like last year, there are nine nominees. Unlike last year, none of them were completely out of left field. That's not to say they all have a legitimate shot at winning; there's definitely a favorite. However, politics could become an issue. I don't mean politics as in Democrat vs. Republican. I mean behind-the-scenes issues might play a bigger role than what is on the screen. Let's take a look at the nominees, and their chances to claiming the crown on Sunday.
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February 22nd, 2013
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 will look at the Best Director, which is one of the stranger races this year. Before Awards Season began, I thought Kathryn Bigelow would be the favorite. She wasn't even nominated. The evidence suggests Ben Affleck will win. But again, he wasn't even nominated. So with the top two choices not even on the list of nominees, we are looking at the best of the rest.
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February 21st, 2013
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 will look at the two writing categories, starting with Best Adapted Screenplay. This is a race that is not as close as many thought it would be, and it is not the two early front-runners running away with the Oscar.
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February 21st, 2013
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. This week we will look at the four acting categories, finishing with Best Lead Actress. This race is easily the most competitive of the four acting categories this year. The person seen as the favorite has switched, more than once, and at the moment, I'm not sure who is going to win.
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January 10th, 2013
The Oscar nominations were announced this morning, and there's certainly a lot to talk about. There are some nominations that should surprise no one. For instance, Lincoln led the way with twelve nominations, and it has been seen as the major contender for a long time. However, there were also a few surprise nominations and some major snubs. Here are the list of nominations, and some reactions.
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January 6th, 2013
Producers Guild of America announced their nominations this week, including the three theatrical categories. There were a number of films on the list that have been mentioned time and time again this awards season, like Zero Dark Thirty, but there were also a few surprises.
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December 15th, 2012
We are getting closer and closer to Christmas and we are getting to the crunch time for gift shopping. After checking out first run releases and franchise box sets in Part I and TV on DVD releases in Part II, this week we look at limited releases, classics, and foreign films. Some are pretty obvious choices, as we had a few limited releases that broke into the mainstream during their theatrical releases, but there are also a few more films that slipped beneath the radar the last time around. The biggest of these is...
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December 4th, 2012
It is an awesome week for new releases on the home market. Not only is one of the biggest hits of all time coming out, but there are a number of other releases that are Pick of the Week contenders. The Dark Knight Rises, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Finding Nemo, Star Trek: The Next Generation: Season Two, My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic: Season One, Brazil, Francis Ford Coppola: 5-Film Collection - Blu-ray, and others. In the end, I went with Finding Nemo: 3D Combo Pack, but it really is an excellent week for prime releases.
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November 28th, 2012
The Independent Spirit Awards has a special place in the Awards Season. The nominations are the unoffficial start of Awards Season, but the actual awards aren't given out until Oscar weekend, so they are the beginning at the end of Awards Season. They also help out a lot of limited releases that would otherwise not get enough buzz, although they are not so good at predicting Oscar wins. This year, two films tied for most nominations, Moonrise Kingdom and The Silver Linings Playbook, both of which earned five nominations. They weren't the only films to earn multiple nominations though.
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September 12th, 2012
There were three new releases that topped $10,000 on the per theater chart. Detropia led the way with $17,414 in one theater. It should expand, but as a documentary, it will likely not expand wide. Hello I Must Be Going earned an average of $11,952 in two theaters, while Keep the Lights On was right behind with an average of $11,115 in five theaters.
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August 7th, 2012
Celeste and Jesse Forever opened in four theaters and earned just over $100,000 for an average of $26,946. This suggests a strong potential to expand. Killer Joe did expand going from three to fourteen theaters, but its theater average dipped roughly 8% to $11,647. That's an amazing hold and bodes well for the film's future.
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August 5th, 2012
The Dark Knight Rises will become the third film this year to top the weekend box office chart for three weeks running, thanks in part to another reasonably strong weekend (down 41% from last time), but mainly because Total Recall will muster only a decidedly so-so $26 million on debut, according to Sony's Sunday estimate. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days is expected to pull in about $14.7 million for Fox, rounding out another weekend where new movies have failed to catch on with audiences.
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July 31st, 2012
The Dark Knight Rises remained on top of the per theater chart with an average of $14,101 in more than 4,400 theaters. Killer Joe opened with an average of $12,621 in three theaters, while Ruby Sparks was also strong with an average of $10,832 in thirteen. Both films have some potential to expand. Deep Sea 3-D remained strong with $10,412 in its lone theater.
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July 24th, 2012
The Dark Knight Rises led the way on the per theater chart with an average of $36,532, which is excellent for an ultra-wide release. The Queen of Versailles was next with an average of $17,109 in three theaters. This does show some potential to expand, but as a documentary, it likely won't get too far. Space Station bounced back into the $10,000 club with an average of $11,540 in two theaters with Deep Sea 3-D right behind with $10,590 in one theater. The final film to crack $10,000 was The Imposter with $10,202 in its lone theater.
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July 17th, 2012
One of two Obama related films topped the per theater chart this past weekend. 2016 earned $31,610 in its lone theater, which suggests potential to earn some measure of mainstream success; however, documentaries rarely get too far. The Imposter earned $22,379, also in one theater. This also suggests some potential, but again, it is a documentary. Easy Money earned an average of $12,342 in two theaters, while Ice Age: Continental Drift was right behind with an average of $12,015.
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July 15th, 2012
Ice Age: Continental Drift will deliver a very solid $46 million over the weekend, according to Fox's Sunday morning estimate. While that's down quite a bit from the franchise's high point, The Meltdown's $68 million in 2006, it is up from the $41.7 million debut of Dawn of the Dinosaurs. If word-of-mouth is decent enough, the film should enjoy four weeks of relatively light direct competition, and might become the first title from the franchise to top $200 million domestically. Even more encouragingly for Fox, it's living up to the gigantic performances of its predecessors internationally, having already topped $200 million and broken a number of national records. The franchise as a whole has now cruised past $2 billion in global box office receipts and stands behind only Shrek among animated franchises.
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July 10th, 2012
Beasts of the Southern Wild remained on top of the per theater chart with an average $19,687 in 19 theaters. It is very close to its first major milestone and it has a lot of room to grow. The Amazing Spider-man opened in second place with an average of $14,360. Two IMAX films bounced into the $10,000 club. Deep Space 3-D and Space Station earned $13,069 and $11,996 respectively.
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July 8th, 2012
The Amazing Spider-Man has continued its strong performance through the weekend, adding another $65 million to the $75 million it accumulated through Thursday. Its $140 million total is ahead of Sony's pre-release prediction, but mostly in line with independent analysis. With only Ice Age: Continental Drift opening next weekend, it will have a clear couple of weeks to pick up the teenage crowd and something over $200 million, before being blown away by The Dark Knight Rises on July 20. The weekend's other two debutantes are less amazing.
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July 4th, 2012
Beasts of the Southern Wild was the latest limited release to have a monster start on the per theater chart. It earned $170,000 in four theaters for an average of $42,426. To Rome With Love was pushed into second place with an average of $23,872 in 29 theaters. Up next was a trio of wide releases starting with Ted with $16,800. Magic Mike and Tyler Perry's Madea's Witness Protection were close behind with $13,354 and $11,749. It's rare for three wide releases to reach the $10,000 mark on the per theater chart.
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July 1st, 2012
A huge opening for Ted and better-than-expected starts for both Magic Mike and Tyler Perry's Madea's Witness Protection will add up to an impressive weekend for the industry, based on Sunday's studio estimates. Even with a tough comparison (July 4 fell on a Monday last year), the total for this weekend should be about on par with the same weekend last year.
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June 29th, 2012
There are not a lot of limited releases on this week's list; however, all of them are earning overwhelmingly positive reviews. Beasts of the Southern Wild is probably the film that will do the best, as it has the reviews and the buzz. Take this Waltz's Tomatometer Score isn't quite as high, but it has a lot more star power and might turn out to be the big winner on the per theater chart this weekend. Neil Young Journeys is earning perfect reviews so far, and the musician has proved in the past his concerts can draw in moviegoers. Hopefully all of the films do well and the competition doesn't result in one or more being unfairly overlooked by moviegoers.
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