November 6th, 2012
This week, a 3-film collection of films starring Javier Bardem comes out on DVD, featuring Mondays in the Sun, No Country for Old Men, and Biutiful, two of which I've previously reviewed.
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June 14th, 2011
It's not common for a TV on DVD release to top the sales chart, but that's what True Blood: Season Two did. It led all new releases and holdovers during its first week of release with 786,000 units, and generated $23.92 million in consumer spending at retail. To put this into perspective, Season Two took about a month to sell that many units.
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May 30th, 2011
It's getting to be that time of year again when the cable networks debut the new seasons for their summer shows. As a result, there are a lot of TV on DVD releases coming out to help promote the new season. One of the biggest such shows is True Blood, which just arrived on my desk. Clearly, it takes longer than an afternoon to review a full season TV on DVD release, so the review will have to wait; however, given the competition, there is an excellent chance it will be the Pick of the Week. Its main competition is the Stanley Kubrick: Limited Edition Collection Blu-ray and it really is down to a coin toss between the two.
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May 29th, 2011
Advance buzz for Biutiful was impressive and it was mentioned as a possible Awards Season player for quite some time. It stars Javier Bardem, who previously won an Oscar for No Country for Old Men. Plus it was directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, whose three previous films have all earned at least one Oscar nomination, while Babel won one Oscar out of the seven it was nominated for. In the end, it did earn two Oscar nominations, including one for Javier Bardem, but on the other hand, its Tomatometer Score was barely above the overall positive level. The signals are rather mixed.
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April 19th, 2011
The Double Hour earned top spot on the per theater chart with an average of $15,123 in two theaters. The only other film to crack the $10,000 mark was the overall box office leader, Rio, with an average of $10,250.
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March 8th, 2011
Red State started its box office run over the weekend, sort of. It played at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City at a special engagement, bringing in $161,590 for one showing. However, with ticket prices at $54, it's hardly a regular showing, so some are saying it shouldn't count. There is an argument to be made that people were paying for the Q&A with Kevin Smith and it is more accurate to consider this part of his popular speaking tour. That said, Dreamgirls also started with a premium showing at higher that usual prices and that counted. Given the number of tickets sold, even if they cost the average amount, it still would have earned $30,000, which would have still led the way on the Per Theater Chart. The only real competition was from Happythankyoumoreplease, which opened with an average of $17,532 in two theaters.
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February 27th, 2011
The Oscar are being handed out tonight and we will be going over the winners as they are announced and giving a few reactions, perhaps there will be a few surprises along the way. This story will be updated as the winners are announced, so check back throughout the evening to see if The King's Speech will be this year's winner, or if The Social Network will manage the upset. Plus there are many other potentially interesting results ahead.
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February 23rd, 2011
There were a pair of $10,000 films on the per theater chart this week, led by The Last Lions with an average of $13,336 in four theaters. I Am was relatively close behind with $10,500 in one theater.
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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.
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February 13th, 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 nominees should just feel honored to be nominated. This weekend we will look at the four acting categories, continuing with Best Lead Actor, which is possibly the least competitive of the four acting races.
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February 8th, 2011
Like last week, only one film reached the $10,000 mark on the per theater chart this past weekend. That film was Cold Weather, which beat my expectations, earning $14,513 in one theater ahead of its VOD demand later this week.
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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.
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January 30th, 2011
It looks like another slow weekend at the box office, based on studio estimates released on Sunday, but there are some signs of improvement, thanks to a couple of decent openings and some healthy performances by Oscar hopefuls.
The Rite debuted with an estimated $15 million, about in line with expectations, while The Mechanic posted $11.5 million, which is a little ahead of the consensus going into the weekend.
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January 28th, 2011
This week's collection of limited releases includes a film that is already a worldwide hit, one that earned two Oscar nominations, one opening in more than 250 theaters, and others. It will be interesting to see if the critically acclaimed films can find audiences here, or if the wider releases can fill all of those theaters.
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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.
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December 14th, 2010
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced their nominations early this morning, and there are some interesting surprises included in the mix. Leading the way was The King's Speech, which has long been seen as one of the major players this Awards Season. Meanwhile, The Fighter and The Social Network were right behind with six each. There were many, many other films nomination, including more than a few shocks. ... Mostly in one category.
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