2020 Awards Season: Oscar Nominations

January 13th, 2020

The Oscar nominations were announced on Monday, and the results were... well, there were some puzzling results. Joker led the way with eleven nominations. ... A film with 69% positive reviews earned the most nominations. It’s not the worst-reviewed movie to earn a Best Picture Nomination—after all, Bohemian Rhapsody was nominated just last year. However, this film is arguably the worst-reviewed movie to ever earn the most nominations in a single year. More...

Home Market Releases for July 16th, 2019

July 18th, 2019

It’s the middle of summer, at least according to the movie industry, which explains why there are so few prime releases this weekend. In fact, after Shazam!, there’s almost nothing here that can be considered a real box office hit. As for the competition for Pick of the Week, well, that list is just as short with only one contender from this week, Klute: Criterion Collection. Although both late reviews, Bachman (DVD or Blu-ray) and Furie (DVD or Blu-ray Combo Pack), are worth picking up as well. More...

Home Market Releases for July 2nd, 2019

July 3rd, 2019

It’s Anime week on the Home Market Release Report with more than half a dozen titles on the main list, as well as a few more in the secondary Blu-ray list. In fact, the only real contender for Pick of the Week is an Anime title, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Set 4, Part 1, but it is not the only Anime title worth owning, as Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card - Part Two, Mobile Suit Gundam The Origin, and Steins;Gate 0 Part One and Part Two are also worth picking up. If you want something live action, then go with We Have Always Lived in the Castle. More...

Friday Estimates: Endgame Nearly Matches The Force Awakens

May 4th, 2019

Avengers: Endgame dominated the Friday box office with $40.64 million for the day. By comparison, The Force Awakens earned $49.33 million during its second Friday of release; however that was Christmas Day, which is one of the best days of the year. Endgame should have better legs over the rest of the weekend and could close the gap by the end of Sunday. I’m not convinced that will happen, but it should still beat our $140 million prediction, so I’m sure Disney will be more than happy with this performance. Furthermore, the film topped $500 million in just its eighth day of release, beating The Force Awakens previous record of 10 days, and will get to $600 million by the end of the weekend, 2 days faster than Awakens reached that milestone. More...

Weekend Wrap-Up: Endgame Ends the Record Book, Practically Laps the Competition

April 29th, 2019

Avengers: Endgame was expected to break records with some high-end predictions going as high as $350 million. Its final weekend numbers actually topped the high end expectations, as it opened with $357.12 million. This is almost exactly $100 million more than the previous record, set this weekend last year by Avengers: Infinity War. In fact, it is significantly more than the previous record for an overall weekend, set a few years back by The Force Awakens et al. Needless to say, the overall box office rose considerably from last weekend, up 270% to $402 million. More importantly, this was 29% more than the same weekend last year and this one weekend put a serious dent in 2019’s deficit in the year-over-year comparisons. Granted, 2019 is still behind 2018’s pace by more than 11% or $420 million at $3.28 billion to $3.70 billion. I suspect May will also be a very good month in the year-over-year comparison so hopefully that gap will be more reasonable in a month’s time. I don’t think 2019 will catch up to 2018 any time soon, but if it can cut the deficit in raw dollars in half by the end of May, then I will be happy. More...

Weekend Estimates: Endgame Earns $350 million in Domestic Debut

April 28th, 2019

As expected, Avengers: Endgame is dominating the weekend with an estimated $350 million. Unsurprisingly, this sets a new record for opening weekend, topping the previous champion, Avengers: Infinity War, by just close to $100 million. It is also enough to push the film into ninth place on the M.C.U. chart after just three days of release. Its international numbers are looking even better, at a jaw-dropping $859 million. More on that coming shortly… More...

Friday Estimate: Endgame Smashes Record Book

April 27th, 2019

“Hulk Smash!” is a common phrase in the comics and it’s clear Avengers: Endgame is following Hulk’s lead. The film pulled in $156.7 million on Friday. This not only absolutely demolishes the previous record for biggest single day at the domestic box office, it is already more than The Incredible Hulk made in its entire run. It took less than 30 hours from the start of the movie’s previews to rise out of last place in the M.C.U.. This is simply stunning. Furthermore, thanks to the film’s 96%-positive reviews and its unbelievable A plus from CinemaScore, it could have decent legs. Granted, it is the definition of a Fanboy film and it is clear many people rushed out to theaters to see it, but there were also so many sold out shows that even many of the hardcore fans will have to wait until Saturday or Sunday to see the movie. I would put the over / under of the weekend total at nearly $350 million, which is well above our original prediction. This is also more than over a dozen films in the M.C.U. earned domestically and it will be just days away from entering the top five for the franchise. More...

Weekend Prediction: Will Endgame Spell the End of the Record Book?

April 25th, 2019

Avengers: Endgame opens this weekend and it’s overstating things only fractionally to say that nothing else at the box office matters. Endgame will earn more during its Thursday night previews than any other film will earn during the full weekend. In fact, it could earn more opening day than any other film released this April will earn in total. It’s only competition is Avengers: Infinity War, which opened this weekend last year. All available evidence suggests Endgame will easily win this race and propel 2019 to a massive win in the year-over-year competition. It won’t be enough to close the gap with 2018 entirely, but it will be an important step in turning 2019’s box office around. More...

Weekend Wrap-Up: Curse Tops Chart, but 2019 Suffers Another Loss

April 23rd, 2019

Easter weekend gave box office watchers a few reasons to celebrate. The Curse of La Llorona topped expectations and earned first place with $26.35 million over the weekend. That’s a very strong debut for this time of year. Additionally, both Shazam and Captain Marvel held on amazingly well, which bodes well for their chances against Avengers: Endgame. Overall, the box office rose 1% from last weekend to $108 million. This was 14% lower than the same weekend last year, and it wasn’t Easter weekend last year. On a side note, I’ve seen some stories call this past weekend the worst Easter weekend in over a decade. However, this is misleading, as it was the first time Easter weekend was one weekend before the start of the Summer Blockbuster season. Avengers: Endgame opening on Friday had more to do with the weak box office than any other factor and if Endgame is as big as some box office analysts expect, then by this time next week, we will be talking about how quickly 2019 will turn things around rather than how bad 2019 has been. In the meantime, we’ve hopefully sunk to the low point in the year-over-year comparison, as 2019 is now behind 2018 by a $570 million or 17% margin at $2.84 billion to $3.41 billion. More...

Weekend Estimates: La Llorona is the Best of the Weekend

April 21st, 2019

The Curse of La Llorona is leading the way on the weekend chart with a surprising $26.51 million. Granted, this is the weakest opening in the The Conjuring franchise, while its reviews and B minus from CinemaScore suggest short legs. Also, Avengers: Endgame opens in just a handful of days, so it will be pushed into the smallest screens in most multiplexes very soon. That said, the film reportedly only cost $9 million to make and < HREF="https://www.the-numbers.com/market/distributor/Warner-Bros">Warner Bros.’ share of the opening weekend will be close to double that. Internationally, the film is opening even better with an estimated $30 million debut. On the downside, it is playing in 71 markets already, so it has very few major markets left to open in. More...

Friday Estimates: Curses! Box Office is Foiled Again

April 20th, 2019

The Curse of La Llorona got off to a fantastic start on Friday with $11.8 million during its opening day. This is a stronger opening day than Pet Sematary managed, but not as strong as its preview numbers were in comparison to Pet Sematary, so it likely won’t have the same legs. This isn’t surprising, as its reviews are much worse and it is part of a long-running franchise. Both of those factors tend to shorten legs. On the positive side, it earned a B minus from CinemaScore, which is actually really good for a horror film. The Curse of La Llorona would have to have tragically short legs to not earn first place after a start like this. Look for an opening weekend of $26 million. More...

Thursday Night Previews: Breaking the Curse

April 19th, 2019

The Curse of La Llorona opened with $2.75 million in previews. This is more than Pet Sematary managed a couple of weeks ago. However, this film is earning much weaker reviews and, since it is part of a franchise, it could have shorter legs. That said, even with short legs, it should still top our prediction and earn first place for the weekend with about $20 million. More...

Weekend Prediction: Can Shazam Continue its Streak or will New Releases Break Through?

April 19th, 2019

It’s Easter weekend and, while it is not a true long weekend, there are enough kids out of school to give the box office a boost. On the negative side, Avengers: Endgame comes out next weekend and no one wants to try to compete against that. Because of this, none of the three wide releases this weekend are in the top tier. The one with the biggest potential is The Curse of La Llorona, but it is also earning the worst reviews of the weekend. Breakthrough is the first film made by Fox to come out since the studio’s acquisition by Disney was finalized, so there’s some significance there. Finally there’s Penguins, a film I thought would be a hit, but isn’t garnering much attention. This is not a strong contingent of new releases and Shazam could remain on top. This weekend last year wasn’t Easter weekend, so maybe that will give 2019 the edge. I don’t think 2019 will win in the year-over-year competition, but hopefully it will at least be close. More...

2019 Preview: April

April 1st, 2019

March was a good month at the box office with most films beating expectations. The biggest hit was Captain Marvel, which is still on pace for $400 million domestically and may have crossed $1 billion worldwide by the time you read this. The biggest “miss” was Dumbo, but it is still going to top $100 million domestically with ease. This month, it is a battle between Avengers: Endgame and last year’s Infinity War. To be fair, A Quiet Place got last April off to a very fast start and Shazam! should do the same this year, so there will be more than one potential box office hit to talk about. That said, Endgame will almost certainly open with more than any other April release earns in total and if 2019 is going to cut into its deficit with 2018, it will be on the back of that one film. More...

Breakthrough Trailer

January 22nd, 2019

Faith-based drama starring Chrissy Metz and Josh Lucas opens on April 17 ... Full Movie Details. More...