2020 - Awards Season: Golden Globes Winners

January 6th, 2020

The Golden Globes winners were announced on Sunday and we have some interesting developments for the rest of Awards Season. 1917 wasn’t considered a front-runner with five films earning more nominations. However, after this result, it might be the front-runner to become the big winner on Oscar night. More...

2019 - Holiday Gift Guide - Part III - Limited Releases, Classics, Foreign Imports

December 16th, 2019

The first two installments of our Holiday Gift Guide had plenty of first-run releases and several TV on DVD releases. This installment includes limited releases and foreign imports. The list of classics isn’t up to the usual standards for the same reasons the TV on DVD list was rather short. Streaming is taking over that part of the market. Did you know The Criterion Collection has their own streaming service? So does Magnolia Pictures. On the one hand, that’s a lot of amazing movies for one price. On the other hand, as a fan of physical media, I’m not happy streaming is becoming so popular. There are still some great smaller titles worthy of the season. More...

2020 Awards Season: Golden Globes Nominations

December 11th, 2019

The Golden Globes nominations are the second major Awards Season set to come out. It is still very early in the year and the predictive value of the Golden Globes is a little suspect, but there are still some things to learn here. (This is especially true on the TV end, as there’s talk about how strange the nominations are this year.) Marriage Story led the way with six nominations, just ahead of The Irishman and Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood, both of which picked up five nods. More...

Home Market Releases for November 12th, 2019

November 14th, 2019

There are not many new releases on this week’s list, but there are several that are contenders for Pick of the Week. The two leading contenders are The Farewell and Star Trek: Discovery: Season Two. The former is the better show, but it is close, meanwhile, the latter has much better extras, giving it the slight advantage overall. On a side note, Yesterday Was a Lie was also in the competition for Pick of the Week. It didn’t quite win, but its Blu-ray deserves to be seen by a lot more people. More...

Featured Blu-ray and DVD Review: The Farewell

November 12th, 2019

The Farewell opened in limited release this past summer and earned nearly perfect reviews and became one of the biggest limited release hits of the year. Its success does create a lot of expectations. Can it live up to these high expectations? Or is it better to have a more cautious approach to the film? More...

Home Market Releases for October 29th, 2019

October 30th, 2019

It’s a weird week on the home market, as there is not a big new wide release to talk about. However, there are several older releases, imports, etc. that are easily worth picking up and a couple of them are contenders for Pick of the Week. This includes the An American Werewolf in London: Limited Edition Blu-ray and the Godzilla The Showa-Era Films Box Set. Both are absolute must haves, but the latter’s price-tag might scare away some folks. More...

Limited and VOD Releases: Will Ms. Purple Reign at the Box Office?

September 6th, 2019

It is still too early for Awards Season contenders to come out, but that doesn’t mean there are no highly-regarded films on this week’s list. Ága, Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice, and Ms. Purple all have a shot at doing well at the box office. More...

Theater Averages: Miles Davis is too Cool for New Releases

September 5th, 2019

It was an odd week on the theater average chart, as the number one film was a holdover. Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool’s average was down less than 0.2% to $18,222 and it did this while doubling its theater count to 2. This is very impressive and bodes well for its future. The best new release was Ne Zha, which earned an average $17,649 in 66 theaters. Animated films rarely do well in limited release and 66 theaters is a lot for a limited release, so this average is even more impressive than it looks at first glance. Finally, Official Secrets opened with an average of $16,241. More...

Theater Averages: Falcon Soars to Top Spot

August 15th, 2019

It was a good weekend for limited releases, as three of them opened in the $10,000 club. This group was led by The Peanut Butter Falcon with an average of $12,047 in 17 theaters. This is not as high an average as we’ve seen from other limited releases this year, but it was playing in 17 theaters, which is a lot for an opening weekend. Jay Myself was the only holdover in the $10,000 club earning $10,828 in one theater. Up next was One Child Nation, which managed an average of $10,262 in two theaters, while After the Wedding was right behind with an average of $10,053 in five. More...

Friday Estimates: Scary Tops Friday, Hobbs and Shaw Set to Win Weekend

August 10th, 2019

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark led the way on Friday with $7.86 million. The film’s reviews are Certified Fresh at 80% positive, but it only managed a C from CinemaScore. To be fair, this isn’t a bad result for a horror film, but it does mean it likely won’t have great legs and will sink into second place over the full weekend. It will still beat our prediction and could even become CBS Films’ best opening of all time. Right now, it is on pace to come close to The Woman in Black’s current record with about $20 million during the opening weekend. It would be ironic is CBS Films set the company record now, as it is ceasing theatrical releases and instead shifting towards streaming content. More...

Theater Averages: Luce and Nightingale Sing a Sweet Song

August 8th, 2019

It was a busy weekend on the theater average chart with five films in the $10,000 club. Luce led the way with an average of $26,597 in five theaters. This bodes well for any future expansion. The Nightingale was next with an average of $20,041 in two theaters. Jay Myself arguably had a stronger opening, earning $18,909 in one theater over the weekend for a five-day debut of $27,571. Exit managed an average of $16,221 in two theaters, which is excellent for a foreign-language film and hopefully means more Asian movies will be released here. The final film in the $10,000 club was the overall box office champ, Hobbs and Shaw, with an average of $14,117. More...

Weekend Estimates: Hobbs and Shaw’s International Numbers Save Weekend Haul

August 4th, 2019

Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw missed even the low end of predictions with an estimated opening weekend of just $60.8 million. This is not a good start for a film that cost $200 million to make. Additionally, its reviews and its A minus from CinemaScore do not suggest long enough legs to make up for this opening. Fortunately, the film is doing a lot better internationally with an estimated opening of $120 million in 63 markets. Furthermore, this number doesn’t include China, because the film doesn’t open there until the end of the month. (It has also yet to open in France, Italy, and Japan, but it will earn more in China than those three markets combined.) The film is opening well behind The Fate of the Furious in most markets, including Russia where it managed $8.20 million on 1,766 screens, compared to $14.26 million on 1,470 screens for the previous film. It was even worse in the U.K. at $7.85 million in 610 theaters vs. $17.58 million on 572. Overall, the film is more in line with Fast Five than the other recent films in the franchise. This is still enough to earn a profit, especially if it does well in China, but the spin-off won’t replace the main films in the Fast and the Furious franchise like I thought it had a chance of doing. More...

Friday Estimates: Hobbs and Shaw has an Impossible Start

August 3rd, 2019

Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw is going to miss predictions, but it did bounce back from weak previews with $23.72 million on Friday. This is higher than Mission: Impossible—Fallout managed during its opening day, despite worse preview numbers. This bodes well for the film’s legs. Its reviews are slightly better than the previous installment in the Fast and the Furious franchise, while its A minus from CinemaScore is a little weaker. Universal is projecting a $60 million opening weekend after this result, but studios tend to underestimate these things so it looks like their movies over-performed in the end, so I think $61 million or $62 million is more likely. More...

Theater Averages: Lion King Can’t Be Dethroned

July 31st, 2019

The Lion King remained in first place on the overall chart and the theater average chart. It managed an average of $16,216 on the latter, putting it ahead of Honeyland, which landed in second place with an average of $15,000 in two theaters. The Farewell remained in the $10,000 club with an average of $11,246 in 135 theaters. Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood was the final film in the $10,000 club with an average of $11,228. More...

Theater Averages: Lion King Says Goodbye to the Competition

July 25th, 2019

The Lion King not only earned first place on the overall chart, but it topped the theater average chart with an average of $40,586. Last week’s winner, The Farewell, landed in second place with an average of $32,723. David Crosby: Remember My Name was the final film in the $10,000 club earning an average of $10,871 in four theaters. More...

Theater Averages: Endgame Bids Farewell to One of Its Records

July 18th, 2019

The Farewell topped the theater average chart with an average of $87,833 in four theaters. This was not only the best of the weekend, it overtook Avengers: Endgame for the best theater average of the year. Anytime a film does better than Endgame, it is serious reason to celebrate. The Art of Self-Defense was well back with an average of $16,339 in seven theaters. This is still a good start, but I don’t know if it is good enough for its planned wide expansion. The final film in the $10,000 club was Sword of Trust with an average of $11,256 in two theaters. More...

Weekend Estimates: Spider-Man Leads the Way, But Lion King Roars

July 14th, 2019

As expected, Spider-Man: Far From Home is going to remain in first place at the box office this weekend. Fortunately for the box office as a whole, it is beating expectations in terms of dollars with an estimated haul of $45.3 million, which would give is a two-week total of $274.5 million. Internationally, the film is earning $100 million in 67 markets for totals of $573 million internationally and $847 million worldwide. It opened in first place in Italy over the weekend with $6.1 million. This is the film’s final market, but even coasting on holdovers won’t stop it from reaching $1 billion worldwide. More...

Limited and VOD Releases: The Art of Goodbyes and Swordplay

July 12th, 2019

For the first time in a while, there are a lot of limited releases to talk about. This includes a trio that have a real shot at mainstream success: The Art of Self-Defense, The Farewell, and Sword of Trust. It is very unlikely all three will thrive at the box office, but hopefully one of them will. More...