January 20th, 2014
The home market picks up steam this week, sort of. We are starting to get some of the Awards Season hopefuls coming out, which is great news for fans of great movies. However, there's not a lot of depth to go with the award-worthy movies. The two films that were the main contenders for Pick of the Week were Captain Phillips on DVD or Blu-ray Combo Pack and In a World... on DVD or Blu-ray. It was a close decision, but in the end, I went with In a World...
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January 17th, 2014
Machete had one of the strangest origins. It began as a fake trailer in Grindhouse, but the fake trailer was so popular they turned it into a real movie. Unfortunately, while that movie earned good reviews, the target audience for Grindhouse cinema is too small to thrive in theaters. It must have done well enough to justify a sequel in someone's mind, albeit a sequel with a greatly reduced production budget being released by a smaller studio. But can the sequel live up to its predecessor?
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October 22nd, 2013
As expected, Gravity remained on top of the weekend box office chart for the third weekend it a row. It became the first film released in 2013 to earn the hat trick, and very likely the last. Unfortunately, two of the three wide releases missed expectations, which hurt the overall box office numbers. Compared to last week, the overall box office was down by 11% to $103 million. Compared to last year, the box office was down 35%. Ouch. 2013 is still ahead of 2012's pace, but by less than 1% at $8.36 billion to $8.29 billion.
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October 15th, 2013
Both Gravity and Captain Phillips topped expectations, which is a reason to celebrate. However, it's practically the only reason to celebrate. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 did well, but from that point on, the box office was a disaster. Overall, the total box office was $116 million, which was down 8% from last week. Compared to last year, the box office was down by 10%. How can this year's top film earn more than twice as much as last year's number one film, but still lose out overall? Last year, the fourth place film was Hotel Transylvania, which earned $17.24 million. This year the fourth place film was Machete Kills, which earned just $3.84 million. The depth this year is simply terrible. Year-to-date, 2013 is still ahead of 2012, but by less than 1% at $8.21 billion to $8.15 billion.
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October 13th, 2013
What could have been a close-run race at the box office this weekend turned into a comfortable win for Gravity, but for all the right reasons. Captain Phillips opened with a sturdy $26 million, on the back of some excellent reviews. But that isn't close to enough to unseat Gravity, which will post one of the best second weekends for a wide release in a long time. Comparisons with Argo are inevitable -- the Oscar-winner fell just 15% in its second weekend, while Gravity will be off 21%, but Gravity opened with over $50 million, compared to Argo's $20 million or so, which makes the performance all the more impressive.
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October 11th, 2013
There are two wide releases this week: Captain Phillips and Machete Kills. The former is a potential Awards Season player, while the latter is definitely not. Unfortunately, neither seems likely to challenge Gravity for top spot at the box office this weekend. Captain Phillips should come in a solid second place, while Machete Kills will try not to under-perform when compared to Runner Runner's opening from last weekend. Gravity could help 2013 top last year's box office, which was led by Taken 2 in its second weekend of release. The best new release was Argo, but it opened with less than $20 million and Captain Phillips should top that. However, last year had much better depth and might prove to be too much for 2013 to overcome.
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October 3rd, 2013
Captain Phillips isn't the only film opening wide next week, but it might as well be. It could open with more than Machete Kills earns in total. Because of this, it is the easy choice for the target film for this week's box office prediction contest. In order to win, one must simply predict the opening weekend box office number for Captain Phillips.
Whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend box office (Friday to Sunday), regardless if they go over or not, will win a copy of The Little Mermaid on Blu-ray Combo Pack.
Entries must be received by 10 a.m., Pacific Time on Friday to be eligible, so don't delay!
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October 1st, 2013
October is an awkward month. It sits between the dumping ground that is September and November, the unofficial start of Awards Season / holiday blockbuster season. For the most part, September was stronger than average for the month and there's reason to be optimistic going forward. After all, box office success tends to feed on itself, as does box office struggles. That said, there are not a lot of sure hits over the coming four weeks. Of the nine or ten films opening wide this month, only Gravity has a better than 50/50 chance at $100 million. Captain Phillips could have a shot at the century mark, but only if it becomes a serious Awards Season player. Its early reviews suggest that could be a possibility. Last October, there were two films to reach the $100 million mark, Taken 2 and Argo. On the other hand, pretty much everything else that opened that month crashed and burned. While this October doesn't have as strong a top end, it will hopefully have much better depth.
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