2019 - Holiday Gift Guide - Part I - First-Run Releases and Franchise Box Sets

November 27th, 2019

It's Thanksgiving weekend, which means Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and of course the first installment of our Holiday Gift Guide. This year, Thanksgiving is as late as it could have been, which means there’s no way to squeeze in four weeks of regular installments of the gift guide, as well as the December monthly preview, etc. So we are going to have a condensed list this year. That said, there weren’t a ton of first-run releases that would have made this list regardless. More...

Home Market Releases for October 8th, 2019

October 10th, 2019

It’s another week with a monster hit and nearly nothing else. Fortunately, that monster hit is Toy Story 4, which is easily the Pick of the Week and would be during all but the best weeks of the year. Midsommar comes close to being a contender for Pick of the Week, but the extras are well below average, even compared to a limited release. More...

Featured Blu-ray and DVD Review: Midsommar

October 8th, 2019

Midsommar is writer / dirctor Ari Aster’s second film. His first, Hereditary, only managed a D plus from CinemaScore, which is bad, even for a horror film. However, CinemaScore tends to measure not just quality, but expectations. A good movie that doesn’t match audience expectations in terms of tone and subject matter tend to get very weak scores from CinemaScore and no one going into Hereditary day one could have know what to expect. Midsommar earned a C plus, which is actually about average for a horror film. Is it also merely average in quality? Or is it just not as accessible as most mainstream horror movies are? More...

Home Market Releases for September 24th, 2019

September 26th, 2019

It is a horrible week on the home market, at least from my perspective. There are no monster hits to talk about, but a flood of middling releases that I can’t really ignore. The biggest first-run release of the week is Yesterday and it is the closest we have to a Pick of the Week contender on this week’s list. That is if you don’t count Crawl and Midsommar, which are hitting VOD this week. More...

Weekend Wrap-Up: Spider-Man Repeats on Top, but 2019 Takes Another Hit

July 16th, 2019

It was a mixed weekend at the box office. On the one hand, nearly every film in the top five topped expectations, albeit by small margins in most cases. This includes Spider-Man: Far From Home, which led the way with $45.35 million over the weekend. On the other hand, we still saw a serious decline with the overall box office down 31% from last weekend to $126 million. Worse still, this was 24% lower than the same weekend last year and this left 2019 further behind last year’s pace. It is now behind 2018 by 8.6% or $570 million at $6.10 billion to $6.67 billion. More...

Weekend Wrap-Up: Spider-Man Hits a Home Run

July 9th, 2019

Spider-Man: Far From Home really brightened up the box office earning $92.58 million over the three-day weekend for a six-day opening of $185.06 million. This is one of the biggest positive surprises of the year and we desperately needed some good news after June. Toy Story 4 and Aladdin held on better than expected and the overall box office surged growing 21% from last weekend to $183 million. This is still lower than this weekend last year, but by only 2.7% and at this point, I’m willing to call that a victory. Year-to-date, 2019 did manage to close ground with 2018, thanks mostly to Far From Home’s strength before the weekend. However, this year is still 8.4% or $540 million behind last year at $5.88 billion to $6.42 billion. More...

Weekend Estimates: Spider-Man Is Marvelous Worldwide

July 7th, 2019

Spider-Man: Far From Home is getting off to a fantastic start with a three-day weekend haul of $93.6 million giving it a six-day debut of $185.1 million. This is more than it cost to make and it means the film is nearly guaranteed a healthy profit before it reaches the home market, even if it has soft legs. Additionally, its reviews are outstanding and it earned an A from CinemaScore, so its legs should be long for a blockbuster film. Internationally, the film pulled in $238 million on 52,800 screens in 66 markets for totals of $395 million internationally and $580 million worldwide. This was led by a six-day, $33.8 million first place debut in South Korea, while it earned $30.6 million during its second weekend in China for a two-week total of $167.4 million there. More...

Friday Estimates: Has Spider-Man Saved the Summer?

July 6th, 2019

Spider-Man: Far From Home got off to a record-breaking performance and it has since shown better-than-expected legs by earning $32.5 million on Friday for a four-day running tally of $124 million. Because it opened on Tuesday and not Friday, the film should have a better than average internal multiplier, giving it a better than 50/50 chance of cracking $90 million over the three-day weekend. The film cost $160 million to make and it will match that domestically on Sunday. Additionally, its reviews suggest strong word-of-mouth (The CinemaScore still hasn’t been released. I blame the Fourth of July holidays.) and with no direct competition for the rest of the month, it should have a long stay in theaters. It is yet another success story for the M.C.U. and enough to lift 2019 to a rare win over 2018 in the year-over-year competition. This could be a good omen going forward and perhaps we will look back at this weekend as the weekend that 2019 turned things around. More...

Weekend Predictions: Can Spider-Man Snap the Streak?

July 3rd, 2019

It has been a long time since we’ve had a pleasant surprise at the box office. In fact, the last film to really beat expectations and earn first place was Aladdin, which came out in May. However, it appears that streak is over, as Spider-Man: Far From Home broke the record for biggest Tuesday with $39.26 million. Additionally, Midsommar earned $1.1 million during its previews, which means July should get off to a faster than expected start. Additionally, there should be some strong holds in the top five as well, with Toy Story 4, Annabelle Comes Home, and Yesterday all looking to earn more than $10 million over the three-day weekend. This weekend last year, Ant-Man and the Wasp opened with $75.81 million. Spider-Man: Far From Home could top that after its record-breaking start and the overall box office does look a little healthier as a result. More...

2019 Preview: July

July 1st, 2019

June was a disaster, with no pleasant surprises for the entire month, and a boatload of disappointments. In fact, one could argue Aladdin was the biggest hit of the month, despite it opening in May. Toy Story 4 is the biggest hit released in June, but it still missed expectations by a huge margin. In fact, so many films missed expectations by huge margins I’m rethinking my predictions for July. I still think there will be monster hits and I seriously doubt Spider-Man: Far from Home and The Lion King will bomb, but I also don’t think they will reach the heights some of the tracking data suggests they will. The only other film that has a shot at $100 million is Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, but the overall box office is so weak that I’m no longer sure it will get there. Meanwhile, last July wasn’t as strong on top with just two films topping $200 million, Mission: Impossible - Fallout and Ant-Man and the Wasp, neither of which came close to $300 million. However, last year had a lot better depth and I think that could result in 2019 merely breaking even in the year-over-year competition. More...