October 7th, 2014
The biggest release of the week is Edge of Tomorrow, which is coming out on DVD, Blu-ray Combo Pack, or 3D Combo Pack. However, while the reviews are excellent, the extras are not quite up to the Pick of the Week level. The same is true of the To Be Takei DVD, but fortunately there is a winner out there. Adventure Time: Season Four is better than the previous seasons and the DVD or Blu-ray have enough extras to be the best release of the week. Meanwhile, The Grand Seduction on DVD earns the Puck of the Week for best Canadian release.
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May 27th, 2014
X-Men: Days of Future Past easily won the weekend race at the box office earning more than $100 million over the four-day weekend. That's great news and it helped the overall box office grow by 5% to $187 million over the three-day weekend from last week. That's the good news. The bad news the other new release, Blended, bombed and the three-day weekend was down 27% from the same weekend last year. In fact, this year's four-day weekend total of $231 million was 9% lower than last year's three-day total and 26% lower than the four-day weekend from last year. That's a devastating collapse. The only saving grace is last year was a record-breaking Memorial Day long weekend, so a sharp drop-off isn't that unexpected. So far, 2014 has pulled in $3.95 billion, which is 4% more than 2013's running tally of $3.80 billion.
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May 20th, 2014
I thought Godzilla would be a monster hit. I mentioned that possibility in the monthly preview and the weekend predictions. However, I was in the minority and I reduced my expectations. That turns out to be a mistake. Godzilla opened with $93.19 million over the weekend, which is a better opening than The Amazing Spider-Man 2 managed, but it wasn't quite up to Captain America: The Winter Soldier. It also helped the overall box office soar to $178 million, which is 30% more than last weekend. More importantly, it was 16% more than the same weekend last year. 2014 is now ahead of 2013 by a margin of $185 million or 5.3% at $3.66 billion to $3.48 billion.
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May 18th, 2014
After a huge start on Friday, estimated at $38.5 million, Godzilla looked as though it might be the first film of 2014 to have a $100 million opening weekend. But the monster movie seems to have run out of energy a little through the weekend, and Warner Bros. is projecting a weekend around $93.2 million, based on figures through Sunday morning. The film’s performance is well ahead of earlier tracking, which pegged its opening around $60 million–$80 million, and impressive for a non-sequel (although clearly Godzilla is a well-established franchise at this point). In fact, it is one of the top 10 non-sequel openers ever (see full list here).
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May 15th, 2014
Godzilla is the second of four May releases that at least have a realistic shot at reaching $200 million domestically. The first of these films, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 won't match original expectations, but it is still on pace to reach $200 million. It is very unlikely Godzilla will open as fast as The Amazing Spider-Man 2 did, but even coming close would be a huge boost to the box office. Million Dollar Arm should have a respectable opening as counter-programming and on the high end it could land in third place. Meanwhile, Neighbors is aiming for $100 million and while it won't get there this weekend, it will get there soon enough. This weekend last year, Star Trek Into Darkness earned first place with $70.17 million over the weekend, which is a figure I think Godzilla will top. If it does, and the holdovers hold on well, then 2014 might end its mini-losing streak earlier than I thought it would.
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May 9th, 2014
Next weekend there are two wide releases, but the box office will be dominated by Godzilla. (Million Dollar Arm could do well in counter-programming, but its early reviews are merely mixed.) On the high end, Godzilla could earn the highest opening box office of the year so far. Even on the low end, it will double or triple the second place film. Because it will dominate the box office so much, it is really the only 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 Godzilla.
Whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend box office (Friday to Sunday), without going over, will win a copy of Adventure Time: The Suitor on DVD.
Meanwhile, whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend box office (Friday to Sunday), without going under, will also win a copy of Adventure Time: The Suitor on DVD.
Entries must be received by 10 a.m., Pacific Time on Friday to be eligible, so don't delay!
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May 1st, 2014
It has been a great year so far and April was again a strong month. The box office was led by Captain America: The Winter Soldier, as it became the second film of the year to reach $200 million, while Rio 2 is on pace to become the seventh $100 million hit of the year. Big picture, 2014 has already hit $3 billion, which isn't a record for this time of the year, but it is $250 million ahead of 2013. That streak ends in May. Don't get me wrong. There are six films opening this month that at least have a shot at $100 million and two of those should earn more than $200 million and there are two others that at least have a shot at that milestone. Leading the way is The Amazing Spider-Man 2, which is looking to top The Winter Soldier and become the second biggest hit of the year so far. Its main competition this month is X-men: Days of Future Past, while Godzilla also has a shot at $200 million. Unfortunately, this month last year, Iron Man 3 earned more than $400 million, while two other films took in $200 million and seven films in total reached the century mark. That is going to be really hard to replicate this year and 2014 will likely lose some of its lead over 2013. Fortunately, 2014 has such a big lead that unless the box office really slumps, it will end the month with at least a small lead over 2013.
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