Home Market Numbers: Home Finds a Home on the Home Market

August 28th, 2015

The new releases for July 28th were led by Home, which dominated the combined DVD and Blu-ray chart for August 2nd. The film sold 1.18 million units and generated $22.60 million in revenue. That was enough to put it in 16th place on the yearly chart after just one week of release. Its opening week Blu-ray share was 42%, which is good for a kids movie. More...

Home Market Numbers: New Releases Suffer from a KISS of Death

August 26th, 2015

The new releases for July 21st were WOW levels of bad with not a single first-run release to mention. This left holdovers on top of the combined DVD and Blu-ray chart for July 26th. The Longest Ride remained in first place with 288,000 units / $4.64 million for the week, giving it totals of 788,000 / $13.39 million after two weeks of release. It should have no trouble cracking 1 million units sold, which will keep the studio happy. More...

Home Market Numbers: Longest Ride Rides Tall

August 3rd, 2015

The new releases for July 14th dominated the combined DVD and Blu-ray chart for July 19. In fact, they took every single spot in the top five. The Longest Ride led the way with 514,000 units / $9.03 million Its opening week Blu-ray share was 24%, which is better than the Blu-ray share of a lot of female-centric dramas. More...

Home Market Numbers: Maggie Can't Wake Up the Box Office

July 26th, 2015

There was not a single first run release among the new releases for July 7th, which meant Get Hard remained on top of the combined DVD and Blu-ray chart for July 12th. It sold an additional 268,000 units and generated $5.21 million for the week, giving it totals of 760,000 units / $13.75 million after two. More...

Home Market Releases for July 14th, 2015

July 13th, 2015

It is both a good and a bad week on the home market. The biggest new release is Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2. That's bad. However, there are also a trio of limited releases coming out this week that are easily contenders for Pick of the Week: Clouds of Sils Maria, Ex Machina, and It Follows. It is really a coin-toss between those three, but in the end, I went with Clouds of Sils Maria - Buy from Amazon: DVD. More...

Weekend Wrap-Up: Perfection, Times Two

May 19th, 2015

The overall box office was a little stronger than expected, including the number one film. Pitch Perfect 2 did something very few sequels do. It opened with more during its first weekend than its predecessor made in total. Mad Max: Fury Road also opened with more than Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome earned in total, but it has 30 years of inflation and population growth of roughly 33% to help it out, so it is a less impressive feat. Because both wide releases were so strong, the overall box office grew by 40% from last weekend to $184 million. This was also 3.4% higher than the same weekend last year, which allowed 2015 to maintain its lead over 2014. At the moment, 2015 is ahead of 2014 by 3.2% or $120 million at $3.78 billion to $3.66 billion. More...

Weekend Wrap-Up: Ultron Runs Away from Hot Pursuit

May 12th, 2015

As expected, The Avengers: Age of Ultron earned first place and Hot Pursuit earned second place. Unfortunately, they missed expectations in terms of raw numbers. They missed expectations so much that the box office fell 44% from last weekend to $131 million. Worse still, this is down 4.1% from the same weekend last year. 2015 still has a lead over 2014 by a margin of 4.6% at $3.57 billion to $3.41 billion. Unfortunately, I think this lead will start to slip this week. More...

Weekend Predictions: New Release in Hot Pursuit of Ultron

May 7th, 2015

The Avengers: Age of Ultron will continue to lead the way at the box office this weekend, but Hot Pursuit hopes to at least put in a good showing as counter-programming. Its reviews suggest that will be an uphill battle. Additionally, Age of Ultron will probably suffer a pretty big drop when compared to last week, because it is a comic book movie, its a sequel and its reviews are lower than its predecessor's were. This weekend last year, Neighbors opened with close to $50 million. Age of Ultron will earn more than that. It could earn more than Neighbors and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 made combined, while Hot Pursuit will make twice what the two counter-programming releases made last year. 2015 should come away with an easy win. More...

Weekend Wrap-Up: Ultron has Disappointing Opening?

May 5th, 2015

That question mark in the headline isn't a mistake, as some actually consider The Avengers: Age of Ultron's opening a disappointment, but I don't think that's fair. Sure, it opened below expectations, but it still managed more than $190 million, which is the second-biggest opening of all time. Some still consider this a disappointing opening, because the biggest opening film of all time was the original The Avengers. Second biggest opening weekend of all time and it is still considered a disappointment by some. We are living in a weird world. Overall, the box office was $233 million, which was 139% more than last weekend. It was also 51% more than the same weekend last year. Growth like this usually only happens when there is a misalignment in holidays, but it makes sense when you compare the openings of Age of Ultron and The Amazing Spider-Man 2. 2015's lead over 2014 nearly doubled over the weekend to $110 million at $3.38 billion to $3.28 billion. A 3.3% lead is not amazing, but it is enough that the industry should be more than happy. More...

Weekend Predictions: Ultron vs. Loki

May 1st, 2015

The summer blockbuster season starts in earnest this weekend with the release of The Avengers: Age of Ultron. The film will open in first place, obviously, but the real question is whether or not it will top its predecessor. The first film opened with just over $207 million, which remains the record for an opening weekend. There is a better than 50/50 chance that the record will fall this weekend. If it doesn’t, you can expect a lot of film journalists writing stories about the end of the “Age of Marvel” / “Age of Super Heroes.” I have a funny feeling many of them are already written in anticipation of this possibility. The rest of the top five will be mostly an afterthought. This weekend last year, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 opened with $91.61 million over the weekend. Age of Ultron should make more than that opening day. 2015 is going to win the year-over-year comparison with ease. More...

Weekend Wrap-Up: Furious Completes Sweep

April 27th, 2015

As expected, Furious 7 completed the sweep winning every single weekend in April. Thankfully, every film in the top five matched or exceeded predictions, including The Age of Adaline, which had a solid third place opening. However, the overall box office still fell 18% from last weekend to just $97 million. This was also 16% lower than the same weekend last year. 2015 is still ahead of 2014 by a margin of 2.3% at $3.13 billion to $3.06 billion. More...

Weekend Predictions: Is the Age of Furious 7 Over?

April 23rd, 2015

The Age of Adaline is the only true wide release this week, and that could give it a boost at the box office. However, I seriously doubt that will give it a large enough boost to top Furious 7, which is looking to sweep the month of April. There is one other new release, Little Boy, that has a shot at the top ten. Finally, Ex Machina is expanding “nationwide.” I don't have a theater count for the film, but many think it will be truly wide, which would give it a shot at the top five. The Other Woman opened in first place this weekend last year, earning nearly $25 million. There’s no chance any film will match that figure this year. The top two films combined might not match that figure this year, so April will end on a losing note in the year-over-year comparison. That’s disappointing, but we will make up for the loss next week. More...

International Box Office: Furious has Billion Dollar Run

April 22nd, 2015

Furious 7 again dominated the weekend international box office chart earning $166.9 million on 17,834 screens in 67 markets for totals of $857.86 million internationally and $1.152 billion worldwide. This is the first film from Universal to reach $1 billion during its initial run (Jurassic Park got there during its 3D re-release). After opening in China last Sunday, the film made $186.60 million for the week giving it an eight-day total of $250.02 million there. It got to that milestone faster than any film and it is just $70 million behind Age of Extinction in that market. This is simply a stunning result. On the other hand, the film only managed third place in Japan with $6.2 million. More...

Weekend Wrap-Up: Box Office Falls, but Furious Still Fast

April 21st, 2015

The top three films all missed expectations this past weekend, which suggests people are starting to become excited about The Avengers: Age of Ultron over anything in theaters at the moment. Furious 7 still won the race on the weekend chart and will top $300 million shortly. Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2's and Unfriended's openings were fine, but nothing more. Overall, the box office fell 8.9% from last weekend down to $120 million. Compared to last year, the box office was 10% lower. Year-to-date, 2015 is still ahead of 2014 with the current margin being 2.3% at just under $3.00 billion to $2.93 billion. More...

Weekend Estimates: Furious 7 Tops $1 Billion Worldwide

April 19th, 2015

Furious 7 continues its cruise into the record books this weekend with a third straight weekend at number one domestically, an international weekend estimated at $167.9 million (including $93.3 million in China to take it to $250 million there), and a worldwide total estimated at $1.153 billion as of the end of Sunday. It’s now the biggest film in Universal’s history, and their second after Jurassic Park to cross $1 billion at the worldwide box office. The film’s 51% decline in its third weekend in the domestic market suggests it’s running out of steam and will probably end with around $330 million here. It still has one weekend to cash in though, before Avengers: Age of Ultron will start on its own march to $1 billion on May 1. More...

Weekend Predictions: Will Furious be Friendly to the New Releases?

April 16th, 2015

Furious 7 could be knocked out of top spot on the box office chart this weekend, as there are three wide releases coming out this week. Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 appears to be the biggest and many think it will earn first place. However, its reviews are currently zero percent positive. Unfriended's reviews are still in the overall positive area, but I'm not sure how long that will last, as they've fallen quite a bit from earlier in the week. The only film with overwhelming positive reviews is Monkey Kingdom, which is opening in barely more than 2,000 theaters. This weekend last year, there were four wide releases and overall there were three films that earned $20 million or more. I think this weekend we could match that and that could give 2015 the victory in the year-over-year comparison. It could be close, on the other hand. More...

Contest: Unfriendly Wager

April 10th, 2015

There are four releases next week that we thought were going to open wide, but that turns out not to be the case. Monkey Kingdom was always expected to open semi-wide, but now we have reports that Child 44 will only open in 550 theaters, more or less. This leaves a two-way race between Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 and Unfriended. Paul Blart could earn more in the long-run, but horror films tend to start faster. Therefore, Unfriended is the choice for the target film in this week's box office prediction contest. In order to win, one must simply predict the opening weekend box office number for Unfriended.

Whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend box office (Friday to Sunday), without going over, will win a Frankenprize consisting of previously reviewed DVDs or Blu-rays. 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 Frankenprize consisting of previously reviewed DVDs or Blu-rays. Finally, we will be choosing an entrant from the group of people who haven't won, or haven't won recently, and they will also win a Frankenprize consisting of a previously reviewed DVDs or Blu-rays. I'm going to do this with all contests from now on, to help spread out the winnings. Plus I still have hundreds of DVDs and Blu-rays that I simply don't have the storage for. Entries must be received by 10 a.m., Pacific Time on Friday to be eligible, so don't delay! More...

2015 Preview: April

April 1st, 2015

March ended on a good note and helped 2015 maintain its lead over 2014 thanks to a trio of $100 million movies: Cinderella, Insurgent, and Home. April isn't as strong as far as depth goes, as only Furious 7 is expected to come close to $100 million at the box office. On the positive side, it could earn $100 million during its opening weekend, becoming the fastest starting film of the year, so far. On the negative side, it is expected to earn more than double the rest of the films' combined box office totals. Even worse, last April, there were two $100 million hits, including Captain America: The Winter Soldier, as well as two others that came close. There's no way April 2015 is going to live up to April 2014. I just hope the collapse isn't so bad that 2015 loses its lead over 2014 completely. More...