Home Market Releases for December 25th, 2018

December 24th, 2018

This year, Christmas Day lands on a Tuesday. Tuesday is the usual day for new DVD / Blu-ray releases. You can see why releasing a DVD / Blu-ray on Christmas Day is a bad idea, so it should come as no surprise that there are almost no releases worth talking about. The only “big” release of the week is White Boy Rick and on an average week, that would be relegated to the Secondary Blu-ray list. The biggest release on this week’s list is The Predator, but that’s because the screener arrived a week late. More...

Featured Blu-ray and DVD Review: The Predator

December 23rd, 2018

The Predator is the latest installment in the franchise. The first Predator is widely considered a classic; however, since then no film in the franchise has really come close to that mark. Can this film finally rediscover the magic of the first movie? Or has the franchise run its course? More...

Home Market Releases for December 18th, 2018

December 18th, 2018

It’s an odd week on the home market, as there are four major first run releases coming out this week, but almost nothing else. Fun fact, I got screeners for all four of these films, although one of them arrived too late to review. Of these four, A Simple Favor is clearly the best and the DVD / Blu-ray / 4K is a contender for Pick of the Week. Its only competition is the 4K release for 2001: A Space Odyssey. More...

Home Market Releases for November 27th, 2018

November 28th, 2018

It is the week after Thanksgiving, which is a terrible week to release a DVD / Blu-ray. Black Friday and Cyber Monday are over, so a lot gifts are already bought for people who might be interested in a DVD / Blu-ray to watch. That’s not to say there’s nothing on this list that’s worth picking up. There are a few items, but Searching is clearly the best and the Blu-ray is the only real contender for Pick of the Week. More...

International Box Office: Halloween Rises from the Dead and into First Place

October 31st, 2018

Halloween rose from fifth to first with $26.0 million in 62 markets for a two-week total of $46.0 million. The film’s biggest new market was Germany, where it earned first place with $3.41 million on 513 screens. On the other hand, it only managed fifth place in France with $2.37 million on 316 screens. Its Australian debut was in-between those two results at second place and $1.99 million on 264 screens. It’s best holdover was in Mexico, where it earned first place with $2.34 million over the weekend for a two-week total of $9.39 million. Like I mentioned last week, this film isn’t doing as well internationally as it is domestically, but it has done so well domestically that it will break even before taking its international numbers into consideration. More...

International Box Office: The Nun Completes Threepeat, Climbs Franchise Chart

September 25th, 2018

The Nun held on strongly repeating as the international box office champion with $35.0 million on 12,817 screens in 80 markets for totals of $192.1 million internationally and $292.7 million worldwide. The film opened in first place in France with $4.5 million on 348 screens and in Russia with $4.2 million on 1,847. On the other hand, it had to settle for fourth place in South Korea with $2.96 million on 824 screens over the weekend for a total opening of $4.28 million. It is no longer in last place for the franchise; in fact, it could be in second place by the weekend. More...

Weekend Wrap-Up: Clocking the Opposition

September 24th, 2018

As expected, The House with a Clock in its Walls topped the chart over the weekend. It was able to open faster than expected with $26.61 million. The other three films combined earned a fraction of that and A Simple Favor was the only other film to earn more than $10 million over the weekend. This caused the overall box office to fall 16% from last weekend to just $90 million. Worse still, this is 23% lower than the same weekend last year, which is a terrible margin. 2018 still has a massive 9.1% / $720 million lead over 2017 at $8.63 billion to $7.91 billion, so there’s no need to panic just yet. More...

Weekend Estimates: Clock Runs Fast, Other Openings Stumble

September 23rd, 2018

The House with a Clock in its Walls was the only new release to top expectations this weekend, and it is doing so with ease. The film will pull in a projected $26.85 million over the weekend, which is close to Goosebumps’s $28.87 million debut and is much better than predicted. Its reviews and its B plus from CinemaScore suggest merely average legs, but this is still a great start for a film that cost $42 million to make. It is way too early to make a call on its international numbers, so I’m a little wary of calling this a financial hit just yet. It did open in first place in the Philippines with 602,000 in 195 theaters, but it only managed third place in Germany with $789,000 in 465. More...

Friday Estimates: Beating the Clock

September 22nd, 2018

The House with a Clock in its Walls is the only new release that opened well on Friday, with $7.82 million during its opening day. Its reviews are in the overall positive level and it earned a B plus from CinemaScore. This is nearly identical to Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children and weaker than Goosebumps’ result. If this film has the same legs as Miss Peregrine, then it will earn $25 million during its opening weekend. That would be an amazing start for a film that cost $42 million to make and significantly better than we predicted. More...

Weekend Prediction: Countdown to the Weekend

September 20th, 2018

It’s a busier week than expected, as there are four films opening wide or semi-wide. The House with a Clock in its Walls is the only one with a shot at first place. In fact, it might be the only new release in the top five. Fahrenheit 11/9 could earn as much as $10 million, but it could also fail to reach the top five with $5 million. Life Itself is aiming even lower, but there’s an outside chance all things line up correctly and it earns a spot in the top five. On the other hand, Assassination Nation is opening semi-wide and it could miss the Mendoza Line. This weekend last year, Kingsman: The Golden Circle opened with nearly $40 million and two other films earned more than $20 million. This weekend, there might not be a single film with $20 million at the box office. More...

International Box Office: The Nun Wins Tight Race for Top Spot

September 19th, 2018

There was a close three-way race for top spot on the international chart, but The Nun was able to retain first place with $34.1 million on 12,107 screens in 62 markets for totals of $144.8 million internationally and $229.9 million worldwide. The film’s biggest new market of the weekend was Belgium, where it made $1.42 million on just 86 screens. This was easily enough to earn first place there and was the biggest opening for the franchise. The film’s biggest holdover was in Brazil with $3.5 million over the weekend for a two-week total of $12.6 million. More...

Weekend Wrap-Up: Predator Tops Chart, Simple a Success

September 18th, 2018

The Predator earned top spot on the weekend box office chart with $24.63 million. However, the best new release was arguably A Simple Favor with $16.01 million, as it is the only film that will match its production budget at the domestic box office. On the other hand, White Boy Rick struggled and will likely not pay for its $30 million price-tag any time soon, while Unbroken: Path to Redemption bombed. Overall, the weekend box office was $107 million, 12% lower than last weekend. It was also down from this weekend last year, but only by 3.5%. That’s better than expected at the beginning of the month and that’s great news for 2018. Granted, its lead over 2017 went down, but it still has a 9.6% / $740 million lead with $8.50 billion compared to $7.76 billion in 2017. It would take something incredible to happen to lose this entire lead by the end of the year. More...

Weekend Estimates: Predator Misses Expectations, Still Tops Soft Weekend

September 16th, 2018

This isn’t a great weekend at the box office, as three of the four new releases are missing expectations, according to studio Sunday morning estimates, as well as the biggest holdover. The Predator will come out on top with $24.0 million over the weekend, but, while that’s not bad for a September release, there’s not a lot to be excited about either. Its reviews are just 34% positive, while it only managed a C plus from CinemaScore, both of which suggest short legs. It is way too early to tell how it will perform internationally, but it only managed fourth place in South Korea with a total opening of $1.2 million on 572 screens. That’s not good and the film needs to be a major hit outside of the domestic market if it is to break even any time soon. More...

Friday Estimates: Predator Tops Chart, Doesn’t Bag Biggest Catch

September 15th, 2018

The Predator missed expectations by a small margin with $10.45 million on Friday. It should earn about $26 million over the full weekend, which is below average for the franchise, if you take inflation into account. That’s close enough to our $28 million prediction that I’m satisfied. However, the film cost $88 million to make, so it needed a lot more than this to be a real financial success. Its reviews are just 34% positive, while it only earned C plus from CinemaScore, so it likely won’t have good legs. As for why this film isn’t connecting with audiences, there appears to have been a lot of studio interference. That rarely helps the final product. More...

Thursday Night Previews: Predator Begins its Hunt with $2.5 million

September 14th, 2018

The Predator started its box office run with $2.5 million during its Thursday previews. We can’t use any of the other films in the franchise as comparisons, because they opened way too long ago. We could use The Nun, which opened with $5.4 million last week and went on to earn nearly 10 times that during its opening weekend. This film should have slightly better legs, as it has slightly better reviews and action films tend to having slightly longer legs than horror films do. That said, our prediction of $28 million seems like a safe bet at this point. More...

Weekend Prediction: Not So Simply Weekend at the Box Office

September 13th, 2018

There are four films opening wide or semi-wide this weekend, which is one more than expected. Of these, only one movie, The Predator, has a real shot at top spot. Meanwhile, A Simple Favor is the only one of the four that is earning good reviews. White Boy Rick is opening truly wide, which is a bit of a surprise. Unbroken: Path to Redemption is the sequel to Unbroken, which earned over $100 million. No one is talking about this movie earning $100 million. This weekend last year, It remained on top with just a hair over $60 million. However, last year’s depth was really bad, so while I expect 2018 to lose in the year-over-year comparison, I don’t think it will be a major loss. More...

2018 Preview: September

September 1st, 2018

Overall, August was a little better than expected. Granted, there were no monster hits, but Warner Bros. had two $100 million hits in The Meg and Crazy Rich Asians. Meanwhile, Christopher Robin will come close enough to that milestone to be a hit. This allowed 2018 to stretch its lead over 2017 by over $700 million. Will that lead grow in September? Nope. Not even close. There are three major problems that will hurt September’s box office. Firstly, there are a lot of films that may or may not open wide. Secondly, there are no films opening this month that have a better than 50/50 chance of hitting $100 million. Finally... It. It destroyed records last September, earning more during its opening weekend than any film opening this month will earn in total. Fortunately, 2018 has such an enormous lead that even with It, 2018 should remain ahead of 2107 by $500 million at the end of the month. More...

The Predator Trailer

July 19th, 2018

Sci-fi action movie opens September 14 ... Full Movie Details. More...