December 19th, 2013
Part III of the Holiday Gift Guide is a little late due to reasons you probably don't want to hear the details about. (I believe I've developed a food allergy to something in Eggnog.) The third installment of our holiday gift guide includes independent films, classics, foreign films, etc. The fastest way to find gifts is to go to the Independent Spirit Awards nominations and find any film that is on that list that is already out on DVD / Blu-ray (Frances Ha, Mud, etc.). Unfortunately, most of the films competing for Awards Season glory are still in theaters and not available as gifts. But there are still many films worth picking up, starting with...
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September 10th, 2013
The home market is looking to be a whole lot brighter this week with Star Trek into Darkness leading the way. It's not the only first-run release to come out this week, but it is by far the biggest. On the other hand, there are tons of TV on DVD releases, tons and tons of them. This includes Homeland: Season Two, which is a contender for Pick of the Week. However, the screener is on its way, so I'm going to hold off on that declaration. Instead, that honor goes to Castle: Season Five. Meanwhile, War Witch's DVD release earns the Puck of the Week for the best Canadian release.
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March 5th, 2013
There was only one film able to top $10,000 on the per theater chart, as Stoker earned an average of $22,935 in seven theaters. Its reviews were only good and not great, so I'm not sure how well it will do next week.
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March 3rd, 2013
The year's first big-budget special effects extravaganza is headed for a decidedly weak opening weekend. Jack the Giant Slayer will earn about $28 million, according to Warner Bros., which is only a fraction of its reported $195 million production budget. Even with international numbers expected to be better, the film will struggle financially. The weekend's other openers are posting even more modest numbers, but benefit from having much, much lower budgets. 21 and Over is set for $9 million for Relativity and The Last Exorcism Part II will post about $8 million for CBS Films. Phantom, from new distributor RCR Media Group, will pick up a very weak $460,000 or so (they have not shared an official number with us) from 1,118 theaters, highlighting once more the challenge for new distributors in establishing a place in the market.
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March 1st, 2013
It is a busy week with a dozen films on this week's list. However, most of them are earning reviews that are decidedly mixed. There are a couple great films, including War Witch. There are some earning a lot of buzz, even if their reviews are only good or mixed. Of these, Stoker appears to have the best box office potential.
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January 10th, 2013
The Oscar nominations were announced this morning, and there's certainly a lot to talk about. There are some nominations that should surprise no one. For instance, Lincoln led the way with twelve nominations, and it has been seen as the major contender for a long time. However, there were also a few surprise nominations and some major snubs. Here are the list of nominations, and some reactions.
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November 28th, 2012
The Independent Spirit Awards has a special place in the Awards Season. The nominations are the unoffficial start of Awards Season, but the actual awards aren't given out until Oscar weekend, so they are the beginning at the end of Awards Season. They also help out a lot of limited releases that would otherwise not get enough buzz, although they are not so good at predicting Oscar wins. This year, two films tied for most nominations, Moonrise Kingdom and The Silver Linings Playbook, both of which earned five nominations. They weren't the only films to earn multiple nominations though.
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