2016 - Awards Season: Golden Globes - Nominations

December 12th, 2016

The Golden Globes nominations were announced and we are starting to see a few names pop up over and over again. La La Land led the way with seven nominations, but Moonlight was right behind with six and Manchester by the Sea earned five. You will be hearing those three names over and over and over again this Awards Season. More...

Home Market Releases for July 26th, 2016

July 27th, 2016

It’s a rather shallow week on the home market with the biggest release being Batman: The Killing Joke, which is a hot mess. More on that below. As for the best new release of the week, there are a handful of releases that were contenders for Pick of the Week, including Barbershop: The Next Cut, Deadline U.S.A., and Mystery Science Theater 3000: Volume XXXVI. In the end, I picked Sing Street on Blu-ray for that title. More...

Featured Blu-ray / DVD Review: Hardcore Henry

July 26th, 2016

I just finished reviewing Sing Street and I thought it was a non-original idea done with exceptional execution. On the other hand, Hardcore Henry could be the exact opposite. It is a first-person action film, which is odd, to put it mildly. It earned a ton of internet buzz, but failed to find an audience in theaters. Is it just a cool idea, but a weak film? Or should more people check it out on the home market? More...

Featured Blu-ray / DVD Review: Sing Street

July 25th, 2016

Sing Street opened with better buzz than most limited releases earn. It also did relatively well at the box office peaking in 12th place and finishing with just over $3 million. Did this film benefit from the relatively light competition this Spring? Or is it good enough that it should have been released this Fall to compete during Awards Season? More...

Theater Averages: Dory Finds Her Way to the Top with $31,373

June 21st, 2016

Finding Dory not only earned first place on the weekend box office chart, but it also earned first place on the theater average chart with $31,373 per theater. Homeless Billionaire was next with $19,771 in its lone theater. Tickled earned an average of $10,949 in two theaters. Meanwhile, Central Intelligence was right behind with an average of $10,130. More...

Theater Averages: Weiner Wins Weekend Race with $16,835

May 25th, 2016

Weiner earned first place on the theater average chart, which is terrible news for me, because there are so many immature puns that I want to be using right now. The film earned an average of $16,835 in five theaters, which is fantastic for a documentary. The Lobster was right behind with an average of $16,212 in 24 theaters during its second week of release. The film has already hit $1 million in total and has plenty of room to grow. Maggie's Plan was next with an average of $12,662 in five theaters. It has a shot at expanding significantly, but it likely won't expand truly wide. Love and Friendship remained in the $10,000 club with an average of $11,911. Its better than expected theatrical run appears to have pushed back its VOD release. More...

Theater Averages: Civil War Sets Yearly Mark with $42,390

May 10th, 2016

Captain America: Civil War not only had the best theater average of the weekend, but it also had the best theater average for any film released in 2016. Its average of $42,390 was just ahead of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, while Midnight Special remains the best average for a limited release this year. Other films in the $10,000 club this week include A Bigger Splash, which earned an average of $22,884 in five theaters over the weekend for an average of $27,697 from Wednesday through Sunday. Eva Hesse saw its average rise 8% to $13,816, but it did open on a Wednesday last week, so that likely depressed its weekend numbers last week. Dheepan just made it into the $10,000 club with an average of $10,125 in two theaters. More...

Theater Averages: Green Room Pulls in the Green with an average of $29,328

April 20th, 2016

Green Room led the way with an average of $29,328 in three theaters. This is yet another success for A24 and whoever is in charge of acquisitions over there needs to get a raise. The overall number one film, The Jungle Book was next with an average of $25,636. Sing Street was well back with an average of $12,715 in five theaters. The only holdover in the $10,000 club was Vita Activa: The Spirit of Hannah Arendt, which was down a mere 18% to $10,814 in its lone theater. More...

Weekend Estimates: Jungle Book projected to top $100 million

April 17th, 2016

2016 is shaping up to be just about the perfect year on all fronts for Disney. They started the year with Star Wars at the top of the box office; Zootopia far out-performed expectations; Captain America: Civil War, Alice Through the Looking Glass and Finding Dory position them perfectly for the Summer; and Doctor Strange and Star Wars: Rogue One are two of the most talked about movies coming at the end of the year. (Oh, and they’re slipping a long-awaited Steven Spielberg family-friendly film in the middle of all that.)

All-in-all, this could be a year of studio dominance the likes of which we haven’t seen since, well, last year, when Universal could do no wrong. Their incredible year really took flight at the beginning of April, when Furious 7 posted a monthly record $147 million opening weekend. The Jungle Book won’t hit those heights, but it will most likely be the second film to top $100 million in April, with Disney projecting a weekend of $103.57 million as of Sunday morning. More...

Limited and VOD Releases: Singing Praises

April 15th, 2016

There are not a lot of new releases on this week's list, but four of the seven of of them are earning overwhelmingly positive reviews. Additionally, one of the other three, Fan, doesn't have enough reviews for a Tomatometer Score, but the first two reviews are positive. Of the best films, Sing Street is the one I expect to do the best at the box office. More...