February 28th, 2016
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It’s Oscar day and, if all goes to plan, I will be live-blogging the ceremony tonight. Here is the list of nominees marked according to predictions from our readers, and my personal wishes. Nominees in Bold are the ones predicted to win by our readers (we’ll have a full rundown of the predictions at noon, after the contest ends). If I am predicting a different film, those are in Italics. Meanwhile, the nominees I want to win, but don’t think will win, are Underlined. There are a few categories where the film I really think deserves the award was not even nominated, plus a few I don’t have a real opinion on.
If you haven’t done so already, it’s not too late to enter our Oscar competition, and win all Best Picture nominees on Blu-ray or DVD.
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February 20th, 2016
With our annual Oscar Prediction contest underway, now is the best time to look at the nominees and try and figure out who the favorites are and which films should just feel honored to be nominated. The Best Original Screenplay category isn't the most lop-sided category we will highlight, but it is also not very competitive.
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January 20th, 2016
It was a slow week with only a handful of significant releases. However, that was good news for me, because it allowed me review the screener that arrived late. That screener was for The Martian, which was as good as I had hoped it was and it is the Pick of the Week. It is not the only new release that was in contention for that title. Both Adventure Time - Stakes! (DVD) and All Things Must Pass (DVD or Blu-ray) were in the running.
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January 15th, 2016
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The Oscar nominations were announced at 5:30 am Pacific time. Nothing is good that early in the morning. Worse still, this was a terrible year for snubs, especially when it comes to diversity of the nominees. The voters for the Oscars are 94% white and 77% male... but that's still more diverse than the list of nominees. The Revenant led the way with 12 nominations and it is expected to win a few of those, while it is a serious contender in most of the categories it was nominated in.
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January 6th, 2016
The Writers Guild of America nominees were announced and there are only a few surprises here. Additionally, one of these three races seems too close to call at this point.
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December 9th, 2015
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The Screen Actors Guild nominations were announced today and there are at least a few surprises to talk about. Trumbo led the way with three nominations, but there were six films with two nods apiece. Six!
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November 6th, 2015
Bond is, as they say, back. And looking very spritely for a 52-year-old, it has to be said. The latest entry from the world’s most durable franchise launched in North American theaters at 7pm on Thursday with $5.25 million from 3,221 locations, easily a best for the franchise from preview shows, beating the $2.2 million picked up by Skyfall back in 2012. It’s a great start—among the top 50 of all time for Thursday previews—and bodes well for the weekend as a whole; but is it enough to set the film on a path for a franchise-best opening weekend?
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September 23rd, 2015
The Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials rose to first place with $43.3 million in 67 markets over the weekend for a total of $78.0 million internationally and $108.3 million worldwide. The film's biggest opening came from South Korea, but it only managed second place there with $5.66 million on 804 screens over the weekend for a total opening of $7.20 million. On the other hand, the film dominated the Russian box office with $4.19 million on 2,328 screens. The original movie opened stronger in Russia, but The Scorch Trials performed better in its opening in South Korea. Given these results, it is still too soon to tell how well this film will do compared to its predecessor. That said, it already has more worldwide than it cost to make. In fact, it almost has enough worldwide to pay for its entire production budget. Its advertising budget would have to be much larger than expected for it to not break even sooner rather than later.
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September 15th, 2015
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Both of the two true wide releases had amazing openings this past week. Or to be more specific, amazing openings for a September release. The Perfect Guy did earn first place, but by less than half a million dollars over The Visit. Both films opened substantially above expectations. Thanks to this, the overall box office rose significantly, both compared to last week and compared to last year. The total box office was $102 million, which is 13% higher than last week. It is also 13% higher than the same weekend last year. September is already looking really good. Year-to-date, 2015 has pulled in $7.65 million putting it 5.3% ahead of last year's pace of $7.26 million. 2015 is nearly $400 million head of 2014's pace and there's not a lot of time for 2015 to blow that lead. It wouldn't be impossible, but it is getting more and more unlikely.
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September 12th, 2015
What is traditionally the weakest weekend of the year isn’t looking too bad this morning, with The Perfect Guy and The Visit both posting solid opening day numbers on Friday. The Perfect Guy came out marginally ahead on the day, picking up an estimated $9.95 million compared to $9.22 million or so for The Visit. Both films will land over $20 million for the weekend, which is a victory at this time of year, but The Perfect Guy is expected to stretch its lead over the next couple of days.
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September 10th, 2015
There are two and a half wide releases coming out this week, led by The Perfect Guy. I think it will earn first place at the box office, but it isn't a sure thing. Up next is The Visit, which is the latest from M. Night Shyamalan. It has been a while since he had real drawing power at the box office. Finally there's 90 Minutes in Heaven, which is not expected to open truly wide, but wide enough to get into the top ten. This weekend last year was led by No Good Deed, which opened with $24.25 million. I don't think any new release will match that this year. There's a chance none of them will match Dolphin Tale 2. I'm cautiously optimistic that 2015 won't lose by a substantial amount, but if either of the two truly wide releases bomb, then the box office will be in real trouble.
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September 10th, 2015
Terminator: Genisys remained in first place on the international chart, but with only $11.5 million in 8 markets. This lifted its international total to $346.3 million, while it now has $435.9 million worldwide. This helped the film become the second biggest hit in the franchise, assuming you don't take inflation into account. In China, the film managed $26.67 million, but that was for the full week, giving the film a total of $111.92 million after 15 days of release.
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September 9th, 2015
While first trying to come up with picture / title ideas for the weekend columns, I saw the image above and was reminded of "Simply Irresistible" by Robert Palmer. Ever since then, the song has been stuck in my head. It's been there for more than 48 hours now and I'm starting to think I will need medical help getting rid of it. The overall box office was more or less in line with Friday's expectations. A Walk in the Woods matched predictions (nearly) perfectly, while The Transporter Refueled was on the low end of expectations. Fortunately, War Room showed off strong legs leaping into first place. It was able to help the overall box office grow 3.5% to $90 million over the three-day weekend. This was 38% higher than the same weekend last year; however, this is due to a misalignment of holidays. Compared to last labor day, the box office was 18% lower. With that, the summer of 2015 is officially over and while records were broken, the overall box office was actually the second best on record, falling just short of 2013 at $4.48 billion to $4.75 billion. Year-to-date, 2015 has a 5.3% lead over 2014 at $7.53 billion to $7.15 billion.
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September 6th, 2015
Summer, 2015 comes to a sedate finish this weekend, with The Transporter Refueled falling flat, and War Room moving to the top of the chart in its second weekend in release. The faith-based drama is expected to earn $9.3 million for the three-day portion of the weekend, comfortably clear of Straight Outta Compton’s $8.8 million in its fourth weekend. War Room will top the chart while playing in only 1,526 theaters, the fewest theaters for a number one film since the Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour topped the chart from 683 theaters back in 2008 (see fewest theaters for number one movie since 2000).
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September 5th, 2015
As expected, The Transporter Refueled earned first place on Friday with $2.4 million. However, bad reviews will lead to a front-loaded weekend, so it won’t last there long. I think the best comparison is The Transporter 2, which was also released on Labor Day long weekend. That film opened with $5.57 million on the Friday, and earned $16.54 million / $20.10 million after three and four days respectively. If The Transporter Refueled had the same internal multiplier, it would make $7.1 million / $8.7 million. However, The Transporter 2 also earned better reviews, so it would be best to shave a few points off, to give The Transporter Refueled just under $7 million over the three day weekend and just over $8 million including Monday. That’s a disappointing start, even for a film that wasn’t expected to do well at the box office.
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September 4th, 2015
It's Labor Day long weekend, the weakest long weekend of the year. There are two films looking to grab spots in the top five, The Transporter Refueled and A Walk in the Woods. They will have to contend with Straight Outta Compton, but more importantly, they will have to compete with last chance outdoor activities. This weekend last year, the best new release was The Identical, which is one of the biggest bombs of all time. We won't have a repeat of that this year, so hopefully fall can start on a winning note.
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August 31st, 2015
August is over and the number one film over the full month remained in first place for the third weekend in a row. Only one of the three new releases did well, War Room, as it topped the high end of exceptions. The other two wide releases bombed, in the case of No Escape, and bombed hard, in the case of We Are Your Friends. The overall box office plummeted 17% to just $88 million over the weekend. That's so low that I double-checked the numbers. Granted, there are likely a few limited releases that we don't have weekend numbers for yet, so this number isn't final. However, even the final number won't be that much higher than this, certainly not high enough to make a real difference. This was also 21% lower than the same weekend last year. Year-to-date, 2015 is still ahead of 2014 by nearly $400 million at $7.39 billion to 7.00 billion, so this slump isn't terrible news. However, I would really like it to end sooner rather than later.
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August 30th, 2015
Straight Outta Compton will win a third weekend at the box office, according to studio estimates released on Sunday, but it won’t be without a struggle. The biopic lost on Friday to War Room, a faith-based film that opened in just 1,135 theaters, and the weekend race will finish with just a couple of million dollars between the two films, with Compton’s $13.2 million edging out War Room’s $11 million. Compton now has $134 million in the bank, making it the fifth-highest-grossing biographical film after American Sniper ($350 million), Lincoln ($182 million), A Beautiful Mind ($170 million), and Catch Me if You Can ($165 million). If you’re playing the Oscars game at home already, it’s worth noting that three of the four films above it received Best Picture nominations (Catch Me if You Can being the odd-one-out).
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August 29th, 2015
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Only one of the three new releases did well on Friday, and it was a film that many analysts thought would bomb. Despite earning the worst reviews and having the smallest theater count of the three new releases, War Room earned first place on Friday with $3.875 million. Faith-based films tend to have a higher internal multiplier than most films, because their target audience tends to show up at theaters on Sunday after church. Because of this, the film might open with a theater average above $10,000, which would give it an opening weekend of over $11 million. That’s probably a little too optimistic, but second place with $10 million is within reach.
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August 27th, 2015
It's the last weekend of August and there are three films being dumped into theaters this week. None are expected to earn even $10 million, but there might be a bit of a race to see which of these movies will be the best of the bad group. No Escape already opened on Wednesday, but it didn't have a great start, despite playing in just over 3,000 theaters. We Are Your Friends opens on Friday in about 2,300 theaters, but it has a shot at second place. The final wide release is War Room, which is debuting in just over 1,000 theaters. However, it is a faith-based film, so it could be a surprise hit earning close to $10 million, or it might miss the Mendoza Line. Unless one or more of these films completely blows away analysts, Straight Outta Compton will remain in first place for the third weekend in a row. This weekend last year, there were two wide releases and a limited release that nearly made the top ten. That's very similar to what it is this weekend. I think it will be relatively close, but 2015 will likely fall just shy of 2014 in the year-over-year comparison.
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August 25th, 2015
It was an ugly weekend, for the most part. Straight Outta Compton fell about as fast as expected, but that was more than enough to dominate the new releases and push it past an important milestone. On the other hand, the biggest new release, Sinister 2, only managed third place, while the less said about Hitman: Agent 47 and American Ultra, the better. Overall, the box office fell 27% to $107 million. Like I said on Friday, summer is most definitely over. Worse still, this figure is 7.3% lower than the same weekend last year. Had all three new releases matched expectations, the box office would have practically matched last year's pace. Year-to-date, 2015 has pulled in $7.26 billion, which is 5.3% head of 2014's running tally of $6.90 billion.
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August 23rd, 2015
As expected, Straight Outta Compton is continuing to dominate at the box office this weekend, with a second weekend of $26.76 million and a total of $111.5 million projected by Universal on Sunday morning. In fact, Compton is so dominant that the music biopic will earn more than the combined grosses of all three debutants. Mission: Impossible—Rogue Nation’s fourth-weekend $11.7 million will be enough for second place.
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August 22nd, 2015
As expected, Sinister 2 was the best of the new releases, earning $4.7 million on Friday. This is “strong” in the loosest sense of the word. The horror sequel had an opening day that was 37% lower than the first film’s and it is only going to get worse. Sequels tend to be more front-loaded than original films and the reviews will scare away moviegoers for the rest of the weekend. Worst case scenario has the film earning less than $10 million this weekend and even the best case scenario is just $12 million. The lower end seems more likely, so look for between $10 million and $11 million over the full weekend. This is more than it cost to make, on the other hand, so the studio might still recoup its total budget sometime on the home market.
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August 21st, 2015
After last week's reprieve, summer truly ends this week. There are three wide releases coming out, none of which are expected to become even midlevel hits. Also, none of them are earning overall positive reviews. The biggest movie is Sinister 2, which is expected to do well enough to earn a profit, mostly thanks to its very low production budget. American Ultra is the best in terms of Tomatometer Score—by a huge margin. However, it is still earning less than 50% positive reviews by a large margin. The biggest movie in terms of production budget is Hitman: Agent 47, which is bad news for the studio, because it is not expected to do well. In fact, there's almost no chance any of the three new releases will top Straight Outta Compton this weekend. There's a small chance that their combined openings won't top Straight Outta Compton. There is some good news. This weekend last year, there were no movies that earned more than $20 million, which is the absolute low end of Straight Outta Compton's range. On the other hand, If I Stay was the best new release with $15.68 million. That's more than any of the wide releases this year will earn and it only managed third place last year. I think 2015 will win with ease at the top of the chart, but 2014 might have better depth, keeping it ahead in the year-over-year comparison.
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August 20th, 2015
The winners of our Once Bitten contest were determined and the entrants with the closest predictions for Straight Outta Compton opening weekend were...
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August 19th, 2015
We are inching towards Awards Season and the number one film on this week's per theater chart is a potential Awards Season player. That film, Mistress America, earned an average of $23,302 in four theaters. That's more than enough to suggest it will expand, but not enough to suggest it will expand truly wide, or even semi-wide. Second place went to the overall number one film, Straight Outta Compton, with an average of $21,835. Meru was well back with an average of $13,040 in seven theaters. Assassination saw its average rise to $10,111 in 29 theaters. It is very rare for films to have their averages rise week-to-week.
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August 18th, 2015
Straight Outta Compton destroyed expectations earning even more than the outlier prediction I saw. Sadly, our predictions for The Man From U.N.C.L.E. turned out to be too optimistic, but overall the box office was still very strong. In fact, it grew 12% from last week to $148 million. Growth like that almost never happens at this time of year. Compared to last year, the box office was also strong, albeit by a smaller 3.7% margin. That said, a win is a win and worth celebrating, especially after a couple of strong declines. Year-to-date, 2015 maintains a strong lead over 2014 at $7.09 billion to $6.73 billion. A 5.4% lead year-over-year is a great margin for this time of year and it would take a really serious collapse to put that lead at risk. I don't think that's going to happen. In fact, there are three potential $1 billion hits yet to open in theaters, which is actually better than it was last year. Add in the number of potential $100 million hits and the lead could grow through till the end of the year.
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August 16th, 2015
Straight Outta Compton is smashing all sorts of records this weekend, as Universal’s miracle year continues. The studio is already enjoying its best year ever, and will pass $2 billion at the domestic box office this weekend, becoming the second studio to ever hit the mark, after Warner Bros.’ $2.1 billion year in 2009. Universal’s achievement is even more remarkable given they’ve only had 14 movies playing this year, compared to Warner’s 36 in 2009.
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August 15th, 2015
Friday’s estimates are in and, not to put too fine a point on it, Straight Outta Compton destroyed predictions. In my defense, with Fantastic Four bombing, it looked like summer was over. It is very rare for the box office to rebound this time of year, but that’s exactly what happened. Straight Outta Compton earned $24.2 million on Friday night. Not only is this the biggest opening day for a musical biopic, it tops the previous record-holder’s opening weekend. (Walk the Line earned $22.35 million during its opening weekend back in 2005.) Since the film has broken records, it is a little hard to predict where it will be by the end of the weekend. The big opening day could mean a huge opening weekend. Or it could be the result of an extreme Fanboy Effect. Worst case scenario has the film making less over the rest of the weekend than it did during its opening day. This isn’t common, but it has happened before. That would still result in a $48 million opening weekend. On the higher end, its reviews could translate into long legs and an opening weekend of more than $65 million. If the weekend is below $55 million, then the Fanboy effect was bigger than its reviews. Anything above $60 million and the reverse is true. I'm going to go with $53 million, but as I said, this is a record-breaking opening day, so we are in untested territory.
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August 14th, 2015
It appears summer is over, but a strong showing from Straight Outta Compton and The Man From U.N.C.L.E. could mitigate that decline. Both are earning good reviews, which is unusual for this time of year. On the other hand, it is late in August, so neither are expected to be monster hits. Straight Outta Compton has a chance to turn its amazing reviews into long legs, so it could be a surprise $100 million hit. Even so, it won't open explosively. This weekend last year, the best new release was Let's Be Cops, which only managed $17.81 million. I think both new releases will top that by a serious margin. However, the best results from this weekend last year were Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Guardians of the Galaxy. I think 2014 has an advantage over 2015 in the year-over-year comparison, but I think things will be closer than they were the past two weeks.
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August 12th, 2015
The winners of our KISS of an Angel contest were determined and the entrants with the closest predictions for Fantastic Four opening weekend were...
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August 7th, 2015
There are three wide releases next week, well, two and a half, as Underdogs might not open truly wide. As for the other two, Straight Outta Compton is the heavy favorite over The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Because of this, Straight Outta Compton is the only real 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 Straight Outta Compton.
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 Shark Week: Dominating the Deep on DVD.
Whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend box office (Friday to Sunday), without going under, will win a copy of Fast N' Loud: Speed Demons on DVD.
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 copy of Very Fairy Princess…and more imaginative tales on DVD. (I couldn't find it on Amazon.com.)
Entries must be received by 10 a.m., Pacific Time on Friday to be eligible, so don't delay!
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August 1st, 2015
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It is still a little too soon to tell how July will finish, as we don't have any numbers for the final weekend at the time of writing. We know Minions was a monster hit and that Ant-man will be a financial success. However, until we see how Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation does, it will be impossible to call the month a true success. If Rogue Nation bombed this weekend, then the month is only a partial success. It would also mean the summer of 2015 could be coming to an abrupt end. As for August, only Fantastic Four has a better than 50/50 chance of reaching $100 million; although some people think Straight Outta Compton also has a shot at that milestone. Besides those two, only a couple of other films even have a realistic shot at becoming midlevel hits. Worse still, last August was amazing with Guardians of the Galaxy breaking records. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles also did better than expected with a domestic haul of nearly $200 million. No release this August is going to match that figure. There's a good chance the top two releases combined won't do so. Fortunately, 2015 has a sizable lead over 2014, so even a soft month will keep 2015 ahead in the year-over-year comparison.
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