January 13th, 2014
There are a few first-run releases on this week's list of new DVD and Blu-ray releases. Riddick is the biggest, while You're Next is the best in terms of reviews. However, neither is truly Pick of the Week material. There are some contenders there, and in a strange coincidence, the two best feature Brie Larson: Short Term 12 on DVD or Blu-ray Combo Pack and The Spectacular Now on DVD or Blu-ray. It literally came down to a coin toss, but The Spectacular Now won.
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January 11th, 2014
You're Next opened in late August, which is a dumping ground for bad movies. This film was actually earning some strong pre-release buzz. Unfortunately, it wasn't able to turn that buzz into box office success. (To be fair, it reportedly only cost $1 million to make, so it made enough to cover that opening day. It will still need to pay off its P&A budget, on the other hand.) Is the film as good as its pre-release buzz? Or is it as bad as its release date suggests?
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September 4th, 2013
The Labor Day long weekend is over and pre-weekend predictions were spot on, at least when it came to the top-two films. One Direction: This is Us opened in first place on Friday, but by Sunday had fallen to fifth place, allowing Lee Daniels' The Butler to remain on top, if you go by the four-day weekend. There were a few surprises this weekend, including Instructions Not Included. I hoped it would do well, but I never imaged it would do this well. Overall the weekend was strong at $125 million over the three-day weekend, which was 14% more than last weekend. Over four days, the total box office was $160 million. This was 21% higher than the same weekend last year. Year-to-date, 2013 holds a 0.9% lead over 2012 at 7.44 billion to $7.37 billion.
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August 26th, 2013
Summer is rapidly ending and you can tell by the box office numbers of the wide releases this weekend. The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones had the biggest opening of the three wide releases, but not really the best opening. The World's End earned a little less over the three-day weekend, but it also reportedly cost just $20 million to make, so it will earn a profit, unlike City of Bones. The final new release was You're Next, which couldn't live up to its reviews, but again, it is rumored to have cost very little to make, perhaps less than $1 million, so it should break even sooner rather than later. With the weakness in the new releases, Lee Daniels' The Butler had no trouble repeating in first place, but the overall box office did fall by 21% from last weekend to $110 million. This was still better than last year by 12%, which extends 2013's winning streak to five weeks. Year-to-date, 2013 has pulled in $7.18 billion leading 2012's pace of $6.97 billion by 3%.
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August 25th, 2013
Lee Daniels' The Butler will enjoy a second weekend atop the box office chart thanks in part to a good hold, at 31% down from last weekend, but also because of a major misfire for Mortal Instruments: City of Bones on its opening weekend. The fantasy adventure will only muster about $9.3 million Friday-Sunday for $14.05 million after five days in release -- a big disappointment for a film that reportedly cost $60 million to produce. International markets will make up some of the gap, and a sequel is still said to be in the works, but North America won't contribute much if anything to the coffers after marketing costs are taken into account. The rest of the chart has some bright spots though.
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August 23rd, 2013
There are three wide releases coming out this week, well, two and a half really. The World's End is only opening in 1,548 theaters, but it is also earning by far the best reviews. It is probably still too much of a niche market to take top spot. You're Next is earning great reviews and horror films do have a history of doing well at this time of year. The final wide release of the week is The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones. Not only did it open on Wednesday, but its reviews are terrible. Last year there were three wide releases, all of them bombed. Combined they made less than $14 million. The new releases should have no trouble topping last year's new releases, while the holdovers are also stronger.
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August 16th, 2013
Next weekend there are three wide releases, the biggest of which is The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones. However, the film is opening on a Wednesday, which complicates things when it comes to the weekly box office prediction contest. Instead, we will use one of the two smaller releases: The World's End or You're Next. Maybe it's personal bias, but I think The World's End will have the bigger opening, plus the prize also has "World" in the title, so it works. Thus, it is 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 The World's End.
Whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend box office (Friday to Sunday), regardless if they go over or not, will win a signed copy of the In a World... poster, signed by the writer / director / star, Lake Bell.
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, 2013
July was hit and miss at the box office, mostly miss. In fact, only two films really topped expectations, Despicable Me 2 and The Conjuring. That said, 2013 has nearly closed the gap with 2012 and it won't take much to pull ahead. Looking forward to August, we find that it is a very busy month with 16 or so films opening wide over five weeks. Of course, the closer you get to September, the more likely these films will struggle to find an audience, and more often than not, there are simply too many films opening wide to suspect they will all find an audience. On the high end, 2 Guns could be the biggest hit of the month with just over $100 million. The Smurfs 2 and Elysium could pull in $100 million. All three of those films are opening in the first two weeks of the month. After that, most of the new releases will be lucky if they reach $50 million during their theatrical runs. By comparison, last August was not as busy with 14 wide releases. Of those, only one film, The Bourne Legacy, topped $100 million, although a couple came reasonably close. Hopefully we will have more $100 million hits this time around and 2013 will be able to complete the comeback.
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