January 21st, 2020
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It’s an odd week for the home market, as there are four wide releases coming out this week, which is more than most weeks. However, none of them were $100 million hits domestically, so it feels slow on top. That said, The Addams Family did come close to that mark and Zombieland: Double Tap was a solid midlevel hit. As for high quality releases, Jay And Silent Bob Reboot will very likely please fans of the franchise, but I’m unsure about its ability draw in newcomers. Finally, the Pain & Glory is the best of the best and only the lack of substantial extras prevents it from winning Pick of the Week with ease. Zombieland: Double Tap has much better extras, so it a contender for Pick of the Week as well. Pain & Glory does win, but it is relatively close.
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December 26th, 2019
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This year, Christmas Eve landed on a Tuesday. Christmas Eve is the busiest shopping day of the year, but that’s most people buying last minute groceries and the rest of the retail sector suffers as a result. This is true this year and there are so few releases to talk about that there will only be two sections in this week’s report: the main section and VOD releases. Judy is the only release on this week’s list that a majority will have heard of. It is also the best new release of the week.
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November 2nd, 2019
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Terminator: Dark Fate opened in first place on Friday, but it only made $10.6 million, well below expectations. Its reviews and its B plus from CinemaScore are good, but not great, meaning it won’t have the legs needed to overcome this slow start. Look for about $28 million domestically this weekend. Early reports have it performing better internationally with a likely $30 million debut in China, but again, this is below expectations and not enough given the film’s $185 million production budget.
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October 28th, 2019
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It was a super close race for top spot on the weekend box office chart with Maleficent: Mistress of Evil and Joker neck-and-neck. In fact, they changed positions over the weekend and even reversed positions from the weekend estimates. Both of these films topped expectations by a small degree, as did most of the new releases. Unfortunately, this wasn’t enough, as the box office fell 24% from last weekend to $105 million. This is also lower than the same weekend last year, but by a tiny 0.7% margin. I’m not going to get upset about a decline this small, but it does mean 2019 has fallen further behind 2018’s pace with the deficit growing to $520 million / 5.4% at $9.00 billion to $9.52 billion.
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October 27th, 2019
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Joker is returning to first place on the weekend chart with $18.9 million, which is a tiny bit ahead of expectations. However, it is in a close enough race with Maleficent: Mistress of Evil that the pair could switch places when the final numbers show up tomorrow and I wouldn’t be too surprised. Internationally, the film is earning an estimated $47.8 million on 14,000 screens in 79 markets for totals of $571.5 million internationally and $849.1 million worldwide. It is now the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time worldwide, and is on pace to become the first R-rated film to reach $1 billion globally.
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October 26th, 2019
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Joker wasn’t gone from top spot for long, as it earned first place on Friday with $5.46 million, putting it on pace for close to $19 million over the weekend. This is very close to our prediction, but it is ranking better, due to marginally-weaker-than-expected competition. It also reportedly became the highest grossing R-rated movie of all time, at least worldwide. It is not going to catch up to The Passion of the Christ domestically.
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October 25th, 2019
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The final weekend before Halloween is rarely a good time to release a film and the paltry selection of new releases on this list shows this year will be no different. The Current War: Director’s Cut is the only film earning good reviews, but it is opening in the fewest theaters by far. Countdown has the worst reviews, but it is a horror film opening just before Halloween, so its opening weekend could be okay. Black and Blue is in the middle in terms of reviews, theater count, and box office chances. Sadly, it is very likely all three films will open below $10 million over the weekend. There’s a slim chance none of them open in the top five. By comparison, this weekend last year saw only one wide release, Hunter Killer, which bombed. This year will be much better in terms of new releases, but none of the holdovers will match Halloween on top. 2019 does have much better depth, so I think we will get a small win in the year-over-year comparison.
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October 22nd, 2019
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The weekend went about as well as expected, overall. Maleficent: Mistress of Evil didn’t open as well as expected, but Zombieland: Double Tap helped make up the difference. The overall box office was still down 6.5% from last weekend at $140 million; however, this was 5.3% higher than the same weekend last year and that is a much more important number. 2019 is still behind 2018’s pace by 5.3% or $500 million at $8.86 billion to $9.35 billion, but that’s not as bad as it has been this year.
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October 20th, 2019
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Maleficent: Mistress of Evil did bounce back on Saturday and that is helping it earn an estimated $36.0 million during its opening weekend. It is still missing expectations, but by a more reasonable margin. Its internal multiplier is about the same as the first film managed, despite this film earning weaker reviews. Audience reactions were the same, as both films earned an A-rating from CinemaScore. As for the movies international numbers, it is pulling in $117.0 million, but it also opened everywhere, so it needed a monster start and I’m not sure this was it. The film did have a faster opening that its predecessor did in China with $22.4 million, while it cracked $10 million in Russia with an an opening of $10.7 million. The film cost $185 million to make, so this is not a fast enough start to break even in the short term, but with Disney+ starting next month, it could break even eventually.
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October 19th, 2019
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Maleficent: Mistress of Evil wasn’t expected to be a monster hit, but its previews gave reason to be optimistic. That optimism is gone as a result of Friday’s estimates. The film pulled in just $12.5 million on Friday, meaning it will have to have nearly as good legs as the original had just to avoid opening below the low end of expectations. That seems unlikely, especially with its weaker reviews, although it did manage the same A rating from CinemaScore. Maybe it will really bounce back today, but we won’t really know till the weekend estimates come out tomorrow.
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October 18th, 2019
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Zombieland: Double Tap had the better previews of the two wide releases earning $2.85 million last night. Solid reviews should also help the film’s legs during its opening weekend and it should have no trouble topping Zombieland’s debut and our $25 million prediction. In fact, it has a shot at $30 million over the full weekend.
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October 18th, 2019
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There are two wide releases this week and both of them are delayed sequels. Maleficent: Mistress of Evil is widely expected to top the box office chart this weekend, but it is also widely expected to fail to match the original by a huge margin. On the other hand, Zombieland: Double Tap will likely only manage third place, but it has a real shot at matching Zombieland, at least in terms of raw dollars. By comparison, this weekend last year saw the near record-setting debut of Halloween. (It would have set the October record, had Venom not set it two weeks earlier.) I really thought 2019 would have a chance to win in the year-over-year comparison, but unless Maleficent: Mistress of Evil really beats expectations, that’s not going to happen.
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October 1st, 2019
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September ended on a bit of a weak note, but overall the month was excellent helping 2019 gain some ground on 2018. Can October continue this trend? There are certainly some potential box office hits coming out this month, starting with Joker, which opens the first weekend of the month and should be the biggest hit of the month. Maleficent: Mistress of Evil is aiming for $150 million and should be a hit, even if it doesn’t match the original at the box office. There are also a handful of films with an outside shot at getting to $100 million and I wouldn’t be shocked if one of them made it to that milestone. Meanwhile, last October, Venom broke records during its opening weekend, while A Star is Born had stellar legs helping both earn more than $200 million domestically. I don’t think the top two films will be able to match that this year, but we do have better depth, for the most part, so perhaps 2019 will continue its winning ways and close ground, at least by a little bit.
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July 26th, 2019
Action comedy starring Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, and Abigail Breslin opens October 18 ... Full Movie Details.
After a fight between Columbus and Wichita creates a deep rift in the make-shift family that causes Little Rock to leave with a strange man, the group must band together to find Little Rock and mend the family ties. Facing new kinds of zombies along the way, the group are forced to adjust their strategies until they find an incredible new zombie hunter known only as Nevada.
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