Home Market Releases for May 2nd, 2017

May 2nd, 2017

We are officially in the worst time of year on the home market. The last of the major Awards Season players have already come out, but it is still too early for the Spring hits to be released. The competition from May Sweeps and the start of the Summer Blockbuster Season means there’s not a lot here that’s going to do well in DVD / Blu-ray sales. Ironically, the lack of a major release means there are a lot of smaller releases that are competing for Pick of the Week, many of which would be lost in the crowd during a busier time of year. This includes I Am Not Your Negro, The Salesman, Real Genius, and Seven Days in May. In the end, I went with The Red Turtle on DVD or Blu-ray as the Pick of the Week. In the meanwhile, Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone on Blu-ray gets the Puck of the Week honor, as the “best” Canadian release of the week. I just wish it were coming out in 3D. More...

Home Market Releases for April 18th, 2017

April 18th, 2017

We are entering the worst time of the year on the home market. There’s only a trickle of last year’s Awards Season contenders left to deal with, while it is way too early for the major spring releases to come out on DVD / Blu-ray. There are some classic titles that are on this list, like Donnie Darko: 15th Anniversary Limited Edition or Ocean Waves Blu-ray Combo Pack. However, the Pick of the Week isn’t either of these titles, but MST3K: Season 11, which you can watch on Netflix right now. More...

International Box Office: Beast Mode Engaged as Beauty earns $180.0 million

March 22nd, 2017

Beauty and the Beast dominated the international chart even more than it dominated the domestic one earning $180.0 million in 44 markets. The film’s worldwide opening was the second best for March, behind only Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice; however, BvS opened truly worldwide, while Beauty and the Beast only opened in about two thirds of the international market. Unsurprisingly, the film’s biggest single market was China, where it pulled in $44.72 million over the weekend, $45.01 million including Thursday’s previews. It was also a monster hit in the U.K., where it earned $24.37 million in 567 theaters, which was the biggest March opening of all time in that market. The next biggest market was South Korea with $10.68 million on 1,625 screens over the weekend and $11.88 million in total. It also cracked $10 million in Mexico ($11.6 million); Germany ($10.7 million), and Brazil ($10.4 million). At this point, getting to $1 billion worldwide seems like a safe bet, especially with openings in France, Australia, Japan, and other markets left to go. We will of course track its progress there. More...

International Box Office: Kong Just as Tall on the International Chart with $81.6 million

March 16th, 2017

Kong: Skull Island opened in first place on the international chart with $85.1 million in 65 markets, which is more than $3 million higher than Sunday’s estimates. The film’s biggest market was the U.K., where it earned $7.58 million in 567 theaters. It also did well in Mexico ($5.58 million); in Russia ($4.87 million on 1,283 screens); and in Australia ($3.55 million on 523). Impressively, the film broke the record for biggest opening in Vietnam with $2.2 million on 377 screens. More...

International Box Office: Logan Scored Nearly $250 million Worldwide in Opening Weekend

March 8th, 2017

Logan dominated the international box office chart with $152.7 million in 81 markets for a worldwide opening of $240.9 million. This is almost twice as much as the film cost to make, so it has nearly paid for its entire production budget during the film’s opening weekend. Assuming it has any legs, it will break even before it reaches the home market. China was the biggest single market, as it earned $45.60 million over the weekend for a total opening of $46.38 million, including Thursday previews. The U.K. was well back with an opening of $11.48 million in 602 theaters. Up next is Brazil, which earned $8.2 million, while the film had a total opening of $8.16 million on 954 screens in South Korea, while it earned $8.02 million on 1,200 screens in Russia. The film doesn’t open in Japan until June and it could have over $500 million worldwide by then. More...

Weekend Wrap-Up: Split Scores Another Touchdown with $14.42 million

February 7th, 2017

As expected, Split earned first place over the weekend with $14.42 million. That’s not bad for Super Bowl weekend. In fact, the overall depth was better than expected, not that you could tell from the week-over-week decline. The overall box office fell 31% to just $98 million. However, this was still 2.5% better than the same weekend last year. That’s a surprise victory. Granted, 2017 is still behind 2016 by 5.1% at $1.06 billion to $1.12 billion, but every little victory helps. More...

Weekend Estimates: Split Wins Third Weekend

February 5th, 2017

Rings managed to win on Friday, but the weekend as a whole will belong to Split, which is expected to top the chart with $14.6 million, according to Universal’s Sunday morning projection. Rings will finish second with $13 million or so, and A Dog’s Purpose will win Sunday (making this a rare weekend where three different films will top the daily chart) to finish the weekend with $10.8 million, and $32.9 million to date. More...

Friday Estimates: Rings Wins Friday with $5.2 million, Split will Repeat over Weekend

February 4th, 2017

It will be a close race this weekend with Rings topping the chart on Friday with $5.6 million, putting it just ahead of Split … for now. Its word-of-mouth is terrible. It did get its first positive review, but its Tomatometer Score is just 6% positive, while it earned a C minus from CinemaScore. On the positive side, overall this is actually better than predicted, and it looks like it will earn close to $14 million, instead of just under $13 million. More...

Weekend Predictions: Will Split Be Separated from the Top Spot?

February 2nd, 2017

The new releases this week are not strong, so we could see Split remain on top for the third weekend in a row. Rings should at least be in a fight for first place, if it just does as well as Resident Evil: The Final Chapter did last weekend. On the other hand, The Space Between Us is being eviscerated by the critics and it really needed good word of mouth to thrive. If it opens in the top five, I will be impressed. This weekend last year, Hail, Caesar! was the number one new release and it earned just $11.36 million. Rings should top that. Unfortunately, the number one film was Kung Fu Panda 3, which earned more than than $20 million. There’s no way Split will match that, so 2017 is going to lose in the year-over-year competition. More...

Weekend Wrap-Up: Split Outnumbers the Competition with $25.66 million

January 31st, 2017

It was a surprisingly strong weekend at the box office, no thanks to the new releases. Split easily won with $25.66 million over the weekend, well ahead of A Dog’s Purpose, which earned second place with $18.22 million. Resident Evil: The Final Chapter got off to a fast start, but collapsed over the rest of the weekend. Finally, the less said about Gold the better. Overall, the box office was really strong with $141 million. Granted, this was 2.5% lower than last week, but it was 1.3% better than the same weekend last year. This growth is entirely due to Split’s hold plus the Oscar bounce a number of films got. Year-to-date, 2017 has earned $929 million, which is 4.7% lower than last year’s pace of $975 million. It is still too soon to make any real predictions for 2017’s long term success. That said, 2017 did cut into 2016’s lead and it is now down by $46 million or 4.7%. More...

Weekend Estimates: Split Retains Box Office Crown with Big Second Weekend

January 29th, 2017

An impressive decline of 34% in its second weekend and a crop of middling to poor performances by new releases will be enough to keep Split safely at the top of the box office chart this weekend. With Universal projecting $26.3 million for the weekend as of Sunday morning, Split is well ahead of the studio’s new release, A Dog’s Purpose, which will come in with around $18.4 million. Split will finish the weekend with around $78 million in total. More...

Friday Estimates: Dog Doesn’t Have Universal Appeal

January 28th, 2017

Friday was the beginning of a good weekend for Universal, but it wasn’t a good day for the box office as a whole, as two of the three new wide releases struggled. Split was down just 46% when compared to last Friday and earned $7.9 million. Assuming it acts like, well, practically every film ever made, it will have an even better Saturday and that puts it on pace to earn about $25 million over the weekend. It will top $100 million during the first weekend of February and will still be in wide release over Presidents’ Day long weekend. This is fantastic news for the studio. More...

Thursday Night Previews: Resident Moves into Theaters with $1 million in Previews - Update

January 27th, 2017

Resident Evil: The Final Chapter opened with $1 million in previews on Thursday, easily topping the competition. It was only half as much as Split managed last weekend, but if The Final Chapter earned half as much during its opening weekend, the studio would be very happy. That seems unlikely, as this is the latest installment in a franchise, so it should be more front-loaded as a result. Additionally, its reviews are much weaker than Split’s are, so the word of mouth won’t be as strong. That said, we predicted just over $17 million and we’re sticking with that for now. More...

Weekend Predictions: Will Final Come in First? Or will Dog Find a Purpose?

January 26th, 2017

It is not a good week at the box office. There are two films opening at saturation level theaters counts, 3,000 or more theaters, and both have a shot at first place. A Dog’s Purpose was expected to win with relative ease, but recent controversy, and weak reviews, have put that in doubt. This leaves an opening for Resident Evil: The Final Chapter to squeak out a win. However, it will be dealing with direct competition and that’s going to hurt. Finally there’s Gold, which is barely opening truly wide and is just hoping for a spot in the top ten. This weekend last year, Kung Fu Panda 3 opened with just over $40 million. This could be more than all three wide releases open with this weekend. 2017 does have better depth, but it won’t be enough to win in the year-over-year comparison. More...

Contest: Prizes, Evil Prizes

January 20th, 2017

I thought A Dog’s Purpose would have a real shot at first place next weekend, but ... oh boy. If you haven’t seen the video supposed taken on the set yet, it’s tough to watch. It is also by PETA and released by TMZ, so I’m not 100% convinced it is legit. Those are two organizations I don’t trust. (Personally, I give to the local branch of the SPCA. Also, when you donate to charities like this, do NOT tell them what to do with the money. A lot of people do and they have to follow these requests and this results in popular programs being over-funded and less glamorous programs going under-funded.) Because of this video, there is talk of a boycott and that could really hurt its box office numbers. This leaves Resident Evil: The Final Chapter as the safe choice for the target film in this week’s box office prediction contest. In order to win, one must simply predict the opening weekend box office number for Resident Evil: The Final Chapter.

Whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend box office (Friday to Sunday), without going over, will win a Frankenprise consisting of their choice of either one TV on DVD release, two movies, or a kids package (could be a theatrical release, a couple of single-disc TV on DVD releases, or a full season TV on DVD release). Whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend box office (Friday to Sunday), without going under, will also win a Frankenprize, as described above. Finally, we will be choosing an entrant from the group of people who haven't won, or haven't won recently, and they will win the final Frankenprize, as described above.

Entries must be received by 10 a.m., Pacific Time on Friday to be eligible, so don't delay! More...

A Dog’s Purpose Trailer

January 2nd, 2017

Drama starring Josh Gad, directed by Lasse Hallström opens January 27 ... Full Movie Details. More...

2017 Preview: January

January 1st, 2017

December box office numbers helped 2016 end on ... a note. The good news and the bad news almost exactly balance out. On the one hand, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story will finish the year with more than $400 million after just 16 days of release. That’s a stunning amount of money that helped 2016 earn a record box office at the domestic market. However, Star Wars: The Force Awakens earned $650 million during December of 2015, so the month lost a lot of its lead over 2015, so much so that ticket sales fell behind last year’s total. The weakness at the end of the year will spill over into 2017, which is terrible news. A slow start could result in the dominant box office story being 2017 struggles compared to 2016. Bad news like this can sometimes become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Sadly, 2017 is also going to get off to a slow start when it comes to wide releases / expansions. There are 16 films scheduled to open or expand wide this month and none of them are expected to get to $100 million. It is likely none of them will even get very close. xXx: Return of Xander Cage is expected to be the best of a weak bunch, but I could see it getting beat by one of the five Oscar contenders opening wide this month, if it gets off to a slow start and one of the Oscar contenders starts picking up steam. Hidden Figures got off to a great start on Christmas Day and should it continue to earn Awards Season recognition, including some Oscar nominations, it could be in wide release well into February. Last January wasn’t as busy with 13 films opening or expanding wide over five weeks. Of these, two of them, The Revenant and Kung Fu Panda 3, topped $100 million domestically, while another, Ride Along 2, came close. 2017 is going to get destroyed in the year-over-year comparison. More...