November 25th, 2015
Awards Season begins with the Independent Spirit Awards nominations. There were definitely some surprise nominees this year, but that also meant there were some unfortunate snubs as well. The overall leader was Carol, which just opened this past weekend. This is great timing and should help its box office numbers, as well as its chances throughout Awards Season. Its six nominations were one ahead of Beasts of No Nation and Spotlight. (One of Spotlight's was the Robert Altman Award, which has no nominations, just one winner.)
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November 3rd, 2015
It's a short list of new releases this week for two reasons. The first reason is the previously mentioned technical problems. I need to get three days of work done today so that I can get my computer off to the shop for an upgrade. Meanwhile, I've been battling an only mostly functional computer for a week. The second reason is Inside Out is coming out and that scared away the competition. The Blu-ray Combo Pack or 3D Combo Pack are clearly the Pick of the Week this week. However, it is far from the only new release worth picking up. It's just that the rest of the contenders are much smaller releases.
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September 2nd, 2015
Grandma remained on top of the per theater chart, which is impressive in its own right. While it is not uncommon for a movie to repeat on top of the overall box office, doing so on the per theater chart is a lot rarer. This is because the films most likely to win on the per theater chart are limited releases and if they do well enough to win, they tend to expand the following week. This is what happened with Grandma, which saw its theater count rise from 4 to 19, but its per theater average was still top at $15,330. The only other film in the $10,000 club was War Room, which earned an average of $10,001. That's cutting it really close.
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August 26th, 2015
Grandma led all of the new releases, both in terms of reviews and in terms of per theater average. The film opened with $116,000 in four theaters for an average of $28,885. There was a very tight race for second place between The Quay Brothers in 35MM ($16,955 in one theater) and Learning to Drive ($16.504 in four theaters).
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August 4th, 2015
The End of the Tour is the latest success for A24, as it topped the per theater chart with an average of $30,810 in four theaters. Up next were a pair of documentaries, Best of Enemies and Listen to Me Marlon, with averages of $16,913 and $15,034 respectively. The overall number one film was next, as Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation earned an average of $14,034. The final film in the $10,000 club was Phoenix. Its theater count doubled, but its per theater average dropped just 20% to $12,004. That's amazing and it could be an omen that it will expand wide enough to earn some measure of mainstream success.
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August 2nd, 2015
Mission: Impossible—Rogue Nation will comfortably win the weekend at the box office, with Paramount projecting a total of $56 million on Sunday morning. That’s a very respectable performance by any measure, although it falls short of the franchise record, which was set by Mission: Impossible 2 15 years ago. It’s early days yet, but the prospects of another franchise chapter making around $200 million seem good, based on the excellent reviews this outing has been receiving. Overseas business is reportedly very good so far, although we don’t yet have any official figures.
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July 30th, 2015
It is a bad time of the year to release a limited release. It is too late into summer to think a limited release can expand wide enough to gain mainstream success before summer ends. At the same time, it is far too early for Awards Season buzz to have an effect at the box office. This partially explains why there are so few films on this week's list and fewer still have any chance at box office success. There are only two films on this week's list with strong buzz and overwhelmingly positive reviews. Best of Enemies and The End of the Tour. Both could do well on the Per Theater Chart this weekend, but The End of the Tour is the only film with a shot at expanding significantly.
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