August 20th, 2018
It’s a good week on the home market as we not only have a monster hit that is worth being a Pick of the Week contender, Deadpool 2, we have a wide selection of other contenders. This includes a limited release, First Reformed; an Anime title,Sakura Quest: Part Two; as well as a TV on DVD release, Ash vs. Evil Dead: Season Three. In the end, I went with Ash vs. Evil Dead: Season Three, but it was a close race.
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April 9th, 2018
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A Quiet Place not only topped predictions, it nearly doubled them earning $50.20 million during its opening weekend. The rest of the new releases also beat expectations, albeit by much smaller margins. Blockers nearly matched its production budget, while Chappaquiddick and The Miracle Season didn’t embarrass themselves. Add in some strong holds and the total box office was a surprisingly robust $162 million. This is 19% higher than last weekend and 36% higher than the same weekend last year. Year-to-date, 2018 is still behind 2017 by $60 million or 1.8% at $3.07 billion to $3.12 billion. This is half as much as the gap was this time last week, which is great news going forward.
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April 3rd, 2018
Ready Player One not only opened in first place over the weekend, but its three-day total of $41.77 million was Steven Spielberg’s best opening weekend as a director in almost exactly a decade. Acrimony was a solid second place finisher with $17.17 million. God’s Not Dead: A Light in Darkness missed the top ten. Overall, the box office rose 4.9% from last weekend hitting $136 million, but this was still 20% lower than the same weekend last year. 2018 is now 4.9% or $150 million behind 2017’s pace at $2.84 billion to $2.99 billion.
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April 1st, 2018
The gulf between blockbusters and also-rans could hardly be starker these days. Since the release of Black Panther to a whopping $202 million on February 16, three movies that could have caught the general public’s imagination have arrived on the scene, and earned somewhere between a fifth and a seventh of that on opening weekend. Ready Player One is the most successful among them, with an opening of $41.2 million predicted by Warner Bros. as of this morning. That compares favorably to the openings of A Wrinkle in Time (which started out with $33.1 million), and Pacific Rim: Uprising ($28.1 million), and is, in fact, the best weekend in 2018 for a movie not called Black Panther, but it barely starts to chip away at considerable marketing costs, let alone a reported $150 million production budget.
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March 31st, 2018
Ready Player One earned first place on Friday with $15.2 million, for a two-day total of $27.2 million. Continuing the comparison I’ve been doing with G.I. Joe: Retaliation, this news is mixed. Ready Player One had a much better preview night, which we can attribute to previews being relatively new when Retaliation came out. The two films’ 24-hour Thursday numbers were nearly the same, and now Ready Player One has slipped just behind Retaliation’s pace. Ready Player One does have very good reviews, but the two films both earned A-minuses from CinemaScore, so they should have similar legs. I’m still going to give the edge to Ready Player One at $41 million / $52 million, but it is close.
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March 30th, 2018
Ready Player One pulled in $12.1 million on Thursday, including $3.75 million in previews. If we again compare this start to G.I. Joe: Retaliation, we see some good news, but also some troubling news. Relatiation only managed $2.6 million in previews, but $10.51 million on Thursday, so Ready Player One has shorter legs already. That said, Relatiation came out before previews were as big as they are now, so perhaps it is better just to judge the film’s Thursday numbers. If we use the full Thursday numbers, then Ready Player One is on pace for a $47 million / $59 million opening weekend. If we just use the 24-hour Thursday numbers, then Ready Player One will open with $41 million / $51 million over the weekend. Ready Player One does have better reviews, but they both earned A minuses from CinemaScore, so perhaps having the same legs from now on is more likely than not. We will have a better idea once Friday’s numbers are out.
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March 29th, 2018
March comes to a close with three wide releases. Of these, only Ready Player One is expected to be even a midlevel hit. In fact, it will likely earn more over its four-day weekend than the other two films earn in total. Acrimony should open in the mid to low teens, while God’s Not Dead: A Light in Darkness will barely make the top ten. This weekend last year, The Boss Baby opened with just over $50 million. Maybe Ready Player One will make that much over four days. Even if it does, 2017’s impressive depth means there’s almost no chance 2018 will win in the year-over-year comparison.
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March 26th, 2018
Drama starring David A.R. White opens March 30 ... Full Movie Details.
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March 1st, 2018
February was an amazing month, thanks mainly to Black Panther, but Fifty Shades Freed and Peter Rabbit were also significant hits and overall the month was a massive improvement over last February. Looking forward, there’s nothing opening in March that will earn as much in total as Black Panther did during its opening weekend. That said, A Wrinkle in Time and Ready Player One should have no trouble getting to $100 million, while Tomb Raider has a 50/50 chance of getting there. Unfortunately, compared to last March, this is still a pittance. There’s a chance that no film opening this March will earn as much in total as Beauty and the Beast opened with last march. We will need Black Panther to have good legs to keep 2018 ahead of 2017 by the end of the month.
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