March 20th, 2019
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Captain Marvel continued to dominated the competition earning first place on the international chart with $119.7 million in 54 markets for totals of $494.0 million internationally and $758.9 million worldwide. This is already ahead of 10 previous installments in the MCU. The film opened in its last market, Japan, earning first place with $5.6 million. It also earned $23.83 million in China for a two-week total of $131.84 million. This is down by 72% from its opening weekend, which is a sharp decline, even for China, but not a disaster. The film held on better in the rest of the international markets; in fact, on average, it held on better than it did here. This puts $1 billion worldwide within reach, likely by next week, and it might even reach the top five for the MCU.
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March 14th, 2019
Captain Marvel dominated the international chart even more than it dominated the domestic chart earning $302.0 million in 53 markets during its opening weekend for a worldwide debut of $455.3 million. Unsurprisingly, the film’s biggest market was China, where it earned $86.57 million over the weekend for a total opening of $88.86 million in the market. The film’s second best market was South Korea, where it earned $18.11 million in 2,098 screens for a total opening of $23.98 million. The film managed $16.59 million on 655 theaters in the U.K. and $13.3 million in Brazil. The film also cracked $10 million in Mexico ($12.71 million); Indonesia ($10.8 million); and Russia ($10.71 million). The only market the film didn’t open in is Japan, but it opens there this weekend.
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March 13th, 2019
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It’s not a good week on the home market. There are some big releases, like Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, but none of them are good. There are a couple of contenders for Pick of the Week, but the The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends: The Complete Series DVD is a re-release at a more reasonable price, while it is worth waiting to get the The Miseducation of Cameron Post: Special Edition Blu-ray. In the end, I went with a late screener, The Forbidden Photos Of A Lady Above Suspicion: Collector’s Edition Blu-ray. It is definitely the best bet for fans of Giallo and / or Film Noir.
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March 7th, 2019
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How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World returned to first place on the international chart in almost exactly a month. It earned $54.9 million in 60 markets for totals of $280.9 million internationally and $378.6 million worldwide. The film debuted in first place in China with $33.38 million in approximately 10,000 theaters. It has yet to open in Japan and could break even before it gets there. It depends on how long its legs are and how much its advertising budget was.
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February 24th, 2019
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It’s Oscar night and we will be live blogging the show. We will announce the winners and have our reactions as they happen, while keeping track of how our readers did in predicting the outcomes.
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February 24th, 2019
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It’s Oscar Day, and we will be live blogging the show. Before that, let’s take a last look at the nominations with a few annotations. in Italics are those that have received the most votes from our readers so far in our Oscar contest (which is open to new entries until noon, Pacific, today—enter now!). Bold films are those films I think will win. Meanwhile, those that are Underlined are those I want to win. Not all categories have underlined nominees, because not all categories have someone I’m cheering for, or because there are two nominees I couldn’t pick between. For example, I would be happy with half of the Best Picture nominees winning.
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February 21st, 2019
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With our annual Oscar Prediction contest underway, now is the best time to look at the nominees and try and figure out who the favorites are and which films should just feel honored to be nominated. We end with the biggest award of the night: Best Picture. I don’t know who’s going to win. I think I know who the favorite is, but there are five films here that could win and I wouldn’t really be surprised.
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February 20th, 2019
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The fall smash hits and the Oscar contenders are starting to come out in full force, making it a great time on the home market. This week, we have one of the biggest hits of the fall, A Star is Born; one of the best movies of the year, Can You Ever Forgive Me?; and the Anime that arguably solidified Moe as powerhouse genre, K-ON: Complete Collection Premium Box Set. Of the three, I like K-ON the most, but I admit that price will scare away a lot of people, so Can You Ever Forgive Me? is the better choice for Pick of the Week.
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February 19th, 2019
With our annual Oscar Prediction contest underway, now is the best time to look at the nominees and try and figure out who the favorites are and which films should just feel honored to be nominated. Today we look at the two Screenwriting Categories, ending with with Best Original Screenplay. This category is actually competitive with three films I can see winning.
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February 14th, 2019
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With our annual Oscar Prediction contest underway, now is the best time to look at the nominees and try and figure out who the favorites are and which films should just feel honored to be nominated. This week we look at the four acting categories, continuing with Best Lead Actor. Like the Best Supporting Actor category, there is a favorite here, but an upset wouldn’t be that shocking.
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February 14th, 2019
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There was only one new release in the $10,000 club this week, Everybody Knows, which earned an average of $17,802 in four theaters. Last week’s winner, Never Look Away, expanded into three theaters earning an average of $12,942. The 2019 Oscar Shorts didn’t make the $10,000 club, but it did earn nearly $1 million in 270 theaters for an average of $3,476, which is a better than 30% increase compared to the previous installment and easily the best of the franchise. Granted, it was also the widest release in the franchise, but this is still a start worth celebrating.
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February 12th, 2019
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With our annual Oscar Prediction contest underway, now is the best time to look at the nominees and try and figure out who the favorites are and which films should just feel honored to be nominated. This week we look at the four acting categories, continuing with Best Supporting Actor. In this category, there is a favorite, but an upset isn’t out of the question.
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February 11th, 2019
The BAFTA winners were announced and The Favorite led the way with 7 wins. Like I mentioned before, understandably, the BAFTAs tend to favor British films and this can lessen their ability to predict Oscar winners and The Favorite is such a British Film that they managed to spell the word correctly. That doesn’t mean there are no lessons we can learn from these results.
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February 6th, 2019
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Never Look Away held up well earning $19,033 in its lone theater. Its Oscar Nod is helping, but its real test is when the film tries to expand. The only new release in the $10,000 club was Arctic, with an average of $12,720 in four theaters.
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February 5th, 2019
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How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World roared into first place on the international chart with $40.8 million in 40 markets for a still early international total of $85.5 million. It was buoyed by a quartet of major market openings, led by Mexico, where it earned first place with $7.56 million in 891 theaters. This is 20% more than the previous film in the franchise opened with in that market. It also opened in first place in the U.K. ($6.95 million in 556 theaters) and in Italy ($3.67 million in 467). On the other hand, it had to settle for third place in South Korea with $3.30 million on 971 screens over the weekend for a total opening of $4.61 million. The film opens in France and Germany this weekend, but doesn’t finish its box office run until August, when it finally opens in Japan.
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February 3rd, 2019
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The weekend estimates have Glass remaining on top of the chart with $9.54 million over the weekend, giving it a running tally of $88.66 million after three weeks of release. It is a lock to get to $100 million domestically, although it will likely be pushed out of the top five before it gets there. Internationally, the film is earning $12.2 million over the weekend for totals of $110.3 million internationally and $199.0 million worldwide. It will soon become the first film released in 2019 to get to $200 million worldwide and it isn’t done yet.
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February 2nd, 2019
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It looks like it will be a weekend to forget. In fact, if Friday is a reliable omen, then this will be the worst Super Bowl weekend at the box office in more than a decade. The only good news is, this was more or less expected. For example, Glass remained in first place with $2.76 million on Friday, putting it on pace for between $9 million on $10 million. Even if it hits the high end, it will still be within a rounding error of expectations. Get ready to read that phrase again a couple of more times this story.
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January 31st, 2019
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It’s Super Bowl weekend, which is historically one of the worst weekends all year long and it doesn’t look like this year will be an exception. Miss Bala is the only true wide release of the week, while They Shall Not Grow Old is expanding wide enough that it could grab a spot in the top five. Glass should remain in top spot, likely with less than $10 million. It’s not going to be a good weekend at the box office. Meanwhile, this weekend last year, Winchester opened with just over $9 million and two holdovers earned $10 million. 2019 is going to lose in the year-over-year comparison, but because both weekends were so soft, the gap shouldn’t be too large.
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January 31st, 2019
Never Look Away was the only film to earn a spot in the $10,000 club, as it earned $25,789 in its lone theater. It did earn an Oscar Nod for Best Foreign-Language Picture, so it could do very well in limited release.
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January 27th, 2019
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Glass bounced back after a weak Friday earning an estimated $19.05 million over the weekend for a two-week total of $73.59 million. This is even better than our original prediction. It’s practically guaranteed to get to $100 million domestically, while it is doing a little better internationally. This weekend it pulled in $23.6 million for a two-week total of $89.1 million. The film has yet to open in China and when it does, it will get past $250 million worldwide.
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January 26th, 2019
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It was a Friday to forget, and it’s going to be another bad weekend at the box office. Glass fell 69% from its opening Friday to $4.98 million this Friday. This is a sharper decline than anticipated, but even so, it should still earn a little more than $16 million over the full weekend, keeping it on pace for $100 million domestically. In other words, while this is a faster decline than predicted, it is not so fast that anyone should panic.
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January 24th, 2019
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Who Will Write Our History topped the theater average chart with $13,390 in its lone theater. One could also argue Dragon Ball Super: Broly was the true leader on this chart. Because the film played in a different number of theaters each day over the weekend, it is hard to come up with a real theater average for the weekend. Taking the average of the daily averages gets us $13,643, which would be number one of the weekend. Using the maximum theater count still gets us an average of $7,870, which is still amazing. The only other film in the $10,000 club was the overall box office leader, Glass, with an average of $10,500.
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January 23rd, 2019
The Oscar nominations were announced yesterday starting at just after 5 am Pacific time. They do this every year for reasons no one has been able to adequately explain to me. Because it was the day after a long weekend, it took a bit of time to get all the normal work done and digest the results. And there were some interesting results to digest. No one film led the way with total nominations, as two films, The Favourite and Roma tied with 10 nominations each.
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January 20th, 2019
The Producers Guild of America announced their winners on Sunday night and the reactions to the winners range from “obviously” to “what were they thinking?”
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January 12th, 2019
The BAFTA nominations were announced and The Favorite led the way with 12 nominations. Sometimes the BAFTAs are a really good indicator for who will do well on Oscar night. Other times their bias to British films is too much. I think this year will be an example of the latter and I don't think The Favourite is suddenly an Oscar favorite. That said, there’s still some things you can learn here.
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January 10th, 2019
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Destroyer rose to first place on the theater average chart with an average of $16,383 in six theaters. Cold War actually saw its average grow to $15,127, also in six theaters. Last week’s winner, On the Basis of Sex was next with an average of $14,370 in 112 theaters. It’s rare for a limited release to land in the $10,000 club while playing in more than 100 theaters. The final member of the $10,000 club was Stan and Ollie with an average of $10,920 in 8 theaters.
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January 10th, 2019
The Writers Guild of America has a lot of categories, as they hand out nearly 30 awards. However, only three of them are for theatrical releases. The list of nominees include several major Awards Season players and not a lot of surprises. There are some clear patterns emerging, but also some surprising results.
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January 9th, 2019
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Directors Guild of America announced their theatrical nominations this week and we are starting to see some real patterns emerge and I think the Oscar picture is getting clearer.
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January 7th, 2019
The Golden Globes were the first major Awards Season ceremony this year handing out the hardware on Sunday night. Are last night’s events a strong indicator for the Oscars? I hope not! Certainly not in all categories, as there were some puzzling results last night.
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January 4th, 2019
The Producers Guild of America announced their nominations in the theatrical categories today and there are some trends building. However, there are also some questions generated after these nominations were announced.
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January 2nd, 2019
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It was a busy week on the theater average chart, as there were three new releases and three holdovers in the $10,000 club. On the Basis of Sex led the way with an average of $20,799 in 33 theaters. That’s an excellent start for a limited release playing in that many theaters. Second place went to Destroyer with an average of $18,449 in three theaters. The final new release in the $10,000 club was Stan and Ollie, which earn an average of $15,935 in five theaters. Cold War held on really well earning an average of $14,777 in three theaters. The overall box office leader, Aquaman, was next with an average of $12,634. If Beale Street Could Talk rounded out the $10,000 with an average of $11,788, and it managed this despite expanding its theater count to 65.
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December 27th, 2018
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There were not many new limited releases releases, which let If Beale Street Could Talk remain on top with an average of $21,853 in five theaters. Cold War was the best of the new releases with an average of $18,118 in three theaters. The only other film in the $10,000 club over the weekend was Aquaman with an average of $16,485. Two films had averages of over $10,000 during their Christmas Day debuts, On the Basis of Sex (average of $14,483 in 33 theaters) and Destroyer (average of $10,246 in three).
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December 19th, 2018
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There was only one new release in the $10,000 club this past weekend. If Beale Street Could Talk opened with an average of $56,119 in four theaters. The only other member of the $10,000 club was Mary Queen of Scots, with an average of $10,602 in 66 theaters during its second week of release. It will continue to expand, but it very likely won’t expand even semi-wide.
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December 12th, 2018
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The Screen Actors Guild were the third group to announce their nominations for this awards season. There’s not a lot of surprises on this week’s list. A Star is Born led the way with four nominations, while The Favourite was right behind with three.
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December 6th, 2018
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The Golden Globes nominations are the second major Awards Season set to come out. It is still very early in the year and the predictive value of the Golden Globes is a little suspect, but there are still some things to learn here. For example Vice led the way with six nominations, so its Oscar chances have gone up, but don’t expect it to lead the way when the Oscars nominations are announced.
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November 29th, 2018
The Favourite had the best theater average, not only of the weekend, but of the year. It pulled in $422,000 in 4 theaters for an average of $105,603, putting it ahead of the previous leader for 2018, Suspiria. It is a lot more mainstream and shouldn’t have a problem expanding significantly beyond this point. Shoplifters was well back with an average of $17,853 in five theaters. The overall box office leader, Ralph Breaks The Internet, was next with an average of $14,000. The World Before Your Feet was the latest documentary to open in the $10,000 club earning an average of $11,241 in two theaters. The final film in the $10,000 club was also a wide release, Creed II, which earned an average of $10,338.
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November 27th, 2018
The weekend box office was more lucrative than predicted with both Ralph Breaks the Internet and Creed II breaking records. Depending on how technical you want to be. Ralph Breaks the Internet led the way with $55.67 million over the three-day weekend and $84.47 million over five. This is technically the record for biggest Thanksgiving opening, as Frozen had a prestige opening the weekend before and only expanded wide on Thanksgiving. Nearly every other film on this week’s list also topped predictions helping this weekend to rise 26% from last weekend hitting $216 million over the three-day period. This was also 15% higher than the same weekend last year, which is a more important result. I was really expecting 2018’s lead over 2017 to be down significantly from its peak; however, instead it has stretched its lead to $1.04 billion or 11% at $10.53 billion to $9.49 billion.
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November 21st, 2018
It’s Thanksgiving long weekend, which means it is officially the start of the holiday blockbuster season. This year, three films are opening wide hoping to become hits. One of them, Ralph Breaks the Internet, could become the biggest hit of the month. Creed II is expected to top its predecessor during its five-day opening. Robin Hood is just hoping not to bomb in theaters. Both Green Book and The Front Runner were scheduled to expand wide, but neither will. In fact, The Front Runner isn’t even expanding semi-wide. This weekend last year, Coco opened with nearly $73 million during its five day weekend. Ralph Breaks the Internet likely won’t earn that much over the weekend, but it should come close. Additionally, Justice League earned $60 million during the five-day frame, which is very likely better than Creed II will perform. However, after that point, 2018’s depth becomes stronger than 2017’s depth and we should earn the small win in the year-over-year competition.
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November 20th, 2018
At Eternity’s Gate led the weekend chart with an average of $23,214 in four theaters. The overall box office leader, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, was next with an average of $14,932. Green Book debuted with an average of $12,817 in 25 theaters. This would normally be a good start for a limited release, especially one playing in 25 theaters. However, it isn’t good enough to justify a wide expansion on Wednesday.
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November 18th, 2018
As expected, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald topped the chart over the weekend. However, the opening is weaker than expected with an estimated $62.2 million. Additionally, it has weaker reviews (40% vs. 74%) compared to Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them; a worse CinemaScore (B plus vs. A); and a lower internal multiplier (2.43 vs. 2.51), so this film's legs will likely be much shorter and getting to $200 million might be asking too much. On the other hand, the film has an estimated $191 million internationally, so there’s no reason to worry for Warner Bros., as this movie will be fantastically profitable in the end.
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November 17th, 2018
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald opened in first place with $25.7 million on Friday. The film actually had better previews than Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, but its Friday was 13% below its predecessor. This is a bad sign for its legs. Additionally, its reviews fell to just 40% positive, while it only managed a B plus from CinemaScore. On the positive side, the film is doing much better internationally and the film already has $74.3 million in just two days of international release. It will break even on just its international numbers, but the film’s poor reception with critics and moviegoers could hurt the rest of the installments in the Fantastic Beasts franchise.
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November 16th, 2018
This week is filled with films that are earning reviews that are good, but likely not quite good enough to thrive in limited release. There are a few exceptions, mostly documentaries. This leaves Green Book as the only film that has a real shot at mainstream success. In fact, given its reviews, it could earn some Awards Season success.
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November 1st, 2018
October continued 2018’s phenomenal box office run, for the most part. There were a couple of films that missed expectations by $10 million or more, but on the other hand, Vemon and Halloween were smash hits and are now the first and second biggest October debuts of all time. Furthermore, 2018’s lead over 2017 is, as I’m writing this, just shy of $1 billion and if 2018 can maintain this lead, it will be one of the biggest year-over-year increases of all time. It won’t. The fun times end now. Why is that? Last November was amazing. There were only eight wide releases, but six of them earned more than $100 million. Three of those hit $200 million, including Thor: Ragnarok, which earned over $300 million. This year, there are a lot more movies opening in November, but it is a case of quantity over quality. No movie is expected to come close to $300 million and it would take a bit of luck just to have five $100 million hits. The film I’m looking forward to the most is Ralph Breaks the Internet, while it, Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch, and Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald are all aiming for $200 million this month. Fortunately, even if 2018 is behind 2017’s pace by around $300 million, 2018 has built up such a large lead that it should still go into December with an insurmountable lead at the box office.
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August 14th, 2018
Historical drama starring Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali opens November 21 ... Full Movie Details.
When Tony Lip, an Italian-American bouncer with a seventh-grade education, is hired to drive Dr. Don Shirley, a world-class African-American pianist on a concert tour from Manhattan to the Deep South, they must rely on the “Negro Motorist Green Book” to guide them to the few establishments that were then safe for Blacks. Confronted with racism, danger—as well as unexpected humanity and humor—they are forced to set aside differences to survive and thrive on the journey of a lifetime.
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