February 26th, 2017
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The Independent Spirit Awards winners were handed out last night. While they are rarely a good predictor for the Oscars, Moonlight’s performance was so dominant that its chances of winning Oscars have ticked up a couple of percentage points.
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December 14th, 2016
After dealing with first-run releases and TV on DVD releases, we come to the instalment of our Holiday Gift Guide that deals with limited releases, classics, and foreign imports. This list should be longer than last week, but hopefully I won’t go overboard.
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December 12th, 2016
The Golden Globes nominations were announced and we are starting to see a few names pop up over and over again. La La Land led the way with seven nominations, but Moonlight was right behind with six and Manchester by the Sea earned five. You will be hearing those three names over and over and over again this Awards Season.
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November 23rd, 2016
The Independent Spirit Awards nominations were announced last night and thus the 2016 Awards Season begins. There were a few surprises and some snubs to discuss, but for the most part, there’s not a lot nominations that broke the established narrative. It’s because there isn’t really an established narrative. This means films that earn nominations here have a much better chance of doing well going forward and Moonlight looks like it could rise up as a result.
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June 14th, 2016
It is a much slower week than it was last time. In fact, the only two reviews this week were for releases that came out last week. That doesn't mean we don't have any good releases and there are a few contenders for Pick of the Week. Of these, Hello, My Name is Doris is the one I'm most interested in buying and the Blu-ray, while not loaded with extras, is the Pick of the Week. I'm also giving an honorary Puck of the Week to Dark Matter: Season 1, which is a Canadian Sci-fi series.
(On a side note, Amazon's list of new releases is a mess with a bunch of Game of Thrones and Star Trek titles, most of which don't even have images. This made sorting through the new releases a lot harder.)
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May 29th, 2016
It's a big week for first-run releases with four such films coming out. However, none of them are top-notch releases. Race is the best, but even then it is only worth a rental. Sadly, none of the limited releases, TV on DVD releases, catalog releases, etc. are really big releases either. Hello, My Name is Doris is a great movie, but it is only coming out on Video on Demand this week. I'm going with Veggie Tales: And Now It's Time for Silly Songs with Larry: The Complete Collection on DVD as the Pick of the Week. It really is a slow week for new releases.
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April 20th, 2016
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Green Room led the way with an average of $29,328 in three theaters. This is yet another success for A24 and whoever is in charge of acquisitions over there needs to get a raise. The overall number one film, The Jungle Book was next with an average of $25,636. Sing Street was well back with an average of $12,715 in five theaters. The only holdover in the $10,000 club was Vita Activa: The Spirit of Hannah Arendt, which was down a mere 18% to $10,814 in its lone theater.
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April 6th, 2016
Miles Ahead led the way on the theater average chart with $28,633 in four theaters. Vaxxed: From Cover Up to Catastrophe was right behind with $28,339 in one theater. As someone who doesn't want to see measles make a comeback, this is a scary result. Everybody Wants Some earned an average of $16,440 in 19 theaters over the weekend after opening in five theaters on Wednesday. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice remained in the $10,000 club with an average of $12,062. Saturday's Warrior and Chongqing Hot Pot had very close averages at $10,671 and $10,098 respectively.
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March 30th, 2016
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice earned first place on the theater average chart for the weekend and for 2016 with $39,134. The previous record was $38,002 held by Midnight Special and was set last weekend. This week, Midnight Special had to settle for second place on the chart with an average of $20,003. Born to be Blue was the best new limited release earning an average of $15,395 in three theaters. The only other film in the $10,000 club was April and the Extraordinary World, which earned $11,413 in its lone theater.
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March 22nd, 2016
Midnight Special had the best theater average for a film that opened in 2016 earning $190,000 in five theaters for an average of $38,002. The only other film in the $10,000 club was A Space Program with $10,247 in its lone theater.
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March 16th, 2016
Eye in the Sky opened on first place on the per theater chart with an average of $22,761 in five theaters. This opening, plus its reviews, suggest it could do well in wider release. Likewise, Hello, My Name is Doris earned an average of $21,246 in four theaters while its Tomatometer Score is 90% positive. It could also earn some measure of mainstream success. City of Gold did very well for a documentary with an average of $15,740, also in four theaters. The overall number one film, Zootopia, earned an average of $13,415. Remember was the latest A24 to do well with an average of $10,245 in two theaters.
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March 13th, 2016
Zootopia is headed to another big win at the box office this weekend, with a modest 33% decline from last weekend keeping it well ahead of a pack of new releases. Its $50 million gross this time around takes it to $142.6 million in total domestically. With $288.7 million in the bank internationally, including over $100 million in China by the end of the weekend, Disney looks to have struck gold again. A sequel, theme park tie-ins and merchandizing seem likely, although Disney has so much of that going on already, what with Star Wars, Marvel, its Princess lines, and Pixar, that this might actually be more of a niche for them. (A half-billion-dollar-and-counting niche. Nice work if you can get it.)
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March 11th, 2016
There are quite a few limited releases on this week's list that are earning excellent reviews and / or substantial buzz. This includes Hello, My Name is Doris, which I really hope does well. Boom Bust Boom, City of Gold, Eye in the Sky, and Marguerite are all worth checking out in theaters. Most of the rest are worth a rental on VOD.
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