March 5th, 2020
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It’s a terrible week on the home market with almost no prime new releases. In fact, if there weren’t a couple of late screeners to talk about and several secondary VOD titles, the main list would be very short. The week is so weak that Jojo Rabbit is really the only choice for Pick of the Week, even though it came out about a month ago.
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February 19th, 2020
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There are not a lot of major releases on this week’s list, but what we lack in quantity, we more than make up for in quality. In fact, there are five contenders for Pick of the Week and a couple of other smaller releases that might end up in my collection soon. It is going to be a rough week on my wallet. These include a couple of Oscar contenders, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood and Jojo Rabbit; a couple of animated releases, The Point! and Tex Avery: Screwball Classics: Volume 1; and a TV on DVD Megaset, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: The Complete Series. All five releases are worth picking up, but I’m going with Jojo Rabbit as this week’s Pick of the Week.
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February 10th, 2020
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The Oscars were handed out last night and unlike most years, I wasn’t able to live-blog the awards. This is a real shame, because it was one of the best Oscar nights I can remember and there were very few awards that made me legitimately angry, unlike many years in the past. There was even a surprise winner for the full night, as Parasite earned the most wins with four Oscars. It is incredibly rare for a foreign-language film to pull off that feat.
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February 8th, 2020
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Our annual Oscar Prediction contest closes at noon, Pacific Time, on Sunday, so 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 finish our shortened schedule with Best Picture, which is basically a two-horse race at this point.
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February 6th, 2020
Our annual Oscar Prediction contest is underway so 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 are continuing our shortened schedule with Best Adapted Screenplay. We have yet another close race. True, there is a favorite, or to be more accurate, a close two-way race, but none of the nominees can really be called long shots.
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February 5th, 2020
It is a slow week for truly great releases. Both Doctor Sleep and The Nightingale are worth picking up, but not Pick of the Week contenders. Last Christmas is also worth picking up, but only if you like Romantic Comedies with magical realism. As for the Pick of the Week, I’m going with That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime: Season One, Part Two and if you really into Isekai Anime, grab Isekai Quartet: Season One as well.
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February 4th, 2020
Our annual Oscar Prediction contest underway so now is the best time to look at the nominees and try to figure out who the favorites are and which films should just feel honored to be nominated. We are continuing today with Best Supporting Actress. In this category, there is an absolute favorite, a long shot with a shot, and then everyone else.
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January 13th, 2020
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The Oscar nominations were announced on Monday, and the results were... well, there were some puzzling results. Joker led the way with eleven nominations. ... A film with 69% positive reviews earned the most nominations. It’s not the worst-reviewed movie to earn a Best Picture Nomination—after all, Bohemian Rhapsody was nominated just last year. However, this film is arguably the worst-reviewed movie to ever earn the most nominations in a single year.
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January 2nd, 2020
Only four limited release announced box office numbers for the final weekend of 2019, but all four were in the $10,000 club. 1917 led the way with an average of $52,383 in 11 theaters. That was over the three-day weekend. It earned over $1 million during its five-day debut. Just Mercy was well back with an estimated average of $27,250 in four theaters over the three-day weekend. Ip Man: The Finale will probably turn out to be poorly named, because the movie earned over $1 million over the three-day weekend and earned an average of $20,850. I’m sure someone is trying to figure out how to continue the franchise, despite the Finale part of the name. Clemency was next with an average of $17,682 in two theaters. The final film in the $10,000 club was Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, which earned an average of $16,430 during its second weekend of release.
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December 12th, 2019
The Screen Actors Guild announced their nominations this week and we are starting to see some patterns with similar names appearing over and over again. This time Bombshell led the way, earning four nominations, but four other films earned two or more nominations.
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December 11th, 2019
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. (This is especially true on the TV end, as there’s talk about how strange the nominations are this year.) Marriage Story led the way with six nominations, just ahead of The Irishman and Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood, both of which picked up five nods.
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December 8th, 2019
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Frozen II fell both faster than expected, and faster than projections based on Friday’s estimates. However, the film is still managing an estimated $34.67 million over the weekend for a three-week total of $337.59 million. This is enough to push it ahead of Joker and into seventh place on the yearly chart. If this holds up, then it will have an excellent shot at topping the first Frozen’s domestic total, even without the Christmas break coming up. Internationally, the film pulled in $90.2 million in 48 markets for totals of $582.1 million internationally and $919.7 million worldwide. It had no major market openings this weekend, but it is earning an estimated $800,000 in South Africa, which would make it the second biggest opening for an animated film there, behind only Minions. The film has become the biggest animated film in South Korea with $75.5 million. It as also topped its predecessor in Russia ($23.0 million) and Mexico ($21.1 million) and a lot of smaller markets.
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December 7th, 2019
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As expected, Frozen II earned first place on the Friday box office chart. However, the film fell further than anticipated, earning $7.84 million—off 77% from last Friday. That was a holiday, so obviously it will bounce back over the rest of the weekend, but projections have the film earning about $36 million compared to our $38 million prediction. This is close enough that I’m satisfied with the result and it is more than enough to keep it in wide release until after the new year.
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November 28th, 2019
Frozen II led the way on yet another chart, this time the theater average chart, earning an average of $29,339 during its opening weekend. Dark Waters was right behind with an average of $25,652 in four theaters, which does suggest at least some potential to expand. Jay and Silent Bob Reboot continues its impressive road show run earning an average of $16,140 in five theaters. Citizen K was the final film in the $10,000 club with an opening of $10,571 in its lone theater.
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November 20th, 2019
Waves led the way on the theater average chart with an opening weekend average of $33,583 in four theaters. Jay and Silent Bob Reboot was in second place with an average of $16,899 in ten theaters. Its road show has been a success so far, but the film did cost $10 million to make, so it will need to continue to have strong weekend numbers for a long time to break even. Recorder: The Marion Stokes Project opened with $12,140 in its lone theater. Honey Boy fell from an average of $75,266 in four theaters to an average of just $11,957 in 17. That’s still a good average, but its odds of expanding even semi-wide have been lowered dramatically.
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November 14th, 2019
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Honey Boy easily led the way on the theater average chart earning just over $300,000 in four theaters for an average of $75,266. Jay and Silent Bob Reboot was way back with an average of $15,613 in 15 theaters during its fourth week of release. Granted, it is a road show with greatly inflated ticket prices, but it also has very limited showings, so this is a fantastic run. The final film in the $10,000 club was Better Days with an opening weekend of nearly $1 million in 70 theaters for an average of $14,136.
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November 7th, 2019
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It appears Netflix will not be reporting box office numbers for The Irishman. We’ve seen reports by third parties that the film earned $350,000 in eight theaters for an opening weekend average of $43,750. The only confirmed member of the $10,000 club was Jay and Silent Bob Reboot, which earned an average of $15,097 in 15 theaters. However, it is a roadshow tour and ticket prices for some shows are greatly inflated. This is still an impressive number, but don’t expect it to expand truly wide.
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October 31st, 2019
There was only one new release in the $10,000 club, No Safe Spaces, which earned $45,548 in its lone theater. While this is a great start, its reviews suggest it won’t stick around long, as the film is preaching to the choir. Jojo Rabbit expanded from five to 55 theaters, but still managed an impressive average of $18,983. Parasite was next with an average $14,158 in 129 theaters during its third weekend of release. Jay and Silent Bob Reboot expanded to 17 theaters, and earned an average of $12,774. It will likely continue to expand, as a lot of shows on its road tour were sold out weeks in advance.
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October 24th, 2019
It was an amazing week on the theater average chart with five films in the $10,000 club, incluing three new releases that earned averages of more than $50,000. Jay and Silent Bob Reboot opened with two days of special engagements where the film earned just over $1 million, before having a roadshow performance in one theater over the weekend earning $93,520. However, this wasn’t a usual run and tickets range from about $50 to over $200 for the VIP packages at some shows. That said, even with normal ticket prices, it would still have earned a spot in the $10,000 club. Second place went to Jojo Rabbit with an impressive opening of average $69,911 in five theaters. This is more than enough to expand significantly, perhaps even enough to justify a wide expansion. The Lighthouse also opened well enough to justify significant expansions earning an average of $53,475 in eight theaters. Parasite was the only holdover in the $10,000 club earning an average of $37,616 in 33 theaters. The film topped $1 million over the weekend and it has plenty of room to grow. The final film in the $10,000 club was The Cave, which earned an average of $10,593 in two theaters.
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October 20th, 2019
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Maleficent: Mistress of Evil did bounce back on Saturday and that is helping it earn an estimated $36.0 million during its opening weekend. It is still missing expectations, but by a more reasonable margin. Its internal multiplier is about the same as the first film managed, despite this film earning weaker reviews. Audience reactions were the same, as both films earned an A-rating from CinemaScore. As for the movies international numbers, it is pulling in $117.0 million, but it also opened everywhere, so it needed a monster start and I’m not sure this was it. The film did have a faster opening that its predecessor did in China with $22.4 million, while it cracked $10 million in Russia with an an opening of $10.7 million. The film cost $185 million to make, so this is not a fast enough start to break even in the short term, but with Disney+ starting next month, it could break even eventually.
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October 19th, 2019
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Maleficent: Mistress of Evil wasn’t expected to be a monster hit, but its previews gave reason to be optimistic. That optimism is gone as a result of Friday’s estimates. The film pulled in just $12.5 million on Friday, meaning it will have to have nearly as good legs as the original had just to avoid opening below the low end of expectations. That seems unlikely, especially with its weaker reviews, although it did manage the same A rating from CinemaScore. Maybe it will really bounce back today, but we won’t really know till the weekend estimates come out tomorrow.
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October 18th, 2019
There are not a lot of films on this week’s list that are earning both great reviews and loud buzz. The Lighthouse is one of the best, both in terms of buzz and in terms of reviews, but Jojo Rabbit is the one I want to see the most.
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October 1st, 2019
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September ended on a bit of a weak note, but overall the month was excellent helping 2019 gain some ground on 2018. Can October continue this trend? There are certainly some potential box office hits coming out this month, starting with Joker, which opens the first weekend of the month and should be the biggest hit of the month. Maleficent: Mistress of Evil is aiming for $150 million and should be a hit, even if it doesn’t match the original at the box office. There are also a handful of films with an outside shot at getting to $100 million and I wouldn’t be shocked if one of them made it to that milestone. Meanwhile, last October, Venom broke records during its opening weekend, while A Star is Born had stellar legs helping both earn more than $200 million domestically. I don’t think the top two films will be able to match that this year, but we do have better depth, for the most part, so perhaps 2019 will continue its winning ways and close ground, at least by a little bit.
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August 8th, 2019
Black comedy, written and directed by Taika Waititi opens October 18 ... Full Movie Details.
An awkward young German boy is being raised by a single mother, and his only ally is his imaginary friend Hitler. His naïve patriotism is tested when he meets a young girl who upends his world views, forcing him to face his biggest fears.
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