Weekend predictions: Gran Turismo likely winner on crowded weekend

August 25th, 2023

Gran Turismo looks likely to top the box office chart this weekend, but our predictions are complicated by the fact that we have four new wide releases, a wide re-release, and National Cinema Day on Sunday. In spite of all that, this will almost certainly be the first weekend to gross less than $100 million in total since the weekend of March 31. More...

Weekend Wrap-Up: Empire Strikes Back, Again

July 14th, 2020

For the third time in the past 40 years, The Empire Strikes Back opened in first place on the weekend box office chart. According to Deadline, the film pulled in $611,000 over the three-day weekend for a total opening of $644,000. This puts it near the very top of the pandemic re-releases, ahead of last week’s winner, Ghostbusters, looking at the three-day figure, but behind it over five. More...

International Box Office: Jurassic Park Roars in China

August 28th, 2013

Jurassic Park earned first place in China with $32.08 on 3,000 screens, but that was for the full week. Over the weekend, the film's international weekend haul was $28.9 million on 3,373 screens in 11 markets for a total of $43.37 million during its 3-D re-release. Even with the tiny studio share in China, it makes sense to release films like this in 3-D there, because they didn't get a chance to see it in theaters the first time around. More...

DVD and Blu-ray Releases for April 23rd, 2013

April 23rd, 2013

This time of year tends to be really bad on the home market. By this late in spring, there are only a few late winter releases still finding their way on the home market. Last weekend it was Django Unchained and next weekend it will be Silver Linings Playbook. This week, there are no such releases. The best selling release according to Amazon.com is Jurassic Park, which makes its home market 3D debut. (It is still in the top ten at the box office, so that might be helping the sales.) I hope to get a screener to review but so far it is late, so I'm not sure if the 3D upgrade is worth the triple-dip. As far as Pick of the Week Contenders, there are not many. The Impossible is probably the best bet, but I'm still waiting for the screener. The week is so bad, that I took the time to review Star Trek: The Next Generation: Season Three on Blu-ray a week in advance, just so I would have something to choose as Pick of the Week this week. It is expensive, but there are several classic episodes that aired this season and there is a ton of new extras on the six-disc set. More...

Weekend Wrap-Up: 42 Hits a Solid Triple, Scary Movie 5 Suffers Beanball

April 15th, 2013

42 earned an easy win at the box office, in part due to a better than expected performance, but also in part due to really weak competition. It did manage 16th place on the list of April openings and 20th best April weekend overall, which is worth celebrating. Scary Movie 5, on the other hand, struggled and only a low production budget will save it or the franchise. The overall box office was down 13% from last week to $117 million; however, that's 2% higher than the same weekend last year, so there's another reason to celebrate. Year-to-date, 2013 is still taking a beating and is off 2012's pace by 11% at $2.62 billion to $2.95 billion. More...

IMAX: Dinosaurs Roar Back to Life

April 9th, 2013

Jurassic Park's 3D re-release earned just over $18 million overall, but more impressively, just over $6 million of that came from 312 IMAX screens. This represents the best per screen average for a 3D re-release on IMAX, as well as the best IMAX share for a non-exclusive release. More...

Weekend Wrap-Up: The Dead Rise

April 8th, 2013

Evil Dead led the way at the box office matching predictions (nearly) perfectly. It fell just a little short of the predicted $26 million, and it was the only film in the top five to miss expectations. This helped the overall box office hold up better than expected. Granted, it did fall 8.7% from last weekend to $134 million, but that was 8.8% higher than the same weekend last year. Year-to-date, 2013 is still taking a beating down 11% at $2.47 billion to $2.79 million, but this win is still helpful. If 2013 can string together a few more wins, then the start of summer and The Avengers won't sting quite as bad. More...

Weekend Predictions: Will The Box Office Come Back from the Dead?

April 4th, 2013

There are no truly absolutely new releases this weekend. That's not to say there's nothing sort of new to check out. The Evil Dead remake is coming out and its buzz is growing louder than I was expecting. It could be a surprisingly strong release. Also, Jurassic Park 3D re-release is coming out, and while its buzz is much lower, it should still earn as much as it cost to convert into 3D during its opening weekend, or at least come close. This weekend last year, American Reunion debuted with disappointing numbers earning second place while Titanic's 3D re-release did relatively well placing third. I think the combined opening weekend of the two new releases this year will top those from last year. Unfortunately, last year The Hunger Games led the way and that will be enough to keep 2013 behind 2012 in the year-over-year comparison for yet another weekend. More...

2013 Preview: April

April 1st, 2013

March is over and while it is a little too soon to tell where a few films will end their box office runs, it is clear Oz The Great and Powerful won the month. Some films beat expectations to become midlevel hits, like The Call, but it wasn't a great month at the box office, especially compared to last year. This month, there are only seven wide releases spread over four weeks. Only one of those films, Oblivion, has a shot at being anything more than a midlevel hit. None of the other six releases look like they will come close to $100 million, but none of them look like obvious bombs either. (Although I do have my worries when it comes to Scary Movie 5.) Last April was even weaker with no film earning $100 million, although Think Like a Man did come relatively close. We might actually see growth on the year-over-year comparison. We'd better, because 2013 is behind 2012's pace by a huge margin at the moment and things will get worse when May arrives. More...

2011 Holiday Gift Guide: Part I

November 23rd, 2011

This weekend is Thanksgiving and as always that means Black Friday and Cyber Monday plus 48 hours of shopping in-between. And as always, I've already done my Christmas shopping, for the most part. (I'm still waiting to see if the B.C.Lions win the Grey Cup. If not, I'll need to look for an alternative gift.) For everyone else who is still searching, we present the first part in our annual Holiday Gift Guide. As usual, the gift guide is divided into several sections, starting with Major Movie Releases. These are first run releases, franchise box sets, etc. However, before we get into the individual titles, we will start with an update on... More...

Featured Blu-ray Review: Jurassic Park Ultimate Trilogy

November 5th, 2011

When Jurassic Park came out, the advance buzz was so great that there was almost no chance it would live up to the hype. For the most part, it did. It was the biggest hit of the year domestically, set the record worldwide and was a huge hit with critics as well. A few years later, The Lost World: Jurassic Park opened in theaters and, while it wasn't as well received by critics, it set records at the box office during its opening weekend and in the end was a massive financial success. Finally in 2001, Jurassic Park 3 opened and, while it couldn't live up to its predecessors, it was a hit. Ten years later, the complete franchise is being released on Blu-ray in a Box Set and Gift Set. But how well have the films aged over the years? And does the Blu-ray shine? More...