Home Market Releases for July 9th, 2019

July 11th, 2019

It’s a very shallow week on the home market. There are two wide releases, but neither are worth picking up. There were several that are worth owning: Dead of Night, Mothra: SteelBook Edition, Silent Hill: Collectors Edition, and This Island Earth: Blu-ray. However, there was only one true contender for Pick of the Week, Alphaville: Special Edition. More...

Home Market Releases for June 25th, 2019

June 26th, 2019

It is an absolute nightmare on the home market. There’s no monster hit to talk about, but there are a mountain of new releases that are selling well enough that they could have been featured in the main list and about twice as many that could have been included in the Secondary Blu-ray release. I had to trim some of them to keep the list manageable. Unfortunately, the list of Pick of the Week contenders is rather short with just Megalobox: Season One and Frankie Drake Mysteries: Season Two, both of which are worth owning. However, the biggest and best release of the week is Captain Marvel. The screener arrived late, but I finally got the review of the Blu-ray online. That said, I’m going to award Frankie Drake Mysteries with Puck of the Week for best Canadian release. More...

Weekend Wrap-Up: Curse Tops Chart, but 2019 Suffers Another Loss

April 23rd, 2019

Easter weekend gave box office watchers a few reasons to celebrate. The Curse of La Llorona topped expectations and earned first place with $26.35 million over the weekend. That’s a very strong debut for this time of year. Additionally, both Shazam and Captain Marvel held on amazingly well, which bodes well for their chances against Avengers: Endgame. Overall, the box office rose 1% from last weekend to $108 million. This was 14% lower than the same weekend last year, and it wasn’t Easter weekend last year. On a side note, I’ve seen some stories call this past weekend the worst Easter weekend in over a decade. However, this is misleading, as it was the first time Easter weekend was one weekend before the start of the Summer Blockbuster season. Avengers: Endgame opening on Friday had more to do with the weak box office than any other factor and if Endgame is as big as some box office analysts expect, then by this time next week, we will be talking about how quickly 2019 will turn things around rather than how bad 2019 has been. In the meantime, we’ve hopefully sunk to the low point in the year-over-year comparison, as 2019 is now behind 2018 by a $570 million or 17% margin at $2.84 billion to $3.41 billion. More...

Weekend Estimates: La Llorona is the Best of the Weekend

April 21st, 2019

The Curse of La Llorona is leading the way on the weekend chart with a surprising $26.51 million. Granted, this is the weakest opening in the The Conjuring franchise, while its reviews and B minus from CinemaScore suggest short legs. Also, Avengers: Endgame opens in just a handful of days, so it will be pushed into the smallest screens in most multiplexes very soon. That said, the film reportedly only cost $9 million to make and < HREF="https://www.the-numbers.com/market/distributor/Warner-Bros">Warner Bros.’ share of the opening weekend will be close to double that. Internationally, the film is opening even better with an estimated $30 million debut. On the downside, it is playing in 71 markets already, so it has very few major markets left to open in. More...

Friday Estimates: Curses! Box Office is Foiled Again

April 20th, 2019

The Curse of La Llorona got off to a fantastic start on Friday with $11.8 million during its opening day. This is a stronger opening day than Pet Sematary managed, but not as strong as its preview numbers were in comparison to Pet Sematary, so it likely won’t have the same legs. This isn’t surprising, as its reviews are much worse and it is part of a long-running franchise. Both of those factors tend to shorten legs. On the positive side, it earned a B minus from CinemaScore, which is actually really good for a horror film. The Curse of La Llorona would have to have tragically short legs to not earn first place after a start like this. Look for an opening weekend of $26 million. More...

Weekend Prediction: Can Shazam Continue its Streak or will New Releases Break Through?

April 19th, 2019

It’s Easter weekend and, while it is not a true long weekend, there are enough kids out of school to give the box office a boost. On the negative side, Avengers: Endgame comes out next weekend and no one wants to try to compete against that. Because of this, none of the three wide releases this weekend are in the top tier. The one with the biggest potential is The Curse of La Llorona, but it is also earning the worst reviews of the weekend. Breakthrough is the first film made by Fox to come out since the studio’s acquisition by Disney was finalized, so there’s some significance there. Finally there’s Penguins, a film I thought would be a hit, but isn’t garnering much attention. This is not a strong contingent of new releases and Shazam could remain on top. This weekend last year wasn’t Easter weekend, so maybe that will give 2019 the edge. I don’t think 2019 will win in the year-over-year competition, but hopefully it will at least be close. More...

Weekend Wrap-Up: Shazam Shocks the New Releases

April 16th, 2019

Shazam easily topped the weekend box office chart with $24.45 million. This is significantly more than the best new release of the week, Little, which managed $15.41 million during its opening weekend. That film will break even sometime during its home market run. The same can’t be said of Hellboy, After, and Missing Link, all of which will lose money. This caused the overall box office to fall 24% from last weekend to just $110 million. This is also 25% lower than this weekend last year. Year-to-date, 2019 has fallen further behind 2018 and it now behind with $550 million or 17% at $2.68 billion to $3.23 billion. Avengers: Endgame will have to be unreasonably big at the box office for 2019 to turn things around any time soon. More...

Weekend Estimates: Shazam Stops New Releases Cold

April 14th, 2019

Shazam really bounced back from a poor Friday performance. So much so that it almost match our prediction with an estimated $25.14 million over the weekend for a two-week total of $94.31 million. Internationally, the film is projected to earn $35.9 million on 23,752 screens in 79 markets to push its international total to $163.9 million. This means its worldwide total rose past $250 million after just two weeks of release. The film will have no trouble breaking even after a run like this, even with Avengers: Endgame looming large. More...

Friday Estimates: Friday Results are More Little Than Needed

April 13th, 2019

It’s going to be a terrible weekend at the box office with almost no film living up to expectations. Shazam fell faster than anticipated, down 69% from its opening Friday to just $6.37 million yesterday. Because it’s a holdover, it will bounce back more than the new releases, but it will still likely fail to match our prediction and is on pace for between $23 million and $24 million for the weekend. It is still going to break even, but if it doesn’t bounce back before Avengers: Endgame debuts, it will merely be very profitable and not amazingly profitable. More...

Thursday Night Previews: Going Through Hell

April 12th, 2019

Hellboy opened with $1.38 million in previews last night, which is not enough to be a hit. This would have only put the film in third place last Thursday, well behind both Shazam and Pet Sematary. Furthermore, due to the film’s terrible reviews, it will likely be more front-loaded. Fortunately, this wasn’t too far below expectations. More...

Weekend Prediction: Will Hellboy have a Heavenly Start? Will Little open Large?

April 12th, 2019

There are four wide releases this week, but it seems Shazam will remain the top draw, potentially by a significant margin. Hellboy was supposed to challenge for top spot, but its reviews are going to kill its box office chances. Little is earning better reviews, but its reviews are not good enough to overcome its smaller stature. Missing Link is earning amazing reviews, but that hasn’t helped other stop-motion animated films succeed in the recent past. After has the quietest buzz of the week and almost no reviews. This weekend last year wasn’t a great weekend at the box office, but it will certainly be better than this weekend will be. Avengers: Endgame can’t come soon enough. More...

2019 Preview: April

April 1st, 2019

March was a good month at the box office with most films beating expectations. The biggest hit was Captain Marvel, which is still on pace for $400 million domestically and may have crossed $1 billion worldwide by the time you read this. The biggest “miss” was Dumbo, but it is still going to top $100 million domestically with ease. This month, it is a battle between Avengers: Endgame and last year’s Infinity War. To be fair, A Quiet Place got last April off to a very fast start and Shazam! should do the same this year, so there will be more than one potential box office hit to talk about. That said, Endgame will almost certainly open with more than any other April release earns in total and if 2019 is going to cut into its deficit with 2018, it will be on the back of that one film. More...

Little Trailer

January 29th, 2019

Comedy starring Regina Hall, Issa Rae, and Marsai Martin opens April 12 ... Full Movie Details. More...