2017 Awards Season: Oscars Nominations

January 23rd, 2018

The Oscar nominations were announced starting at just after 5 am Pacific time. They do this every year and no one has been able to adequately explain why to me. At least there were some interesting results this year. The Shape of Water led the way with 13 nominations, which is one below the current record and nearly as many as the next two films combined. Overall, there were seventeen films that earned two or more nominations. More...

2017 Awards Season: PGA Nominations

January 5th, 2018

The Producers Guild of America finally finished announcing their nominations. (They spread out their announcements for reasons I’ve never quite understood.) It is a strange year for the PGAs, as there was a tie resulting in 11 films being nominated for the top prize. More...

2017 Awards Season: WGA Nominations

January 4th, 2018

The Writers Guild of America is the latest group to announce award nominees. There are a lot of categories that WGA hand out awards for, but only three of them are for theatrical releases. The list of nominees include several major Awards Season players, and not a lot of surprises. The Big Sick, Lady Bird, The Disaster Artist, Get Out, The Shape of Water… We've seen almost all of these films appear on lists of nominations before. More...

2017 Awards Season: SAG Nominations

December 13th, 2017

The Screen Actors Guild were the third group to announce their nominations for this awards season. So far there have been three different films earning the most nominations. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri picked up four nominations, which is extra impressive, as there are only six theatrical categories. More...

2017 - Holiday Gift Guide - Part I - First-Run Releases and Franchise Box Sets

November 23rd, 2017

It's Thanksgiving weekend, which means Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and of course the first installment of our Holiday Gift Guide. This week we will tackle first run releases, and normally franchise box sets as well, but this year none jump out as essential additions to the Holiday Gift guide. Worse still, 2017 has been awful at the box office with potential blockbuster after potential blockbuster getting savaged by critics and struggling at the box office. Additionally, some of the biggest and some of the best have been on the home market for nearly half a year, meaning nearly everyone who would want them, already own them. That doesn’t mean there are no films worth adding to this list, but the list is a little shorter than usual. On a side note, two of the films on this year’s list are from the MCU and it would have been three, but Thor: Ragnarok is still in theaters. If you know someone who loves the MCU, but has all of the movies, then check out this site, which has some more unique gift ideas. I specifically like the Spider-man Drone. More...

Home Market Releases for June 20th, 2017

June 20th, 2017

Summer time is usually the worst time of year on the home market and that is certainly the case this week. The biggest release of the week is Life, which only made $30 million at the box office. As for the best new release on this week’s list... I’m going to have to go with GLOW: Season One, which hits Netflix on Friday. More...

Featured Blu-ray and DVD Review: Logan

June 18th, 2017

Logan is supposedly Hugh Jackman’s last film as Wolverine. Not every X-Men movie has been worth the price of admission, so if this is the end of the road, does Hugh Jackman get to go out on a high note? Or does he end his run with a whimper. More...

Home Market Releases for May 23rd, 2017

May 24th, 2017

It is a great week on the home market with two monster hits coming out: Logan and Get Out. However, both have previously been named Pick of the Week. Fortunately there was one other release in competition for Pick of the Week, My Life as a Zucchini on Blu-ray. Thank goodness this film comes out this week. Otherwise, John Wick: Chapter Two would have become the third Video on Demand release in a row to win Pick of the Week. More...

Home Market Releases for May 16th, 2017

May 16th, 2017

It is another terrible week on the home market. There are three first-run releases coming out this week, which isn’t a bad number. However, all three earned terrible reviews and bombed in theaters, so you should avoid all of them. There’s not a lot of limited releases, classics, or TV on DVD releases to make up the gap, so for the second week in a row, we have a Video on Demand release topping the list of best new releases. This week it is Logan, which is one of the best wide releases of the year. I would wait for the Blu-ray, on the other hand. More...

Friday Estimates: Furious Falls 75%, Still Dominates Friday with $11.2 million

April 22nd, 2017

The Fate of the Furious dominated the box office chart on Friday with $11.2 million. This could be more than any other film will earn during the entire weekend. That’s the good news. The bad news is this still represents a decline of just over 75% from its opening Friday. This is not good by any stretch of the word, but it is also not unexpected. The film will rebound on Saturday, and earn about $35.5 million over the weekend, according to Universal, which is close to our prediction and will lift the film’s running tally to $160 million. This keeps The Fate of the Furious on pace for $200 million and the film should become the third film released in 2017 to get to that milestone. It might overtake Logan on the yearly chart, but Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 will probably get there first. More...

Thursday Night Previews: Fate Not Quite Furious with $10.4 million in Previews

April 14th, 2017

The Fate of the Furious got off to a fast start with $10.4 million during previews last night; however, this wasn’t as fast as I was expecting. No one really thought it would match Furious 7’s $15.4 million from 2015, but it needed to come closer with $12 million if it’s going to get to our prediction of $116 million for the weekend. It is better than the $9.5 million in previews that Logan earned earlier this year. Coincidentally, both of those films has nearly identical opening weekend / previews multipliers and if The Fate of the Furious matches them, it will pull in just under $97 million over the weekend. Other tracking numbers have it still topping The Jungle Book’s $103.26 million opening weekend from last year. Splitting the difference gets us an opening weekend of almost exactly $100 million. It’s hard to complain when a film nearly gets to $100 million during its opening weekend, but this is the problem with great expectations. More...

Weekend Estimates: Boss Baby Beats Beauty

April 2nd, 2017

A great marketing campaign and a beautifully-timed opening will most likely combine to give The Boss Baby a win at the box office this weekend, according to studio estimates released on Sunday. Victory isn’t completely assured, because the margin is fairly slim: Boss Baby is headed for $49 million, per Fox’s Sunday morning estimate, while Disney is expecting $47.5 million for Beauty and the Beast. Both studios expect Beast to win on Sunday, so the eventual winner will depend on today’s figures, but it would be a real surprise if the order changes when final numbers come in tomorrow. More...

Weekend Wrap-Up: Beast Blows Past $300 million with $90.43 million Weekend

March 27th, 2017

Our predictions for Beauty and the Beast was higher than average, but even we underestimated the film’s weekend box office numbers. It fell just 48% to $90.43 million, which was more than double the second place film, Power Rangers. This one-two punch helped the overall box office earn $202 million, but this was 23% lower than last weekend. It was also 20% lower than the same weekend last year. Granted, this weekend last year was the weekend Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice debuted, so a decline like this was expected. Year-to-date, 2017 has earned $2.75 billion, putting it 6.7% or $170 million ahead of last year’s pace. More...

Weekend Predictions: Can the Rangers Power Their Way to the Top?

March 23rd, 2017

There are three wide releases this week, but none of them have a shot at topping Beauty and the Beast at the box office. In fact, all three films combined won’t make as much as Beauty and the Beast does this weekend. Of the three wide releases, Power Rangers has the best chance of box office success and it does have a shot at $100 million domestically. Life could become a midlevel hit and since it likely cost a lot less to make, it could be a bigger financial success. Finally there’s CHiPs, which has gained no traction with audiences. It will likely miss the top five. This weekend last year, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice opened with a then March record of $166.01 million. Nothing playing this weekend will match that. Beauty and the Beast might not make half that. Fortunately, 2017 has a $100 million lead on 2016, so one bad weekend in the year-over-year comparison won’t do too much damage. More...

International Box Office: Beast Mode Engaged as Beauty earns $180.0 million

March 22nd, 2017

Beauty and the Beast dominated the international chart even more than it dominated the domestic one earning $180.0 million in 44 markets. The film’s worldwide opening was the second best for March, behind only Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice; however, BvS opened truly worldwide, while Beauty and the Beast only opened in about two thirds of the international market. Unsurprisingly, the film’s biggest single market was China, where it pulled in $44.72 million over the weekend, $45.01 million including Thursday’s previews. It was also a monster hit in the U.K., where it earned $24.37 million in 567 theaters, which was the biggest March opening of all time in that market. The next biggest market was South Korea with $10.68 million on 1,625 screens over the weekend and $11.88 million in total. It also cracked $10 million in Mexico ($11.6 million); Germany ($10.7 million), and Brazil ($10.4 million). At this point, getting to $1 billion worldwide seems like a safe bet, especially with openings in France, Australia, Japan, and other markets left to go. We will of course track its progress there. More...

Weekend Wrap-Up: Beast Smashes Record with a Beautiful $174.75 million Opening

March 21st, 2017

Beauty and the Beast was expected to break records during its opening weekend, but its final tally of $174.75 million is still impressive, even compared to the expectations. The rest of the box office wasn’t hurt as badly as one would predict given the explosive hit at the top and that helped the overall box office grow by 59% to $261 million. This is almost double what it was this weekend last year. More importantly, this was enough to put 2017 in the lead in the year-over-year comparison. At the end of the weekend, 2017 had earned $2.39 billion, compared to $2.30 billion for 2016. Granted, this is partially due to a misalignment of monster hits, as Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice opened the following weekend last year. That said, I really don’t think 2017 will fall behind given its current $95 million lead. More...

Thursday Night Previews: Beast’s Start is a Beauty, with $16.3 million in Previews

March 17th, 2017

Beauty and the Beast had the best previews of the year so far, earning $16.3 million during midnight shows last night. This tops Logan’s $9.5 million, which was the previous record holder. More impressively, it is better than Cinderella’s, The Jungle Book’s, and Maleficent’s combined previews of $10.7 million. Judging where it goes from here is a little tougher, on the other hand. Its reviews are good, but not amazing, while its demographics are more balanced than I expected. The audience was mostly women, but less than 60% overall. Cinderella had a 77% female audience. Also, there was a wide range of age groups among the audience, meaning it wasn’t just families going with their kids, but adults who grew up on the original movie. We predicted $168 million for the weekend, and that could be a little too conservative after this result. I’m not going to change the prediction just yet, but if Friday is big, then we will be forced to readjust our outlook. More...

Weekend Predictions: Will Beauty have a Beastly Opening?

March 17th, 2017

Beauty and the Beast was always expected to be the biggest hit of the month. Now the prevailing wisdom has the film becoming the biggest March opening of all time. Even if it doesn’t match the high end of expectations, it is widely expected to earn more than the entire box office did this weekend last year. On the downside, The Belko Experiment isn’t expected to open in the top five, in fact, it could miss the Mendoza Line. Furthermore, holdovers like Kong: Skull Island and Logan will take a beating at the box office. Overall, the news looks great and 2017 should actually get ahead of 2016 for the first time all year. More...

International Box Office: Kong Just as Tall on the International Chart with $81.6 million

March 16th, 2017

Kong: Skull Island opened in first place on the international chart with $85.1 million in 65 markets, which is more than $3 million higher than Sunday’s estimates. The film’s biggest market was the U.K., where it earned $7.58 million in 567 theaters. It also did well in Mexico ($5.58 million); in Russia ($4.87 million on 1,283 screens); and in Australia ($3.55 million on 523). Impressively, the film broke the record for biggest opening in Vietnam with $2.2 million on 377 screens. More...

Weekend Wrap-Up: Kong Climbs to the Top of the Box Office with $61.03 million

March 14th, 2017

Kong: Skull Island dominated the box office earning $61.03 million over the weekend. This is much better than predicted and this if reports are true, this is because it was a huge hit with families. Skull Island’s success hurt Logan, which fell to second place with $38.11 million over the weekend. Overall, the box office fell 13% from last weekend, but that’s still 22% more than the same weekend last year. Year-to-date is even more impressive. Back-to-back wins for 2017 has cut 2016’s lead to 0.8% at just $17 million. If Beauty and the Beast does as well as some expect it to do, 2017 could take the lead by the end of this coming weekend. More...

Weekend Estimates: Skull Island Breaks King Kong Opening Weekend Record

March 12th, 2017

Kong: Skull Island is reigning over movie theaters this weekend, with Warner Bros. predicting a $61 million opening for the monster movie. This is a franchise that’s been rebooted so many times that it’s meaningful to compare this outing’s opening with previous incarnations. And I’m pleased to report that this is the best ever weekend for a reboot of a King Kong movie, topping King Kong’s $50.1 million, and King Kong’s $7 million. The bad news is that this outing doesn’t look so great when adjusted for inflation. The 2005 King Kong opened with an inflation-adjusted $65 million, and the 1933 original went on to make an inflation-adjusted $366 million at the box office… a number that’s a very distant prospect this time. In fact, once adjusted for inflation, this will probably be the lowest-grossing film to start a King Kong franchise, and the only one to miss $200 million at the domestic box office. More...

Friday Estimates: Kong Grows Larger with $20.2 million

March 11th, 2017

Friday was a great day for Kong: Skull Island, as it pulled in $20.2 million. This is better than predicted and certainly better than its Thursday previews would indicate. It could be a sign of long legs in theaters. On the one hand, the film’s reviews are 78% positive, which is good for a special effects driven blockbuster like this, but not amazing. Additionally, its CinemaScore was only a B plus. That’s not bad, but it is also not great. It is right on the border between hurting and helping a film’s legs. It would take a serious collapse on Saturday for Skull Island to miss $50 million over the weekend, while more than $55 million is a real possibility. Let’s go with $53 million. More...

Thursday Night Previews: Kong is a Little Short in its Debut with $3.7 million

March 10th, 2017

Kong: Skull Island is the only wide release of the week, so it is the only release that had previews last night. The results were… okay. The film earned $3.7 million, which is the third-best preview result for 2017 so far. However, it is a far cry from the $9.5 million Logan earned just last week. Granted, Logan was the latest installment of two franchises, so the Fanboy Effect was in full force, but Logan also earned better reviews and that helped its legs. Kong’s number is slightly better than than $3.6 million Pacific Rim earned during its previews, but it is low enough that I think we should adjust our prediction for the weekend down to about $42 million. We will have a better idea where it will end up tomorrow once we have Friday’s estimates. More...

Weekend Predictions: Will Kong be King of the Box Office?

March 9th, 2017

There’s only one new release this week, Kong: Skull Island, which should earn first place on the box office chart. Probably. Logan isn’t too far back as far as box office tracking and might repeat in first place. In order to do this, Logan would either have to hold on a lot better than most comic book movies do and / or Kong would have to miss expectations. This weekend last year, there were four wide releases; however, they only managed a little more than $35 million combined. Kong: Skull Island should top that with ease and that’s good news for 2017. Unfortunately, Zootopia earned more than $50 million and that will likely be out of reach for Kong, so 2017 will need to rely on its depth to win in the year-over-year competition. I’m optimistic that will happen. More...

International Box Office: Logan Scored Nearly $250 million Worldwide in Opening Weekend

March 8th, 2017

Logan dominated the international box office chart with $152.7 million in 81 markets for a worldwide opening of $240.9 million. This is almost twice as much as the film cost to make, so it has nearly paid for its entire production budget during the film’s opening weekend. Assuming it has any legs, it will break even before it reaches the home market. China was the biggest single market, as it earned $45.60 million over the weekend for a total opening of $46.38 million, including Thursday previews. The U.K. was well back with an opening of $11.48 million in 602 theaters. Up next is Brazil, which earned $8.2 million, while the film had a total opening of $8.16 million on 954 screens in South Korea, while it earned $8.02 million on 1,200 screens in Russia. The film doesn’t open in Japan until June and it could have over $500 million worldwide by then. More...

Contest: The X-Factor: Winning Announcement

March 8th, 2017

The winners of our The X-Factor contest were determined and the entrants with the closest predictions to Logan’s opening weekend were... More...

Theater Averages: Logan is Lonely on Top with $21,717

March 7th, 2017

Logan was the only film in the $10,000 club with an average of $21,717. More...

Weekend Wrap-Up: Logan’s $88.41 million Start Suggests Long Legs

March 7th, 2017

The weekend belonged to Logan, as it opened with $88.41 million and easily earned first place. Second place went to Get Out, which held on far better than anticipated, while The Shack is on pace to become a midlevel hit. There was almost nothing but good news. Almost. Overall, the box office rose 53% from last weekend, earning $189 million. More importantly, the it was 16% higher than the same weekend last year. Year-to-date, 2017 is still behind 2016; however, that gap was nearly cut in half from its peak just a couple of weeks ago. 2017 is now behind by 2.7% at $1.92 billion to $1.97 billion. If 2017 can put together a few more weeks like this, then it could climb into the lead before April begins. That is a big “if” and I would be satisfied with cutting the gap in half by the end of the month. More...

Weekend Estimates: Logan’s $85.3 Million is Fourth-Biggest Weekend in March

March 5th, 2017

Logan is turning out to be everything Fox hoped for this weekend, with excellent reviews and a massive $85.3 million opening to kick off the Spring box office season. The film’s debut is a notable $20 million ahead of X-Men: Apocalypse’s $65.8 million last Summer. The only way to make it look anything less than stellar is to match it up against giants like Deadpool (which opened with $132 million in February last year), and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, which holds the March weekend record of $166 million. More...

Friday Estimates: Logan Leaps to the Top with $33 million

March 4th, 2017

Logan started off with $33 million on Friday. This is a little lower than predictions / previews suggested, but is still the fourth-biggest opening day in March. The film’s reviews are 94% positive, and it earned an A minus from CinemaScore, so it could bounce back over the weekend, but at this moment, an $80 million opening weekend is more likely than $85 million. This would still be the fourth-best opening weekend in March, but it will be very close and any further weakness will give Oz The Great and Powerful the edge on that chart. More...

Thursday Night Previews: Logan Surpasses Strange, but not as Lively as Deadpool with $9.5 million

March 3rd, 2017

As expected, Logan got off to a fast start, earning $9.5 million from its Thursday preview shows. This is better than the most recent super hero movie managed, as Doctor Strange pulled in $9.4 million during its previews last November. However, it is weaker than the $12.7 million Deadpool earned around this time last year. This is almost perfectly in line with expectations and with 93% positive reviews, an $85 million opening seems likely at this point. More...

Weekend Predictions: Logan is set to Skewer the Competition

March 2nd, 2017

The first weekend of March has three wide releases, but the one everyone is talking about is Logan. It should become the biggest hit of the year so far. The other two releases are The Shack, a faith-based film, and Before I Fall, which is essentially Groundhog Day set in high school. Neither film is expected to compete for top spot. In fact, it would be a surprise if both landed in the top five. As far as holdovers are concerned, only Get Out has a shot at $20 million, while only The Lego Batman Movie will earn more than $10 million. This weekend last year, Zootopia led the way with just over $75 million, while the other two new releases earned less than $30 million combined. 2017 will be bigger on top, won’t have as strong new releases overall, but should have about the same depth. More...

Contest: Straight Outta Suburbia: Winning Announcement

March 2nd, 2017

The winners of our Straight Outta Suburbia contest were determined and the entrants with the closest predictions for Get Out’s opening weekend were... More...

2017 Preview: March

March 1st, 2017

February was an okay month. The films that missed expectations were mostly balanced by the films that were pleasant surprises. Unfortunately, last February was amazing as Deadpool dominated the chart, so 2017 has fallen further behind 2016 and 2016’s lead is now about $100 million. It is not so bad that a good March won’t help 2017 back into the lead. Will that happen? We have some good news and some bad news. Good news: Every week there is one movie that has at least a shot at $100 million. Two of them, Logan and Beauty and the Beast, could reach $200 million or a lot more. Bad News: last March, both Zootopia and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice earned more than $300 million. That’s a really powerful one-two punch and I don’t think we can replicate that this time around. On the other hand, last March, the third best film of the month was 10 Cloverfield Lane, while there were four films that were expected to open wide that earned less than $10 million at the box office. 2017 likely won’t be as good at the top, but I also don’t think it will have as many bombs either. If Beauty and the Beast reaches the very high end of expectations, then 2017 could even close the gap with 2016 entirely. I’ll be happy getting halfway there. More...

Contest: The X-Factor

February 24th, 2017

While there are three wide releases coming out next week, only one of them, Logan, is earning any real buzz. In fact, it is likely Logan will have the biggest opening of the year and could earn more during its opening day than either Before I Fall or The Shack earn in total. Because of this, it is the only sensible choice for the target film in this week’s box office prediction contest. In order to win, one must simply predict the opening weekend box office number for Logan.

Whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend box office (Friday to Sunday), without going over, will win a Frankenprise consisting of their choice of either one TV on DVD release, two movies, or a kids package (could be a theatrical release, a couple of single-disc TV on DVD releases, or a full season TV on DVD release). Whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend box office (Friday to Sunday), without going under, will also win a Frankenprize, as described above. Finally, we will be choosing an entrant from the group of people who haven't won, or haven't won recently, and they will win the final Frankenprize, as described above.

Entries must be received by 10 a.m., Pacific Time on Friday to be eligible, so don't delay! More...

Logan Trailer

January 20th, 2017

Super hero actioner starring Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, and Dafne Keen opens March 3 ... Full Movie Details. More...