January 14th, 2016
The Directors Guild of America spread out the nominations, which I always felt hurt the buzz. There are ten categories of awards, but only three of which pertain to theatrical releases. There are very few surprises across these three categories, so the Oscar nominations today shouldn't be full of surprises either.
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November 25th, 2015
Awards Season begins with the Independent Spirit Awards nominations. There were definitely some surprise nominees this year, but that also meant there were some unfortunate snubs as well. The overall leader was Carol, which just opened this past weekend. This is great timing and should help its box office numbers, as well as its chances throughout Awards Season. Its six nominations were one ahead of Beasts of No Nation and Spotlight. (One of Spotlight's was the Robert Altman Award, which has no nominations, just one winner.)
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November 17th, 2015
It's an off week of sorts. The biggest release is extended edition of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. In fact, there are five versions of this film that are near the top of the list. There are not a lot of other first-run releases on this week's list, which means we have to look to the classics for potential Pick of the Week contenders. Fortunately, there are plenty of those worth picking up. Leading the way is The Collected Works of Hayao Miyazaki on Blu-ray. It is expensive, but you get a lot for your money. There is another top-notch release this week, Rush - R40 Live on DVD or Blu-ray, which wins the coveted Puck of the Week for best Canadian release.
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September 29th, 2015
It is very rare for a limited release to repeat on top of the per theater chart, because if a film does well enough to lead the per theater chart, they tend to expand so much that repeating on top becomes nearly impossible. Sicario expanded from 6 to 59 theaters, but still managed first place with an average of $29,107. At this pace, it will expand semi-wide, at the very least. Lost in Hong Kong was next with an average of $19,916 in 27 theaters. It is already more than halfway to its first major milestone after just one weekend of release. I think more and more Chinese films will get limited releases here. 99 Homes was next with an average of $16,127 in two theaters. This is enough to suggest some potential to expand, especially if it can turn its reviews into Award Season Buzz. The overall box office champ, Hotel Transylvania 2, was next with an average of $12,910. The final film in the $10,000 club was Mississippi Grind with $12,434 in its lone theater. It looks like it will be another success for A24.
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September 9th, 2015
There was just one film in the $10,000 club, The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution, which earned $20,215 in its lone theater over the weekend. This is even more impressive, as it was a Wednesday release and earned $28,580 over five days. While it was the only film to reach $10,000 over the three-day weekend,
Un gallo con muchos huevos did earn an average of $11,030 if you include Monday.
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August 19th, 2015
We are inching towards Awards Season and the number one film on this week's per theater chart is a potential Awards Season player. That film, Mistress America, earned an average of $23,302 in four theaters. That's more than enough to suggest it will expand, but not enough to suggest it will expand truly wide, or even semi-wide. Second place went to the overall number one film, Straight Outta Compton, with an average of $21,835. Meru was well back with an average of $13,040 in seven theaters. Assassination saw its average rise to $10,111 in 29 theaters. It is very rare for films to have their averages rise week-to-week.
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August 14th, 2015
It is both a very busy week with nearly a dozen releases on this week's list and a disappointing one. The slate of new releases is really weak, with only Mistress America having a decent shot at box office success. There are a couple of other releases that have the reviews to do well, but are playing on VOD. Of these, People Places Things is my choice for Video on Demand Pick of the Week, although I'm hoping Final Girl is better than its early reviews would indicate.
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