August 19th, 2014
There are a number of big releases on this week's list, especially if you like TV on DVD. However, there are not a lot of releases in total. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is the biggest release by a wide margin, but it is not the best. For that honor, I would have to chose Boardwalk Empire: Season 4 on Blu-ray.
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May 6th, 2014
The summer blockbuster season has begun and it started on a mixed note. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 easily earned first place with more than $90 million. An opening of more than $90 million isn't a bad number, but it is the lowest opening three-day weekend for a Friday debut in the franchise. Worse still, the overall box office was just $153 million, which is substantially lower than last year's number one film, Iron Man 3, opened with. $153 million is 32% higher than last weekend, but the start of summer should be bigger than that. It is also 30% lower than the same weekend last year. You usually only see a decline that sharp when there's a misalignment in a holiday weekend. Granted, 2014 is still ahead of 2013 by a large margin (8.6% or $3.26 billion to $3.01 billion) so we don't have to worry about 2014 losing that lead any time soon. This is just not a great way to start the summer blockbuster season.
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April 29th, 2014
April ended with a new film on top, The Other Woman, which finally broke Captain America: The Winter Soldier's hold on the box office chart. It was a surprisingly strong hit earning $24.76 million, but the other new releases were not as strong. Brick Mansions only managed fifth place, while The Quiet Ones missed the Mendoza Line. The overall box office was $115 million, which was 13% lower than last weekend. More importantly, this is 25% more than the same weekend last year. 2014 added to its lead over 2013, which now stands at $257 million, or 9.2%. Its running tally is $3.05 billion and summer is just about to start.
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April 27th, 2014
By every measure, April at the box office has been dominated by Captain America: Winter Soldier, but it won't win every weekend this month, thanks to a jaunty $24.7 million debut for The Other Woman. The comedy, headlined by Cameron Diaz, Leslie Mann and Kate Upton hasn't been a huge hit with critics, but audiences are giving it a solid 70% at Rotten Tomatoes, which is plenty for a comedy (The Heat, by comparison, earns a 72% positive audience score at Rotten Tomatoes, though it started higher). A strong run in theaters certainly seems possible for The Other Woman, given its competition over the next few weeks will mostly come from male-skewing films (Moms' Night Out being the only exception).
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April 24th, 2014
The final weekend of April ends with three wide releases. With The Amazing Spider-Man 2 looming large on the horizon, it should come has no surprise that the three wide releases this weekend and not expected to be huge hits. The Other Woman has a shot at first place, but Captain America: The Winter Soldier might block it. On the other hand, I'm fairly sure Brick Mansions and The Quiet Ones can't both fit into the top five. Last year, April ended with Pain and Gain earning first place with just over $20 million. That is likely more than the first place film this year will earn. However, this year has better depth than last year, so I think 2014 will still come out ahead.
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April 18th, 2014
Next weekend is the last weekend of April, which is a bad weekend to release a film, because the summer blockbuster season looms large. Of the three films opening wide, Brick Mansions, The Quiet Ones, and The Other Woman, only The Other Woman has a real shot at becoming even a midlevel hit. It might make more than the other two films will make combined. As such, it is the only real choice for the target film for this week's box office prediction contest. In order to win, one must simply predict the opening weekend box office number for The Other Woman.
Whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend box office (Friday to Sunday), without going over, will win a copy of Moonshiners: Season Two on DVD, as well as a random TV on DVD release I've previously reviewed.
Meanwhile, whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend box office (Friday to Sunday), without going under, will also win two random TV on DVD releases I've previously reviewed.
Entries must be received by 10 a.m., Pacific Time on Friday to be eligible, so don't delay!
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April 1st, 2014
March was stronger than expected when compared to 2013 with four films earning $100 million or more, led by Divergent. (Not all of them have gotten there yet, but they are certain to reach that milestone before they are done their box office runs.) It wasn't a blow-out victory, on the other hand, as a few weekends the ticket sales were lower in 2014 than they were during the same weekend in 2013. April looks really strong with Captain America: The Winter Soldier leading the way. This film should top $200 million over the weekend, while it isn't the only film that should crack the century mark, as Rio 2 is also on track for $100 million. This is great news, as no film last April reached $100 million. Granted, 42 came close and Oblivion wasn't far behind, but The Winter Soldier should earn more than those two films earned combined giving 2014 a comfortable lead over 2013 over the full month.
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