Weekend predictions: movies are showing better legs during the pandemic

September 24th, 2020

Disney’s announcement earlier this week that it is moving its upcoming MCU releases into 2021, starting with Black Widow taking over Shang Chi’s previous slot on May 7, was a body-blow to the theatrical business. October’s release schedule is now looking very thin indeed. November isn’t looking much better, and there’s a high probability that at least one of No Time to Die, Soul, and The Croods: A New Age will slip from their current planned release dates.

This weekend has four films technically opening wide: the re-release of The Empire Strikes Back, Shortcut (an Italian horror movie from Gravitas Ventures, opening in around 600 locations), and two movies honoring Ruth Bader Ginsberg, On the Basis of Sex and RBG. However, all of them are such special cases that they don’t fit our prediction model. Instead, I’ll focus on a rare piece of good news: films currently playing in theaters are showing better week-to-week legs than was the case before the pandemic. More...

2018 Awards Season: Oscar Highlight: Best Feature-Length Documentary

February 7th, 2019

With our annual Oscar Prediction contest underway, now is the best time to look at the nominees and try and figure out who the favorites are and which films should just feel honored to be nominated. Today we look at Best Feature-Length Documentary. Logic and evidence suggests the favorite film is Won’t You Be My Neighbor? with Three Identical Strangers coming in a close second. However, neither of them were nominated. More...

2018 - Awards Season: BAFTA - Nominations

January 12th, 2019

The BAFTA nominations were announced and The Favorite led the way with 12 nominations. Sometimes the BAFTAs are a really good indicator for who will do well on Oscar night. Other times their bias to British films is too much. I think this year will be an example of the latter and I don't think The Favourite is suddenly an Oscar favorite. That said, there’s still some things you can learn here. More...

2018 Awards Season: DGA - Nominations

January 9th, 2019

Directors Guild of America announced their theatrical nominations this week and we are starting to see some real patterns emerge and I think the Oscar picture is getting clearer. More...

2018 - Awards Season: PGA - Nominations

January 4th, 2019

The Producers Guild of America announced their nominations in the theatrical categories today and there are some trends building. However, there are also some questions generated after these nominations were announced. More...

2018 - Holiday Gift Guide - Part III - Limited Releases, Classics, Foreign Imports

December 13th, 2018

The first instalment of our Holiday Gift Guide dealt with First-run Releases and the second instalment with, TV on DVD releases. The third installment of our Holiday Gift Guide deals with limited releases, classics, and foreign imports and this list can get out of hand rather quickly, so I will try and keep it to a dozen items or so, starting with... More...

Home Market Releases for November 6th, 2018

November 6th, 2018

This is either an amazing week or a terrible week, depending on how you look at things. It is amazing, because there is a trio of releases I was really looking forward to reviewing: BlacKkKlansman, Incredibles 2, and Christopher Robin. It’s a terrible week, because none of those screeners showed up. I normally don’t like giving the Pick of the Week when I’m still waiting for the screener, but that’s not an option this week, so Incredibles 2 wins. More...

Home Market Releases for August 28th, 2018

August 29th, 2018

It is a very busy week with a flood of TV on DVD releases. Because of that, each entry has to be a little shorter than usual, especially the TV on DVD releases. There are some titles that are worth more attention, like American Animals, Bound, RBG, and others. It was a close race for Pick of the Week, but in the end I went with Bound on Blu-ray. More...

Theater Averages: Incredibles Tops Another Chart

June 20th, 2018

The overall number one film, Incredibles 2, earned top spot on the theater average chart with an impressive average of $41,426. Only two other wide releases have started with bigger averages: Infinity War and Black Panther. The only new limited release in the $10,000 club was Eating Animals, which earned an average of $17,262. Finally, Won’t You Be My Neighbor earned an average of $10,445 in nearly 100 theaters, earning over $1 million in the process. This bodes well for its future. More...

Weekend Estimates: Ocean’s 8 Tops Chart, Franchise

June 10th, 2018

Ocean’s 8 matched expectations with $41.5 million over the weekend. If it can maintain this figure, then it will open in the $10,000 club, while even if its final numbers slips a little, it still would be on pace for $100 million domestically. Its reviews have settled to 67% positive, and it managed an acceptable B plus from CinemaScore, so its legs should be average. Fortunately, with a start like this, it only needs average legs to break even early in its home market run. More...

Theater Averages: Animals are All-American Limited Release

June 5th, 2018

American Animals easily topped the theater average chart earning an average of $33,698 in four theaters. The only other film in the $10,000 club was 2001: A Space Odyssey, which earned an average of $14,042 in five theaters during its third weekend of release. More...

Theater Averages: 2001 Re-Release Remains Tops

May 30th, 2018

2001: A Space Odyssey remained in first place on the theater average chart with $24,810 in four theaters. The number one film, Solo: A Star Wars Movie, was next with an average of $19,270. The Gospel According to Andre earned an average of $11,951 in four theaters. First Reformed remained in the $10,000 club with an average of $10,064 in 29 theaters during its second weekend of release. More...

Theater Averages: Out of This World

May 23rd, 2018

The re-release of 2001: A Space Odyssey topped the theater average chart by a huge margin earning just over $200,000 in four theaters for an average of $50,690. The overall box office leader, Deadpool 2, was next with an average of $28,859 in over 4,000 theaters. First Reformed was right behind with an average of $24,391 in just 4 theaters. More...

Theater Averages: Infinity War Soars with The Seagull

May 15th, 2018

Avengers: Infinity War and The Seagull were neck-and-neck on the theater average chart with averages of $13,875 and $13,435, respectively. Boom for Real was next with an average of $11,359 in two theaters. The final film in the $10,000 club was Soller’s Point with $10,618 in one theater. More...

Theater Averages: Avengers Remains Supreme

May 8th, 2018

Avengers: Infinity War remained on top of the theater average chart with $25,654. The only other flm in the $10,000 club was RBG, which earned an average of $17,014 in 34 theaters. That’s amazing for a documentary. More...

Limited and VOD Releases: The Notorious RBG

May 4th, 2018

There are not many limited releases on this week’s list and even fewer that have a real shot at box office success. Surprisingly, it is a documentary, RBG, that is earning the loudest buzz. Its reviews should also help it find an audience in theaters. More...