February 24th, 2013
Independent Spirit Award were handed out yesterday and while the average moviegoer will be more focused on the Oscars tonight, a lot of great films were honored yesterday. This includes Silver Linings Playbook, which took home numerous awards, including the top prizes.
The categories and winners are...
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February 21st, 2013
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. This week we will look at the four acting categories, starting with Best Supporting Actress, which is again not a very competitive category this year. I'm not saying it is impossible for upset to happen here, but it is very, very unlikely.
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February 12th, 2013
It's a busy week, not only in terms of big selling DVDs and Blu-ray, but also in terms of quality. Skyfall will be the best-selling DVD and Blu-ray of the week, plus it is a contender for Pick of the Week. It is not the only contender, as The Perks of Being a Wallflower (DVD or Blu-ray Combo Pack); The Sessions (DVD or Blu-ray); Bully (DVD or Blu-ray Combo Pack); Nurse Jackie: Season Four (DVD or Blu-ray) and The Thieves (DVD or Blu-ray) were all contenders. In the end, I went with Skyfall, but it was close.
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January 10th, 2013
The Oscar nominations were announced this morning, and there's certainly a lot to talk about. There are some nominations that should surprise no one. For instance, Lincoln led the way with twelve nominations, and it has been seen as the major contender for a long time. However, there were also a few surprise nominations and some major snubs. Here are the list of nominations, and some reactions.
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December 18th, 2012
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey easily led the way on the per theater chart. In fact, it was the only film to top $10,000. The film pulled in an average of $20,919, which is great for this time of year. The best new release was Let Fury Have the Hour, which only managed $3,386 in its lone theater.
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December 13th, 2012
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced their nominations and the same list of films that have been mentioned since the beginning of Awards Season were rewarded today. Lincoln led the way with seven nods, while Argo and Django Unchained were close behind with five.
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December 12th, 2012
SAG nominations were announced and there were only a few surprises to deal with. Leading the way for total nominations was The Silver Linings Playbook, Lincoln, and Les Miserables, all of which earned nominations in four of the six categories.
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December 4th, 2012
It was a rather slow week on the per theater chart with only two films topping the $10,000 mark, and none of them were massive hits. Rust and Bone rose to first place with an average of $12,369 in two theaters. It rose to top spot thanks to a miniscule 9% drop-off. The only other member of the $10,000 club was Beware of Mr. Baker, which was right behind with $12,195 in its lone theater.
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November 28th, 2012
The Independent Spirit Awards has a special place in the Awards Season. The nominations are the unoffficial start of Awards Season, but the actual awards aren't given out until Oscar weekend, so they are the beginning at the end of Awards Season. They also help out a lot of limited releases that would otherwise not get enough buzz, although they are not so good at predicting Oscar wins. This year, two films tied for most nominations, Moonrise Kingdom and The Silver Linings Playbook, both of which earned five nominations. They weren't the only films to earn multiple nominations though.
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November 27th, 2012
It was a particularly busy week on top of the per theater chart with seven films topping the $10,000 mark. Leading the way was Hitchcock with an average of $16,924 in 17 theaters. This is good for a limited release, but not great, and given the competition at this time of year, it needed to be great to survive. Anna Karenina expanded from 16 theaters to 66 earning an average of $13,580. Again, this is good, but not great. Rust and Bone was next with an average of $13,577 in two theaters. If it had sold just one more ticket, it would have earned second place instead of third on this list. Lincoln actually saw its per theater average grow reaching $12,724. It has already expanded truly wide and it should expand at least a little bit more. Likewise, Silver Linings Playbook should also expand more, as its per theater average this week was $11,945; however, it likely won't expand wide. The overall box office leader, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2, was next up with an average of $10,723. The Central Park Five topped $10,000 on the per theater chart, barely, with an average of $10,190 in three theaters. Skyfall was the final film in the $10,000 club with an average of $10,069. It is pretty rare for a film to remain above that mark for three weeks in a row.
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November 20th, 2012
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2 led the overall chart and the per theater chart. Its average was $34,660, which is especially impressive, as it was playing in more than 4,000 theaters. The next best release was Silver Linings Playbook, which earned an average of $27,688 in 16 theaters. This suggests a strong potential to expand, while its reviews suggest a strong word-of-mouth and some Awards Season buzz. Anna Karenina was next up with an average of $20,043, also playing in 16 theaters, but the reviews suggest it will struggle if it tries to expand. The Comedy opened in New York this week after playing in Los Angeles last week and it did really well earning $13,150. Both members of last week's $10,000 club remained above that mark this week with Lincoln earning an average of $11,859 and Skyfall earning an average of $11,727. One final note, while Jab Tak Hai Jaan didn't quite reach that mark with an average of $8,022 in 160 theaters, it debuted on Tuesday. In total, it made $1.94 million, which would have given it an average of $12,136, had it made that over the weekend.
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November 18th, 2012
The beginning of the end for the Twilight franchise is here, and, as expected, big money is being made by Lionsgate/Summit. While this installment doesn't look like it will break franchise records, Lionsgate is predicting a $141.3 million opening weekend, which will be the 8th-best of all time, assuming it holds up. New Moon will most likely remain the top opener for the franchise with $142.8 million, although it will be a close-run thing. Twilight will most likely end up the 5th-highest-grossing franchise at the domestic box office, behind only the "box office gods", Harry Potter, Star Wars, Batman and James Bond.
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November 14th, 2012
Lincoln was the easy winner on the per theater chart earning an average of $85,846 over the weekend. Had it earned an average of $31,554, which was its best single-day average, it would have been impressive. A start this strong is a good indicator for Awards Season success. The overall box office leader, Skyfall, was the only other member of the $10,000 earning an average of $25,211.
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November 4th, 2012
Wreck-It Ralph is breathing new life into the box office this weekend, after a few slow weeks, and with some help from an impressive opening for Flight this weekend will be a healthy 20% or so ahead of last year. Disney is projecting that Ralph will open with $49.1 million, which is a very creditable performance, if well behind the openings of The Incredibles and Monsters, Inc., both of which were released on the equivalent weekend in years gone by. The Pixar brand still counts for a lot, evidently. Flight's $25.01 million projection is well ahead of expectations (take a bow Denzel Washington and Robert Zemeckis), and has strong enough reviews to have good chances of legs into the Holiday Season.
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October 30th, 2012
The Sessions was the only film to top $10,000 on the per theater chart with an average of $10,868 in 20 theaters. Earning some measure of mainstream success is very likely at this point.
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October 23rd, 2012
The Sessions was one of two films to top $10,000 over the weekend on the Per Theater Chart. It managed an average of $28,367 in four theaters. Puella Magi Madoka Magica: The Movie - Part 1: Beginnings / Part 2: Eternal earned an average of $12,468 in five theaters.
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October 19th, 2012
It's a slower week for limited releases, but there are a couple that are earning overwhelmingly positive reviews. Holy Motors is one of them, but while it should do well in art house theaters, its chances at mainstream success is a lot more limited. The Sessions reviews are even better and it has a lot more mainstream appeal. It is never easy for a limited release, but of all of the film's on this week's list, this one has the best shot at the box office.
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