November 9th, 2015
There are a couple of big hits on this week's list of new releases. Terminator: Genisys was a monster hit internationally, but it failed to live up to expectations here. On the other hand, Trainwreck earned $100 million here, but barely made a peep internationally. Of these two films, Trainwreck is the only one worth picking up. In fact, it is a Contender for Pick of the Week. However, I'm still waiting for the screener and I hate to give out this title when a screener is on its way. Because of that, I'm going with Better Call Saul: Season One as the Best of the Best, but it isn't the only other title worth picking up.
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September 10th, 2015
Terminator: Genisys remained in first place on the international chart, but with only $11.5 million in 8 markets. This lifted its international total to $346.3 million, while it now has $435.9 million worldwide. This helped the film become the second biggest hit in the franchise, assuming you don't take inflation into account. In China, the film managed $26.67 million, but that was for the full week, giving the film a total of $111.92 million after 15 days of release.
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September 3rd, 2015
Terminator Genisys remained in first place with $23.6 million in 26 markets over the weekend for totals of $320.1 million internationally and $409.5 million worldwide. In China, the film pulled in $23.4 million over the weekend for an eight-day total of $85.15 million in that market. It is going to hit the century mark in that market, while its overall worldwide number is high enough to break even.
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August 27th, 2015
Terminator Genisys earned $26.97 million on Sunday in China. That was enough for first place in that market over the entire weekend. In fact, that was enough for first place internationally. Adding in one holdover market, and the movie made $27.4 million in 2 markets for totals of $264.0 million internationally and $353.1 million worldwide. One final note, China is already the film's biggest single market and it could save the franchise and make another installment likely.
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July 29th, 2015
Monster Hunt remained in first place on the international chart with $46 million over the weekend for a two-week total of $225 million. The film again dominated its home market (China) earning $113.16 million over the full week for a running tally of $221.41 million after eleven days of release. It became the biggest Chinese film in its native market and the third biggest film of all time, behind Transformers: Age of Extinction and the current record holder, Furious 7.
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July 23rd, 2015
It is a special week on the international chart, as we have an international film in first place. Monster Hunt earned first place in China with an estimated $72 million over the weekend and a total opening of $107.58 million. (This includes less than $1 million in early previews.) This movie is a romantic comedy, of sorts, set in a world of CGI monsters. This is the kind of film that could have appeal in many markets outside of the usual markets Chinese films play in. Additionally, this is the kind of opening that will make distributors here interested in obtaining the rights. It is too soon to tell if it will have a global run, but it will be worth keeping an eye on.
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July 15th, 2015
Matching its stellar domestic debut, Minions rose to first place with $130.7 million on 9,606 screens in 56 markets at the international box office at the weekend for totals of $287.77 million internationally and $403.49 million worldwide. The film debuted in 30 new markets, earned first place in all of them, and broke the record for the biggest animated opening in 28 of them. This includes Russia, where it earned $15.12 million on 1,209 screens, which is the biggest opening in that market, animated or otherwise. Its biggest opening was in Mexico, where the film earned $15.72 million on 692 screens over the weekend. Meanwhile, it earned first place in France with a total opening of $12 million on 868 screens. It remains above Despicable Me 2's pace and this puts it on track to reach $1 billion worldwide.
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July 14th, 2015
As expected Minions dominated the box office earning first place with more than a 50% share of the total box office. It became the fourth film to open with more than $100 million this year. Three of those were released by Universal. On the other hand, the less said about The Gallows or Self/Less the better. To be fair, The Gallows earned more during its opening day that it cost to make, but its advertising budget is much bigger than its production budget. Meanwhile, Self/Less barely topped the Mendoza Line (earning only just over $2,000 per theater). The overall box office reached $215 million, which was 59% more than last week and 43% the same weekend last year. Year-to-date, 2015 has earned $5.92 billion, which is 6.4% higher than last year's pace.
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July 9th, 2015
Of the three wide releases this week, only Minions is dominating the box office tracking. Unfortunately, its reviews are nowhere near as strong as they were at the beginning of the month. Even worse, they are twice as good as the reviews for Self/Less and The Gallows. The Gallows should earn a spot in the top five during its opening weekend, but the prospects for Self/Less are not as good. This weekend last year, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes opened with $72.61 million. Minions should crush that number. Also, last year only three films earned more than $10 million over the weekend, while this year, the top five should do the same. 2015 should earn a solid win in the year-over-year comparison.
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July 9th, 2015
Terminator: Genisys expanded its market count to 47 over the weekend, which allowed it to rise to first place with $74.0 million for a two-week total of $85.5 million internationally. Its biggest new market was Russia, where it dominated with $11.17 million on 2,192 screens over the weekend. South Korea was close behind with $9.24 million on 1,113 screens for a total opening of $11.06 million. The film earned first place in Mexico with $4.73 million on 1,307 for a total opening of $6.18 million. It only managed second place in Brazil with $3.9 million on 1,012. In all four markets, the film set records for the franchise. It wasn't as lucky in the U.K., where it opened in second place with $5.83 million in 536 theaters. That's about on par with its opening here in the US. The goal for the film is to earn over $200 million internationally and $300 million worldwide. If it can get there, then the film will likely break even, eventually. On the other hand, "breaking even" isn't enough to justify continuing the reboot trilogy.
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July 8th, 2015
The winners of our Terminate Maggie contest were determined and the entrants with the closest predictions for Terminator: Genisys opening weekend were...
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July 6th, 2015
It was not a good weekend for new releases, as the top two spots went to holdovers. Fortunately, Inside Out earned first place over Jurassic World, because I had no idea what I was going to do for an image this time around. (That's not true. I was going to look for pictures of corgis dressed as dinosaurs.) Neither Terminator: Genisys or Magic Mike XXL matched expectations. At least Terminator: Genisys came close. Overall, the box office plummeted 26% from last weekend to just $135 million. Granted, that's still 2.2% higher than the same weekend last year, but boy have we come down from the highs we saw just a few weeks ago. Year-to-date, 2015 has earned $5.62 billion, which is 6.0% above 2014's pace of $5.31 million. 2015 would really need to sink for a number of weeks before that lead was in trouble, but after this week, that scenario is a little more likely.
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July 5th, 2015
Two much-anticipated sequels have fallen short of knocking the two incumbents from the top of the box office chart this weekend. Terminator: Genisys will come closest with a mediocre $28.7 million three-day weekend, and $44.1 million after five days in release. That’s a couple of million behind the two returning giants, which are essentially tied for the weekend at this point. Jurassic World has the edge according to the official studio estimates, with Universal putting its total at $30.94 million for the weekend, compared to Disney’s $30.11 million projection for Inside Out. Other tracking we’ve seen suggests that the films will both end up with a shade over $30 million. The film’s respective performance on Sunday will determine who ends up the weekend winner.
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July 4th, 2015
Inside Out earned first place on the Friday chart, just ahead of Jurassic World $12.5 million to $11.8 million. This is bad news, as the new releases will be well behind films that are three and four weeks old respectively. At this pace, Inside Out should top $30 million over the weekend, but barely. Jurassic World will earn about $28 million. This is roughly in line with Friday's predictions. On the other hand...
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July 3rd, 2015
If one of the new releases doesn't earn top spot this weekend, then the box office is in trouble. Jurassic World has been in first place for three weeks in a row and even last week it only won because the new release, Ted 2, missed expectations. If it or Inside Out win this weekend, it will be because Terminator: Genisys and Magic Mike XXL are both struggling. Fortunately, the two films topped the chart on Wednesday during their opening day, but not by enough to ensure they come out on top over the full weekend. It could be a very close race for first place. This weekend last year was led by Transformers: Age of Extinction with $37 million, while Tammy was second with an opening of $21.58 million over the three-day weekend and $33.51 million over five days. The overall box office take was just $133 million last year, while the top five could top that this year. 2015 should have no trouble coming out on top in the year-over-year competition.
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July 2nd, 2015
(As I warned previously, we've run out of images for Jurassic World, so we are down to Picture Unrelated. And no, I will not explain the context of the image. I will say the TV show it comes from is surprisingly good.)
Jurassic World completed a hat-trick at the weekend by earning first place with $82.5 million in 67 markets for totals of $737.5 million internationally and $1.238 billion worldwide. The film entered the top ten on the all-time worldwide box office chart over the weekend and has already moved into seventh place. Its biggest single market was China, where it made $38.07 million over the full week for a total of $206.57 million after three weekends. Hopefully this is the last weekend the film spends in top spot, as new releases finally rise to overtake it. If it is still in first place next week, it will be a sign that the box office is slowing down.
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July 1st, 2015
June was a much better month than expected due to two films, Jurassic World and Inside Out. Had those two films merely matched expectations, then 2015 would have likely fallen behind 2014. As for this coming month, there are five weekends in July and each week there is at least one film with the potential to reach $100 million. Most weeks there are two films that at least have a shot at getting to the century mark. The biggest hit of the month will likely be Minions, which has already opened in several international markets and it's ahead of Despicable Me 2 at the same point. That film made more than $300 million and nearly $1 billion worldwide, so any growth would be fantastic. There are also a number of potential $200 million films, led by Ant-man. Ant-man is the latest release in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a franchise that has averaged $300 million domestically over eleven films and all of the past six films have reached at least $200 million. I'm not saying this one is guaranteed to do the same, but you can't dismiss that possibility. Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation and Pixels have smaller chances to get to $200 million, but you have to at least entertain the possibility. Additionally, last July was a lot weaker than this July looks to be, so 2015 should win in the year-over-year comparison most weeks. Or I might have let the box office success of June cloud my judgment. We will soon find out.
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June 26th, 2015
The first weekend of July has two potential $100 million hits: Magic Mike XXL and Terminator Genisys. Both movies have nearly identical box office potentials, but Terminator Genisys should start faster due to its genre and target audience. As such, it is the choice 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 Terminator Genisys.
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 Maggie on DVD.
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 copy of Maggie on DVD.
Finally, we will be choosing an entrant from the group of people who haven't won, or haven't won recently, and they will also win a Frankenprize featuring a previously reviewed DVD or Blu-ray.
Entries must be received by 10 a.m., Pacific Time on Friday to be eligible, so don't delay!
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