October 24th, 2024
Although The Wild Robot began last weekend as the widest release, newcomer Smile 2 took the top spot at the weekend box office, compiling just over $23 million, and surpassing the former by $13 million in its first three days. Unfortunately for the sequel, it will fall short of a repeat, as Venom: The Last Dance waltzes into cinemas this weekend.
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December 22nd, 2022
As the Christmas holiday approaches, there are plenty of options for movie-goers as three new high-profile films arrive to the big screen this week. After accruing over $134 million in its opening weekend in North America, Avatar: the Way of Water currently enjoys a six-day domestic total of $183 million, with $426 million from overseas markets, for global earnings so far of $609 million. The film retains its opening-weekend count of 4,202 theaters, once again making it the widest release. While Way of Water should have no problem winning the weekend box office, a bevy of new releases look to provide an assortment of viewing opportunities for nearly every movie taste.
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May 1st, 2018
April was all about Avengers: Infinity War, which earned about as much during its opening weekend as the next two biggest films, A Quiet Place and Rampage, will earn in total. However, moving Infinity War to April has left a big gap for the first two weeks of May. It isn’t until Deadpool 2 debuts that we have a potential $100 million movie, while the week after Solo: A Star Wars Story closes the month on a strong note. Fortunately, both of those films are expected to earn more than $100 million during their opening weekends alone and combined could earn over $700 million domestically. Last May, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 helped the month get off to a fast start, but it was the only monster hit of the month. Infinity War opening a week early will mean the month will start slower, in terms of new releases, but Infinity War’s record-breaking debut should help 2018 come out ahead in the end.
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March 2nd, 2018
Oscar night is on Sunday, so moviegoers who are most interested in limited releases are distracted. This explains why there are no big titles that are expected to do well at the box office. There are some films worth checking out, like Foxtrot and Mohawk, but most on this list will do better on Video on Demand than they will in theaters.
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March 1st, 2017
February was an okay month. The films that missed expectations were mostly balanced by the films that were pleasant surprises. Unfortunately, last February was amazing as Deadpool dominated the chart, so 2017 has fallen further behind 2016 and 2016’s lead is now about $100 million. It is not so bad that a good March won’t help 2017 back into the lead. Will that happen? We have some good news and some bad news. Good news: Every week there is one movie that has at least a shot at $100 million. Two of them, Logan and Beauty and the Beast, could reach $200 million or a lot more. Bad News: last March, both Zootopia and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice earned more than $300 million. That’s a really powerful one-two punch and I don’t think we can replicate that this time around. On the other hand, last March, the third best film of the month was 10 Cloverfield Lane, while there were four films that were expected to open wide that earned less than $10 million at the box office. 2017 likely won’t be as good at the top, but I also don’t think it will have as many bombs either. If Beauty and the Beast reaches the very high end of expectations, then 2017 could even close the gap with 2016 entirely. I’ll be happy getting halfway there.
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September 29th, 2014
If you look at our list of franchises, none have made more money in as few installments as Transformers has earned. On the other hand, if you look at the top ten franchises, none of them have earned as much critical scorn as the Transformers films have earned. Only the first one managed to come close to overall positive reviews. Depending on who you talk to, the most recent installment, Transformers: Age of Extinction, has been called the best of the sequels or the worst of the sequels. Which camp do I fall under?
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June 23rd, 2014
There's very little on the home market that stands out. 300: Rise of an Empire is the biggest movie coming out this week, but it is far from the best new release. Unfortunately, there are not a lot of new releases in competition for Pick of the Week. The A Hard Day's Night Criterion Collection Blu-ray is absolutely worth picking up, but there are no new extras for the Blu-ray, so that is a strike against it. Masters of Sex: Season One earned great reviews, but the extras on the DVD or the Blu-ray are only good. Star Trek: The Next Generation: Season Six is loaded, but its price is just too high. In the end, I rolled a dice and Star Trek: The Next Generation came out on top, but it really is a close race.
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May 5th, 2014
The Terminal came out in 2004, just after Tom Hanks' record-breaking run of seven $100 million hits in a row came to an end. The streak ended with The Ladykillers, but many thought The Terminal would start a new streak. It didn't. Now that it has been ten years since it came out, does it feel like it underperformed at the box office. Or was this never going to be a big hit with moviegoers?
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December 13th, 2013
On the one hand, this is an amazing weekend for limited releases as there are not one, but two films opening that are very likely going to earn multiple Oscar nominations. On the other hand, most films opening this weekend are earning weak releases. The two main Oscar contenders are American Hustle and Saving Mr. Banks, while The Crash Reel is up for Best Feature-Length Documentary.
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