October 20th, 2019
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The Lion King is one of the biggest hits of the year and one of only two films to top $1 billion internationally. It is also a remake of the 1994 animated classic of the same name and is widely considered part of the “Live-Action Disney remake” trend, although it is not live-action, but a photo-realistic, digitally-animated film. Is this enough to set it apart from the original? Or was photo-realism a mistake?
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September 25th, 2018
Solo was the third Star Wars film to come out in approximately 18 months. It also had serious behind-the-scenes issues that resulted in $100 millions worth of reshoots, according to some reports. It missed expectations, both at the box office and with critics. Is it the weakest installment in the Disney era? If so, is it still worth checking out?
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October 23rd, 2017
It was a terrible summer at the box office, but Spider-Man: Homecoming was one of the few bright spots. It was one of three films to cross $300 million domestically and has a slim shot at finishing in the top five for the year. Does it deserve this success? Or did it thrive just because it’s part of the MCU?
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August 28th, 2016
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The Jungle Book is the latest live-action remake of a classic Disney cartoon. The film is the third biggest domestic release of the year so far. (It just topped Deadpool this weekend.) It also earned 95% positive reviews. Is it truly one of the best films of 2016? Or am I going to be in the minority when it comes to this movie?
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April 17th, 2016
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2016 is shaping up to be just about the perfect year on all fronts for Disney. They started the year with Star Wars at the top of the box office; Zootopia far out-performed expectations; Captain America: Civil War, Alice Through the Looking Glass and Finding Dory position them perfectly for the Summer; and Doctor Strange and Star Wars: Rogue One are two of the most talked about movies coming at the end of the year. (Oh, and they’re slipping a long-awaited Steven Spielberg family-friendly film in the middle of all that.)
All-in-all, this could be a year of studio dominance the likes of which we haven’t seen since, well, last year, when Universal could do no wrong. Their incredible year really took flight at the beginning of April, when Furious 7 posted a monthly record $147 million opening weekend. The Jungle Book won’t hit those heights, but it will most likely be the second film to top $100 million in April, with Disney projecting a weekend of $103.57 million as of Sunday morning.
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April 1st, 2016
March was a really good month, for the most part. There were a few bombs, but the two biggest films, Zootopia and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, both beat expectations by significant margins, so overall the box office was better than expected. Unfortunately, April is a mess, which makes prognosticating really tough. Every single week has at least one film that either moved, switched from wide to limited release, or disappeared entirely. The Jungle Book appears to be the biggest film of the year, but The Huntsman: Winter's War could also be a $100 million hit. Sadly, last April was led by Furious 7, which earned more than $350 million at the box office. That's very likely more than both The Jungle Book and The Huntsman: Winter's War will make combined. Worse still, there were only four weekends in April last year, meaning the month ends by going head-to-head with The Avengers: Age of Ultron. By the time the month ends, 2016's lead over 2015 might be gone. Let's hope it is not that bad.
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December 13th, 2014
The third installment of our annual Holiday Gift Guide involves limited releases, including foreign films and documentaries; classics hitting DVD or Blu-ray for the first time; and of course Canadian films. There were better choices for the limited releases than there were for big releases and TV on DVD releases, which is good news, because this Holiday Gift Guide feels that it ahs been lackluster so far. There have been many great limited releases to come out this year, including several foreign-language films to find some measure of mainstream success. On the downside, every year a lot of these movies hit theaters in the fall, so they won't hit the home market for months. That said, there are still some real highlights among the limited releases, classics, and Canadian films. In fact, we start off with the highest of the highlights for the entire year.
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September 30th, 2014
Jon Favreau's career behind the camera started out with smaller movies. He co-wrote Swingers and wrote and directed Made. However, recently he has directed a number of major movies. He was the one behind the camera for the first two Iron Man movies, for instance, and the average budget for his three most recent films he directed is close to $175 million. With his latest film, Chef, he went the opposite direction and created a much, much smaller film. Was he able to still maintain his usual high level of quality? Or does he need the spectacle to make a compelling movie?
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May 9th, 2014
There are a number of limited releases coming out this week that are earning strong buzz and good reviews. Some of the films that have reviews that are strong enough to suggest box office success are Palo Alto and The Double, as well as two documentaries, Fed Up and Llyn Foulkes One Man Band. However, the film with the best combination of buzz and reviews is Chef.
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September 23rd, 2013
Iron Man 3 was the first Marvel Comics movie since The Avengers broke records. Expectations for this film rose dramatically as a result of that film's box office success, not to mention its critical acclaim. Can Iron Man 3 live up to these expectations? Or has The Avengers set the bar too high?
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