September 28th, 2023
After a lackluster few weeks, this weekend sees three new films open wide, along with an even wider expansion for Dumb Money. While none of this week’s new arrivals will likely make a monumental splash, they should nevertheless deliver a fun and competitive weekend at the domestic box office, while providing movie aficionados with a wider range of genres to choose from.
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July 9th, 2017
Smurfs: The Lost Village is the third theatrical release in the franchise, but it is a reboot dropping the live action elements the first two films had. Unfortunately, it had the worst box office performance in the franchise and even though it did better internationally, there likely won’t be another film in the franchise for quite a while. Is this unfortunate news? Did the franchise finally find its footing? Or was it clear it was never going to get better?
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April 1st, 2017
March was a month of extremes, led by two strong performances: Beauty and the Beast breaking records and Logan cracking $200 million with ease. There were also two other $100 million hits and another potential $100 million hit that we don’t have significant box office numbers for yet. This is fantastic. On the opposite end, there were three films on last month’s list that didn’t even open truly wide. This month won’t be as lucrative at the top, as The Fate of the Furious is the only film expected to top $100 million. Fortunately, it is expected to open with over $100 million. On the other extreme, there are many, many films on this list that I’m not sure will open wide. Fortunately, last April wasn’t any better. The Jungle Book made nearly $1 billion worldwide, but the other nine films combined made less than half of that. To emphasize: the other nine films that opened last April averaged less than $50 million worldwide each. If The Fate of the Furious can just come close to the previous installment of the franchise, then 2017 has a solid shot at topping 2016.
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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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July 11th, 2014
For the past couple of seasons of True Blood, there have been troubling signs. The show was clearly off its peak in terms of quality and this was adversely affecting its ratings as well. It was still a good show, but no longer a great show. Season Six saw the show earn its weakest ratings since season one, which was before it was discovered by most people. Is this also a sign that these troubling signs finally broke and True Blood is now just a shadow of what it once was?
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June 27th, 2014
There are more than a dozen limited releases on this week's list, including two films that are opening in limited release this week with a scheduled wide expansion next week. Unfortunately, I don't have high hopes for either of those two films. There are some films worth checking out, including a pair of documentaries, The Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz and Whitey: United States of America v. James J. Bulger, both of which are also playing on Video on Demand. The film I hope has the best start is Snowpiercer, a South Korean film that is earning amazing reviews.
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March 1st, 2014
2014 continued its strong run in February with The Lego Movie beating even the high end expectations and will become the first film released in 2014 to reach $200 million. March doesn't look as strong, as no film is on track to hit $200 million, but there are five films that have a chance at $100 million. Granted, not all of them will get there; in fact, there's a chance only one of them will get there. Divergent is the film I think has the best shot at the century club, but it could be joined by Mr. Peabody and Sherman, for instance, which is earning surprisingly strong reviews. Noah is a big-budget Bible epic and the studio has to be hoping for at least $100 million, but the buzz is quite negative and there have been reports of troubles behind-the-scenes. Last March was led by Oz The Great and Powerful, which pulled in more than $200 million domestically. I don't think any film opening this March will match that figure. In addition, The Croods and G.I. Joe: Retaliation also hit the $100 million milestone, while Olympus Has Fallen came very close. Granted, there were also some big bombs last March, like The Host, but even so, I think 2014 will lose ground in the year-over-year comparison.
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May 22nd, 2013
The last time I reviewed True Blood, I mentioned the ratings were flat between season four and season three. I also concluded the quality of the show was also flat. Season five saw its ratings drop for the first time during the show's run. Is this drop in ratings accompanied by an equal drop is quality? And if so, is the show no longer worth checking out?
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