This graph shows James McAvoy’s score on our annual analysis of leading stars at the box office. The Star Score represents points assigned to each of the leading stars of the top 100 movies (based on box office) in the current year and two preceding years. For appearing in the number one movie in a year a star gets 100 points, the number two movie 99 points and so on..
Latest Ranking on Selected Box Office Record Lists
Last weekend’s highly anticipated arrival of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice surpassed most expectations at the box office, tallying up just over $111 million in domestic receipts, while earning north of $36 million from overseas markets. While a flurry of new arrivals make their theatrical debuts this weekend, none look to be a serious threat to unseat Beetlejuice Beetlejuice from its pedestal.
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When an American family is invited to spend the weekend at the idyllic country estate of a charming British family they befriended on vacation, what begins as a dream holiday soon warps into a snarled psychological nightmare.
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After dethroning Jungle Cruise two weeks ago, and keeping four wide releases at bay last week, Free Guy once again leads this week’s theater counts. The film has earned just over $64 million domestically and an estimated $117 million worldwide in its first 13 days in release. The theater count does drop from 4,165 last week to 3,940 this week, but is still good enough to fend off Candyman—the latest feature from Universal Pictures—which debuts in 3,569 locations. Candyman is a sequel to the original 1992 horror film of the same name and stars Yahya Abdul-Mateen II. Still near the top of our list is the previously-mentioned Jungle Cruise, which has amassed just north of $94 million in North America, and $175 million worldwide. The adventure film plays in 3,370 locations this week. Of the four wide releases to debut last week, the best earner at the box office was the animated kids feature, PAW Patrol: The Movie. The film scored $13.1 million in its first three days from 3,184 locations and expands to 3,189 this week.
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December would have been an excellent month, except it had to be compared to Star Wars: The Last Jedi. The top four movies of this December might not finish with as much as that movie made. That said, the year ended on an overall positive note finishing with a lead of close to $800 million over 2017. Unfortunately, 2019 is going to get off to a slow start. Not only are there very few films opening wide this month, only one of them, Glass, is expected to be a midlevel hit or better. Granted, Glass is expected to earn more than $100 million domestically, which is something no film released last January could do. However, The Last Jedi and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle both had such incredible legs that 2019 will still get off to a slower start, even if it has stronger new releases.
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February was an amazing month, thanks mainly to Black Panther, but Fifty Shades Freed and Peter Rabbit were also significant hits and overall the month was a massive improvement over last February. Looking forward, there’s nothing opening in March that will earn as much in total as Black Panther did during its opening weekend. That said, A Wrinkle in Time and Ready Player One should have no trouble getting to $100 million, while Tomb Raider has a 50/50 chance of getting there. Unfortunately, compared to last March, this is still a pittance. There’s a chance that no film opening this March will earn as much in total as Beauty and the Beast opened with last march. We will need Black Panther to have good legs to keep 2018 ahead of 2017 by the end of the month.
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December box office numbers helped 2016 end on ... a note. The good news and the bad news almost exactly balance out. On the one hand, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story will finish the year with more than $400 million after just 16 days of release. That’s a stunning amount of money that helped 2016 earn a record box office at the domestic market. However, Star Wars: The Force Awakens earned $650 million during December of 2015, so the month lost a lot of its lead over 2015, so much so that ticket sales fell behind last year’s total. The weakness at the end of the year will spill over into 2017, which is terrible news. A slow start could result in the dominant box office story being 2017 struggles compared to 2016. Bad news like this can sometimes become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Sadly, 2017 is also going to get off to a slow start when it comes to wide releases / expansions. There are 16 films scheduled to open or expand wide this month and none of them are expected to get to $100 million. It is likely none of them will even get very close. xXx: Return of Xander Cage is expected to be the best of a weak bunch, but I could see it getting beat by one of the five Oscar contenders opening wide this month, if it gets off to a slow start and one of the Oscar contenders starts picking up steam. Hidden Figures got off to a great start on Christmas Day and should it continue to earn Awards Season recognition, including some Oscar nominations, it could be in wide release well into February. Last January wasn’t as busy with 13 films opening or expanding wide over five weeks. Of these, two of them, The Revenant and Kung Fu Panda 3, topped $100 million domestically, while another, Ride Along 2, came close. 2017 is going to get destroyed in the year-over-year comparison.
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October has come to an end and everyone should be happy about that. Except for The Martian, there were no serious hits that opened last month. There were more outright bombs than even midlevel hits. Fortunately, October of last year wasn't spectacular either, so 2015 maintains a healthy lead over 2014. Even more fortunately, November looks fantastic. There are four films that have the potential to earn $200 million or more. The biggest of these is the finalHunger Games movie, which should reach $400 million. Spectre has a real shot at $300 million and could be the biggest hit in the franchise. Meanwhile, nearly every November there's an animated kids movie that becomes a monster hit. This year, The Peanuts Movie and The Good Dinosaur are both aiming for that box office milestone. The last time we didn't have a family film that earned at least $100 million in November was 2011 and that's because there were four family films that opened in the final two weeks of the month and that much competition meant they cannibalized each other. Both of these has a shot at $200 million and if neither of them reached $200 million, I would be shocked. Meanwhile, last November was a good month at the top with three monster hits: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1, Big Hero 6, and Interstellar. However, after those three films, there were not much positive to talk about. It really looks like 2015 will match 2014 at the top, plus it could have better depth. I might be a little too optimistic, but I think November is going to be a great month at the box office.
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X-Men: Days of Future Past came out last year and earned plenty of praise from critics. It also became the biggest worldwide hit in the franchise. Now it is being re-released on DVD or Blu-ray as something called The Rogue Cut. How is it different from the theatrical release? And is it worth the double-dip?
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There's a large number of limited releases, including a few that are earning good reviews and strong buzz. One of these is The Drop, but it is opening in too many theaters and I think that will hurt it at the box office. If I were to guess, The Skeleton Twins will be the biggest hit on this week's list.
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It's a slow and shallow week on the home market. Not only are there no prime releases, we quickly run into filler as we look down the list of best selling new releases on Amazon.com. The biggest release of the week is Muppets Most Wanted, which is one of nine reviews on this week's list. It is also the best release of the week and the best choice for Pick of the Week. Next week should be more interesting, as TV on DVD season begins.
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It's a mixed bag for limited releases with a number of movies earning weak reviews or that have almost no chance at the box office. There are also some that are good enough to thrive, like Elena - Reviews or Lucky Them - Reviews. But the best movie according to critics is We are the Best! - Reviews.
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It has been a great year so far and April was again a strong month. The box office was led by Captain America: The Winter Soldier, as it became the second film of the year to reach $200 million, while Rio 2 is on pace to become the seventh $100 million hit of the year. Big picture, 2014 has already hit $3 billion, which isn't a record for this time of the year, but it is $250 million ahead of 2013. That streak ends in May. Don't get me wrong. There are six films opening this month that at least have a shot at $100 million and two of those should earn more than $200 million and there are two others that at least have a shot at that milestone. Leading the way is The Amazing Spider-Man 2, which is looking to top The Winter Soldier and become the second biggest hit of the year so far. Its main competition this month is X-men: Days of Future Past, while Godzilla also has a shot at $200 million. Unfortunately, this month last year, Iron Man 3 earned more than $400 million, while two other films took in $200 million and seven films in total reached the century mark. That is going to be really hard to replicate this year and 2014 will likely lose some of its lead over 2013. Fortunately, 2014 has such a big lead that unless the box office really slumps, it will end the month with at least a small lead over 2013.
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Trance is based on a TV movie written and directed by Joe Ahearne. Joe Ahearne helped write the screenplay for the theatrical release with John Hodges. John Hodges previously wrote the screenplays for Shallow Grave and Trainspotting, among others. Many of his films were directed by Danny Boyle, who also directed Trance. Given the pedigree, a lot of people were expecting a lot out of this film. It earned overall positive reviews and made more than $2 million in limited release, which is better than a lot of films manage. However, this was still way below expectations. Was it a case of expectations simply being too high? Or were there serious enough flaws in this film that caused it to fail to live up to many of Danny Boyle's previous films.
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This week's new releases are so bad that I'm tempted to hold on to this story till I finish the review for Star Trek: The Next Generation: Season Four on Blu-ray, just so I would have a real contender for Pick of the Week. According to Amazon.com, the best-selling new release of the week is an Anime title. Most weeks, Anime titles are filler, because of their are niche appeal. There are a few foreign releases and limited releases worth checking out, but there are not many contenders for Pick of the Week. The two best are Ginger & Rosa on DVD and Mystery Science Theater 3000: Volume XXVII on DVD. I'm going with the former for Pick of the Week. Meanwhile, Starbuck's DVD earns Puck of the Week. See it before Hollywood ruins it with a bad remake.
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As usual, there is an eclectic mix of limited releases, including some that have earned some advance buzz, like Trance and The Company You Keep, which should help them at the box office. The best reviewed film of the week is Upstream Color, but it is probably too weird to thrive outside of the art house circuit. It might be too weird to thrive within the art house circuit.
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