October 17th, 2019
It’s a really slow week with Crawl being the biggest release of the week, and it wasn’t a monster hit at the box office. Fortunately, it is also the best DVD / Blu-ray release of the week and was the only real contender for Pick of the Week.
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January 16th, 2017
The original Death Race 2000 is one of my favorite films of all time. It is campy, B-movie fun with a serious satirical streak to it. The film spawned a remake / prequel in 2008, which in turn spawn two, soon to be three sequels, none of which really captured the essence of the original. However, Death Race 2050 is produced by Roger Corman, so does that mean it will be closer in tone and quality?
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November 15th, 2016
There are several prime releases on this week’s Home Market report. This includes the biggest film of the week, Finding Dory, which was previously named Pick of the Week. I suspect a lot of people reading this have pre-ordered the Blu-ray already. Other contenders for Pick of the Week include Game of Thrones: Season Six and Rush: Time Stands Still on Blu-ray. I’m awarding Pick of the Week to Game of Thrones, while Rush gets Puck of the Week, for best Canadian release.
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July 2nd, 2013
It is a terrible week for new releases on the home market with nearly nothing worth talking about. It was so bad, I pushed back the column one more day so I could review Todd and The Book Of Pure Evil: Season 2, just so I would have a contender for Pick of the Week. 56 Up is the best new release of the week, but demand will be split between the DVD and the franchise box set.
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November 12th, 2012
Vamps was written and directed by Amy Heckerling and stars Alicia Silverstone. The pair previously worked together on Clueless, which is arguably the highlight of the careers of both women. This film won't be as big as Clueless was in theaters (although bizarrely, it did better in its second weekend than its first). But will it find an audience on the home market?
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October 1st, 2012
2012 continues its downward path. After a record-breaking spring, thanks to The Hunger Games, and a record-breaking start to the summer, thanks to The Avengers, the box office hasn't been able to maintain any real momentum. For most of the month, September was no better than August and now the year-over-year gains are just a little more than inflation. October will need to improve or 2012 will be in real trouble. Unfortunately, that might be tough. There's not a single film coming out in October that looks like it will be a guaranteed $100 million hit and there are only two films with a realistic chance, Taken 2 and Paranormal Activity 4. (There's also Cloud Atlas, which is a wild card. That movie could bomb or be the biggest hit of the month and I wouldn't be surprised either way.) There is a chance all three will get to the century mark, but there's a better chance none of them will. Last October, two films cracked $100 million: Paranormal Activity 3 and Puss in Boots, with the latter nearly reaching $150 million. I don't see any film coming close to matching that figure. On the other hand, last year there were six films that one could accurately describe as bombs. So while 2012 is weaker at the top, it could have better depth than 2011 did. Let's hope so, because we can't afford more bad news.
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