February 26th, 2012
It's Oscars night. (Actually, it's 3:43 in the morning as I'm typing this, but I thought I would get a jump on the celebration.) As I do every year, I will follow the announcements live and update our list of Oscar winners. However, this year I will be doing it a little differently and the list of nominees below will include the favorites as picked by our readers in Italics and as picked by me in Bold. So you can watch live and tell when I'm out of the running for our Oscar contest. (I figure it will take at least 17 wins out of 24 to come out on top. Maybe even 18 or 19 wins.) So, will The Artist be the big winner tonight as our readers predict? Or will Hugo score the upset? Stay tuned to fine out.
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February 26th, 2012
While the Independent Spirit Award unofficially kick off Awards Season with their nominations, they are one of the last to hand out their actual awards, which they did on Saturday. As it has most of the time, The Artist led the way by earning four wins out of the five categories it was nominated it. So which one did it lose? And what were the other winners?
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February 15th, 2012
With our annual Oscar Prediction contest underway, now is the best time to look at the nominees and try and figure out who the favorites are and which films should just feel honored to be nominated. This week we will look at the four acting categories, and up next is Best Supporting Actor. This category is only slightly more competitive than Best Supporting Actress with almost all the evidence pointing to one winner.
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January 29th, 2012
The SAG awards were announced on Sunday night, and there were a couple surprises among the theatrical categories. Arguably the biggest surprise of the night was the overall strength of The Help, which earned three wins and it was the only film to win more than once. As for the rest of the winners...
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January 24th, 2012
Yesterday was one of the biggest days during Awards Season as The Oscar nominations were announced in the morning. It was a two horse race for top spot as far as the big winners are concerned. Hugo earned the most nominations with eleven, while The Artist was right behind with ten. However, one could argue The Artist is the bigger winner, as more of its nominations were in the more prestigious categories.
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January 16th, 2012
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association handed out the Golden Globes last night, and after an Awards Season most notable for the lack of surprises, there were not a lot of surprises either. In fact, the biggest storyline of the night was how many different movies earned wins. The Artist led the way with just three, while The Descendents was the only other film to win more than once.
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December 16th, 2011
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced their nominations and the Awards Season picture started to look a whole lot clearer. The Artist led the way with six nominations, while The Descendents and The Help were right behind with five apiece.
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December 15th, 2011
The SAG nominations were handed out this week, and while The Help led the way with four nods, it wasn't the only film that earned multiple nominations.
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November 30th, 2011
As it does every year, Independent Spirit Award nominations kick off the unofficial start of Awards Season. This year there were two films that topped the list of nominations: The Artist and Take Shelter. Both of those films earned five nominations, but they weren't the only films to be singled out.
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November 16th, 2011
It's a really soft week for releases. Granted, Harry Potter came out last week and it is likely still going to be selling quite well this week. But the best release of Tuesday, at least according to Amazon.com, is Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides on DVD. Normally this would be a huge release, but it came out on Blu-ray weeks ago. The same is true of the second best selling release, The Lion King. The most of the next several best selling releases are Blu-ray catalog titles. Granted, many are worth picking up, but it could still be a really slow week in terms of overall sales. That doesn't mean it is a slow week in terms of high quality releases. West Side Story is coming out on Blu-ray, My Fair Lady is also making its Blu-ray debut. There are several more catalogue titles getting a Blu-ray double-dip, like Evil Dead II: 25th Anniversary Edition, or the latest Blu-ray for Metropolis. TV on DVD is well represented with Farscape: The Complete Series (Blu-ray), Being Human: Season One on Blu-ray, and Awkward: Season One. Beginners on Blu-ray is also a Contender for Pick of the Week, as is Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume One: Blu-ray Ultimate Collector's Edition. In the end I went with Evil Dead II: 25th Anniversary Edition. It is a double-dip, but there are major improvements over the previous release, plus it is a bargain price at just $11, and given the number of prime releases coming out this week, a bargain price is certainly welcome.
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August 3rd, 2011
Miranda July's second film, The Future, opened about as well as her first film, Me and You and Everyone We Know, did. It earned $27,137 in its lone theater, which was enough for top spot on the per theater chart and suggests a strong potential for expansion. The Devil's Double and The Guard were in a virtual tie with averages of $19,283 and $19,209 respectively. Attack the Block was one of the wider limited releases of the week, and it had the biggest opening in terms of raw dollars. Furthermore, its average of $17,198 suggest potential to expand. El Bulli: Cooking in Progress opened in one theater earning $12,756 over the weekend and $20,699 since Wednesday. Sarah's Key expanded from 5 theaters to 33, but still managed a very strong per theater average of $11,112. The final film to cross the $10,000 per theater average was The Smurfs at $10,489.
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July 26th, 2011
Sarah's Key found its way to the top of the per theater chart with $23,142 in five theaters. Another Earth was also a strong performer earning an average of $19,435 in four theaters. Captain America: The First Avenger led the way on the overall chart and earned an average of $17,512 on the per theater chart. Last week's winner, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallow, Part 2, fell to fourth place with $10,839.
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July 12th, 2011
Beats, Rhymes, and Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest opened in first place on the per theater chart with an average of $27,996 in four theaters, which was the best per theater average in more than a month. Sholem Aleichem: Laughing in the Darkness was relatively close behind with $20,247 in its lone theater. Transformers: Dark of the Moon was the only holdover to reach $10,000 on the per theater chart with an average of $11,469.
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July 6th, 2011
There were only two films in the $10,000 club with Transformers: Dark of the Moon easily outperforming Terri $23,937 to $10,851. For the former, that was enough to break records over Independence Day. For the latter it's probably not enough to suggest significant expansion, but it might stick around longer than most limited releases.
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June 29th, 2011
Not only did Cars 2 win the overall box office race, but it also won the race on the per theater chart with an average of $16,072. A Better Life and PASSIONE: A Musical Adventure were right behind with $15,522 and $15,377 respectively. The final film in the $10,000 club was Bad Teacher, which was a surprise entrant with $10,365.
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June 14th, 2011
The Tree of Life remained in top spot on the per theater chart with an average of $17,596 in 47 theaters. It will clearly expand further, and it is safe to say it has already earned some measure of mainstream success. The Trip opened well with an average of $12,984 in six theaters. It did earn great reviews, so it might last a long time in theaters. On the other hand, I think its target audience is too narrow to expand significantly. Beginners was in a virtual tie with an average of $12,793. It will start hitting milestones soon. Super 8 opened with an average of $10,492 while in saturation level theater count.
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June 12th, 2011
As someone on Twitter put it this morning, Super 8's $37 million opening takes E.T.'s lifetime gross to $472 million.
The robust opening for J.J. Abrams homage to Steven Spielberg will satisfy Paramount, especially with the heart of the Summer season ahead of it, good reviews and great word-of-mouth. $100 million should be easily achieved from this beginning, and even better numbers aren't out of the question. For a film that reportedly cost $50 million, that's not bad going.
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June 7th, 2011
The Tree of Life held onto top spot on the per theater chart with an average of $30,915 in 20 theaters. It will undoubtedly expand further. Beginners was right behind with an average of $28,268 in five theaters. Midnight in Paris continues to shine with an average of $18,843 in 147 theaters. It has a planned semi-wide expansion this weekend, so this is very likely the last time it will top $10,000 on the per theater chart, but it will continue to hit milestones. X-Men: First Class earned first place on the overall box office chart and fourth place on the per theater chart with $15,134. Submarine managed to top $10,000 on the per theater chart, but it was close with and average of $10,458 in four theaters.
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June 5th, 2011
2011 continued its winning streak at the box office this weekend, with five films topping $10 million and X-Men: First Class posting a very respectable $56 million opening, according to Fox's Sunday estimate. With the studio setting expectations a little lower than that, they can claim an excellent weekend. And they do have a point, but the truth is that this is the worst opening for a movie in the franchise since the first movie arrived in 2000 (and the latest film's estimate is only ahead by a couple of million dollars, so it might not even beat that mark). Excellent reviews and peak Summer business should help the film over the next few weeks, but it can't afford a 60% decline next weekend.
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June 3rd, 2011
For the past two weeks in a row we've seen one limited release just dominate the market by earning close to $100,000 on the per theater chart. Will that happen again this week? The odds are really stacked against it; it would be like a wide release opening with $100 million three weeks in a row. But if it does happen, Submarine is the film most likely to manage that feat. However, there are a few other limited releases worth keeping your eyes on.
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