Home Market Releases for August 28th, 2018

August 29th, 2018

It is a very busy week with a flood of TV on DVD releases. Because of that, each entry has to be a little shorter than usual, especially the TV on DVD releases. There are some titles that are worth more attention, like American Animals, Bound, RBG, and others. It was a close race for Pick of the Week, but in the end I went with Bound on Blu-ray. More...

Weekend Wrap-Up: Box Office Is Far from Wonderful

June 4th, 2018

The overall weekend went about as well as expected. Unfortunately, that’s not good news. Solo: A Star Wars Story fell about as much as the average sophomore blockbuster film falls during a post-holiday weekend, earning first place with $29.40 million, while Deadpool 2 was the only other film to earn more than $20 million, landing in second with $23.18 million. The biggest new release of the week was Adrift with $11.60 million. The overall box office fell 42% from last weekend to just $106 million. To put this into perspective, this weekend last year, Wonder Woman opened with $103 million. That one movie made almost as much as the entire box office made this year. The year-over-year decline was 43%. Fortunately, 2018 is still ahead of 2017 by a sizable amount at 6.8% or $310 million at $4.94 billion to $4.63 billion and in a couple of weeks, 2018 should start winning again in the year-over-year comparison. More...

Weekend Estimates: Solo and Deadpool put New Releases In their Place

June 3rd, 2018

We predicted Solo: A Star Wars Story would earn about $30 million during its second weekend of release and it earned $29.3 million over the weekend. I’m calling that a victory. It did fall 65%, but this is a standard decline for a tentpole release after a holiday weekend. The film has $148.89 million after 10 days of release and is on pace to top $200 million domestically. Internationally it has $115.3 million, including $30.3 million this past weekend. It doesn’t open in Japan until the end of June, but once it does, it should reach $400 million worldwide. Had the film not needed extensive reshoots, this would have been enough to break even, eventually. More...

Weekend Predictions: Solo Will Have No Trouble Setting the New Releases Adrift

May 31st, 2018

While there are three wide releases coming out this week, Solo: A Star Wars Story should have no trouble remaining in top spot. In fact, Adrift is the only wide release that has a better than 50/50 shot at $10 million over the weekend. Action Point may or may not reach the top five. Meanwhile, there are some who think Upgrade will miss the Mendoza Line. This weekend last year, Wonder Woman opened with more than $100 million. The top ten won’t get there this year. 2018 is going to get crushed in the year-over-year competition. More...

Weekend Wrap-Up: Solo’s $100 million Opening still a Disappointment

May 30th, 2018

Memorial Day long weekend is off its peak and its been a while since it was breaking records regularly. (Half of the top ten three-day and four-day records are a decade old or older.) That didn’t change this year, as Solo: A Star Wars Story missed expectations with $84.42 million / $103.02 million during its opening weekend. You can’t even claim it missed expectations because Deadpool 2 stole its thunder, as that film also fell faster than anticipated. Overall, the box office fell 13% from last weekend down to $182 million. This is still 29% higher than the same three-day weekend last year. If you include Monday, the weekend pulled in $226 million, which is about 27% higher than last year. Year-to-date, 2018 has a 8.3% / $370 million lead over 2017 at $4.79 billion to $4.42 billion. That lead will shrink in the next couple of weeks, but overall, 2018 is looking really healthy. More...

Weekend Estimates: Solo Opens Lower than Expected with $101 million, Still Dominates Competition

May 27th, 2018

Solo: A Star Wars Story opened with an estimated $83 million / $101 million over the three-day / four-day weekend. It had the best Memorial Day long weekend since 2014, when X-Men: Days of Future Past opened with $111 million over four days. In fact, this result is the fourth best Memorial Day long weekend opening in the past decade. That said, it was much lower than expected and some are calling it a box office failure. That’s complicated. The film was originally going to cost $150 million to make, making it the cheapest installment in the new Star Wars franchise. However, they reportedly had to reshoot 70% of the movie, which lifted the price to $250 million. The box office needed to break even during the film’s initial push into the home market rose from about $500 million to $650 million. And with an initial international debut of $65.0 million in 54 markets, this film is just not going to get there. The unending talk of behind-the-scenes trouble seems to have hurt the film’s box office chances and even its good reviews and its A minus from CinemaScore won’t be enough to turn things around. That said, it is far from a complete disaster and the franchise will continue, although it might be wise for Disney to not release so many installments in the franchise so quickly. Three in 18 months is a bit too much. This isn’t the MCU. More...

Weekend Predictions: Will the Latest Star Wars Release Open Solo or So High?

May 24th, 2018

Memorial Day long weekend is usually a great weekend to open a big release. However, this year, Solo: A Star Wars Story is the wide release of the weekend. It will obviously open in first place, but how will it compare to the recent releases in the Star Wars franchise? Deadpool 2 will have no trouble earning second place and could by the end of the weekend be in the black. (It depends heavily on how much it cost to advertise, but I think its combined budget is around $200 million.) The only other film expected to make a dent at the box office is Avengers: Infinity War, which has already earned $600 million domestically. This weekend last year, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales opened in first place with $62.98 million / $78.48 million. There are some who think Solo will double that. I’m not that bullish, but I do think Solo will lead 2018 to an easy win in the year-over-year competition. More...

Weekend Wrap-Up: Deadpool Dominates Box Office, But Can’t Compete with Original

May 22nd, 2018

Deadpool 2 didn’t live up to expectations at the box office, but you can’t really complain about a $125.51 million opening weekend. The other new releases were Book Club, which did acceptable business, while the less said about Show Dogs’ debut the better. Overall, the box office rose 51% from last weekend earning $209 million. This is 69% higher than the same weekend last year. Year-to-date, 2018 is now ahead of 2017 by a margin of $290 million or 7.0% at $4.49 billion to $4.20 billion. Because Infinity War opened a week earlier than usual, it has been hard to compare the overall box office, but now it is safe to say 2018 has a sizable lead over 2017, one that should grow next weekend as well. More...

Weekend Estimates: Deadpool Has Surprisingly Short Legs, Still Dominates with $125 million

May 20th, 2018

Deadpool 2 broke records during its previews and stumbled a little on Friday, before finishing the weekend with an estimated $125 million. That’s still a fantastic result, more than the $110 million it reportedly cost to make, and more than the total box office earned this weekend last year. That said, it is way below the $150 million many thought it would earn after the preview numbers were announced. This isn’t as good as Deadpool’s opening weekend; however, that film benefited from Valentine’s day landing on Sunday, while this film will get some help next weekend, as it is Memorial Day long weekend. Furthermore, both films earned nearly identical reviews and both films earned an A from CinemaScore, so this film's legs should be decent. We will have a better idea where it will end up next weekend. More...

Friday Estimates: Deadpool Stumbles a Bit, but Still Earns $53.3 million

May 19th, 2018

Deadpool 2 dominated the box office chart on Friday earning $53.3 million. However this is weaker than expected after it broke the record for previews by an R-rated film. After the film crushed that record, it looked like it would earn $150 million during its opening weekend. However, after earning $53.3 million on Friday, it looks like it won’t even match the original Deadpool’s opening weekend haul of $132.43 million. Granted, it should be close with $132 million and this is still a fantastic start, but it could be a bad omen for its legs. On the other hand, the film’s reviews are more than 80% positive and it earned a solid A from CinemaScore. We won’t know if the reviews and word-of-mouth will overtake the Fanboy Effect until the weekend estimates arrive tomorrow helping the film top its predecessor, but it is usually safe to bet on the Fanboy Effect. More...

Thursday Night Previews: The R in R-Rated Stands for Record

May 18th, 2018

Deadpool 2 got off to a record-breaking start on Thursday earning $18.6 million during its previews. This is the best previews for an R-rated film, topping It’s previous record of $13.5 million by a truly massive margin. The film’s reviews are excellent for a blockbuster and the film is now on track for $150 million, which was the very high end of expectations. More...

Weekend Predictions: Can Deadpool Come Back to Life?

May 17th, 2018

May gets its first monster hit, as Deadpool 2 debuts in theaters this weekend. The film is earning impressive reviews and was widely expected to top the original's opening weekend. Neither of the two other new releases are expected to compete for first place, or even second place, as Avengers: Infinity War has that locked down. Book Club should open in third place with more than $10 million, but that’s not a guarantee. Meanwhile, Show Dogs’ buzz is so quiet that I’m have trouble coming up with a prediction. This weekend last year, Alien: Covenant opened in first place, but with only $36.16 million. If Deadpool 2 doesn’t top that opening night, then I will be shocked. In fact, Deadpool 2 should earn more by itself than the total box office from this weekend last year. More...

2018 Preview: May

May 1st, 2018

April was all about Avengers: Infinity War, which earned about as much during its opening weekend as the next two biggest films, A Quiet Place and Rampage, will earn in total. However, moving Infinity War to April has left a big gap for the first two weeks of May. It isn’t until Deadpool 2 debuts that we have a potential $100 million movie, while the week after Solo: A Star Wars Story closes the month on a strong note. Fortunately, both of those films are expected to earn more than $100 million during their opening weekends alone and combined could earn over $700 million domestically. Last May, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 helped the month get off to a fast start, but it was the only monster hit of the month. Infinity War opening a week early will mean the month will start slower, in terms of new releases, but Infinity War’s record-breaking debut should help 2018 come out ahead in the end. More...