2018 - Holiday Gift Guide - Part I - First-Run Releases and Franchise Box Sets

November 19th, 2018

It's Thanksgiving weekend, which means Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and of course the first installment of our Holiday Gift Guide. This week we will tackle first run releases and franchise box sets as well. Unfortunately, 2018 has not been a good year for blockbusters for any studio not named Disney. In order to be on this list, a film has to be a major release, earn critical praise, and be on out DVD / Blu-ray and that’s a really short list this year. For example, Universal is the second best studio this year in terms of total domestic box office, but they’ve only released one film that has earned $100 million and overwhelmingly positive reviews. That film, Halloween doesn’t come out on DVD / Blu-ray till January. Most of the rest of the big six are lucky to have more than one entry on this week’s list. More...

2017 - Holiday Gift Guide - Part I - First-Run Releases and Franchise Box Sets

November 23rd, 2017

It's Thanksgiving weekend, which means Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and of course the first installment of our Holiday Gift Guide. This week we will tackle first run releases, and normally franchise box sets as well, but this year none jump out as essential additions to the Holiday Gift guide. Worse still, 2017 has been awful at the box office with potential blockbuster after potential blockbuster getting savaged by critics and struggling at the box office. Additionally, some of the biggest and some of the best have been on the home market for nearly half a year, meaning nearly everyone who would want them, already own them. That doesn’t mean there are no films worth adding to this list, but the list is a little shorter than usual. On a side note, two of the films on this year’s list are from the MCU and it would have been three, but Thor: Ragnarok is still in theaters. If you know someone who loves the MCU, but has all of the movies, then check out this site, which has some more unique gift ideas. I specifically like the Spider-man Drone. More...

2016 - Awards Season: WGA - Nominations

January 4th, 2017

The Writers Guild of America is the latest group nominees to be announced. There are a lot of categories that WGA hand out awards, but only three of them are theatrical releases. The list of nominees include several major Awards Season players, like Hidden Figures, but there are also some surprises. More...

2016 - Awards Season: SAG - Nominations

December 14th, 2016

The Screen Actors Guild were the third group to announce their nominations for this awards season. So far there have been three different films earning the most nominations. This could mean the Oscar race will be a lot closer than in past years. This time around Manchester by the Sea led the way with four nominations. More...

2016 - Holiday Gift Guide - Part I - First-Run Releases and Franchise Box Sets

November 22nd, 2016

It’s Thanksgiving weekend, which means Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and of course the first installment of our Holiday Gift Guide. This week we will tackle first run releases, as well as franchise box sets, although there aren’t many of the latter to talk about. In fact, the best movie box set of the year includes more TV shows than movies in its running time and I’ve decided to include it in our second part, which deals with TV on DVD releases. There are still a number of big first-run releases this year that are definitely worthy gifts. We are going to start with the biggest domestic hit of the year... More...

Featured Blu-ray and DVD Review: Bad Moms

November 1st, 2016

STX Entertainment has been around for only about a year and during that time they haven’t had lot of box office success. Bad Moms changed that becoming the first film of theirs to reach the century mark. Did it deserve this success? Was it one of the funniest films of the summer? More...

Home Market Releases for September 27th, 2016

September 27th, 2016

It is a pretty good week on the home market with a few releases worth picking up. The biggest of these is Central Intelligence, but while it is worth picking up, it isn’t a contender for Pick of the Week. There are some smaller releases that were up for that title, including The Shallows, An American Werewolf in London and The Innocents. However, in the end, I went with Captain America: Civil War. The Blu-ray screener arrived late, and I held off on naming it Pick of the Week when it came out for that very reason. More...

Featured Blu-ray and DVD Review: Captain America: Civil War

September 25th, 2016

Captain America: Civil War is the 13th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That’s 13 films in just 8 years. The film pulled in more than $1 billion worldwide, so the market isn’t tired of these movies. However, has the brisk pace resulted in a substandard film? Or is it yet another critical smash? More...

Home Market Releases for September 13th, 2016

September 12th, 2016

This week, the biggest hit of the year so far, Captain America: Civil War, comes out. It is also one of the best and the Blu-ray is a contender for Pick of the Week. Unfortunately, the screener is late and I don’t like awarding Pick of the Week to a release where I’m still waiting on the Blu-ray. The rest of the contenders are smaller films, including The Bloodstained Butterfly, which arrived late. Part of me wants to give the title to The Transformers: The Movie, but while I plan to buy the Blu-ray, I understand that Nostalgia has a lot to with that. ... Oh what the hell, doing it. The Transformers: The Movie is the Pick of the Week. More...

Weekend Predictions: Will Star Trek go Above and Beyond the Competition?

July 21st, 2016

Star Trek Beyond leads a pack of three wide releases this weekend and there are some who think it will have the best live-action release since Captain America: Civil War. That would be great news for the overall box office. Ice Age: Collision Course has to deal with direct competition and terrible reviews, but it should still do relatively well thanks to goodwill its franchise has built up. The final new release of the week is Lights Out. This low-budget horror film won’t need to earn $20 million over the weekend to break even, but there’s a slim chance it will. In fact, The Secret Life of Pets should easily add another $20 million to its running tally, and Ghostbusters has a good shot at doing the same. So we could have five films earning $20 million over the weekend for the first time in a year. We should have three films earning more than $25 million. Meanwhile this weekend last year, there were no films that earned more than $25 million. Hopefully 2016 will win the year-over-year competition with ease. More...

Theater Averages: Café Tops Yearly Chart with an Average of $71,858

July 19th, 2016

Café Society earned first place on the theater average chart with an average of $71,858 in five theaters over the weekend. This is not only the best of the weekend, it is the best of the year so far, topping the previous champ, Captain America: Civil War, which had an average of $42,390 during its opening weekend. Second place went to Hillary’s America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party with an average of $24,938; however, while this is a great result for a documentary, digging just a little into the film’s numbers reveals major weaknesses. The film fell 50% from Friday to Saturday. That’s devastating. We will see if this is an anomaly or a portent when we get this coming weekend’s results. Ghostbusters and The Secret Life of Pets were neck-and-neck with averages of $11,612 and $11,604 respectively. More...

Friday Estimates: Ghosts Have Lively Debut with $17.2 million

July 16th, 2016

Ghostbusters topped the box office chart on Friday with $17.2 million. This is the best opening day for the director, Paul Feig, topping his previous champ, The Heat by 25%. If this film has the same internal multiplier as The Heat, then it will earn $49 million over the weekend. This seems a little high, but not out of the question. Ghostbusters’ reviews are better than The Heat’s reviews were, although both films earned B+ from CinemaScore surveys. On the other hand, Ghostbusters is a remake, so that tends to make the movie more front-loaded. Look for an opening weekend of $45 million. This is right on the edge between financial success and failure. The film will need help internationally in order to break even, but it is way too soon to know if that will happen. More...

Weekend Estimates: Pets Has Best Start for an Animated Franchise

July 10th, 2016

The Secret Life of Pets is storming to a massive opening weekend at the box office, with Universal projecting a $103.2 million debut for the Illumination Entertainment animated film. That’s just shy of the $115.7 million made by Minions this weekend last year, and the best opening ever by a non-sequel or spin-off animated film. This performance is particularly significant for Illumination, because it’s their first blockbuster from outside the Despicable Me universe. More...

Friday Estimates: 38 Million Know Secrets while Mike and Dave go Stag

July 9th, 2016

The Secret Life of Pets had an amazing Friday, earning $38.33 million. This is nowhere near Finding Dory’s $54.7 million opening day, but it’s still very impressive. Unfortunately, for The Secret Life of Pets, its internal multiple likely won’t be as large. Its reviews have settled at 76%, while it earned an A- from CinemaScore and both of these results are lower than Finding Dory earned. Then again, an A- CinemaScore is still a good result, especially since there have been only three films to earn an A from audiences so far this year. (Finding Dory is one of them, Captain America: Civil War and Me Before You were the other two.) I’m increasing our prediction from $72 million to $88 million, which does mean $300 million domestically is now a reasonable final target. More...

Weekend Predictions: Secret Hopes to be Exposed to Audiences

July 7th, 2016

It should be a good weekend at the box office, at least for The Secret Life of Pets. The film is earning great reviews and should become the biggest hit of the month. There is one downside: the competition. There are a lot of options for families among the films currently in theaters, plus another movie from a long-running franchise opening soon. Also opening this week is Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates, which is an R-rated comedy hoping to survive in the counter-programming role. It could become a midlevel hit, or it could fail to open in the top five. This weekend last year, Minions opened with $115.72 million. The Secret Life of Pets is not going to top that. 2016 has better depth, but likely not by enough to win in the year-over-year comparison. More...

Weekend Estimates: Dory wins 3-Horse July 4 Race

July 3rd, 2016

Three new movies entered the race for box office glory this July 4 weekend. One, The BFG, fell at the first hurdle. One of the other two, The Legend of Tarzan is disappointing, but not disastrous. The third, The Purge: Election Year, won the night on Friday and is headed to a great debut. But, in the end, none were a match for the third weekend of Finding Dory. More...

Weekend Wrap-Up: Dory Dominates with $135.06 Million, Central is Solid with $35.54 Million

June 21st, 2016

In our prediction column, I said I wanted the top two films to earn a combined total of $150 million to $170 million. Finding Dory's and Central Intelligence's combined opening weekend was $170.60 million. The overall box office was 53% higher than last weekend at $233 million. However, this was still 6.3% lower than the same weekend last year. Finding Dory did do better than either Jurassic World or Inside Out individually, but couldn't compete with their combined totals. 2016 is still ahead of 2015, but its lead was cut by a third at $150 million or 3.1%. That said, 2016 hit $5 billion a week faster than 2015 did and its lead of $5.06 billion to $4.91 billion is still substantial. More...

Weekend Predictions: Will Audience Find Dory? Is Seeing Central Intelligence the Smart Thing to do?

June 16th, 2016

This weekend should be the best weekend in June, led by Finding Dory. Finding Dory should easily be the biggest hit of the month, one of the biggest hits of the year, and the fastest opening film in Pixar's history. On the other hand, Central Intelligence is just hoping for a solid second place opening in its role as counter-programming. If it hits $30 million, then the studio will be very happy. This weekend last year, Jurassic World led the way with $106.59 million, while Inside Out opened in second place with $90.44 million. 2016 is going to lose more ground to 2015. I just hope they keep it close. I will be happy if Finding Dory and Central Intelligence earned a combined $150 million to $170 million. More...

Weekend Predictions: Will the New Releases Scare the Industry?

June 9th, 2016

If this weekend is as bad as some fear it will be, it could begin to cause a panic among some studio executives. Two of the three wide releases are sequels and there are some who expect both to fail to match their predecessors by significant margins. If this happens, we will have six sequels failing to match expectations during a four-week stretch. Worse still, there are more than six additional sequels left to open before the end of summer. (Finding Dory seems safe, but the rest could flop as well.) The Conjuring 2: The Enfield Poltergeist should come out on top at the box office, but with less than the original made. Now You See Me 2 will likely continue Lionsgate's losing streak. Meanwhile, Warcraft could do well enough in China to justify a sequel, which is great news, because it will likely bomb here. This weekend last year, Jurassic World opened with $208 million. There's no way the entire box office will make that much this year. 2016 is going to get pummeled in the year-over-year comparison. More...

International Box Office: Alice is Looking Up

June 2nd, 2016

Alice Through the Looking Glass opened in first place on the international chart with $65.0 million in 43 markets for a worldwide opening of $91.9 million, not including holiday Monday. The film's biggest opening was in China, where it made $26.88 million. It also did well in Mexico opening in first place with $4.85 million. On the other hand, it had mediocre openings in Russia (second place with $3.95 million on 1,199 screens), in the U.K. (second place with $3.33 million in 603 theaters) and in Australia (first place with $2.18 million on 503 screens). Those three openings were similar to a $20 million opening here, more or less. If the film can get to $300 million to $350 million worldwide, then it will have a shot at breaking even, eventually. It opens in France this week, Japan next month, and closes its international run in South Korea in September. It will be a while before we will know where it ends. More...

Weekend Wrap-Up: X-Men has Okay Opening with $79.81 million, Alice suffers Apocalyptic Opening

May 31st, 2016

Last Memorial Day was bad with Tomorrowland leading the way with $33.03 million / $42.68 million. This year things were a bit better, with X-Men: Apocalypse earning $65.77 million / $79.81 million. Again, this is okay, but not outstanding. It's record-breaking compared to Alice Through the Looking Glass, which took in $26.86 million / $33.51 million. It's Disney's first bomb of the year. Don't feel bad for them, as they also set the record for fastest to $4 Billion Worldwide over the weekend. Overall, the box office was at $164 million, which was 20% better than last weekend and 18% better than last year. Including Monday, the box office pulled in $205 million, which was 6.3% more than last Memorial day. Year-to-date, 2016 has earned $4.39 billion, which is 5.4% or $220 million more than last year's figure of $4.16 billion. (This does include Monday of last year, because of the misalignment of holiday. This is the last misaligned holiday till Labor Day.) More...

Friday Estimates: Apocalypse Okay with $26.4 million

May 28th, 2016

Memorial Day long weekend got off to an okay start on Friday with X-Men: Apocalypse dominating the chart. It pulled in $26.4 million. Two years ago, Days of Future Past opened with $35.51 million on its opening day. If the two films have the same internal multiplier, then Apocalypse will have a four-day haul of $82 million. This film’s reviews will make that number unlikely, but its CinemaScore is an A-, so a complete collapse is also unlikely. Look for an opening weekend of just under $80 million. This won't be enough to get to $200 million domestically, but it is enough to break even early in its home market run. More...

Thursday Night Previews: Apocalypse gives a Glimpse of the Future with $8.2 million

May 27th, 2016

X-Men: Apocalypse started off the Memorial Day long weekend with $8.2 million in 3,565 theaters during its Thursday previews. This is well back from Captain America: Civil War or Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, both of which earned more than $25 million. However, it is better than Days of Future Past, which earned $8.1 million, so there's a chance it will cracked $100 million over the four-day weekend. I think the reviews will be a major hindrance in that goal, unless fans like it a whole lot more than critics did. This time tomorrow, we will have the opening day numbers, as well as its CinemaScore, so we will have a better grasp on its opening weekend run. More...

Weekend Predictions: Apocalypse vs. Alice

May 26th, 2016

It's Memorial Day long weekend and there are two wide releases trying to take advantage of the holidays. X-Men: Apocalypse is the latest installment in the X-Men franchise, but it is earning among the worst reviews. Alice Through the Looking Glass is the sequel to Alice in Wonderland, which was a surprise $1 billion hit back in 2010. Neither film is expected to live up to its predecessor, but both are expected to be hits. This weekend last year, San Andreas opened with $54.59 million over three days. Apocalypse will top that over three days, while it might take Alice four days to get there. More...

International Box Office: Apocalypse Leaves World Intact with $103.2 million

May 25th, 2016

X-Men: Apocalypse started its international run in first place with $103.2 million. At first glance, that's a good start. On the other hand, the film is playing in 75 markets, so it doesn't have a lot of markets left to open in. Back to the original hand, one of the markets it has yet to open in is China. The film's biggest single market was the U.K., where it opened in first place with $10.99 million in 598 theaters. This is nearly 30% less than Days of Future Past earned and with weaker reviews, it will likely have weaker legs. The movie-to-movie decline was even steeper in Russia, where it was down 38% to $6.41 million on 1,208 screens, and in Australia, where it was down 39% with $4.68 million on 574. On the other hand, it was down a mere 6.4% in Mexico to $8.8 million and actually rose 22% in the Philippines to $4.9 million. If it can get to $600 million worldwide, then the film will break even some time during its home market run. More...

Weekend Wrap-Up: Birds should be Happy with a $38.16 million

May 24th, 2016

While each film in the top five on this weekend's box office chart finished in the right place, none of them matched expectations, save for The Jungle Book, which earned fifth place. The Angry Birds Movie debuted on top of the chart with $38.16 million, which is an okay opening for a family film at this time of year and nothing more. Likewise, Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising struggled compared to its predecessor, but did well compared to its budget. The Nice Guys will need long legs to break even. The overall box office rose 4.5% from last weekend, reaching $137 million, but fell 11% from the same weekend last year. 2016's lead over 2015 shrank to 5.1% or $200 million at $4.14 billion to $3.94 billion. This is a very impressive figure, but might not be enough to keep 2016 in the lead throughout the rest of the year. Jurassic World came out last June and there's little hope any film this June will match it. More...

Weekend Estimates: Angry Birds Win Civil War with $39 Million Debut

May 22nd, 2016

The Angry Birds Movie is performing at the top end of expectations this weekend, and will top the box office chart with a commendable $39 million. While that’s a long way behind the $75.1 million earned by Zootopia on its opening weekend back in March, it’s a very respectable figure, and gives Sony the increasingly-rare bragging rights over Disney this weekend, with Captain America: Civil War dropping to second place with $33.1 million. More...

Weekend Predictions: Will Angry have a Reason to Blow Up?

May 19th, 2016

There are three wide releases coming out this week, all of which are aimed at different target audiences. The Angry Birds Movie is aimed at families and will likely be the biggest hit of the weekend. Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising is an R-rated comedy that is hoping to avoid a Horrible Bosses 2 drop-off. Finally there's The Nice Guys, which is aiming for counter-programming success. If it tops $15 million over the weekend, it will be seen as a success. Captain America: Civil War will still be in the mix and could earn the threepeat, but could also fall to third place. This weekend last year, all five films in the top five earned at least $20 million. That won't happen this year. 2016 will lose, but it won't be a disaster in the year-over-year comparison. More...

International Box Office: Billion Dollars Loom Large for Civil War with Weekend Haul of $84.2 million

May 18th, 2016

Captain America: Civil War remained in top spot as it races towards $1 billion worldwide. Over the weekend, it added $84.2 million in 55 markets lifting its international total to $645.0 million, while its worldwide total hit $941.0 million. The film had no new openings this past weekend, but it pulled in $31.87 million in China for a total of $155.95 million after 11 days in that market. The film will top $1 billion by Friday, at the latest. More...

Theater Averages: The Lobster has Tasty Opening of $47,563

May 17th, 2016

The Lobster had the best theater average of any film opening in 2016 earning an average of $47,563 in four theaters. It beat the previous record set by Captain America: Civil War, a record that lasted all of one week. The second best theater average of the week was pulled in by Love and Friendship with an average of $33,378, also in four theaters. Captain America: Civil War remained in the $10,000 club with an average of $17,188. The final film in the $10,000 club was Jimmy Vestvood: Amerikan Hero, which managed $15,215 in 4 theaters. More...

Weekend Wrap-Up: Civil War Dominates, buy Money Monster has Moderate Debut

May 17th, 2016

The weekend box office was weaker than predicted at the top, but stronger in the second and third spots. Captain America: Civil War led the way with $72.64 million. This was lower than expected, but still more than the rest of the films combined earned. Money Monster was better than expected with $14.79 million. Overall, the box office was down 45% from last weekend to $130 million, while it was down 29% from this weekend last year. 2016 is still ahead of 2015 by a massive $230 million or 6.2% at $3.97 billion to $3.73 billion. I was worried 2016 and 2015 would be in a virtual tie by now, so this is great news. More...

Weekend Estimates: Disney still dominant, but Money Monster solid on debut

May 15th, 2016

After recording the 5th-biggest opening weekend of all time last weekend, Captain America: Civil War will decline 59% this time around to $72.56 million, according to Disney’s Sunday projection. If that number holds, it will put Civil War 8th on the list of best second weekends, almost exactly tied with Iron Man 3. That comparative slip in the rankings isn’t of huge consequence, given that the film will sail past $300 million domestically on either Monday or Tuesday, and has already racked up $645 million worldwide, putting it on the brink of $1 billion worldwide a little over two weeks after its international rollout. The Marvel juggernaut continues to roll on. More...

Friday Estimates: Civil War Falling Fast, But Monster Makes Good Money

May 14th, 2016

As expected, Captain America: Civil War dominated the box office chart on Friday, earning $19.44 million. However, this is down 74% from its opening Friday, which is a sharper-than-expected drop. It will bounce back over the weekend to earn $70 million, but that’s a loss of over $100 million from its opening weekend. It is also not enough to get it to $300 million this weekend. It will get there on Monday, on the other hand. Again, I must emphasize that this is only bad when compared to monstrous expectations. Its sophomore decline will be about 60%, which is in line with Age of Ultron. Additionally, Civil War is already the biggest hit for the Captain America franchise at the worldwide box office and will be the first of the three films to reach the $1 billion mark. There’s no reason to be upset at its box office run so far. More...

Weekend Predictions: Civil War will Win Weekend, but will New Releases Earn any Money?

May 12th, 2016

There's not much mystery over what movie will come out on top of the box office this weekend. Captain America: Civil War will repeat as champion, as neither Money Monster nor The Darkness are expected to be box office hits. In fact, both of them combined will earn less in total than Civil War will make over the weekend. Unfortunately, this weekend last year had a one-two punch with Pitch Perfect 2 and Mad Max: Fury Road. Civil War will beat those two individually, but 2015's depth is going to be really hard to top. Fortunately, 2016 has such a lead so far that it can weather this storm. More...

International Box Office: Civil War's Fights its Way to Profitability with $220.0 million

May 11th, 2016

Before Captain America: Civil War came out, it was estimated that the film would need to make more than $600 million worldwide to break even. It did so after just two weeks of release. This weekend, the film earned $220.0 million in 55 markets for totals of $496.6 million internationally and $675.7 million worldwide. The film's biggest market this past weekend was China, where it pulled in $96.07 million, including Thursday's previews. South Korea was the strongest holdover earning $11.75 million on 1,771 screens over the weekend for a two-week total of $52.63 million. At this pace, the film has likely already crossed $700 million worldwide, while $1 billion is an easy target for the weekend. Speaking of billions of dollars, Disney has cracked $3 billion worldwide in record time. The previous record was set last year by Universal. More...

Contest: Boy Oh Boy: Winning Announcement

May 11th, 2016

The winners of our Boy Oh Boy contest were determined and the entrants with the closest predictions for Captain America: Civil War opening weekend were... More...

Theater Averages: Civil War Sets Yearly Mark with $42,390

May 10th, 2016

Captain America: Civil War not only had the best theater average of the weekend, but it also had the best theater average for any film released in 2016. Its average of $42,390 was just ahead of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, while Midnight Special remains the best average for a limited release this year. Other films in the $10,000 club this week include A Bigger Splash, which earned an average of $22,884 in five theaters over the weekend for an average of $27,697 from Wednesday through Sunday. Eva Hesse saw its average rise 8% to $13,816, but it did open on a Wednesday last week, so that likely depressed its weekend numbers last week. Dheepan just made it into the $10,000 club with an average of $10,125 in two theaters. More...

Weekend Wrap-Up: Civil War's Opening Missed Mark, but still Tops Yearly Chart with $179 million

May 10th, 2016

The Curse of Great Expectations hit Captain America: Civil War, as it had a monster opening, but still missed even the low end of expectations at $179.14 million. This is the best opening for any film this year, so Disney should be more than happy with this result. Overall, the box office pulled in $237 million, which is 121% more than last weekend. Granted, it is the official start of summer, so an increase like that is to be expected. More importantly, it is 80% higher than the same weekend last year. Even if you compare this weekend to the start of summer last year, 2016 still comes out ahead, albeit by a much smaller margin of 1.8%. Year-to-date, 2016 padded its lead, which grew to 7.0% at $3.77 billion to $3.53 billion. More...

Weekend Estimates: Civil War Sets New 2016 Benchmark with $181.8 Million Projected Weekend

May 8th, 2016

Another weekend, another triumph at the box office for Disney. After a hattrick of wins for The Jungle Book, the studio’s Captain America: Civil War will top the chart this weekend with a year’s-best $181.8 million, according to the studio’s weekend projection, released on Sunday morning. Our model projects that it will fall just short of $180 million, but either way it will set easily a new best weekend in 2016, beating the $166 million debut of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and record the fifth-best weekend of all time, landing in between The Avengers: Age of Ultron and Iron Man 3. The Marvel Cinematic Universe now claims four of the top six spots on the all-time list. More...

Friday Estimates: Curse of Great Expectations Strikes Civil War

May 7th, 2016

Friday’s estimates are in and Captain America: Civil War did amazing business during its opening day. According to Disney, it earned the 8th-biggest single day of all time with $75.25 million. However, to paraphrase Uncle Ben, with great powers comes great expectations and there are some who consider this a disappointment, because the film isn’t living up to the hype. There is some very good news going forward. More...

Thursday Night Previews: Civil War's Explosive Start Doesn't Quite set Preview Records

May 6th, 2016

Summer officially started last night at 7 pm with Captain America: Civil War Thursday previews. The film pulled in $25 million, which is the second best figure for a Marvel Cinematic Universe. The only MCU film to top it was The Avengers: Age of Ultron, which earned $27.6 million last year. On the other hand, Civil War does have better reviews than Age of Ultron earned, so it should have better legs. Likewise, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice earned $27.7 million earlier this year, but its legs were hurt by its reviews. I still think Civil War will earn $200 million, more or less, over the weekend. More...

Limited and VOD Releases: What New Releases will Make a Splash?

May 6th, 2016

Out of all of the new releases this week, A Bigger Splash is the only one earning lots of buzz. Of course, Captain America: Civil War's buzz is so great that it is drowning out all limited releases, which explains why there's not a lot of films on this week's list. More...

Weekend Predictions: Will Civil War have an Unruly Opening?

May 5th, 2016

According to Fandango, Captain America: Civil War has had the best prerelease sales of any comic book film and the second best overall, behind Star Wars: The Force Awakens. It should come as no surprise that no other studio was willing to take a chance and go head-to-head with Civil War. However, it won't be the only film earning tens of millions of dollars this weekend. The Jungle Book will finally relinquish top spot, but I would be shocked if it didn't earn at least $20 million over the weekend. None of the rest of the box office will earn a fraction of that. Due to a misalignment in the calendar, the biggest new release from this weekend last year was Hot Pursuit, while The Avengers: Age of Ultron topped the chart with $77.75 million. Civil War should make more than that opening day. More...

International Box Office: Civil War's Preemptive Strike Nets film $200.2 million

May 4th, 2016

Captain America: Civil War started its international run a week before its domestic run and it was a huge success earning $200.2 million in 37 markets. It broke the all-time opening weekend record in both Mexico ($20.4 million) and Brazil ($12.9 million) as well as the biggest opening weekend of 2016 in France ($9.9 million). However, its biggest market was South Korea, where it earned $20.75 million on 1,990 screens over the weekend for a total opening of $28.39 million. The U.K. could also claim that title with an three-day opening weekend of $21.1 million. The film opens in China this weekend, among other countries, so it should have no trouble remaining in first place on the international chart. More...

Contest: Good Kitty: Winning Announcement

May 3rd, 2016

The winners of our Good Kitty contest were determined and the entrants with the closest predictions for Keanu opening weekend were... More...

Weekend Wrap-Up: The Jungle Book wins Three-peat with $43.71 million

May 3rd, 2016

This past weekend was the weekend before the start of summer, so you knew the wide releases weren't going to be massive hits. However, I was still hoping for more than what we got. Fortunately, The Jungle Book did beat expectations earning first place with $43.71 million. The best of the new releases was Keanu, which only managed third place with $9.45 million. Overall, the box office fell 16% from last weekend to $108 million. The year-over-year comparison is devastating; however, that's because the same weekend last year was the first weekend of May when The Avengers: Age of Ultron debuted. Compared to last year, this weekend's box office was 54% lower. Year-to-date, 2016's lead has shrunk to 5.7% at $3.51 billion to $3.32 billion. Next weekend, 2016 should bounce back when Captain America: Civil War opens. More...

Weekend Estimates: Jungle Book Still Miles Ahead of Competition

May 1st, 2016

It’s another bloodbath at the box office this weekend, with the combined efforts of three new wide releases barely earning half of the third weekend’s gross for The Jungle Book. With Captain America: Civil War also posting over $200 million overseas this weekend, Disney’s reign of terror is just getting started. More...

2016 Preview: May

May 1st, 2016

April started on a soft note and ended weak, but thanks to The Jungle Book, overall the month was actually really good. That's what happens when you get a surprise $300 million hit. This bodes well for May, which is both a slow month and a fantastic month. There are only four weekends and only eight movies coming out, but of those eight films, five have a shot at $100 million. The potential blockbusters are led by Captain America: Civil War, which is not only going to be the biggest hit of the month, but according to a Fandango survey, it is the most anticipated film of the summer. (On a side note, Finding Dory is the most anticipated family film of the summer and Ghostbusters is the most anticipated comedy of the summer. I was surprised by the last result.) Both Alice Through the Looking Glass and X-Men: Apocalypse have real shots at $200 million. One of them could get to $300 million, if they weren't opening against each other. Overall, the month looks excellent. Even better, last May there was only one monster hit, The Avengers: Age of Ultron, and most analysts think Captain America: Civil War will beat it at the box office. (There's also the issue of the misalignment in the weekends, which hurt April, but will really help May.) More...

Contest: Boy Oh Boy

April 29th, 2016

Next weekend is the start of summer and Captain America: Civil War has the weekend all to itself. With the hype and the reviews, it should have no trouble becoming the biggest hit of the year so far. More importantly, it is the target film in this week's Box Office Prediction contest. In order to win, one must simply predict the opening weekend box office number for Captain America: Civil War.

The prize this week is The Boy, which just hit Video on Demand this past Tuesday and hit DVD and Blu-ray on the tenth of May.

Greta (Lauren Cohan) is a young American woman who takes a job as a nanny in a remote English village. She soon discovers that the family’s 8-year-old is a life-sized doll that they care for just like a real boy, as a way to cope with the death of their son 20 years prior. After violating a list of strict rules, a series of disturbing and inexplicable events bring Greta’s worst nightmare to life, leading her to believe that the doll is actually alive.

(On a side note, the screener for The Boy has arrived, but I won't be getting to that review this weekend, because the Monthly Preview is due on Sunday.)

Whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend box office (Friday to Sunday), without going over, will win a copy of The Boy on Blu-ray. Whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend box office (Friday to Sunday), without going under, will also win a copy of The Boy on Blu-ray. Finally, we will be choosing an entrant from the group of people who haven't won, or haven't won recently, and they will win the final copy of The Boy on Blu-ray. a Frankenprize consisting of two previously reviewed movies, most likely.

Entries must be received by 10 a.m., Pacific Time on Friday to be eligible, so don't delay! More...