2016 - Awards Season - And the Oscar Goes to... La La Land Moonlight!

February 26th, 2017

It’s Oscar night and we were live blogging the show. Read on the the highlights of what turned out to be a crazy night. More...

2016 - Awards Season: Oscars - Nominations - Final Look

February 26th, 2017

It’s Oscar night and we will be live blogging the show. Before that, let’s take a last look at the nominations with a few annotations. Nominees in italics are those that have received the most votes from our readers so far in our Oscar contest (which is open to new entries until noon, Pacific, today—enter now!). Bold films are those films I think will win. Meanwhile, those that are Underlined are those I want to win. Not all categories have underlined nominees, because not all categories have someone I’m cheering for, or because there are two nominees I couldn’t pick between. More...

2016 Awards Season: Oscar Highlight: Best Leading Actor

February 16th, 2017

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. Today we look at Best Leading Actor, which is a three-way race this year. This makes it one of the most competitive categories we will be talking about. More...

2016 Awards Season: Oscar Nominations

January 24th, 2017

The Oscar nominations were announced starting at 5:18 am Pacific time. Nothing is good that early in the morning. Worse still, it’s a boring year for nominations with very few surprises worth talking about, especially in the biggest categories. Leading the way was La La Land with 14 nominations, tying the record. More...

2016 - Awards Season: BAFTA - Nominations

January 11th, 2017

The BAFTA nominations were announced and it should come as no surprise what film lead the way... La La Land with 11 nominations, Nocturnal Animals and Arrival are tied for second with nine nominations a piece. More...

2016 - Holiday Gift Guide - Part III - Limited Releases, Classics, Foreign Imports

December 14th, 2016

After dealing with first-run releases and TV on DVD releases, we come to the instalment of our Holiday Gift Guide that deals with limited releases, classics, and foreign imports. This list should be longer than last week, but hopefully I won’t go overboard. 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 - Awards Season: Golden Globes - Nominations

December 12th, 2016

The Golden Globes nominations were announced and we are starting to see a few names pop up over and over again. La La Land led the way with seven nominations, but Moonlight was right behind with six and Manchester by the Sea earned five. You will be hearing those three names over and over and over again this Awards Season. More...

2016 - Awards Season: Independent Spirit Awards - Nominations

November 23rd, 2016

The Independent Spirit Awards nominations were announced last night and thus the 2016 Awards Season begins. There were a few surprises and some snubs to discuss, but for the most part, there’s not a lot nominations that broke the established narrative. It’s because there isn’t really an established narrative. This means films that earn nominations here have a much better chance of doing well going forward and Moonlight looks like it could rise up as a result. More...

Home Market Releases for October 25th, 2016

October 24th, 2016

It’s not a great week on the home market, as the biggest release of the week is the low-budget horror film, Lights Out. It is worth picking up on Blu-ray, but it is not worth the Pick of the Week title. The best film on this week’s list is Finding Dory, but it is only coming out on Video on Demand and it is worth waiting for the Blu-ray. That said, there’s no top-notch competition, so it is the Pick of the Week. More...

Home Market Releases for October 11th, 2016

October 11th, 2016

Ghostbusters is the biggest release of the week and the best first run release. Combined with its fully-loaded Blu-ray (extended edition), it is a Pick of the Week contender. There’s not much competition. The main competition is a new Collector's Edition Blu-ray for The Thing, but this is at least a double-dip, which hurts its value. There are a couple of smaller releases as well. In the end it was a literal coin toss to decide the Pick of the Week and Ghostbusters won. More...

Theater Averages: Howard Ends up on Top with $11,920

August 30th, 2016

There was only one film in the $10,000 club this week and it was a re-release. Howards End pulled in nearly $24,000 in two theaters for an average of $11,920. The best true new release was The Hollars, which earned an average of $9.553 in four theaters. More...

Theater Averages: Hell of a Good Time

August 16th, 2016

Hell or High Water led the way on the Theater Average Chart with an average of $19,417 in 32 theaters. The studio was hoping for only half of that, so this is a fantastic start. The biggest new release of the week, Sausage Party, was next with an average of $11,042, while the overall number one film, Suicide Squad, was right behind with $10,232. More...

Theater Averages: Operation Excellence

August 9th, 2016

Operation Chromite, the South Korean war movie, opened on first place on the theater average chart with $31,662. This put it just ahead of the overall box office champion, Suicide Squad, which earned an average of $31,418. Little Men was next with an average of $15,184 in two theaters. The re-release of Elevator to the Gallows was close behind with $14,334 in its lone theater. The final film in the $10,000 club was Equity, with an average of $13,629 in four theaters during its second weekend of release. More...

Theater Averages: Don’t Think has earned First Place Twice

August 3rd, 2016

Don’t Think Twice repeated as champion of the theater average chart. It expanded from 1 to 5 theaters but still earned a very healthy average of $31,022. It will expand further. Indignation was the best of the new limited releases, earning an average of $23,281 in 4 theaters, while Equity was close behind with an average of $20,609 in 4 theaters. The overall number one film, Jason Bourne, was next with an average of $14,708. Hieronymus Bosch, Touched by the Devil earned $12,064 in 1 theater over the weekend and $19,076 from Wednesday through Sunday. A couple of documentaries rounded out the $10,000 club. Miss Sharon Jones earned $10,323 in 1 theater, while Gleason managed an average of $10,176 in 9 theaters. More...

Theater Averages: Don’t Think Twice hits First Place on Yearly Chart with an Average of $92,835

July 27th, 2016

Café Society's record lasted just one week as Don’t Think Twice earned $92,835 in its lone theater. I expect it to expand rapidly over the coming weeks. Café Society fell to second place with $16,999, but it did expand to 50 theaters, so this is still impressive. The number one film of the weekend, Star Trek Beyond, earned an average of $15,085. The only other film in the $10,000 club was Train to Busan with an average of $10,547 in 28 theaters. However, Kabali came close with $8,380 in 236 over the three-day weekend and $16,539 including Thursday. 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...

Limited and VOD Releases: Few Fantastic Limited Releases

July 8th, 2016

Captain Fantastic is the only film on this week’s list that I think will do well in theaters. There are some films that are earning better reviews, like Our Little Sister, but no film on this week’s list has the same buzz as this film does. More...