Home Market Releases for July 19th, 2016

July 18th, 2016

This week, the home market is led by Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, at least in terms of box office dollars. It is far from the best in terms of reviews. That’s not to say there are no high quality releases this week. In fact, there are five Pick of the Week contenders, six if you include Belladonna Of Sadness, which came out last week, but the screener arrived late, so the review didn’t get published till the weekend. In the end, I went with To Have and Have Not on Blu-ray as Pick of the Week. However, Orphan Black: Season Four earns the seldom awarded Puck of the Week, as the best Canadian release. More...

Theater Averages: Vita Activa has a Spirited Opening with $13,244 / $18,468

April 14th, 2016

Vita Activa: The Spirit of Hannah Arendt was the only film in the $10,000 club with an opening of $13,244 over the weekend in one theater. From Wednesday through Sunday, the film pulled in $18,468. More...

Weekend Estimates: Boss tied at the top with Batman v Superman

April 10th, 2016

Critics have not been kind to The Boss, and audiences are split 50–50 between liking it and hating it, but it will still post a respectable $23.48 million opening, according to Universal’s Sunday projection. Among recent Melissa McCarthy outings, that’s a little ahead of Tammy ($21.6 million on opening weekend), and a little behind Spy! ($29.1 million). Of more immediate interest, it’s almost exactly tied with Batman v Superman at the top of the chart. More...

Limited and VOD Releases: Getting Demolished

April 8th, 2016

It's not a good week for limited releases. Not only is it a short list this week, but none of them look like they will be a hit at the box office. Demolition is the widest release of the week, but it is too wide for a limited release. The Invitation is earning amazing reviews, but it is also playing on Video on Demand. Neon Bull is earning even better reviews, but it is a foreign-language film, so that limits its chances. The rest of the films are not earning strong enough reviews to suggest they will do well in limited release. More...

2016 Preview: April

April 1st, 2016

March was a really good month, for the most part. There were a few bombs, but the two biggest films, Zootopia and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, both beat expectations by significant margins, so overall the box office was better than expected. Unfortunately, April is a mess, which makes prognosticating really tough. Every single week has at least one film that either moved, switched from wide to limited release, or disappeared entirely. The Jungle Book appears to be the biggest film of the year, but The Huntsman: Winter's War could also be a $100 million hit. Sadly, last April was led by Furious 7, which earned more than $350 million at the box office. That's very likely more than both The Jungle Book and The Huntsman: Winter's War will make combined. Worse still, there were only four weekends in April last year, meaning the month ends by going head-to-head with The Avengers: Age of Ultron. By the time the month ends, 2016's lead over 2015 might be gone. Let's hope it is not that bad. More...