2020 Awards Season: Oscar Highlight: Best Leading Actor

February 5th, 2020

Our annual Oscar Prediction contest is underway so 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. We are continuing our shortened schedule with Best Lead Actor. We have a definite favorite this year, but I’m really hoping for an upset. More...

Home Market Releases for January 21st, 2020

January 21st, 2020

It’s an odd week for the home market, as there are four wide releases coming out this week, which is more than most weeks. However, none of them were $100 million hits domestically, so it feels slow on top. That said, The Addams Family did come close to that mark and Zombieland: Double Tap was a solid midlevel hit. As for high quality releases, Jay And Silent Bob Reboot will very likely please fans of the franchise, but I’m unsure about its ability draw in newcomers. Finally, the Pain & Glory is the best of the best and only the lack of substantial extras prevents it from winning Pick of the Week with ease. Zombieland: Double Tap has much better extras, so it a contender for Pick of the Week as well. Pain & Glory does win, but it is relatively close. More...

2020 Awards Season: Oscar Nominations

January 13th, 2020

The Oscar nominations were announced on Monday, and the results were... well, there were some puzzling results. Joker led the way with eleven nominations. ... A film with 69% positive reviews earned the most nominations. It’s not the worst-reviewed movie to earn a Best Picture Nomination—after all, Bohemian Rhapsody was nominated just last year. However, this film is arguably the worst-reviewed movie to ever earn the most nominations in a single year. More...

Home Market Releases for January 14th, 2020

January 13th, 2020

It’s a really bad week on the home market. Granted, there are three wide releases on this week’s list, which is better than most weeks. However, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil is the biggest and the best of these three releases. That’s not a good sign. There are not even a lot of smaller releases to make up for the weakness at the top. More...

2019 - Holiday Gift Guide - Part III - Limited Releases, Classics, Foreign Imports

December 16th, 2019

The first two installments of our Holiday Gift Guide had plenty of first-run releases and several TV on DVD releases. This installment includes limited releases and foreign imports. The list of classics isn’t up to the usual standards for the same reasons the TV on DVD list was rather short. Streaming is taking over that part of the market. Did you know The Criterion Collection has their own streaming service? So does Magnolia Pictures. On the one hand, that’s a lot of amazing movies for one price. On the other hand, as a fan of physical media, I’m not happy streaming is becoming so popular. There are still some great smaller titles worthy of the season. More...

2020 Awards Season: Golden Globes Nominations

December 11th, 2019

The Golden Globes nominations are the second major Awards Season set to come out. It is still very early in the year and the predictive value of the Golden Globes is a little suspect, but there are still some things to learn here. (This is especially true on the TV end, as there’s talk about how strange the nominations are this year.) Marriage Story led the way with six nominations, just ahead of The Irishman and Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood, both of which picked up five nods. More...

Theater Averages: Frozen Floats on Water

November 28th, 2019

Frozen II led the way on yet another chart, this time the theater average chart, earning an average of $29,339 during its opening weekend. Dark Waters was right behind with an average of $25,652 in four theaters, which does suggest at least some potential to expand. Jay and Silent Bob Reboot continues its impressive road show run earning an average of $16,140 in five theaters. Citizen K was the final film in the $10,000 club with an opening of $10,571 in its lone theater. More...

Theater Averages: The Irishman Enters Witness Protection

November 7th, 2019

It appears Netflix will not be reporting box office numbers for The Irishman. We’ve seen reports by third parties that the film earned $350,000 in eight theaters for an opening weekend average of $43,750. The only confirmed member of the $10,000 club was Jay and Silent Bob Reboot, which earned an average of $15,097 in 15 theaters. However, it is a roadshow tour and ticket prices for some shows are greatly inflated. This is still an impressive number, but don’t expect it to expand truly wide. More...

Theater Averages: Jay and Silent Bob Give Limited Releases a Kick in the Pants

October 24th, 2019

It was an amazing week on the theater average chart with five films in the $10,000 club, incluing three new releases that earned averages of more than $50,000. Jay and Silent Bob Reboot opened with two days of special engagements where the film earned just over $1 million, before having a roadshow performance in one theater over the weekend earning $93,520. However, this wasn’t a usual run and tickets range from about $50 to over $200 for the VIP packages at some shows. That said, even with normal ticket prices, it would still have earned a spot in the $10,000 club. Second place went to Jojo Rabbit with an impressive opening of average $69,911 in five theaters. This is more than enough to expand significantly, perhaps even enough to justify a wide expansion. The Lighthouse also opened well enough to justify significant expansions earning an average of $53,475 in eight theaters. Parasite was the only holdover in the $10,000 club earning an average of $37,616 in 33 theaters. The film topped $1 million over the weekend and it has plenty of room to grow. The final film in the $10,000 club was The Cave, which earned an average of $10,593 in two theaters. More...

Theater Averages: Parasite Sinks Its Teeth into the Competition

October 18th, 2019

Parasite was the only new release in the $10,000 club, but it not only led the way over the weekend, its average of $128,072 in three theaters is the best average this year. In fact, this is not only the best average of the year, its the best average since La La Land’s debut in 2016. While Parasite was the only new release in the $10,000 club, it wasn’t the only member. Joker was in a distant second place, a very, very distant second place with an average of $12,771. Meanwhile, Célébration was very close behind with $12,678 in its lone theater. Pain and Glory remained in the $10,0000 club with an average of $11,819 and it managed this feat despite expanding its theater count to 23 theaters. More...

Theater Averages: All Gain for Pain

October 10th, 2019

Pain and Glory dominated the theater average earning an average of $40,022 in four theaters. Joker was next with an average of $21,994 in over 4,000 theaters. The final film in the $10,000 Club this weekend was My Country, My People with an average of $13,069 in 67 theaters. That is very impressive and could be a portent of things to come as Chinese films gain a foothold in the domestic market. More...

Weekend Estimates: Joker Takes a Bite Out of Venom

October 6th, 2019

Joker is not only dominating the weekend, likely earning more than the rest of the films in release combined, but it will also top Venom’s October record by more than $10 million. Its domestic weekend estimate is $93.5 million, which is only dwarfed by its international debut. The film is projected to earn $140.5 million on 22,500 screens in 73 markets during its opening weekend. Highlights includes A $16.3 million debut on 1,418 screens in South Korea, which is a record opening for Warner Bros. in that market. It wasn’t able to break records in the U.K., but is still very impressive at $14.8 million on 669 screens, while it also cracked $10 million in Mexico ($13.1 million on 4,684 screens) and Russia ($10 million on 1,907. More...

Limited and VOD Releases: Painful Week for Limited Releases

October 4th, 2019

There are not a lot of prime limited releases on this week’s list and a couple that had the loudest pre-release buzz ended up with weak reviews. Pain & Glory is the film with the best shot at box office success, while Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl is the film I want to see the most. More...