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: 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...

Theater Averages: The Jungle Book Meddles with the Limited Releases

April 26th, 2016

It wasn't a great week for new limited releases, which left a holdover / wide release on top of the theater average chart. The Jungle Book led the way with an average of $15,278. The only other film in the $10,000 was The Meddler, which opened with an average of $14,256 in four theaters. More...

Weekend Wrap-Up: Jungle Sets 2016 Sophomore Record with $61.54 Million

April 26th, 2016

Both The Jungle Book and The Huntsman: Winter's War were a little weaker than predicted over the weekend. The Jungle Book was still able to earn the biggest sophomore weekend of 2016 at $61.54 million. For The Huntsman: Winter's War, it was a disappointing $19.45 million. Overall, the box office fell 28% to $128 million. However, this was still 32% more than the same weekend last year. Unfortunately, next weekend is going to be damn awful in the year-over-year comparison, because of a misalignment in the weekend. Year-to-date, 2016 has earned $3.37 million, putting it ahead of last year's pace by 8.5% or $260 million. More...

Weekend Estimates: Jungle Book Brushes Off Huntsman

April 24th, 2016

What in theory should have been a battle at the box office has turned into a rout this weekend, with The Jungle Book set to earn $60 million, according to Disney’s Sunday morning estimate, and The Huntsman: Winter’s War limping into second place with $20.1 million, per Universal. More...

Friday Estimates: Jungle Preys on the Huntsman with a $16.38 Million Friday

April 23rd, 2016

The Jungle Book remained the top draw on Friday with $16.38 million, which was more than twice as much as The Huntsman: Winter’s War opened with. With its reviews and family-friendly nature, Saturday will be even better for Jungle Book, and it should top $60 million over the weekend. That’s a great sophomore weekend, even if it is below our prediction of $65 million. It also won’t quite take the film past $200 million by the end of the weekend, but it will be close enough that Disney will be able to celebrate that milestone shortly. More...

Limited and VOD Releases: Plenty of Tales that Need to be Told

April 22nd, 2016

There are several limited releases on this week's list, including three that have a shot at earning a spot in the top ten. However, the best-reviewed releases are among the smaller releases: Tale of Tales and The Meddler included. However, if you don't want to go out, Holidays is good bet on Video on Demand. More...

Weekend Predictions: Will Jungle Leave Huntsman Out in the Cold?

April 21st, 2016

It's a bad week for new releases, as The Jungle Book is widely expected to dominate the box office. The only truly wide release is The Huntsman: Winter's War, but its reviews are simply terrible. There are also three films opening in select theaters and one of them should earn a spot in the top ten. They only need a little more than $1 million to do so. This weekend last year, the only true wide release was The Age of Adaline, which opened with $13 million on its way to becoming a midlevel hit. The Huntsman could double that opening, but it won't have the same legs. 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...