Home Market Numbers: Age Opens Well, but Not Quite the Ultimate Opening

October 21st, 2015

As expected, The Avengers: Age of Ultron led the September 29th new releases earning an easy first place on the combined DVD and Blu-ray chart for October 4th. It sold 1.60 million units and generated $29.35 million in revenue. It also had an opening week Blu-ray share of 69%. That's simply fantastic. However, it wasn't the best first-week opening we've seen this fall, as it fell just behind Furious 7. On the other hand, Age of Ultron was a Friday release, so it had a shorter opening week. Next week we will compare the running tallies of the two films and that will likely give us a much better picture of where these two films will end up. More...

Home Market Releases for September 29th, 2015

September 29th, 2015

It is another week loaded with TV on DVD releases, including iZombie: Season One, which is one of the best new TV shows from last season. However, while that release is a Pick of the Week contender, the actual honor goes to Spy (DVD or Blu-ray Combo Pack). More...

International Box Office: Billion Dollar Dinosaurs

July 2nd, 2015

(As I warned previously, we've run out of images for Jurassic World, so we are down to Picture Unrelated. And no, I will not explain the context of the image. I will say the TV show it comes from is surprisingly good.)

Jurassic World completed a hat-trick at the weekend by earning first place with $82.5 million in 67 markets for totals of $737.5 million internationally and $1.238 billion worldwide. The film entered the top ten on the all-time worldwide box office chart over the weekend and has already moved into seventh place. Its biggest single market was China, where it made $38.07 million over the full week for a total of $206.57 million after three weekends. Hopefully this is the last weekend the film spends in top spot, as new releases finally rise to overtake it. If it is still in first place next week, it will be a sign that the box office is slowing down. More...

International Box Office: San Andreas Rumbles to the Top

June 4th, 2015

San Andreas opened in first place on the international chart with $63.9 million on 15,420 screens in 60 markets. Its best international market was Mexico where it earned first place with $9.97 million. It also opened in first place in Australia with $2.47 million in 449 theaters. The film generated $7.07 million in 505 theaters in the U.K. and $5.16 million on 2,256 screens in Russia. The film was also potent in Brazil with an opening of $3.2 million in 926 theaters, while it earned a nearly identical amount in France with $3.19 million in 496. It is still too soon to tell where the film will end up, but it made more worldwide than it cost to make during its opening weekend, so the studio must be happy. More...

Weekend Wrap-Up: San Andreas Shakes Up Box Office

June 2nd, 2015

The post-holiday weekend was softer than the holiday weekend, which is to be expected. However, thanks to a stronger than predicted opening by San Andreas, it wasn't as bad as it could have been. On the other hand, Aloha was on the low end of expectations. The overall box office fell 9.5% from last weekend to $139 million, which is acceptable. By comparison, the overall box office fell 17% from this weekend last year, as San Andreas couldn't keep up with Maleficent's opening. Year-to-date, 2015 has pulled in $4.20 billion, putting it 1.2% ahead of 2014's pace of $4.15 million. 2015 is coming dangerously close to losing its lead over last year. More...

Weekend Predictions: Will May End on a Disastrous Note?

May 28th, 2015

The weekend after a holiday is usually a bad weekend at the box office. This time around, San Andreas is the clear front-runner while Aloha might struggle, even as counter-programming. San Andreas will earn more than $30 million over the weekend, no other film is on track to hitting $20 million. On the other hand, there could be six other films that earn $10 million or more over the weekend. By comparison, this weekend last year, Maleficent opened with nearly $70 million, while X-Men: Days of Future Past earned more than $30 million. There's no way the top of the chart will match that. Even with better depth, it is very unlikely 2015 will win in the year-over-year comparison. More...

International Box Office: Ultron Still Ultimate Film on International Chart

May 28th, 2015

For the fifth week in a row, The Avengers: Age of Ultron remained in first place. This week it pulled in $45.8 million in 91 markets for month-long totals of $859.8 million internationally and $1.265 billion worldwide. The film made $53.98 million in China, but that was for the full week, giving it a running tally of $209.39 million after 13 days of release. At this pace, the film should have no trouble hitting $900 million internationally and $1.3 million worldwide, likely over the weekend. Meanwhile, it has yet to open in Japan and should made $50 million, more or less, in that market alone. Will it get to $1 billion internationally? It is still too soon to tell. It should at least be close. More...

Weekend Wrap-Up: The Sun didn't Shine on Tomorrow

May 27th, 2015

The Memorial Day long weekend was not as strong as anticipated, as no film in the top five really topped expectations. Tomorrowland did earn first place, but it barely earned more in four days as it was expected to earn in three. Pitch Perfect 2 crossed $100 million over the weekend and The Avengers: Age of Ultron crossed $400 million, so those milestones helped cushion the blow. Even so, the overall box office fell 18% when compared to last week, falling to $152 million over the three day weekend. It was also down 19% from last year over the three day period. Over four days, the box office pulled in $191 million, which was 17% lower than the same weekend last year. This is a disappointing loss. 2015 is still ahead of 2014, albeit by a margin of just 2.1% at $4.02 billion to $3.95 billion. More...

Weekend Estimates: Tomorrowland Barely Ahead of Pitch Perfect 2

May 24th, 2015

The good news this Memorial Day weekend is that five movies will gross over $20 million. The bad news is that none of them will do any better than Tomorrowland’s soft $32 million debut. Disney’s latest will barely scrape in ahead of Pitch Perfect 2 over three days, with the singing sensation expected to generate $30.3 million. Over four days, Tomorrowland may pull into a slightly larger lead, thanks to its more family-friendly nature, but it will take a much better performance overseas for the sci-fi adventure to recoup its costs. More...

Weekend Predictions: Will Tomorrow be a Better Day?

May 22nd, 2015

It's Memorial Day long weekend, which is one of the best weekends of the year at the box office. There are two new releases trying to take advantage of the holiday, Tomorrowland and Poltergeist. There are also three major holdovers that will remain potent over the weekend: Mad Max: Fury Road, Pitch Perfect 2, and The Avengers: Age of Ultron. There's a chance all five of these films will made $30 million or more over the next four days. Like we've seen most weeks this summer, this weekend last year had a much bigger hit on top. X-Men: Days of Future Past opened with more than $90 million, but only one other film, Godzilla earned more than $15 million over the three-day weekend. So again, 2015 won't match 2014 at the top, but the depth should help 2015 win in the year-over-year comparison. More...

Contest: Don't Wait till Tomorrow to Enter

May 15th, 2015

Next weekend is Memorial Day long weekend. When two films, Poltergeist and Tomorrowland, try to take advantage of the holidays. Tomorrowland has the significant advantage at the box office and 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 Tomorrowland.

Whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend box office (Friday to Sunday), without going over, will win a Frankenprize. It was going to feature Strawberry Shortcake: Berry Best in Show, but the PR company ran out of copies, as there were more screener requests than they anticipated. So we are going to go with Winner's Choice of either a season of TV on DVD, two movies, or three single-disc kids shows that I previously reviewed. This could include Strawberry Shortcake: Berry Best in Show, or other DVDs from that franchise. Whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend box office (Friday to Sunday), without going under, will win a second Winner's Choice Frankenprize. Finally, we will be choosing an entrant from the group of people who haven't won, or haven't won recently, and they will also win a Winner's Choice Frankenprize. Entries must be received by 10 a.m., Pacific Time on Friday to be eligible, so don't delay! More...

2015 Preview: May

May 1st, 2015

April is over and there was good news and bad news. Good news: Furious 7 crushed the competition, and broke records along the way. Bad news: Furious 7 crushed the competition and no other April release will earn as much in total as Furious 7 earned during its opening day. Fortunately, Furious 7 was so strong that it carried April of 2015 to a draw when compared to April of 2014. May has a lot of similarities to April. The Avengers: Age of Ultron is expected to break records during its opening weekend and even the low end has it earning more than $1 billion worldwide. Unfortunately, no other film is going to come close to that figure. There are five other films with a potential to reach $100 million at the box office. The keyword there is "potential". There's a chance less than half of those five films will get to that milestone. And like last April, last May had much better depth with five films that reached $100 million, including four that surpassed $200 million. Age of Ultron will earn more than the combined totals of Maleficent, last month's winner, and X-Men: Days of Future Past, which placed second for the month. I am a little concerned about the lack of depth this month and this could cause May to lose in the month-over-month comparison in the end. More...

Poltergeist Trailer

March 6th, 2015

Supernatural horror movie starring Sam Rockwell and Rosemarie DeWitt, directed by Gil Kenan opens May 22... Full movie details... More...