Home Market Releases for August 8th, 2017

August 8th, 2017

Summer has likely ended at the box office, while it is about to begin on the home market. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 is the first of the summer monster hits to come out on the home market. Granted, it is only out on Video on Demand this week, but it is still a contender for Pick of the Week. There are a couple of other contenders, including Cinematic Titanic: The Complete Collection and Re-Animator: Limited Edition 2-Disc Blu-ray, but in the end, I went with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2. More...

Home Market Releases for July 25th, 2017

July 26th, 2017

The Boss Baby is the biggest release of the week, while Ghost in the Shell is a distant second place. Neither of those films are terrible, but neither are remotely good enough to be a Pick of the Week contender. Gifted was in contention, but in the end, I went with the Criterion Collection release for Lost in America. More...

Weekend Wrap-Up: Aliens Crash, but Still Top Chart with $36.16 million

May 23rd, 2017

As expected, Alien: Covenant earned first place on the weekend box office chart. However, it had a strange journey there. Everything, Everything earned more during its opening weekend than it cost to make, which is great news for the studio. On the other hand, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul will be the last entry in this franchise for a long time. Meanwhile, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 became only the second film released in 2017 to hit $300 million domestically. Unfortunately, the good news didn’t outweigh the bad news and the overall box office fell 10% from last weekend to $122 million. Compared to last year, the weekend box office was 11% lower. Fortunately, 2017 still has a $130 million lead over 2016 at $4.23 billion to $4.10 billion, so there’s no reason to panic. More...

Weekend Predictions: Can Aliens Invade First Place?

May 18th, 2017

Alien: Covenant is looking to unseat Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 for top spot on the box office chart this weekend. Meanwhile, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul and Everything, Everything are just trying to survive in counter-programming roles. The prognosis for those two is mixed. Meanwhile, this weekend last year, there were five films that earned more than $10 million over the weekend. This year, there might be only two. Hopefully the new releases aren’t that bad, while the holdovers don’t completely collapse. If this happens, 2017 could win in the year-over-year comparison for the second weekend in a row. If not, then 2017's winning streak will end at one. More...

Weekend Wrap-Up: Guardians Matches Original’s Hold Earning $65.26 million

May 16th, 2017

As expected, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 crushed the competition this weekend earning more than Snatched and King Arthur: Legend of the Sword’s combined openings. However, it held on better than expected down 55% to $65.26 million. The overall box office still fell by 30% from last weekend to $136 million. This is 3.8% higher than the same weekend last year. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 held on better than Captain America: Civil War did during its sophomore stint, but it was strong depth that helped 2017 win the year-over-year comparison. It didn’t win by much, so the overall lead still shrunk to 3.4% at $4.07 billion to $3.93 billion, but any lead is good news. More...

Weekend Estimates: Second Place Snatched from King Arthur

May 14th, 2017

King Arthur: Legend of the Sword has proved to be a costly bet gone wrong for Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow. The film had a long gestation period, and ended up costing $175 million to make. Once another $100 million or so of marketing is added in, that makes for a target of at least $550 million at the global box office before anyone starts recouping anything from the film. A domestic opening of $14.7 million, and $29.1 million overseas, makes that a laughably-distant prospect. Adding to the embarrassment, King Arthur will start out in third place, behind Mothers Day-play Snatched, and even that film isn’t doing particularly well, when all is said and done. More...

Friday Estimates: New Releases are Feeling Low as Guardians Dominates with $16.43 million

May 13th, 2017

The Friday box office had a couple of surprises, but not at the top. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 easily won the race for number one with $16.43 million. This is 70% lower than its opening Friday, which is distressing. Granted, Sunday is Mother’s Day, so it could bounce back more than it would during the average weekend, and our prediction of just over $60 million is still a solid bet. More...

Thursday Night Previews: King Arthur Pulls $1.15 million from Previews

May 12th, 2017

As expected, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword topped Snatched at the box office during Thursday night previews earning $1.15 million. This is lower than anticipated and only about half what John Wick: Chapter Two managed earlier this year. Furthermore, its reviews are much worse at 26% positive, so even though it is not a sequel, it likely won’t have a strong multiplier during its opening weekend. It appears our prediction of just over $20 million is a little too optimistic. We will know more tomorrow when Friday’s estimates are released. More...

Weekend Predictions: Can the New Releases Snatch Victory Away from Guardians?

May 11th, 2017

There are two wide releases coming out this week, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword and Snatched. However, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 will likely destroy them at the box office. The real question is whether or not the top three films this year will out-earn the three films from this weekend last year. At the beginning of the month, I thought that would happen, but now I’m not so sure. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 missed expectations last weekend and King Arthur: Legend of the Sword and Snatched haven’t seen their buzz grow like most new releases do. I don’t think 2017 will get crushed like it did last weekend, but I also don’t think it will end its mini-losing streak either. More...

Contest: Sharp as a Sword

May 4th, 2017

There are two wide releases coming out next week: King Arthur: Legend of the Sword and Snatched. Neither is expected to be a monster hit, but both at least have faint hope to earn $100 million domestically, assuming they earn good reviews. Unfortunately, there are no reviews for either film at the moment. Because of this, there’s a lot of guesswork regarding the film’s box office potential. King Arthur’s target audience is more likely to show up on the opening weekend than moviegoers interested in Snatched. Because of that, I think it is the best choice for 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 King Arthur: Legend of the Sword.

Whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend box office (Friday to Sunday), without going over, will win a Frankenprise consisting of their choice of either one TV on DVD release, two movies, or a kids package (could be a theatrical release, a couple of single-disc TV on DVD releases, or a full season TV on DVD release). Whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend box office (Friday to Sunday), without going under, will also win a Frankenprize, as described above. Finally, we will be choosing an entrant from the group of people who haven't won, or haven't won recently, and they will win the final Frankenprize, as described above.

Entries must be received by 10 a.m., Pacific Time on Friday to be eligible, so don't delay! More...

2017 Preview: May

May 1st, 2017

April is over and thank god for that. The Fate of the Furious is currently the only film that was better than a midlevel hit, while Going in Style might end up being the second-biggest release of the month. On the low end, there were seven films on last month’s list that didn’t even manage to open in truly wide release (2,000 or more theaters). Fortunately, May looks a lot brighter. Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 should dominate the chart and get the month off to a fast start. Furthermore, every week there’s at least one film with a reasonable chance of earning $100 million domestically. Additionally, last May wasn’t particularly strong, so that should help 2017 overall. Granted, Captain America: Civil War earned more than $400 million, so the month got off to a fast start, but films struggled the rest of the way. The second-biggest film was X-Men: Apocalypse at just $155 million, while only one other movie, The Angry Birds Movie, earned more than $100 million. Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 should at least be competitive with Captain America: Civil War, allowing 2017 to win thanks to its superior depth. More...

Snatched Trailer

December 16th, 2016

Comedy with Amy Schumer and Goldie HawnMay 12, 2017 ... Full Movie Details. More...