Home Market Releases for October 20th, 2015

October 20th, 2015

It is a shallow week on the home market. The number one release is Jurassic World, which is one of the biggest hits of all time. The second biggest release according to Amazon.com is the Back to the Future Box Set. There's mostly filler by the time you get to the second page of new releases. As for the best release on this week's list, I'm going old school. ... Really, really old school. Diary of a Lost Girl is 86 years old, but the Blu-ray is Pick of the Week. More...

Featured Blu-ray / DVD Review: The Vatican Tapes

October 18th, 2015

The Vatican Tapes is a horror film that includes elements of found footage. (It was actually originally written to be entirely found footage, but that was changed early in the production.) This genre is well off its peak in terms of popularity and even the fact that it had some connection to found footage was enough to kill its buzz. It also opened in "select cities", which is a terrible release strategy in general, and especially bad for horror films. It opened below the Mendoza Line (earning less that $2,000 per theater) before disappearing from theaters. Is it really that bad? Or did it struggle because of genre overload? More...

Per Theater Chart: Strong Beginning for The End

August 4th, 2015

The End of the Tour is the latest success for A24, as it topped the per theater chart with an average of $30,810 in four theaters. Up next were a pair of documentaries, Best of Enemies and Listen to Me Marlon, with averages of $16,913 and $15,034 respectively. The overall number one film was next, as Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation earned an average of $14,034. The final film in the $10,000 club was Phoenix. Its theater count doubled, but its per theater average dropped just 20% to $12,004. That's amazing and it could be an omen that it will expand wide enough to earn some measure of mainstream success. More...

Per Theater Chart: Phoenix Reborn

July 28th, 2015

None of the wide releases earned a spot in the $10,000 club, but at least we had a couple of limited releases that found their way there. The number one film was Phoenix with an average of $15,148 in two theaters. Samba was next with an average of $12,294, also in two theaters. More...

Weekend Estimates: Ant-Man Defeats Poor Pixels

July 26th, 2015

Three new wide releases and three returning movies that are still pulling in good crowds will produce a box office chart with no knock-out winner this weekend. That’s in large part thanks to a disappointing debut from Pixels. The Adam Sandler/Kevin James-comedy/adventure-Ghostbusters/wannabe will earn about $24 million this weekend, according to Sony’s Sunday estimate. That puts it in danger of not even earning back its marketing budget domestically, let alone starting to recover the $88 million production budget. It also means that Ant-Man will top the charts for a second weekend. More...

Limited and VOD Releases: Exorcising Your Options

July 24th, 2015

Every once and a while, I feel the need to apologize for the pun in the headline. This is one of those weeks. It is also one of those weeks where I can't find a limited release that has a good chance at earning some mainstream success. Unexpected is the biggest release, but its reviews suggest it will do better on Video on Demand than in theaters. There are a few documentaries that might do well on the art house circuit, but it is unlikely that any have what it takes to find mainstream success. More...

2015 Preview: July

July 1st, 2015

June was a much better month than expected due to two films, Jurassic World and Inside Out. Had those two films merely matched expectations, then 2015 would have likely fallen behind 2014. As for this coming month, there are five weekends in July and each week there is at least one film with the potential to reach $100 million. Most weeks there are two films that at least have a shot at getting to the century mark. The biggest hit of the month will likely be Minions, which has already opened in several international markets and it's ahead of Despicable Me 2 at the same point. That film made more than $300 million and nearly $1 billion worldwide, so any growth would be fantastic. There are also a number of potential $200 million films, led by Ant-man. Ant-man is the latest release in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a franchise that has averaged $300 million domestically over eleven films and all of the past six films have reached at least $200 million. I'm not saying this one is guaranteed to do the same, but you can't dismiss that possibility. Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation and Pixels have smaller chances to get to $200 million, but you have to at least entertain the possibility. Additionally, last July was a lot weaker than this July looks to be, so 2015 should win in the year-over-year comparison most weeks. Or I might have let the box office success of June cloud my judgment. We will soon find out. More...