Home Market Releases for March 1st, 2016

March 2nd, 2016

There are some really good releases on this week's Home Market Release Report, including many that either won or were competing for Oscars, like Creed, Room, etc. However, once you get past the cream of the crop, there isn't much in the way of depth. Most of the Oscar contenders are Pick of the Week Contenders, but the best release by far is The Adventures of Bob & Doug McKenzie: Strange Brew on Blu-ray. This is the greatest movie ever made. More...

2015 Awards Season: Oscar Preview

February 28th, 2016

It’s Oscar day and, if all goes to plan, I will be live-blogging the ceremony tonight. Here is the list of nominees marked according to predictions from our readers, and my personal wishes. Nominees in Bold are the ones predicted to win by our readers (we’ll have a full rundown of the predictions at noon, after the contest ends). If I am predicting a different film, those are in Italics. Meanwhile, the nominees I want to win, but don’t think will win, are Underlined. There are a few categories where the film I really think deserves the award was not even nominated, plus a few I don’t have a real opinion on.

If you haven’t done so already, it’s not too late to enter our Oscar competition, and win all Best Picture nominees on Blu-ray or DVD. More...

Theater Averages: The Lady in the Van tops Yearly Chart with $18,066

January 20th, 2016

I know it is early in the year, but The Lady in the Van has set the record for best opening theater average for 2016 at $18,066. That record likely won't last very long, but it is good for this time of year. The only other film in the $10,000 club was the overall number one film, Ride Along 2, which earned an average of $11,100. More...

2015 Awards Season: Oscars - Nominations

January 15th, 2016

The Oscar nominations were announced at 5:30 am Pacific time. Nothing is good that early in the morning. Worse still, this was a terrible year for snubs, especially when it comes to diversity of the nominees. The voters for the Oscars are 94% white and 77% male... but that's still more diverse than the list of nominees. The Revenant led the way with 12 nominations and it is expected to win a few of those, while it is a serious contender in most of the categories it was nominated in. More...

Theater Averages: Revenant Arrives with a Lively Debut of $118,640

December 29th, 2015

The Revenant had the best theater average of the week and the second best opening theater average of the year with $474,560 in four theaters for an average of $118,640. The only film to open in 2015 with a better theater average was Steve Jobs with an average of $130,381. It struggled during its wide expansion. Hopefully that won't happen here. The Hateful Eight was next with an average of $46,107 in 100 theaters. The overall number one film, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, was next with an average of $36,092. This would have been the fourth best opening weekend average for a wide release all year. 45 Years opened with an average of $21,925 in three theaters over the weekend and an average of $30,119 over its five-day opening. Daddy's Home was the second wide release in the $10,000 club with an average of $11,844. Mr. Six just missed the $10,000 club over the weekend with an average of $9,562 in 30 theaters; however, it earned an average of $12,500 over its four-day opening. More...

2015 - Awards Season: Golden Globes - Nominations

December 10th, 2015

The Golden Globes nominations were announced this morning and we are already beginning to see a trend for this year's Awards Season. For the most part, the same films are coming up over and over again. Carol led the way with five awards, while there was a three-way tie for second place with The Big Short, The Revenant and Steve Jobs each picking up four. More...

Per Theater Chart: Carol Completes the Hat-trick

December 8th, 2015

For the third weekend in a row, Carol earned first place on the per theater chart, this time with an average of $36,281. It is still playing in only four theaters, which is a huge mistake in my mind. It really should have expanded by now. The Danish Girl remained in second place with an average of $26,089, also in four theaters. It too should expand. The best new release was Youth, which opened with an average of $19,521, again in four theaters. Macbeth was playing in five theaters and earned an average of $13,967. Hitchcock/Truffaut opened with an average of $9,393 in three theaters over the weekend, but it was a Wednesday release. Its five-day average was $11,927. More...

Weekend Estimates: Krampus Wins Battle for Second

December 6th, 2015

Krampus is providing the industry with some surprise post-Thanksgiving, pre-Holiday cheer this weekend, with an opening well ahead of expectations amongst a crowd of slightly disappointing results. Mockingjay, Part 2 will top the chart with $18.6 million, which is off a surprisingly steep 64%. With the film expected to hit $20 million or so this weekend, that’s a disappointment, and makes a final total of $300 million look just out of reach. The Good Dinosaur was expected to have the legs of a Pixar movie, and is instead looking more like a run-of-the-mill high-budget animated film, so instead of topping $20 million, it is down 60% to $15.5 million for the weekend. That left an opening for Krampus, which will take second spot overall with a $16-million debut. More...

Limited and VOD Releases: It's All Greek to Me

December 4th, 2015

It's a very busy weekend with way too many limited releases. Because of this, we had to be a little more selective with what films made the cut to appear in our column. Chi-raq is opening the widest and should earn the most over the weekend. However, there are more than half-a-dozen films on this week's list earning overwhelmingly positive reviews. Some of these might pick up some major Awards Season nominations. More...