March 19th, 2013
It is a very healthy week on the home market, at least at the top, as there are a number of big hits and Awards Season contenders. The biggest of these is The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. The film didn't live up to expectations, but it is still worth picking up, especially if you've made the leap to 3D. There are also a couple of Awards Season contenders coming out this week, but I'm waiting for the screeners for both of them. Les Miserables has generated a lot of praise, but also some harsh criticisms. On the other hand, Zero Dark Thirty was one of the best movies of the year and even sight unseen, the Blu-ray Combo Pack is the Pick of the Week.
More...
March 5th, 2013
There was only one film able to top $10,000 on the per theater chart, as Stoker earned an average of $22,935 in seven theaters. Its reviews were only good and not great, so I'm not sure how well it will do next week.
More...
January 15th, 2013
Quartet opened on top of the per theater chart with an average of $23,561 in two theaters. This is very impressive, especially for this time of year. Amour expanded from 3 to 15 theaters, but you couldn't tell from its per theater average, as it held very well down just 14% to $17,138.
More...
December 16th, 2012
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is one of the most-keenly anticipated films of 2012, and its opening weekend hasn't disappointed. Warner Bros. is projecting an $84.775 millioon opening weekend, which is comfortably the biggest December weekend of all time. The film also, unsurprisingly, takes the record for biggest day in December. Tempering the celebrations a little is the fact that it will most likely be only the 37th-biggest opening weekend. However, a mid-December opening gives the film a chance to play through the long Holiday weekends to come. Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings franchise films have enjoyed multipliers of between 5 and 6 on their opening weekend, which makes The Hobbit a very good bet for a final tally of $350 million, and $400 million can't be ruled out at this stage.
- Biggest Weekends in December
- Biggest Days in December
- Biggest Opening Weekends at the Box Office
More...
December 13th, 2012
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced their nominations and the same list of films that have been mentioned since the beginning of Awards Season were rewarded today. Lincoln led the way with seven nods, while Argo and Django Unchained were close behind with five.
More...
December 12th, 2012
SAG nominations were announced and there were only a few surprises to deal with. Leading the way for total nominations was The Silver Linings Playbook, Lincoln, and Les Miserables, all of which earned nominations in four of the six categories.
More...
December 11th, 2012
Hyde Park on the Hudson opened on top of the per theater chart with an average of $20,341 in four theaters. That is good for a limited release, but bad for a potential Awards Season contender, which is how many people saw the film prior to its release. Additionally, with weak reviews, it has little hope at long legs. Burn was much further back at $13,602, also in four theaters. Rust and Bone saw its theater count double to four, but its per theater average actually grew to $13,015. Its word-of-mouth is outstanding. Beware of Mr. Baker remained in the $10,000 club with $10,349 in one theater.
More...
December 9th, 2012
Skyfall returns to the top of the chart this weekend as another new release fails to catch on with audiences and films playing for a 3rd, 4th or 5th weekend battle for top billing. The new release that has missed out this time around is Playing for Keeps, which will land in 6th place with around $6 million. Above it, Rise of the Guardians, Lincoln and Life of Pi are all holding up well on a week-to-week basis (down 21%, 32% and 32% respectively), but Skyfall will win the weekend thanks to its existing momentum. Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2 continues to tumble -- it will be down 47% this weekend -- but it will still come in third with just over $9 million.
More...
December 4th, 2012
It was a rather slow week on the per theater chart with only two films topping the $10,000 mark, and none of them were massive hits. Rust and Bone rose to first place with an average of $12,369 in two theaters. It rose to top spot thanks to a miniscule 9% drop-off. The only other member of the $10,000 club was Beware of Mr. Baker, which was right behind with $12,195 in its lone theater.
More...
December 2nd, 2012
The weekend after Thanksgiving is not known for its box office prowess, and this year is proving no different. Most films in the top 10 are down around 50% from last weekend, and the new wide releases are both falling short of their respective distributor's hopes. Killing Them Softly is headed for a $7 million debut, according to Weinstein, which is Brad Pitt's worst wide opening since Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas back in 2003, and worst live action wide release since 1994's The Favor. Meanwhile, LD Distribution is projecting $3.4 million for The Collection in 1,403 theaters, which is less of a surprise, but still a disappointment. With those two misfires, the top of the chart is once more populated by Breaking Dawn, Part 2 and Skyfall, which are essentially neck and neck at this point, with Twilight topping $250 million domestically this weekend and Bond set to reach that landmark in the next few days.
More...
November 28th, 2012
The Independent Spirit Awards has a special place in the Awards Season. The nominations are the unoffficial start of Awards Season, but the actual awards aren't given out until Oscar weekend, so they are the beginning at the end of Awards Season. They also help out a lot of limited releases that would otherwise not get enough buzz, although they are not so good at predicting Oscar wins. This year, two films tied for most nominations, Moonrise Kingdom and The Silver Linings Playbook, both of which earned five nominations. They weren't the only films to earn multiple nominations though.
More...
November 27th, 2012
It was a particularly busy week on top of the per theater chart with seven films topping the $10,000 mark. Leading the way was Hitchcock with an average of $16,924 in 17 theaters. This is good for a limited release, but not great, and given the competition at this time of year, it needed to be great to survive. Anna Karenina expanded from 16 theaters to 66 earning an average of $13,580. Again, this is good, but not great. Rust and Bone was next with an average of $13,577 in two theaters. If it had sold just one more ticket, it would have earned second place instead of third on this list. Lincoln actually saw its per theater average grow reaching $12,724. It has already expanded truly wide and it should expand at least a little bit more. Likewise, Silver Linings Playbook should also expand more, as its per theater average this week was $11,945; however, it likely won't expand wide. The overall box office leader, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2, was next up with an average of $10,723. The Central Park Five topped $10,000 on the per theater chart, barely, with an average of $10,190 in three theaters. Skyfall was the final film in the $10,000 club with an average of $10,069. It is pretty rare for a film to remain above that mark for three weeks in a row.
More...
November 25th, 2012
As expected, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2 and Skyfall are dominating the Thanksgiving charts, and, with some help from three new releases and two strong holdovers, will produce the most lucrative Thanksgiving holiday in history. All told, we should see something a little over $200 million in revenue for the three-day portion of the weekend, placing it in the top 20 weekends of all time. Breaking Dawn, Part 2 is tracking about in line with Part 1 at this point in its run. In contrast, Skyfall is well ahead of James Bond's previous outing, and has become the first Bond movie to top $200 million domestically (before adjusting for inflation).
More...
November 23rd, 2012
It's a pretty light week for limited releases. Hitchcock is by far the biggest release, but its reviews are only mixed, so its box office chances are not strong. On the other hand, The Central Park Five is earning reviews that are strong enough that it should thrive, at least in limited release. It is very rare for a documentary to expand wide, even under the best of circumstances.
More...