May 15th, 2019
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It’s another weak week on the home market. The biggest release of the week is Fighting With My Family, which is also one of the best. The other contenders for Pick of the Week are a documentary, Apollo 11; a classic collection, The Buster Keaton Collection: Volume 1; and a foreign-language import, Princess Mononoke. They are all worth owning, but they all have issues as well. The last two releases are double-dips, while the first two don’t have a ton of extras. In the end, I went with Fighting With My Family as the Pick of the Week, because it has the best combination of movie quality and extras without being a double-dip.
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April 30th, 2019
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The spring doldrums continue with very few major releases and almost no big hits arriving on the home market this week. There are a couple of titles competing for Pick of the Week: Police Story Double-Shot and Arctic. Both are worth owning, but I went with Police Story as the Pick of the Week.
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February 26th, 2019
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How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World not only led the way over the weekend, it had the fastest start of the year so far. This helped the overall box office grow to $127 million. This is 4.3% higher than last weekend, which might not seem impressive, but this is a post-holiday weekend and we usually see a substantial drop-off. On the other hand, this is still 34% lower than this weekend last year, as Black Panther’s sophomore stint was almost exactly double The Hidden World’s debut. This left 2019 even further behind 2018 and the gap is now 25% or $460 million at $1.36 billion to $1.82 billion.
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February 20th, 2019
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The weekend wasn’t as bad as it could have been, at least not at the top. Alita: Battle Angel topped all but the most bullish expectations with $42.25 million from Thursday through Sunday. Isn’t It Romantic matched expectations nearly perfectly, while Happy Death Day 2U struggled, but should still break even, eventually. Overall, the box office rose 8.4% from last weekend, but plummet 57% from the same weekend last year. On the positive side, that was the weekend Black Panther debuted, so we knew a drop-off like this was to be expected. On the negative side, as of the end of business on Monday, 2019 was behind 2018’s pace by a margin of over $350 million or nearly 23%. 2019 will need to turn things around soon if it wants any chance of completing a comeback. Hell, it will need to turn things around soon if it wants any chance to avoid a worst-in-a-decade end result.
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February 17th, 2019
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Alita: Battle Angel is topping the weekend chart with an estimated $27.8 million over the three-day weekend and $33.0 million over four. Adding in Thursday’s result gives us a total opening of $41.7 million, which is more than we predicted and we were already a little more bullish than most. Its reviews were bouncing above then sinking below the overall positive level throughout the week, but they seem to have settled on the south side at 58% positive. We won’t get the CinemaScore until Monday, but I suspect it will be substantially better than this and be in the B plus / A minus range. We don’t have solid numbers for its international weekend, but estimates have it in the $40 million range during its second weekend of release. This would have been a great run so far, had the film not cost so much to make.
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February 16th, 2019
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Alita: Battle Angel started strong on Thursday with $8.72 million and held on well on Friday down just 14% to $7.53 million. Granted, this was the worst decline of the three new releases, but it was also the only one to open on Thursday, so I think this is a strong showing. The reviews remain right on the edge of the overall positive level, so it should have acceptable legs. Look for between $25 million and $26 million over the three-day weekend and $30 million over four. This would be a good start, if the film cost $100 million to make. However, with a budget between $160 million and $170 million, depending on tax breaks, even getting to $100 million domestically will just be saving face.
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February 14th, 2019
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It’s a very odd weekend at the box office. Not only is it a long weekend with most people having Monday off, but Valentine’s Day is Thursday and two of the three wide releases opened on Wednesday. The biggest new release is Alita: Battle Angel, but the film reportedly cost as much as $200 million to make and there’s a chance it will open with less than $20 million over the three-day portion of the weekend. Isn’t It Romantic should get the biggest boost thanks to Valentine’s Day. Meanwhile, Happy Death Day 2U is hoping to top the original. As for this weekend last year, it was the weekend Black Panther debuted. 2019 is going to get destroyed at the year-over-year comparison, again. If it loses by less than 50%, I will be happy. That’s how bad things have gotten.
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February 1st, 2019
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2019 got off to a slow start as the biggest release of January, Glass, missed expectations and as a result, 2019 lost every weekend in the year-over-year comparison. Unfortunately, 2019 isn’t going to turn things around this month, as last February, Black Panther broke all of the records. That doesn’t mean there are no bright spots this month. Both The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part and How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World are virtually guaranteed to reach $100 million domestically, while I wouldn’t be too surprised if one or both hit $200 million. Meanwhile, there are several midlevel hits, one of which could turn into a surprise $100 million hit. That said, there’s a chance all nine movies opening this month combined will earn less than Black Panther did last year.
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January 10th, 2019
Horror movie starring Jessica Rothe opens on February 14 ... Full Movie Details.
Our hero Tree Gelbman discovers that dying over and over was surprisingly easier than the dangers that lie ahead.
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