May 23rd, 2012
There was a weird mix of new releases and ancient holdovers on the top of the DVD sales chart this week. (Maybe "ancient" is overstating things.) Leading the way was The Vow with an impressive opening week sales of 810,000 units / $13.76 million. Given its domestic box office numbers, this is a great start and it is likely already profitable.
More...
February 28th, 2012
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 1 remained on top of the DVD sales chart, although it fell to 1.45 million units / $26.03 million for the week giving it a total of 3.80 million units / $68.77 million after two. By comparison, Eclipse actually grew during its first full week of release and had sold 5.38 million units at this point in its run.
More...
February 26th, 2012
We have received all the votes now in our annual Predict the Oscars contest, and the big
prize of the night is predicted to go to The Artist, which
scored a remarkable 86% of all votes, making it the hottest favorite to win the prize since
Slumdog Millionaire won 91% of the votes in 2009.
Several other categories have overwhelming favorites, with Rango
winning 86% support for Best Animated Feature, Christopher Plummer
scoring 88% for Supporting Actor, and Octavia Spencer 84% for
Supporting Actress. Numbers readers seem very confident in their predictions this year in general, with the winner in 21
out of 24 categories receiving more than half of the votes.
More...
February 26th, 2012
It's Oscars night. (Actually, it's 3:43 in the morning as I'm typing this, but I thought I would get a jump on the celebration.) As I do every year, I will follow the announcements live and update our list of Oscar winners. However, this year I will be doing it a little differently and the list of nominees below will include the favorites as picked by our readers in Italics and as picked by me in Bold. So you can watch live and tell when I'm out of the running for our Oscar contest. (I figure it will take at least 17 wins out of 24 to come out on top. Maybe even 18 or 19 wins.) So, will The Artist be the big winner tonight as our readers predict? Or will Hugo score the upset? Stay tuned to fine out.
More...
February 25th, 2012
Hugo is Martin Scorsese's first family film and the first film he's made in 3D. It is certainly a risk for a director to branch out in such a radical way. On the other hand, the last time Martin Scorcese directed a film that didn't earn overall positive reviews was Boxcar Bertha, which he made back in 1972. Because of this, expectations are really high. Can the director live up to his past success in this new genre / format?
More...
February 23rd, 2012
With our annual Oscar Prediction contest underway, now is the best time to look at the nominees and try and figure out who the favorites are and which films should just feel honored to be nominated. We wrap up our look at the prestigious categories with the most prestigious of them all: Best Picture. This year there were nine nominees, but not all of them really have a shot at winning. (One of the nominations generated more outrage than anything else.) Is there a favorite? And are there any that have a legitimate shot at the upset?
More...
February 16th, 2012
With our annual Oscar Prediction contest underway, now is the best time to look at the nominees and try and figure out who the favorites are and which films should just feel honored to be nominated. This week we will look at the four acting categories, finishing with Best Actress. This category is a little tricky, as there are two actresses that can both be seen as the favorite for different reasons. I'm not sure who will win.
More...
February 15th, 2012
With our annual Oscar Prediction contest underway, now is the best time to look at the nominees and try and figure out who the favorites are and which films should just feel honored to be nominated. This week we will look at the four acting categories, starting with Best Supporting Actress, which is possibly the least competitive this year, and not just the least competitive acting category, but the least competitive overall.
More...
February 12th, 2012
Texas Killing Fields had quite a bit of buzz going into its release, at least compared to most limited releases. It was only the second film directed by Ami Canaan Mann, daughter of Michael Mann, who acted as the producer for this film. It has a cast that most limited releases couldn't hope to dream of. It stars Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who is best known for his part in Supernatural, as well as Watchmen and other TV shows and movies; Sam Worthington, who starred in Avatar, the biggest movie of all time; Jessica Chastain, who was earning Oscar buzz from her performances in Tree of Life and The Help and recently earned an Oscar nomination for the latter; and Chloë Grace Moretz, who despite being just 14 years old, has proven she can more than hold her own against actors who have been in the business for much longer than she's been alive. That said, the film struggled during its opening and disappeared just a few weeks later. Does it deserve to find an audience on the home market?
More...
January 29th, 2012
The SAG awards were announced on Sunday night, and there were a couple surprises among the theatrical categories. Arguably the biggest surprise of the night was the overall strength of The Help, which earned three wins and it was the only film to win more than once. As for the rest of the winners...
More...
January 24th, 2012
Yesterday was one of the biggest days during Awards Season as The Oscar nominations were announced in the morning. It was a two horse race for top spot as far as the big winners are concerned. Hugo earned the most nominations with eleven, while The Artist was right behind with ten. However, one could argue The Artist is the bigger winner, as more of its nominations were in the more prestigious categories.
More...
January 17th, 2012
There were five new releases to reach the top 30 on this week's DVD sales chart. This includes a new number one selling DVD, Contagion. The film sold 411,000 units during its first week of release generating $6.16 million.
More...
January 16th, 2012
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association handed out the Golden Globes last night, and after an Awards Season most notable for the lack of surprises, there were not a lot of surprises either. In fact, the biggest storyline of the night was how many different movies earned wins. The Artist led the way with just three, while The Descendents was the only other film to win more than once.
More...
January 11th, 2012
Rise of the Planet of the Apes returned to the top of the Blu-ray sales chart with 390,000 units / $5.84 million over the week for totals of 1.59 million units / $33.76 million after three.
More...
January 10th, 2012
There wasn't a lot of activity on this week's DVD sales chart. There were just two new releases that reached the top 30, neither of them reached the top five. In fact, there was only one film in the top five this week that was wasn't in the top five last week. The Hangover II remained in first place with 298,000 units / $2.96 million for the week giving it total sales of 2.91 million units / $38.35 million, after a month of release.
More...
January 5th, 2012
The latest round of major nominations were released today with the WGA nominations. Like much of the rest of the previous announcements, the only surprise was the lack of surprises. Four of the five Original Screenplays earned other nominations in that category or other guild nominations. That number rises to five out of five for Adapted Screenplays. There's little doubt about what films are Oscar contenders at this point. The Documentary films category is a little more contentious, but it usually is.
More...
January 4th, 2012
The nominees for this year's Producers Guild of America were announced and there were not a lot of surprises. For instance, nine of the ten nominees for Theatrical Motion Pictures also earned Golden Globe Nominations for either Best Drama or Best Musical / Comedy. Four of the five Animated films also did the same. It does make the Awards Season picture a lot clearer going forward, but it makes coming up with something to say much harder.
More...
January 4th, 2012
There were only four new releases to reach the top 30 on this week's DVD sales chart, and only one of those placed in the top five. The Hangover II rose to first place with 521,000 units / $5.20 million for the week and 2.26 million units / $31.22 million after three. This is barely more than half what the original sold during its first week of release.
More...
December 27th, 2011
Only a trio of new releases were able to reach the top 30 on this week's DVD sales chart. However, this includes the top two spots. Rise of the Planet of the Apes earned first place with 716,000 units / $13.46 million. It's opening was a little weaker than we would like to see when compared to its theatrical run, but it should be better on Blu-ray.
More...
December 21st, 2011
The Hangover II was the first of three new releases on top of this week's Blu-ray sales chart, selling 951,000 units while generating $16.89 million. Its opening week Blu-ray share was 42%, which was good for a comedy.
More...
December 20th, 2011
New releases took four or five of the top five spots on the DVD sales chart this week. (The Smurfs is a bit of a complicated case, but more on that in a second.) First place went to The Help with 1.75 million units sold generating $29.78 million in revenue.
More...
December 16th, 2011
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced their nominations and the Awards Season picture started to look a whole lot clearer. The Artist led the way with six nominations, while The Descendents and The Help were right behind with five apiece.
More...
December 15th, 2011
The SAG nominations were handed out this week, and while The Help led the way with four nods, it wasn't the only film that earned multiple nominations.
More...
December 6th, 2011
I hate this time for year, because of the holidays. Due to the five-day Thanksgiving long weekend and the Christmas shipping rush, screeners are even more likely to arrive late. Most of the prime releases I'm supposed to review are still on route. It makes it hard to keep up to date on reviews, plus it makes it really hard to figure out what the Pick of the Week should be. The Help is in contention, but I want to see the Blu-ray first. In the end, I went with the The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo: Extended Trilogy Box Set on Blu-ray.
More...
September 19th, 2011
There were three new wide releases this past weekend, but it was a re-release, The Lion King, that dominated at the box office. This success is really good news, because all three new wide releases, Drive, I Don't Know How She Does It, and Straw Dogs, missed expectations. The overall movie industry generated just over $101 million this weekend, compared to $82 million last weekend, which is a 24% increase. This weekend last year, the overall box office was just under $101 million, so yes, 2011 squeezed out a win this week, even if it was by less than 1%. Year-to-date, 2011 has earned $7.70 billion, compared to $8.01 billion it earned last year. We are going to need to see some big wins over the coming weeks if 2011 is going to have a shot at closing that gap by the end of December.
More...
September 12th, 2011
The weekend after the Labor Day long weekend is often the worst weekend of the year, and that appears to be the case this time around. No film matched Thursday's predictions, although a couple came relatively close, like Contagion. Unfortunately, the rest of the new releases really bombed and most of the holdovers fell significantly more than expected. This led to the box office falling 24% from last weekend to just $82 million. This is the lowest it's been all year, and lower than last year, but by less than 1%. Unless next weekend will be even worse, and it is almost hard to imagine that as a possibility, this will be the lowest point for the year. On the other hand, there's a chance that we don't dip below this level for a long, long time, if ever. Given population growth and inflation, hitting these low points are less likely each year.
More...
September 11th, 2011
Having four wide releases on what is traditionally the slowest weekend of the year never seemed like a good idea. And so it proved for three of the films. The fourth, however, can lay claim to decent numbers this weekend. Contagion posted a very respectable estimated opening of $23.1 million, according to Warner Bros.' on Sunday, with a per theater average of over $7,000. That put it well ahead of The Help, which scored $8.7 million in second place. Warrior will be third with $5.6 million from 1,869 theaters -- not a bad opening, but a $3,000 per theater average won't encourage significant expansion, no matter how good word of mouth is for the film. The other two wide openers would have loved to come even close to that number though.
More...
September 8th, 2011
The weekend after the Labor Day long weekend tends to be one of the worst, if not the worst weekend of the year, but that probably won't be the case this year. This weekend we have four wide releases, one of which is a bit of a surprise wide release. One of them, Contagion, could wind up being a real hit. The other three, well, they are not opening truly wide. Maybe The Warrior will be a sleeper hit, but the other two could struggle to reach the top ten. By comparison, this weekend last year Resident Evil: Afterlife 3D was a surprise hit with $26.65 million. It's not terribly likely any film will match that opening, but 2011 has better depth and hopefully that will be the key to victory.
More...
September 7th, 2011
We had a pleasant surprise over Labor Day long weekend as the holdover held on a lot better than expected, while the new releases were on par with expectations, at least on average. (One struggled, one came within a rounding error of the weekend prediction, and one crushed expectations.) This led to a total box office haul of $107 million from Friday through Sunday and $137 million if you include Monday. By comparison, last year the total box office was $106 million / $133 million. It was a close win, but a win's a win. Overall 2011 is behind 2010 by 4% at $7.46 billion to $7.78 billion. There's a slim chance 2011 will close the gap and come out on top in the end, but in order to do that, it will need to earn bigger victories than it did this weekend.
More...
September 1st, 2011
Summer officially ends at the box office this weekend, although looking at the numbers it's clear that summer ended weeks ago. The selection of new releases includes two horror films that were not screened for critics and a film that I don't think it would be unfair to call busted Oscar bait. There is a chance all three films will bomb and The Help will remain in first place for the third week in a row. On the opposite end of that scale, all three films could find an audience and 2011 could squeak out a win over 2010.
More...
August 29th, 2011
Hurricane Irene battered the east coast, which may have had a bigger impact at the box office than some were expecting, but at least it wasn't worst case scenario levels. The overall box office plummeted 25% to just $93 million. That wasn't the worst weekend of the year, but it came uncomfortably close. Compared to last year, the box office was down down 19%, meaning the year-to-date decline worsened. With 2011 down by 4.3% at $7.28 billion to $7.60 billion, the year is running out of time to make up the difference. If we go into the holiday season down by $320 million, it might be impossible to make up the ground, no matter how strong the Christmas releases are.
More...
August 28th, 2011
With many East Coast theaters closed on Saturday and Sunday thanks to Hurricane Irene, and a weak selection of new movies in the first place, this is shaping up to be one of the worst weekends of 2011. In fact, it could end up as the worst, depending on how Sunday's business works out. There's a lot of uncertainty in this week's estimates because of incomplete reports for Saturday and the unknown impact of the storm in the North East. One thing seems certain, though: The Help will top the chart again. It is expected to earn another $14.3 million, according to Disney, for a total of $96.6 million. It is still enjoying the best per theater average in the top ten, so it will stay in theaters for a while.
More...
August 25th, 2011
Three wide releases this week, Colombiana, Don't Be Afraid of the Dark and My Idiot Brother, but it is likely that none will pose much of a threat to The Help, which is likely to repeat at the top of the box office. There could be an interesting race for second place, as there's no clear consensus on which new release is the strongest or the weakest. Unfortunately, this is because all three are equally weak. Worse still, this weekend last year saw two films earn more than $20 million, which is a mark no film this weekend will match. On the other hand, those were the only two films to crack $10 million, while there could be four, or perhaps even five films do the same this weekend. Perhaps depth will help 2011 come out with a win, but I wouldn't be willing to bet money on that.
More...
August 22nd, 2011
Yuck. That's really all that needs to be said about the weekend box office. Outside of The Help, there are practically no positive stories to report. All four wide releases that opened this week missed expectations, some by significant margins, which led to a 20% collapse from last weekend. There was also a decline from last year, albeit by just 3%, which is actually an improvement on 2011's average. Year-to-date, 2011 is behind 2010 by just over 4% at $7.13 billion to $7.43 billion. There's little hope things will turn around next weekend.
More...
August 21st, 2011
Four weak debut weekends has gifted The Help a win at the box office as the historical drama posted an impressive 21% decline from last weekend to earn an estimated $20.479 million. The decline in percentage terms was helped by the fact that the film opened on a Wednesday, but it's still an impressive performance. Rise of the Apes help on to second place with $16.3 million in its third weekend, which is perhaps an even better indication of the level of disinterest in the new releases.
More...
August 19th, 2011
Four wide releases open this week, or three wide and one semi-wide, depending on how you define those terms. However, none of them look to be legitimate threats for top spot, as most analysts are predicting The Help will win the weekend. Rise of the Planet of the Apes has a pretty good shot at second place, so we could have the new releases battling for third place. That's kind of sad, but not without precedent. This time last year five films opened wide or semi-wide, but not a single one of them reached the teens at the box office. (Vampires Suck led the way with $12.20 million.) So there's a good chance that 2011 will come out ahead in the year-over-year comparison despite the rather weak selection of new releases.
More...
August 16th, 2011
Senna easily won the race to the top of the per theater chart with an average of $36,749 in two theaters. The next best was way back, as CornerStore earned $12,743 in its lone theater. The only other film in the $10,000 club was The Help at $10,278.
More...
August 16th, 2011
While three of the four wide releases that opened this week missed expectations, the one that beat expectations did so by enough that we can still say the box office was a success pulling in $155 million. That was off by 7% when compared to last weekend, but more importantly it was 8% higher than the same weekend last year. The year-over-year winning streak has hit five weeks, while 2010's lead over 2011 has shrunk to just a hair over $300 million at $7.23 billion to $6.93 billion. Should 2011 continue its recent winning ways, the total box office should reach $10 billion for the year and perhaps show a little growth over 2010 in the end.
More...
August 11th, 2011
Four wide releases open this week, but unless one of them is a surprise hit, I think it's safe to say that summer unofficially ends this weekend. That's not to say the films opening this weekend are all destined to bomb and most should at least become solid midlevel hits, but odds are Rise of the Planet of the Apes will retain top spot on the chart. Unfortunately, this weekend last year we did have a surprise hit and there's almost no chance any film this year will match The Expendables' opening and that could mean 2011's winning streak will come to an end. On the other hand, there's a lot more depth this time around and since the four wide releases share very little crossover appeal, they might all reach their potential and that might be enough to eek out a win.
More...
August 1st, 2011
It's that time of year again, the time where we try to guess when Summer ends. According to the real world, Summer ends on the 22nd of September, but in the movie business, summer ends suddenly one weekend in August, and it's never really predictable which weekend that will be. There is some reason to be optimistic, as July ended on a relatively strong note. Both films that were predicted to be monster hits, Transformers: Dark of the Moon and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2, were monster hits. And for every potential $100 million hit that missed expectations, there was another film that topped them. If this momentum can carry forward, then perhaps summer can be extended for for one or two more weeks. August of 2010 was a good end to the Summer with two $100 million movies and a few mid-level hits. I'm not sure if 2011 will be able to replicate that performance, but Summer could end on a high note.
More...
