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.
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July 14th, 2015
The $10,000 club was busier that it was last week with four films earning a per theater average of more than $10,000. This includes the overall number one film, Minions, which earned an average of $26,905 in over 4,000 theaters. The best limited release was Tangerine with an average $15,171 in four theaters. I thought this might be a little too niche to find a large audience, but perhaps I was wrong. Up next is Baahubali: The Beginning, which was also a surprise hit with an average of $13,559 in 236 theaters. It is very rare for a Bollywood film to do that well. The final film in the $10,000 club was Do I Sound Gay? with $11,000 in its lone theater.
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June 9th, 2015
There was only one film in the $10,000 club, Testament of Youth, which opened with $13,252 in four theaters. There was one other film, A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence, which earned an average of $8,699 in two theaters over the weekend. However, it was a Wednesday release and its average over five days was $12,657.
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June 7th, 2015
Going into the weekend, any one of three films could conceivably win at the box office, with a fourth wide release having the potential to act as a spoiler by pulling away some of the audience from the others. In the event, the right film won, if one goes by the reviews, with Spy! pulling in $30 million to take the prize. That’s basically a par score for Melissa McCarthy, compared to Bridesmaids’ $26 million start, the $34.5 million debut of Identity Thief, The Heat’s $39 million, and Tammy’s $21.5 million. Paul Feig directed McCarthy in Bridesmaids, The Heat and now Spy!, so it’s a par score for him too.
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June 5th, 2015
In another improvement to our news this week, the Limited Releases column is expanding to cover both limited and VOD releases. I know what you are thinking. You are thinking, “aren't you already talking about VOD on the Home Market Releases column?” Yes. However, those are for VOD releases for films that already played in theaters some time ago. This column will include films that debut on VOD either before, or simultaneously with, their theatrical release. We think this it an important change, as too often the Limited Release column was “Limited Releases Playing in New York City and Possibly Los Angeles.” For people in most of the rest of the country, there were no films on the list playing anywhere near them. This week, there are at least a few films worth checking out, including We Are Still Here, which is playing on VOD and Love and Mercy and Testament of Youth, which are theatrical-only releases that both have a shot at mainstream success.
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