April 21st, 2023
After no less than six new wide releases last weekend, five more films arrive in over 600 theaters this time around, but none will topple The Super Mario Bros. Movie as the top-earning film in North America. Evil Dead Rise will most likely come the closest, and Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant should find a place in the top ten. The fortunes of Beau is Afraid, Chevalier, and Somewhere in Queens is harder to predict. One or two of them could hit the top ten, but it seems unlikely all three will manage the feat.
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October 10th, 2019
It’s another week with a monster hit and nearly nothing else. Fortunately, that monster hit is Toy Story 4, which is easily the Pick of the Week and would be during all but the best weeks of the year. Midsommar comes close to being a contender for Pick of the Week, but the extras are well below average, even compared to a limited release.
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October 8th, 2019
Midsommar is writer / dirctor Ari Aster’s second film. His first, Hereditary, only managed a D plus from CinemaScore, which is bad, even for a horror film. However, CinemaScore tends to measure not just quality, but expectations. A good movie that doesn’t match audience expectations in terms of tone and subject matter tend to get very weak scores from CinemaScore and no one going into Hereditary day one could have know what to expect. Midsommar earned a C plus, which is actually about average for a horror film. Is it also merely average in quality? Or is it just not as accessible as most mainstream horror movies are?
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July 9th, 2019
Spider-Man: Far From Home really brightened up the box office earning $92.58 million over the three-day weekend for a six-day opening of $185.06 million. This is one of the biggest positive surprises of the year and we desperately needed some good news after June. Toy Story 4 and Aladdin held on better than expected and the overall box office surged growing 21% from last weekend to $183 million. This is still lower than this weekend last year, but by only 2.7% and at this point, I’m willing to call that a victory. Year-to-date, 2019 did manage to close ground with 2018, thanks mostly to Far From Home’s strength before the weekend. However, this year is still 8.4% or $540 million behind last year at $5.88 billion to $6.42 billion.
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July 3rd, 2019
It has been a long time since we’ve had a pleasant surprise at the box office. In fact, the last film to really beat expectations and earn first place was Aladdin, which came out in May. However, it appears that streak is over, as Spider-Man: Far From Home broke the record for biggest Tuesday with $39.26 million. Additionally, Midsommar earned $1.1 million during its previews, which means July should get off to a faster than expected start. Additionally, there should be some strong holds in the top five as well, with Toy Story 4, Annabelle Comes Home, and Yesterday all looking to earn more than $10 million over the three-day weekend. This weekend last year, Ant-Man and the Wasp opened with $75.81 million. Spider-Man: Far From Home could top that after its record-breaking start and the overall box office does look a little healthier as a result.
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June 1st, 2018
This May was an odd month, as Avengers: Infinity War opened on the last weekend of April, rather than the first weekend of May. This meant May started out slowly, but Deadpool 2 and Solo: A Star Wars Story did well enough to give 2018 a healthy lead over 2017. Looking forward, there are two potential monster hits this month, Incredibles 2 and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, and another $100 million hit, Ocean’s 8. Last June, there were four $100 million hits, led by Wonder Woman, which pulled in over $400 million. I think 2018 and 2017 will be an even match at the top, so 2018 will have to rely on depth to improve upon its lead over 2017.
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