September 22nd, 2017
There are a trio of films on this week’s list that are Awards Season adjacent: Battle of the Sexes, Stronger, and Victoria and Abdul. All three earned some pre-release Awards Season buzz, but I’m not sure any of them will be serious contenders. Hopefully at least one of them will be a box office success.
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July 9th, 2017
Smurfs: The Lost Village is the third theatrical release in the franchise, but it is a reboot dropping the live action elements the first two films had. Unfortunately, it had the worst box office performance in the franchise and even though it did better internationally, there likely won’t be another film in the franchise for quite a while. Is this unfortunate news? Did the franchise finally find its footing? Or was it clear it was never going to get better?
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April 1st, 2017
March was a month of extremes, led by two strong performances: Beauty and the Beast breaking records and Logan cracking $200 million with ease. There were also two other $100 million hits and another potential $100 million hit that we don’t have significant box office numbers for yet. This is fantastic. On the opposite end, there were three films on last month’s list that didn’t even open truly wide. This month won’t be as lucrative at the top, as The Fate of the Furious is the only film expected to top $100 million. Fortunately, it is expected to open with over $100 million. On the other extreme, there are many, many films on this list that I’m not sure will open wide. Fortunately, last April wasn’t any better. The Jungle Book made nearly $1 billion worldwide, but the other nine films combined made less than half of that. To emphasize: the other nine films that opened last April averaged less than $50 million worldwide each. If The Fate of the Furious can just come close to the previous installment of the franchise, then 2017 has a solid shot at topping 2016.
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April 23rd, 2014
Knights of Badassdom came out on DVD and Blu-ray on April 1st, so this review is late. In my defense, the screener did arrive late, although to be fair, it didn't arrive that late. The film is clearly aimed at the nerd audience, especially those into RPGs and LARPing. Will it appeal to these fans? Will it have broader appeal?
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