March 6th, 2019
It’s a weird week at the box office. There are no massive releases; Creed II, is by far the biggest release of the week. However, there are a ton of releases that would make the regular list in a normal week, but have been pushed into the Secondary Blu-ray list, mainly because I have nothing to say about them. There are some contenders for Pick of the Week, including The Favourite on Blu-ray Combo Pack and Liz and the Blue Bird on Blu-ray. It came down to a literally coin-toss here and The Favourite won.
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February 24th, 2019
It’s Oscar night and we will be live blogging the show. We will announce the winners and have our reactions as they happen, while keeping track of how our readers did in predicting the outcomes.
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February 24th, 2019
It’s Oscar Day, and we will be live blogging the show. Before that, let’s take a last look at the nominations with a few annotations. in Italics are those that have received the most votes from our readers so far in our Oscar contest (which is open to new entries until noon, Pacific, today—enter now!). Bold films are those films I think will win. Meanwhile, those that are Underlined are those I want to win. Not all categories have underlined nominees, because not all categories have someone I’m cheering for, or because there are two nominees I couldn’t pick between. For example, I would be happy with half of the Best Picture nominees winning.
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February 21st, 2019
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 end with the biggest award of the night: Best Picture. I don’t know who’s going to win. I think I know who the favorite is, but there are five films here that could win and I wouldn’t really be surprised.
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February 21st, 2019
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. Today we look at Best Director, which is not exactly competitive, but it is yet another category where we have a favorite, but where an upset wouldn’t be too shocking.
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February 19th, 2019
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. Today we look at the two Screenwriting Categories, ending with with Best Original Screenplay. This category is actually competitive with three films I can see winning.
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February 14th, 2019
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 look at the four acting categories, ending with Best Lead Actress. In this category, there is an overwhelming favorite without an obvious runner up.
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February 14th, 2019
There was only one new release in the $10,000 club this week, Everybody Knows, which earned an average of $17,802 in four theaters. Last week’s winner, Never Look Away, expanded into three theaters earning an average of $12,942. The 2019 Oscar Shorts didn’t make the $10,000 club, but it did earn nearly $1 million in 270 theaters for an average of $3,476, which is a better than 30% increase compared to the previous installment and easily the best of the franchise. Granted, it was also the widest release in the franchise, but this is still a start worth celebrating.
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February 13th, 2019
It’s a shallow week on the home market. That said, Bohemian Rhapsody was a monster hit, especially internationally. It isn’t a Pick of the Week contender, but we do have a trio of contenders: At Eternity’s Gate, Audition, and Shoplifters. It’s a close race, but Shoplifters came out on top.
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February 12th, 2019
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 look at the four acting categories, starting with Best Supporting Actress. In this category, there is not an overwhelming favorite this year, which is a bit of a change, as the acting categories haven’t been particularly competitive the past few years.
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February 11th, 2019
The BAFTA winners were announced and The Favorite led the way with 7 wins. Like I mentioned before, understandably, the BAFTAs tend to favor British films and this can lessen their ability to predict Oscar winners and The Favorite is such a British Film that they managed to spell the word correctly. That doesn’t mean there are no lessons we can learn from these results.
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January 31st, 2019
Never Look Away was the only film to earn a spot in the $10,000 club, as it earned $25,789 in its lone theater. It did earn an Oscar Nod for Best Foreign-Language Picture, so it could do very well in limited release.
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January 23rd, 2019
The Oscar nominations were announced yesterday starting at just after 5 am Pacific time. They do this every year for reasons no one has been able to adequately explain to me. Because it was the day after a long weekend, it took a bit of time to get all the normal work done and digest the results. And there were some interesting results to digest. No one film led the way with total nominations, as two films, The Favourite and Roma tied with 10 nominations each.
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January 17th, 2019
There were no films in the $10,000 club with Cold War coming the closest with $9,751 in ten theaters. The best new release was Touch Me Not, which opened with $7,903 in one theater.
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January 12th, 2019
The BAFTA nominations were announced and The Favorite led the way with 12 nominations. Sometimes the BAFTAs are a really good indicator for who will do well on Oscar night. Other times their bias to British films is too much. I think this year will be an example of the latter and I don't think The Favourite is suddenly an Oscar favorite. That said, there’s still some things you can learn here.
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January 7th, 2019
The Golden Globes were the first major Awards Season ceremony this year handing out the hardware on Sunday night. Are last night’s events a strong indicator for the Oscars? I hope not! Certainly not in all categories, as there were some puzzling results last night.
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January 4th, 2019
The Producers Guild of America announced their nominations in the theatrical categories today and there are some trends building. However, there are also some questions generated after these nominations were announced.
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January 2nd, 2019
It was a busy week on the theater average chart, as there were three new releases and three holdovers in the $10,000 club. On the Basis of Sex led the way with an average of $20,799 in 33 theaters. That’s an excellent start for a limited release playing in that many theaters. Second place went to Destroyer with an average of $18,449 in three theaters. The final new release in the $10,000 club was Stan and Ollie, which earn an average of $15,935 in five theaters. Cold War held on really well earning an average of $14,777 in three theaters. The overall box office leader, Aquaman, was next with an average of $12,634. If Beale Street Could Talk rounded out the $10,000 with an average of $11,788, and it managed this despite expanding its theater count to 65.
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December 27th, 2018
There were not many new limited releases releases, which let If Beale Street Could Talk remain on top with an average of $21,853 in five theaters. Cold War was the best of the new releases with an average of $18,118 in three theaters. The only other film in the $10,000 club over the weekend was Aquaman with an average of $16,485. Two films had averages of over $10,000 during their Christmas Day debuts, On the Basis of Sex (average of $14,483 in 33 theaters) and Destroyer (average of $10,246 in three).
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December 19th, 2018
There was only one new release in the $10,000 club this past weekend. If Beale Street Could Talk opened with an average of $56,119 in four theaters. The only other member of the $10,000 club was Mary Queen of Scots, with an average of $10,602 in 66 theaters during its second week of release. It will continue to expand, but it very likely won’t expand even semi-wide.
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December 12th, 2018
Mary Queen of Scots led the way on the theater average chart with an average of $48,694 in four theaters. Unfortunately, its reviews strongly suggest it won’t have long legs in limited release. Likewise, Vox Lux got off to a fast start with an average of $25,952 in six theaters, but it is earning nearly identical reviews, so it too will likely have short legs. Up next was Ben is Back with an average of $20,183 in four theaters. The Favourite remained in the $10,000 club for the third weekend in a row with an average of $16,523 in 91 theaters. It will almost certainly expand at least semi-wide at this point, especially if it continues to pick up Awards Season nominations.
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December 12th, 2018
The Screen Actors Guild were the third group to announce their nominations for this awards season. There’s not a lot of surprises on this week’s list. A Star is Born led the way with four nominations, while The Favourite was right behind with three.
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December 6th, 2018
The Golden Globes nominations are the second major Awards Season set to come out. It is still very early in the year and the predictive value of the Golden Globes is a little suspect, but there are still some things to learn here. For example Vice led the way with six nominations, so its Oscar chances have gone up, but don’t expect it to lead the way when the Oscars nominations are announced.
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December 2nd, 2018
Ralph Breaks the Internet will retain top spot on the weekend box office chart with an estimated $25.8 million for a two-week total of $119.3 million. Granted, this is lower than we predicted, but not so much lower than anyone at Disney should be panicking. Internationally, the film added an estimated $33.7 million in 27 markets, lifting its international total to $87.7 million after two weeks of release. Its only major market opening of the weekend was the U.K. where it reportedly earned $5.2 million. This is less than Wreck-It Ralph opened with, but that film debuted during the school holidays, so it got a boost. Ralph Breaks the Internet should have longer than average legs thanks to Christmas, but I don’t think it will match its predecessor in this market.
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November 29th, 2018
The Favourite had the best theater average, not only of the weekend, but of the year. It pulled in $422,000 in 4 theaters for an average of $105,603, putting it ahead of the previous leader for 2018, Suspiria. It is a lot more mainstream and shouldn’t have a problem expanding significantly beyond this point. Shoplifters was well back with an average of $17,853 in five theaters. The overall box office leader, Ralph Breaks The Internet, was next with an average of $14,000. The World Before Your Feet was the latest documentary to open in the $10,000 club earning an average of $11,241 in two theaters. The final film in the $10,000 club was also a wide release, Creed II, which earned an average of $10,338.
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November 25th, 2018
While Thanksgiving long weekend wasn’t as lucrative as earlier figures suggested, estimates are still better than our predictions. For example, Ralph Breaks the Internet should open with $55.67 million over the three-day weekend for a five-day opening of $84.47 million. This is technically the record for biggest Thanksgiving opening, as Frozen had a prestige opening the weekend before and only expanded wide on Thanksgiving. Internationally, the film reportedly made $41.5 million during its opening weekend. This doesn’t sound like a lot, but it is only playing in about a third of international markets, and only three major markets. It opened with an estimated $19.5 million in China, while it was also dominant in Mexico ($6.3 million) and Russia ($5.7 million). Overall, the film nearly tripled Wreck-it Ralph’s openings in the same markets. The film won’t have the same legs, as sequels almost never do, but this is still an amazing start and it is clearly on pace for $600 million worldwide.
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November 24th, 2018
Ralph Breaks the Internet again led the way on Friday with $21.74 million for a three-day total $50.54 million. Good news: It is still on pace to top our prediction; in fact, depending on when you read this on Saturday, it might have already done so. At this point, a five-day opening of $85 million seems like a safe bet. Bad news: it has fallen behind Moana’s daily pace, despite a much faster start, so it will definitely have weaker legs. It should still have no problem getting to $200 million domestically and still is in a race with Dr Seuss’ The Grinch for biggest hit of November. It’s just no longer a record-setting opening.
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November 22nd, 2018
Thanksgiving is a great weekend for wide releases, but a terrible one for limited releases. That said, while there are almost no films on this week’s list, two of them are earning Award-worthy reviews: The Favourite and Roma. However, Roma is playing on Netflix, so its box office chances are nearly zero.
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November 17th, 2018
The Independent Spirit Awards nominations were announced on Friday and thus the 2018 Awards Season begins. We The Animals topped the list with five nominations, while A24 earned 12 as a studio.
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July 9th, 2018
Historical drama starring Olivia Colman, Emma Stone, and Rachel Weisz opens November 23 ... Full Movie Details.
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