December 22nd, 2014
Like every other week, new releases on the home market come out on Tuesday. Unlikely every other week, Christmas Eve is on Wednesday. Christmas Eve is the busiest shopping day of the year, but it is mostly last minute food purchases and almost no one is paying attention to new DVD and Blu-ray releases. This explains why there are so few new releases of note. That's not to say there are no releases worth checking out; in fact, there are four contenders for Pick of the Week. Continuum: Season 3 (DVD or Blu-ray); The Good Lie (Blu-ray Combo Pack); and The Trip to Italy (DVD or Blu-ray) were all in the running. However, in the end, I went with Pride (DVD or Blu-ray).
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December 21st, 2014
The Trip to Italy is a sequel to The Trip, which I previously reviewed. That movie was basically two people, Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon, travelling around northern England, eating food, and getting into weird conversations. Is this film any different? If not, is it worth watching a second time?
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September 24th, 2014
Awards Season might have begun, as there were six new releases in the $10,000 club this past weekend. Leading the way was Yellow Day, with an estimated $31,000 in one theater. 20,000 Days of Earth was close behind with $27,879 over the weekend and $30,969 over five days, also in one theater. Pump! earned an average of $14,059 in three theaters, which is particularly good for a documentary. A fellow documentary, Art and Craft, was next with an average of $11,500 in two theaters. Not Cool debuted with $10,329 on one theater, which is surprisingly strong, given its lack of reviews. Likewise, Hector and the Search for Happiness earned bad reviews, but still managed an average of $10,212 in four theaters.
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September 10th, 2014
There was only one film in the $10,000 club this weekend, Last Days in Vietnam, which earned an average of $15,225 in two theaters.
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August 27th, 2014
The only new limited release in the $10,000 club on the per theater chart was Love is Strange, which earned an average of $23,455 in five theaters. There were two holdovers in the $10,000 club with The Trip to Italy earning an average of $10,645 in ten theaters while The Admiral: Roaring Currents was right behind with an average of $10,213 in 47 screens.
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August 24th, 2014
Even though it is nine years since original movie opened with $29 million and topped a fairly lackluster April weekend, few predicted going into the Summer that Sin City: A Dame to Kill For would finish in 8th place on debut. In spite of little competition the neo-noir thriller will post about $6.5 million from 2,894 theaters, putting it in third place among the openers. Tearjerker If I Stay is the best new release this weekend, with an expected $16.35 million from 2,907 theaters, for a very respectable average of $5,600. It will be third overall behind Guardians of the Galaxy, which will pass $250 million today, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which falls to second place with $16.8 million this weekend and $145 million in total. With a little over $1 million separating the top three, it’s conceivable that the order could change when final results are reported on Monday.
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August 19th, 2014
The Trip to Italy led the way on the per theater chart with an average of $26,841 in three theaters during its opening weekend. The Admiral: Roaring Currents earned an average of $17,517 in 30 theaters during its second weekend of release. By this time next week, it will be at over $1 million in total. Frank was the final member of the $10,000 club with an opening of $16,056 in its lone theater.
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August 17th, 2014
Three lackluster debuts have allowed Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Guardians of the Galaxy to keep the top two spots at the box office this weekend. Turtles will be down a fairly modest 57% in its second weekend for $28.4 million, and $117.6 million in total after two weekends. Guardians will be down 41% in its third weekend for a total of $222 million, and will remain on track to become the highest-grossing film of the Summer. Things look much less pretty for the openers.
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August 15th, 2014
As the summer blockbuster season ends, there are a few limited releases that are actually fairly strong. Perhaps they are hoping to take advantage of the lull in blockbusters, or perhaps they are hoping to get a jump on Awards Season. Regardless why they picked this weekend to open, Abuse of Weakness, Frank, and The Trip to Italy all have a chance to thrive in the art house circuit.
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