February 21st, 2020
There are plenty of well-reviewed limited releases on this week’s list, including Emma, which is also earning the loudest buzz. I’m personally most interested in seeing Violet Evergarden: Eternity and the Auto Memories Doll, but True Fiction, Vitalina Varela, and some others are also intriguing.
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February 13th, 2020
It is very rare for a horror film to lead the way on the theater average chart, but The Lodge did just that with an average of $12,709 in six theaters. The only other member of the $10,000 club was Cane River, which earned $10,240 in its lone theater.
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January 30th, 2020
No film cracked $10,000 on the theater average chart this week. Bad Boys for Life came the closest with an average of $9,010.
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January 23rd, 2020
Bad Boys for Life easily won the race for top spot on the theater average chart. In fact, it was the only film in the $10,000 club with an average of $16,557. The best new limited release of the week was Weathering With You, which earned $5.28 million, although that was over six days. It managed an average of $3,716 in 486 theaters over the three-day weekend, which isn’t enough to expand, but it is enough to encourage more theater owners to book Anime in the future.
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January 22nd, 2020
The first long weekend of the year was fantastic at the box office as Bad Boys for Life set a number of box office records, including MLK Long Weekend Opening Record, which is arguably the most prestigious of the records it set. Dolittle, on the other hand, managed to avoid embarrassing itself, which is about as good as it was going to get after its troubled production. Overall, the box office had amazing growth from last weekend, improving by 25% to $166 million. More importantly, this is 28% higher than the same weekend last year. Year-to-date, 2020 is ahead of 2019 by 10.5% or $63 million at $666 million to $602 million; however, every little bit helps. We don’t have an Endgame this year, so getting off to a fast start will be more important than usual.
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January 19th, 2020
The weekend estimates are a little more estimated than usual, because it is a long weekend, so studios are predicting Monday’s results the day before they happen, and there’s a larger margin of error than usual. That said, Bad Boys for Life is going to have no trouble topping the old MLK long weekend opening record, as it is projected to earn $59.2 million / $68.1 million over the weekend. Its three-day figure is almost $10 million more than the previous record holder, Ride Along, earned over three days. And yes, it has the opening weekend record. American Sniper was a December release that expanded wide on MLK weekend. On another positive note, the film’s reviews have risen to 76% positive, which is enough to earn a Certified Fresh rating from Rotten Tomatoes, although the site appears to be slow on awarding that. Additionally, the film earned an A-rating from CinemaScore, so audiences liked the film even more than critics did. The audience was 39% African-Americans, compared to 33% Caucasian, while it was 61% male. No real surprises there. The film is earning $38.6 million on 8,200 screens in 39 markets during its international debut, including stellar openings in Germany ($5.1 million) and the U.K. ($5.0 million).
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January 18th, 2020
Bad Boys for Life earned $23.5 million on Friday, which is the biggest opening day in January, breaking the previous record of $17.16 million set by Cloverfield back in 2008. It is also way more than anticipated, and puts it on pace to crush the opening weekend record for MLK weekend, and all of the associated records. In fact, Sony is projecting a $66 million four-day debut as a result of this start. There are reasons to be bullish, including the film’s solid reviews and its A-rating from CinemaScore. The film is already the biggest hit released in 2020 and if this is a sign of things to come, then we are in for a good year.
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January 17th, 2020
It’s yet another slow week for limited releases. That’s not to say there are no films worth checking out. Weathering With You is earning outstanding reviews and will be the biggest hit opening this week. Extracurricular and Feedback are also worth checking out, but they will find audiences on VOD, not in theaters.
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January 17th, 2020
Bad Boys for Life had the best MLK weekend previews earning $6.36 million on Thursday. Granted, best MLK weekend previews don’t even make the top 50 all-time previews, but it is still a good sign going forward. Given the film’s reviews, this should translate into a record opening for MLK long weekend of over $50 million, maybe even $60 million. It depends on the film’s legs and how much the Sequel Effect shortens its legs. I remain cautiously optimistic about the film’s chances.
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November 6th, 2019
Terminator: Dark Fate cracked the $100 million mark worldwide during its first weekend. $101.9 million to be more precise, giving it an early total of $123.6 million so far. Sadly, this is just $72.9 million internationally in 48 markets and that’s just not enough given the film’s production budget. Its biggest market was China, where it opened in second place with $26.84 million over the weekend for a total opening of $28.58 million. The film debuted in first place in South Korea with $7.19 million on 1,315 theaters over the weekend for a total opening of $9.79 million. Had the movie merely cost $100 million, then I would be a lot more happy with this result, but the movie cost a lot more than that and needs close to $500 million worldwide to break even any time soon. I just don’t see that happening.
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