August 4th, 2020
TV on DVD is dominating the home market this week and it is even more dominant next week. Unfortunately, while there are a lot of TV releases this week, we don’t have many that are prime releases. Fans of Doctor Who will want the latest Tom Baker Blu-ray set. His Dark Materials is working better as a TV series than it did as a movie. The two biggest theatrical releases of the week were both animated. Ride Your Wave is the better film, but Promare has the better extras. Both are contenders for Pick of the Week and in the end Ride Your Wave wins the title.
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June 3rd, 2020
It could be a really expensive week on the home market, as there are a number of prime releases, as well as a few potential hidden gems. The Blu-ray special releases of Glengarry Glen Ross, Jaws, and One Cut of the Dead are all worth picking up, especially if you don’t already own the film on Blu-ray. The lack of impressive extras hurt Harley Quinn: The Complete First Season and Sound! Euphonium - Our Promise: A Brand New Day, but I still pre-ordered both of them. As for Pick-of-the-Week contenders, there were three titles battling for that honor: Star Trek: Short Treks, Tokyo Godfathers, and Watchmen: An HBO Limited Series. In the end, Watchmen gets the prize, but it was a close call.
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May 13th, 2020
It’s a good week for DVDs and Blu-rays with several that are worth picking up. This includes Birds of Prey, which is the biggest new release of the week and its DVD / Blu-ray / 4K Ultra HD releases are loaded with extras. The Great Escape is a better movie and the Criterion Collection DVD / Blu-ray also has plenty of extras, but it is a double-dip. Both were in contention for the Pick of the Week title, but in the end, I went with The Great Escape.
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October 17th, 2019
It’s a really slow week with Crawl being the biggest release of the week, and it wasn’t a monster hit at the box office. Fortunately, it is also the best DVD / Blu-ray release of the week and was the only real contender for Pick of the Week.
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November 18th, 2017
Here at The Numbers, we strive to improve your reading experience by adding more features we believe you will find interesting. Today, we have two new features to talk about. Firstly, we have a series of new acting records for the various categorizations we use. For example, the highest grossing leading actors in films based on a TV show. The number one actor is Shia LaBeouf, who starred in the first three Transformers movies. Number two is Tom Cruise, who is the star of the Mission: Impossible franchise, while number five is Justin Long, who provided the voice for the titular character in the Alvin and the Chipmunks films. Starting to notice a pattern? Nearly everyone on the top of this list is someone who starred in one TV adaptation that turned into a lucrative franchise. The only exception is Simon Pegg, who has been in two of these franchises: Mission: Impossible and Star Trek trilogy.
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June 25th, 2017
A tepid $45.3 million Friday-to-Sunday domestic weekend for Transformers: The Last Knight is pretty much unmitigated bad news for Paramount Pictures. The studio is in desperate need of a hit, and the Transformers franchise is by far their biggest property. Even including the film’s grosses from Wednesday and Thursday, its $69 million debut is barely in the top ten for the year so far, and poor reviews and a B+ CinemaScore mean that it won’t have significant legs, even with a bit of help from the upcoming July 4 weekend. So all eyes are going to be on its overseas performance.
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December 5th, 2016
There are a few releases on this week’s list that are worth picking up. The Secret Life of Pets is by far the biggest release of the week. That said, Don’t Think Twice is the best and the Blu-ray is our Pick of the Week.
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November 22nd, 2016
It’s Thanksgiving weekend, which means Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and of course the first installment of our Holiday Gift Guide. This week we will tackle first run releases, as well as franchise box sets, although there aren’t many of the latter to talk about. In fact, the best movie box set of the year includes more TV shows than movies in its running time and I’ve decided to include it in our second part, which deals with TV on DVD releases. There are still a number of big first-run releases this year that are definitely worthy gifts. We are going to start with the biggest domestic hit of the year...
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November 2nd, 2016
The Home Market Release Report is a day late this week for a trio of reasons. Firstly, the November Preview was also due the same day. Secondly, it was a very busy week. And finally, I’m suffering from a medical condition a lot of Canadians suffer from this time of year... acute Coffee Crisp poisoning. I’m not saying I ate four dozen fun-sized Coffee Crisps in the past three days... I’m not saying that, because it was actually an even 50. Don’t judge me. ... Okay, judge me. Clearly mistakes were made. It is a busy week, but not very deep week. Star Trek Beyond is by far the biggest and best release of the week and the various home market releases are the pick of the week. There wasn’t a lot of competition for that title, but Bad Moms is also worth picking up.
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October 31st, 2016
Long time readers don’t need me to explain how much I love Star Trek in all of its incarnations. ... Okay, most of its incarnations. I haven’t been a fan of the first two installments in the reboot franchise. The third film, Star Trek Beyond, was the weakest of them at the box office. Is it also the weakest of the three in quality? Or was the third the charmed?
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August 9th, 2016
Overall, the weekend lived up to expectations, with Suicide Squad doing a little better than expected at the expense of some of its competition. For example, Jason Bourne had one of the worst sophomore stint declines of the summer. The overall box office rose 20% from last weekend hitting $229 million. Suicide Squad earned more this weekend than the entire box office earned this weekend last year, so it should come as no surprise that the year-over-year growth was stunning at 73%. Year-to-date, 2016 saw its lead over 2015 grow by more than $100 million hitting 5.3% at $7.16 billion to $6.80 billion.
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August 7th, 2016
One of the most talked-about debuts of the year is shaping up to be one of the better ones. Suicide Squad will open with about $135 million, according to Warner Bros., easily the biggest weekend in August, beating Guardians of the Galaxy’s $94.3 million in 2014. It’s also the 3rd-best weekend in 2016, and should earn a little more than Deadpool’s $132 million debut. In spite of these awesome stats, there’s about as much negative press for the film as positive, and some of it not entirely fair.
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August 4th, 2016
Before we talk about the weekend predictions... Warner Bros. owns D.C. Comics and a 30% share in Rotten Tomatoes. So accusing Rotten Tomatoes of having an anti-D.C. bias is silly. Starting a petition to shut down Rotten Tomatoes is a sign you really need a more productive hobby. I suggest Magic: The Gathering. ... Moving on... Suicide Squad is the last major release of the summer. Unfortunately, its reviews are among the worst of any $100 million movie released this summer. The counter-programming this week is Nine Lives, a talking animal / body swap movie that still has no reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. Many analysts think it will fail to reach the top five during its opening weekend. This weekend last year was the weekend Fantastic Four opened. Suicide Squad should crush that movie at the box office. In fact, it should earn more than the top ten earned last year.
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July 31st, 2016
When it comes to “star power” in Hollywood, I’ve been a skeptic ever since we launched our Bankability Index, and started looking at the real influence a single actor has on the performance of a film. With some notable exceptions (Tom Cruise and Sandra Bullock chief among them these days), actors generally don’t move the box office dial much when they appear in a generic film. But this weekend’s opening of Jason Bourne shows what the combination of the right actor in the right role can do. In spite of virtually identical reviews to 2012’s The Bourne Legacy, the new film, a franchise un-re-boot if you will, starring Matt Damon in the role he made iconic, will post a very solid $60 million this weekend. To be fair, that’s a bit behind the inflation-adjusted openings of The Bourne Ultimatum and The Bourne Supremacy, but it’s far better than the $38 million earned by Legacy when it debuted.
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July 28th, 2016
Skiptrace earned first place internationally with $47.37 million over the weekend for a total opening of $63.04 million. The film dominated the box office in its native China with $45.58 million last weekend for a four-day opening of $61.25 million. This is the best opening in Jackie Chan's career, but unfortunately, it is only getting a limited release here.
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July 26th, 2016
As expected, Star Trek Beyond earned first place on the weekend box office chart and while it didn’t live up to my lofty predictions, it still did very well with $59.25 million. The next two wide releases, Lights Out and Ice Age: Collision Course, had nearly identical openings with $21.69 million and $21.37 million respectively. For Lights Out, this is a breakout opening and means it is practically guaranteed a profit and will likely get a sequel. For Collision Course, it is a sign that they should retire the franchise. Both The Secret Life of Pets and Ghostbusters earned $20 million, meaning every film in the top five topped that mark, tying with the record most recently set last May. The overall box office was 20% higher than last week at $196 million. This is also 29% higher than the same weekend last year. Since last week, the year-over-year competition got a little closer at $6.55 billion to $6.41 billion. 2016 is still ahead by 2.2%, but this is less than the ticket price inflation.
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July 24th, 2016
Star Trek Beyond will fall just short of $60 million at the box office this weekend, according to Sunday estimates from Paramount. The studio has the film coming in at $59.6 million over three days, which is substantially short of the $79.2 million earned on debut by Star Trek (the reboot) in 2009, and the $70.2 million made by Star Trek Into Darkness. The so-so start comes in spite of excellent reviews, which are now running at 84% on Rotten Tomatoes, and the franchise seems to have trouble reaching beyond its core audience.
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July 22nd, 2016
Star Trek Beyond got off to a fast start with $5.5 million during its midnight previews. This is $2 million more than Ghostbusters made last weekend, plus it has better reviews. On the other hand, it is a sequel, so the comparison isn’t perfect. We could compare it to the previous installment in the franchise, but that film opened on a Wednesday. X-Men: Apocalypse earned $8.4 million in its previews, but that film earned weaker reviews and is a comic book movie, which tend to be more front-loaded. I was a little more bullish than most with my prediction, but this result make me feel a lot better.
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July 21st, 2016
Star Trek Beyond leads a pack of three wide releases this weekend and there are some who think it will have the best live-action release since Captain America: Civil War. That would be great news for the overall box office. Ice Age: Collision Course has to deal with direct competition and terrible reviews, but it should still do relatively well thanks to goodwill its franchise has built up. The final new release of the week is Lights Out. This low-budget horror film won’t need to earn $20 million over the weekend to break even, but there’s a slim chance it will. In fact, The Secret Life of Pets should easily add another $20 million to its running tally, and Ghostbusters has a good shot at doing the same. So we could have five films earning $20 million over the weekend for the first time in a year. We should have three films earning more than $25 million. Meanwhile this weekend last year, there were no films that earned more than $25 million. Hopefully 2016 will win the year-over-year competition with ease.
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July 1st, 2016
It's July 1st, which is Canada Day. To celebrate, I wanted to give a gift to my American readers down south, so here's a bunch of "u"s. U, u, u, u, u, u, u, u, u, u, u, u, u, u, u, u, u, u, u, u, u, u, u, u, u, u, u, u, u, u, u, u, u, u, u, u, u, u, u, u, u, u, u, u. Now you can spell words like "colour" and "neighbour" correctly. As for the July preview... June wasn't a good month, despite Finding Dory being on pace to become the biggest hit of the year so far. Most other films failed to match expectations and as a result, 2016's lead over 2015 has nearly evaporated. In fact, ticket sales are below last year's pace. So how does July look in comparison? Well, last July, there were five films that earned more than $100 million, led by Minions, which earned more than $300 million. This July, there are five films that should earn more than $100 million, led by The Secret Life of Pets, which should earned around $250 million. I don't think July 2016 will live up to July 2015, but it should be close. Maybe if one of the expected midlevel hits is a surprise $100 million hit, or if two more of the $100 million hits crack $200 million, then the month will look great. Or one of the expected $100 million hits could flop and 2016 will actually fall behind 2015, even without taking into account ticket price inflation.
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June 14th, 2016
It is a much slower week than it was last time. In fact, the only two reviews this week were for releases that came out last week. That doesn't mean we don't have any good releases and there are a few contenders for Pick of the Week. Of these, Hello, My Name is Doris is the one I'm most interested in buying and the Blu-ray, while not loaded with extras, is the Pick of the Week. I'm also giving an honorary Puck of the Week to Dark Matter: Season 1, which is a Canadian Sci-fi series.
(On a side note, Amazon's list of new releases is a mess with a bunch of Game of Thrones and Star Trek titles, most of which don't even have images. This made sorting through the new releases a lot harder.)
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June 12th, 2016
I've never done a full featured review of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, although I have reviewed it as part of a couple of box sets in the past. It is widely considered the best film in the franchise and I absolutely agree with that assessment. Last week, the Director's Cut came out on Blu-ray for the first time individually. I assume most fans of the franchise already own this film on DVD, and Blu-ray, and if they are like me, on VHS as well. So the question isn't, "Is this a movie worth owning." It's, "Is it worth buying for the fifth or sixth time?"
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June 8th, 2016
The list of new home market releases isn't particularly long, but it includes Zootopia the best movie of the year, so it feels like an amazing week. It isn't the only contender for Pick of the Week this week, as Anomalisa, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan: Director's Cut, and others are also worth considering. The Martian: Extended Edition is also a must have, if you don't own it yet.
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February 8th, 2016
It's a strange week on the home market, as we have a monster release coming out, Spectre. There are also four or so releases that are contenders for Pick of the Week. But after that, there's a huge drop in quality and we quickly reach releases that are not even worthy of being fillers. Of the contenders, Grandma is the Pick of the Week and it is certainly worth picking up on Blu-ray.
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December 13th, 2014
The third installment of our annual Holiday Gift Guide involves limited releases, including foreign films and documentaries; classics hitting DVD or Blu-ray for the first time; and of course Canadian films. There were better choices for the limited releases than there were for big releases and TV on DVD releases, which is good news, because this Holiday Gift Guide feels that it ahs been lackluster so far. There have been many great limited releases to come out this year, including several foreign-language films to find some measure of mainstream success. On the downside, every year a lot of these movies hit theaters in the fall, so they won't hit the home market for months. That said, there are still some real highlights among the limited releases, classics, and Canadian films. In fact, we start off with the highest of the highlights for the entire year.
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September 9th, 2014
The Christmas shopping season has begun in full force. Even if Captain America: The Winter Soldier were the only new release this week, it would be a great release, as the Combo Packs are clearly pick of the week contenders. It's not the only Pick of the Week contender. Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Season 1 is also a prime contender, although I'm still waiting for the screener for that release. At the moment, I'm giving the win to Captain America: The Winter Soldier, but when I get a chance to review the screener, that might change.
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September 7th, 2014
Star Trek fans are never at a loss for things to buy. The studio seems to know the fans will buy everything they put out, so they put out a lot of otherwise questionable releases. Is this one of those questionable releases? Or is there real value here?
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January 1st, 2014
It's the first month of the new year, but the biggest hit might be a film released in December. Last month ended on a slow note with all five Christmas day releases failing to become hits, some more than others. (It's a little too soon to tell if The Wolf of Wall Street or The Secret Life of Walter Mitty will do well enough to break even any time soon, but neither is a serious hit.) There are still some December releases that will likely remain on the charts through the opening weekends of January, while there are some films that opened in limited release last month with a scheduled wide release this month. Of the purely January releases, I would guess Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit will be the biggest hit. Even then, it won't live up to the previous films in the franchise, even if you don't take inflation into account. Most of the rest of the new releases will be happy if they can become midlevel hits. Last January was led by Mama, which earned more than $70 million. I think Shadow Recruit will top that figure at the box office, while there are a similar number of likely box office bombs opening this year as there were last year. 2014 could start out ahead of 2013's pace, but it likely won't be a huge difference either way.
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October 23rd, 2013
New releases were more prevalent on the August 4th, 2013 edition of the Blu-ray sales chart than they were on the DVD sales chart. G.I. Joe: Retaliation again led the way with 585,000 units / $11.67 million for an opening week Blu-ray share of 52%. Granted, this is a near perfect film for Blu-ray (visually intensive action film aimed at a Fanboy audience) but this is still an impressive result.
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September 10th, 2013
The home market is looking to be a whole lot brighter this week with Star Trek into Darkness leading the way. It's not the only first-run release to come out this week, but it is by far the biggest. On the other hand, there are tons of TV on DVD releases, tons and tons of them. This includes Homeland: Season Two, which is a contender for Pick of the Week. However, the screener is on its way, so I'm going to hold off on that declaration. Instead, that honor goes to Castle: Season Five. Meanwhile, War Witch's DVD release earns the Puck of the Week for the best Canadian release.
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September 9th, 2013
Star Trek: The Original Series began nearly 50 years ago and created a TV and movie franchise that is still going on. The franchise has had its share of low points, but the 2009 reboot, Star Trek, revitalized the franchise at the box office. Star Trek into Darkness did even better at the box office. But did it deserve this box office success? Does it live up to franchise as a whole?
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August 15th, 2013
We are entering the beginning of TV on DVD season on the home market. As the fall schedule ramps up, more and more TV on DVD releases will come out. This week we have Once Upon A Time: The Complete Second Season on DVD and Blu-ray, as well as Girls: The Complete Second Season, also on DVD and Blu-ray Combo Pack. Both are worth checking out, but I'm waiting for the screeners for both, so I don't want to award either the Pick of the Week. Instead, I'm giving that honor to The Muppet Movie: The Nearly 35th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray. Meanwhile, What Maisie Knew on DVD or Blu-ray Combo Pack is a close second.
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July 8th, 2013
It is a very busy week on the home market with four wide releases, five if you count Spring Breakers, which expanded semi-wide during its second weekend of release. None of these films were big hits at the box office. In fact, the five of them combined made $122 million. Additionally, only one of them earned good reviews. Fortunately, not only did Spring Breakers earn good reviews, its DVD and Blu-ray Combo Pack are loaded, enough to be a contender for Pick of the Week. The other main contender is The Legend of Korra - Book One: Air. Unfortunately, I'm still waiting for the screener for both of those releases, and I hate handing out the Pick of the Week when the screener is on its way. Because of that, I'm going with a late review, Wilfred: Season Two on DVD or Blu-ray.
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May 1st, 2013
As April ends and summer begins, we see the 2013 box office on a losing streak. There is some good news, as May should be much, much, much better than April was. Much better. During the five weekends in May, there are nine films opening wide. Of those film, there are seven that at least have a shot at $100 million. And of those seven films, four at least have a shot at $200 million, two have a shot at $300 million, and we might even have a $400 million hit this month. Iron Man 3 should turn out to be the biggest hit of the month, while there are some who think Star Trek: Into Darkness could be a close competitor for that honor. There's also some bad news. The Avengers opened last May and earned more than $600 million. No film opening this month will come close to that figure. There's a chance the top two films opening this month won't match that combined. On the other hand, last year there was a huge drop-off from the biggest hit of the month to the second biggest hit of the month. There were so many high-profile failures last year, that 2013 might actually start winning some weekends in the year-over-year comparison.
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April 30th, 2013
Like I mentioned last week, this week the biggest release on the home market is Silver Linings Playbook, while there are a couple other sizable releases, like Star Trek: The Next Generation: Season Three on Blu-ray. However, you quickly run into filler as you look down the list. Fortunately, Silver Linings Playbook is such a great movie that the Blu-ray Combo Pack would be Pick of the Week material, even during a busy week. It is not the only contender for that title. Even sight unseen, Kyatto-Ninden Teyandee Complete Series Megaset comes a close second, while Star Trek: The Next Generation: Season Three earned that title last week.
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