June 11th, 2014
This week's list of new DVD and Blu-rays includes a couple of first run releases, but neither are really must haves. Of all of the theatrical releases coming out this week, Alan Partridge on DVD or Blu-ray is the one I'm most interested in seeing, but the screener is still late. I'm also waiting for the screener for Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, but I saw every episode on TV and the DVD or Blu-ray is clearly a contender for Pick of the Week. So is True Detective: Season One on DVD or Blu-ray. It was a bit of a coin toss, but in the end I went with Cosmos.
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March 19th, 2014
Despite expanding from 4 to 66 theaters, The Grand Budapest Hotel held on well enough to lead the per theater chart with ease. In fact, its average of $55,122 was the second best per theater average for the year, behind only its opening weekend. Bad Words came in second place with an average of $18,884 in six theaters. This is a good opening, but not one that suggests it could naturally expand wide. Fortunately, the film already has a wide release scheduled and as the ad campaign for the wide release ramps up, it should at least become a midlevel hit when compared to its production budget. Enemy was right behind with an estimated $18,000 in its lone theater. Le Week-End was the final film in the $10,000 club as it earned an average of $14,536 in three theaters during its opening weekend of release.
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February 5th, 2014
Tim's Vermeer led the way on the per theater chart with an average of $14,468 in four theaters. It was the only film to reach $10,000 on the per theater chart this weekend. Peter Brook: The Tightrope did make $10,301 in one theater, but that was over five days. Over the weekend, it pulled in $6,768.
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February 2nd, 2014
With distributors aiming for counter-programming over Super Bowl weekend, Ride Along will win this weekend fairly comfortably, according to estimates released on Sunday. Universal is projecting a $12.3 million weekend, down 42% from last time, and a cume by Monday morning of nearly $93 million. That should set the film up to cross $100 million in the next week, and makes it a rare winner of 3 weekends in a row. Second place is a toss-up between Frozen and That Awkward Moment, although Disney is laying claim to the prize right now with $9.3 million projected, up 2% from last weekend thanks to a new sing-along version of Frozen introduced to theaters on Friday.
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January 31st, 2014
It's a rather busy week for limited releases, but not a good week. There are a couple of films that are earning overwhelmingly good reviews, 12 O'Clock Boys and Tim's Vermeer, but there are more films earning terrible reviews. The limited release I'm most interested in are the 2014 Oscar Shorts. This year they are split into four films (live action, animated, and two for the documentaries) and should easily be the biggest limited release of the weekend. The total combined reviews are 30 positive and only 4 negative.
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