November 6th, 2019
Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw is easily the biggest release of the week, but it is not the best. Pick of the Week contenders include Galaxy Quest and Good Omens, as well as Alice, Sweet Alice, which arrived late. I’m going with Good Omens, but all three are must haves.
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September 11th, 2019
There are two monster hits coming out this week, Aladdin and John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum, and this has scared away almost all of the competition. Fortunately, John Wick is amazing and a clear Pick of the Week contender. There was only one other film in contention for that title, Echo in the Canyon. Granted, I like Parabellum more, but it was already awarded the Pick of the Week when it hit VOD, so Echo in the Canyon gets the honor this week.
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November 24th, 2013
Thanksgiving is less than a week away and that means Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and a ton of shopping. It also means the first installment of our Holiday Gift Guide. Over the next month, we will talk about TV on DVD releases, independent releases, foreign language releases, classics, etc. but this week we start with Major Movie Releases. These are first run releases, franchise box sets, etc. However, this year seems weaker than years past. Last year the biggest new release was The Avengers, which was also one of the best reviewed wide releases of the year. This year the biggest release is Iron Man 3, which earned good reviews, but not great reviews. Last year there were a ton of franchise box sets. This year has been pretty barren. In fact, I think the only franchise box set that's truly new and really worth picking up is...
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November 20th, 2013
There are some good releases this week, but it is also a shallow week. If you look at Amazon.com's list of new releases, by the third or fourth page, you will find more filler than releases worth talking about. On the other hand, there are a number of late releases that finally arrived and I was able to get done. There are a number of contenders for Pick of the Week this week, including Doctor Who Story 29: The Tenth Planet, which is a must have for all Whovians. Kinky Boots is a very fun movie and you can't beat the price of the DVD. On the other hand, the Star Trek: The Next Generation Blu-ray releases for Season Five and Unification are expensive, but worth it for fans. In the end, I went with The World's End on Blu-ray Combo Pack for Pick of the Week.
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November 18th, 2013
The World's End is the final film of the Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy. The first two films were Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. This film was the least financially successful of the three films, but is it also the weakest? If so, is it so weak that it isn't worth checking out?
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August 29th, 2013
It's the Labor Day long weekend, which is widely regarded as the weakest long weekend of the year. This year there are two wide releases, One Direction: This is Us and Getaway, looking to grab the final box office dollars before Summer officially ends. (One could argue it unofficially ended weeks ago.) One Direction should have no trouble finding an audience among young girls, but there's a chance the more mature audience Lee Daniels' The Butler has been attracting will be large enough to withstand that push. Getaway, on the other hand, is just hoping to get one positive review before the weekend starts. There was a third film that was supposed to open wide this week, Closed Circuit, but it is now opening in 800 or so theaters, so it won't be a factor. Last year, there were two wide releases, both of which topped $10 million during the three-day weekend. The new releases this year won't match that, but there's better depth this time around.
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August 26th, 2013
Summer is rapidly ending and you can tell by the box office numbers of the wide releases this weekend. The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones had the biggest opening of the three wide releases, but not really the best opening. The World's End earned a little less over the three-day weekend, but it also reportedly cost just $20 million to make, so it will earn a profit, unlike City of Bones. The final new release was You're Next, which couldn't live up to its reviews, but again, it is rumored to have cost very little to make, perhaps less than $1 million, so it should break even sooner rather than later. With the weakness in the new releases, Lee Daniels' The Butler had no trouble repeating in first place, but the overall box office did fall by 21% from last weekend to $110 million. This was still better than last year by 12%, which extends 2013's winning streak to five weeks. Year-to-date, 2013 has pulled in $7.18 billion leading 2012's pace of $6.97 billion by 3%.
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August 25th, 2013
Lee Daniels' The Butler will enjoy a second weekend atop the box office chart thanks in part to a good hold, at 31% down from last weekend, but also because of a major misfire for Mortal Instruments: City of Bones on its opening weekend. The fantasy adventure will only muster about $9.3 million Friday-Sunday for $14.05 million after five days in release -- a big disappointment for a film that reportedly cost $60 million to produce. International markets will make up some of the gap, and a sequel is still said to be in the works, but North America won't contribute much if anything to the coffers after marketing costs are taken into account. The rest of the chart has some bright spots though.
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August 23rd, 2013
There are three wide releases coming out this week, well, two and a half really. The World's End is only opening in 1,548 theaters, but it is also earning by far the best reviews. It is probably still too much of a niche market to take top spot. You're Next is earning great reviews and horror films do have a history of doing well at this time of year. The final wide release of the week is The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones. Not only did it open on Wednesday, but its reviews are terrible. Last year there were three wide releases, all of them bombed. Combined they made less than $14 million. The new releases should have no trouble topping last year's new releases, while the holdovers are also stronger.
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August 1st, 2013
July was hit and miss at the box office, mostly miss. In fact, only two films really topped expectations, Despicable Me 2 and The Conjuring. That said, 2013 has nearly closed the gap with 2012 and it won't take much to pull ahead. Looking forward to August, we find that it is a very busy month with 16 or so films opening wide over five weeks. Of course, the closer you get to September, the more likely these films will struggle to find an audience, and more often than not, there are simply too many films opening wide to suspect they will all find an audience. On the high end, 2 Guns could be the biggest hit of the month with just over $100 million. The Smurfs 2 and Elysium could pull in $100 million. All three of those films are opening in the first two weeks of the month. After that, most of the new releases will be lucky if they reach $50 million during their theatrical runs. By comparison, last August was not as busy with 14 wide releases. Of those, only one film, The Bourne Legacy, topped $100 million, although a couple came reasonably close. Hopefully we will have more $100 million hits this time around and 2013 will be able to complete the comeback.
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