February 24th, 2022
Situated between the blockbuster releases of Uncharted and The Batman, this week’s newest wide releases are aiming at more targeted demographics, and they couldn’t be more different. Romantic musical Cyrano and horror comedy Studio 666 arrive in theaters this week. Uncharted stays this week’s widest release, keeping its opening count of 4,275 locations.
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October 19th, 2018
It’s an excellent week for limited releases with a trio of amazing films that have great star power as well. Can You Ever Forgive Me?, What They Had, and Wildlife all have a shot at box office success. Not to mention several documentaries, like On Her Shoulders, Sharkwater Extinction, Transformer, that could do well in limited release.
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June 24th, 2016
Wow. This is a great week for limited releases. Not only are there a few releases earning a lot of buzz (The Neon Demon, Swiss Army Man, and Wiener Dog). There are also even more movies earning 100% positive reviews. Of those, Hunt for the Wilderpeople is the one that I think will have the best chance of breakout success.
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June 17th, 2016
There's not a lot of limited releases coming out this week, but there is one that I'm really interested in seeing: Swiss Army Man. Its reviews are not the best, but its premise is certainly intriguing. On the other hand, Raiders! The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made is a better movie for fans of movies. It is certainly worth at least a VOD rental.
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December 13th, 2015
The third installment of the Holiday Gift Guide focuses on smaller releases, movies that opened in limited release, foreign films, classics getting new releases, and a few Canadian films. This year the list looks different to the previous guides for a simple reason. While there were only eight releases on the TV on DVD installment of the holiday gift guide, the first pass had more than 30 films on this list. I tried trimming the list, but that resulted in me remembering more films I wanted to add to it. Even after getting rid of the ones that won't be released until after Christmas, like Bone Tomahawk, there are still way too many releases to deal with. So let's not delay anymore and get to the list, starting with the biggest release...
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December 10th, 2015
The Golden Globes nominations were announced this morning and we are already beginning to see a trend for this year's Awards Season. For the most part, the same films are coming up over and over again. Carol led the way with five awards, while there was a three-way tie for second place with The Big Short, The Revenant and Steve Jobs each picking up four.
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November 25th, 2015
Awards Season begins with the Independent Spirit Awards nominations. There were definitely some surprise nominees this year, but that also meant there were some unfortunate snubs as well. The overall leader was Carol, which just opened this past weekend. This is great timing and should help its box office numbers, as well as its chances throughout Awards Season. Its six nominations were one ahead of Beasts of No Nation and Spotlight. (One of Spotlight's was the Robert Altman Award, which has no nominations, just one winner.)
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September 14th, 2015
Love and Mercy is a movie about a real life person dealing with adversity. It's a movie about a real life famous person dealing with adversity. This movie practically screams Oscar bait. However, while it won over a lot of critics, Oscar bait movies can't always translate critical acclaim into mainstream appeal. Is that the case here? Is it worth checking out for fans of the The Beach Boys? Will those with limited knowledge of their music enjoy the film?
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June 5th, 2015
In another improvement to our news this week, the Limited Releases column is expanding to cover both limited and VOD releases. I know what you are thinking. You are thinking, “aren't you already talking about VOD on the Home Market Releases column?” Yes. However, those are for VOD releases for films that already played in theaters some time ago. This column will include films that debut on VOD either before, or simultaneously with, their theatrical release. We think this it an important change, as too often the Limited Release column was “Limited Releases Playing in New York City and Possibly Los Angeles.” For people in most of the rest of the country, there were no films on the list playing anywhere near them. This week, there are at least a few films worth checking out, including We Are Still Here, which is playing on VOD and Love and Mercy and Testament of Youth, which are theatrical-only releases that both have a shot at mainstream success.
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September 20th, 2013
There might be a close race at the box office this weekend. The buzz surrounding Prisoners is growing enough that it should earn first place, but Insidious Chapter 2 might hold on well enough to challenge the newcomer for top spot. The other new release for the week is Battle of the Year, which is opening in fewer theaters than I thought it would and with much worse reviews. It likely won't be a factor. In fact, there's a slim chance that the 3-D re-release of The Wizard of Oz will earn more this weekend than Battle of the Year will. The best new releases from this week last year was End of Watch, which only managed $13.15 million. This is close to what it cost to make, but it is low for a number one film. On the other hand, last year had much better depth than this year will have, so 2013's winning streak might come to an end.
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October 29th, 2012
Paul Dano is an incredibly talented actor; however, his track record at the box office has been spotty. Ruby Sparks had enough buzz going in that some thought it would expand semi-wide. It did start out well, but by the third week of limited release, it was clear it wasn't going to find a mainstream audience. Did it deserve to perform better? Is it too art house? Or is there another reason it failed to live up to some expectations.
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