November 14th, 2019
There are not many new releases on this week’s list, but there are several that are contenders for Pick of the Week. The two leading contenders are The Farewell and Star Trek: Discovery: Season Two. The former is the better show, but it is close, meanwhile, the latter has much better extras, giving it the slight advantage overall. On a side note, Yesterday Was a Lie was also in the competition for Pick of the Week. It didn’t quite win, but its Blu-ray deserves to be seen by a lot more people.
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October 30th, 2019
It’s a weird week on the home market, as there is not a big new wide release to talk about. However, there are several older releases, imports, etc. that are easily worth picking up and a couple of them are contenders for Pick of the Week. This includes the An American Werewolf in London: Limited Edition Blu-ray and the Godzilla The Showa-Era Films Box Set. Both are absolute must haves, but the latter’s price-tag might scare away some folks.
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September 26th, 2019
The last weekend of September has been a great week to release a second-tier animated film and there have been several $100 million hits released this week in the past. This year, Abominable is hoping to succeed in this role. It does have a lot going for it, including no competition, direct or otherwise, and reviews that are, while not spectacular, certainly a selling point. On the other hand, the buzz hasn’t grown the way it should. This weekend last year, Night School led the way with Smallfoot having a strong second place opening. Unfortunately, it looks like 2019’s small winning streak will come to an end, because it is unlikely Abominable will match last year’s number one film. It might not even match last year’s second place film.
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August 28th, 2019
Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw roared back into first place on the international chart earning $119.4 million in 68 markets for totals of $440.4 million internationally and $588.1 million worldwide. This includes a first place, three-day $99.08 million debut in China, for a total opening in the market of $103.06 million. Granted, films tend to have short legs in China, but a start like this will still give the film an easy time reaching $700 million worldwide, which is enough to be a financial success, even if it doesn’t match the previous installments in the franchise.
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August 27th, 2019
Angel Has Fallen led the way at the weekend with $21.38 million. There were some other pleasant surprises in the top ten and this helped the overall box office to a surprise win. It was down 9.6% from last weekend to $108 million; however, this was 5.6% higher than the same weekend last year and we haven’t had many reasons to celebrate in the year-over-year competition, so let’s focus on that. Year-to-date, 2019 is still behind 2018 and is so by nearly identical margins as last weekend at 6.3% or $500 million. This is still a deep hole to try and climb out of, especially since there are only four months left in the year, and I will be happy if we can just cut that gap in half by the end of the year.
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August 21st, 2019
Once Upon a Time... In Hollywood started its international run in earnest with $48.53 million over the three-day weekend, $55.22 million including previews and weekdays. It was playing on 10,054 screens in 59 markets and has a running tally of $65.44 million after two weeks of release. Its biggest market of the weekend was either France or the U.K., depending on how you look at it. In the former, it earned first place with $7.08 million on 683 screens. It also opened in first place in the latter with $6.22 million on 708 screens over the weekend, and had a total opening of $9.16 million. It also had strong openings in Germany ($5.06 million on 820 screens over the weekend for a total opening of $5.82 million); Australia ($4.52 million on 299 screens); and Spain ($2.41 million on 869 screens over the weekend for a total opening of $3.63 million).
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August 20th, 2019
It’s the dog days of summer and Good Boys was the only new release with an impressive debut of $21.40 million, while The Angry Birds Movie 2’s $16.09 million six-day debut isn’t a bad start for this time of year. There were a few holdovers to earn more than $10 million over the weekend, so the overall box office wasn’t a disaster, just a disappointment down 9.5% from last weekend to $119 million. More importantly, this is 7.7% lower the the same weekend last year. Year-to-date, 2019 has pulled in $7.35 billion, but this is 6.3% or $490 million behind last year’s pace. At this point, I don’t think it is possible for 2019 to catch up, but hopefully it can put together a strong last few months to at least save face. Additionally, the international box office is doing better, so worldwide it is close to a wash.
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August 18th, 2019
Good Boys and Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw are topping the weekend box office chart, so while the overall box office isn’t doing well, Universal is having a great weekend. Good Boys is leading the way with $21.0 million, which is not only better than our predictions, but better than Universal’s projections based on Friday’s estimates. It’s not all rosy, as the film’s reviews and its B plus from CinemaScore don’t suggest really long legs, while this is not the type of film to do well internationally. In fact, it is only pulling in $2.1 million during its opening weekend overseas, including $1.0 million in the U.K.
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August 17th, 2019
Good Boys earned first place on the Friday chart with $8.31 million. Universal is projecting a $20.8 million opening weekend based on this start, which would give the film a rather low internal multiplier. This is due to its reviews and its mere B plus from CinemaScore, neither of which are bad, but they are not great either. It would still be the fastest opening for a comedy all year and this is the first R-rated comedy to top the chart since The Boss debuted more than three years ago. On the one hand, this is great news for Good Boys. On the other hand, what the hell happened to the genre? R-rated comedies used to regularly earn $100 million or more at the box office.
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August 16th, 2019
We have preview numbers for a couple of new releases. Good Boys managed an impressive $2.1 million on Thursday, putting it in a great position to top our prediction by a substantial margin. I would love to get a pleasant surprise at the box office right now.
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August 15th, 2019
Like last weekend, there are five wide releases coming out this weekend, and again, this is just too many. I can’t imagine all of them will find an audience. In fact, I would be less surprised if none of them really found an audience and Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw remained in first place, than if all of them found an audience. The Angry Birds Movie 2 is the biggest of the new releases, but it debuted on Tuesday, so its demand will be deflated by the weekend. Good Boys has deceptively good reviews, but the buzz isn’t where it should be. 47 Meters Down: Uncaged is a horror film entering a too-crowded market. Meanwhile, both Blinded By the Light and Where’d You Go, Bernadette? will be lucky to avoid the Mendoza Line. This weekend last year, Crazy Rich Asians opened. It wasn’t a monster hit out of the gate, but it was a bigger hit than anything opening this weekend.
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August 1st, 2019
July bounced back from June with both Spider-Man: Far from Home and The Lion King getting to $1 billion worldwide. Domestically, we are still behind 2018’s pace by more than $400 million, but that’s a substantial improvement over where we were at the start of the month. August should continue this winning streak, at least initially. Hobbs and Shaw could open with close to $100 million, but the only other film opening this month that has a real shot at $100 million in total is Dora and the Lost City of Gold. Last August, both Crazy Rich Asians and The Meg topped $100 million, while Christopher Robin came within 1% of that milestone. This August might be better at the very top, but I don’t think the top three this month will top the top three last month. Maybe if we get a surprise hit, it will, but I’m not willing to bet on that. On the other hand, unless something dramatic happens, 2019 should at least come close to matching last year’s pace and that’s better than most months have done this year.
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June 20th, 2019
Animated adventure with an ensemble cast led by Jason Sudeikis and Josh Gad opens August 14 ... Full Movie Details.
When a new threat emerges that puts both Bird and Pig Island in danger, Red, Chuck, Bomb, and Mighty Eagle recruit Chuck’s sister Silver and team up with pigs Leonard, his assistant Courtney, and techpig Garry to forge an unsteady truce and form an unlikely superteam to save their homes.
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March 28th, 2019
Animated adventure opens August 16 ... Full Movie Details.
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March 1st, 2019
Animated adventure opens August 16 ... Full Movie Details.
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