February 23rd, 2019
-1-News.jpg)
The Independent Spirit Awards nominations kicked off the 2018 Awards Season and the winners are announced just before the end. If Beale Street Could Talk only had three nominations, but it won all three awards. This could be a good Omen for tomorrow’s Oscar ceremony.
More...
February 19th, 2019
-1-News.jpg)
With our annual Oscar Prediction contest underway, now is the best time to look at the nominees and try and figure out who the favorites are and which films should just feel honored to be nominated. Today we look at the two Screenwriting Categories, ending with with Best Original Screenplay. This category is actually competitive with three films I can see winning.
More...
February 18th, 2019
-1-News.jpg)
The Writers Guild of America announced their winners last night and I don’t know what to say. None of the favorites won and two of the winners were not even nominated for Oscars.
More...
January 10th, 2019
The Writers Guild of America has a lot of categories, as they hand out nearly 30 awards. However, only three of them are for theatrical releases. The list of nominees include several major Awards Season players and not a lot of surprises. There are some clear patterns emerging, but also some surprising results.
More...
January 9th, 2019
-2-News.jpg)
Directors Guild of America announced their theatrical nominations this week and we are starting to see some real patterns emerge and I think the Oscar picture is getting clearer.
More...
December 13th, 2018
The first instalment of our Holiday Gift Guide dealt with First-run Releases and the second instalment with, TV on DVD releases. The third installment of our Holiday Gift Guide deals with limited releases, classics, and foreign imports and this list can get out of hand rather quickly, so I will try and keep it to a dozen items or so, starting with...
More...
December 6th, 2018
-1-News.jpg)
The Golden Globes nominations are the second major Awards Season set to come out. It is still very early in the year and the predictive value of the Golden Globes is a little suspect, but there are still some things to learn here. For example Vice led the way with six nominations, so its Oscar chances have gone up, but don’t expect it to lead the way when the Oscars nominations are announced.
More...
November 17th, 2018
The Independent Spirit Awards nominations were announced on Friday and thus the 2018 Awards Season begins. We The Animals topped the list with five nominations, while A24 earned 12 as a studio.
More...
October 25th, 2018
-1-News.jpg)
Mid90s had a much better than expected start earning an average of $64,539 in four theaters. This is the third highest theater average of 2018 behind just Free Solo ($73,572 in four theaters) and Eighth Grade ($65,949 also in four theaters). On the other hand, its reviews are good, but not great, so it could struggle to expand wide. That said, I would be absolutely shocked if the film didn’t earn some measure of mainstream success after this start. Can You Ever Forgive Me? opened in second place with an average of $32,302 in five theaters. Its reviews are award-worthy, so it should have very long legs and if it actually picks up some major award nominations, it could expand truly wide. Wildlife also rode amazing reviews to an average of $26,147 in four theaters. The overall box office leader, Halloween, was next with an average of $19,405. The Price of Everything opened with $16,817 in one theater, while the re-release of Wings of Desire managed $12,885, also in one theater.
More...
October 9th, 2018
It’s not a bad week on the home market. The two biggest releases, Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation and Skyscraper, are both worth checking out, but not close to being Pick of the Week contenders. As for the best of the best, Eighth Grade is really the only choice, while Thelma Todd & Zasu Pitts: The Hal Roach Collection was the runner up. Killing Eve: Season One and Recovery of an MMO Junkie: The Complete Series could have been contenders, if they had significant extras.
More...
October 7th, 2018
Eighth Grade opened with stellar reviews and I even heard Oscar talk for its star, Elsie Fisher. This does have the negative side effect of increasing expectations. Can it live up to those expectations? And is the DVD / Blu-ray worth picking up?
More...
October 3rd, 2018
-1-News.jpg)
Free Solo didn’t quite live up to weekend estimates, but it still overtook Eighth Grade for the best theater average of the year with $72,551. It also surpassed An Inconvenient Truth as the documentary with the best theater average of all time. The Old Man and the Gun was in a distant second place with an average of $28,426 in five theaters, while Matangi/Maya/M.I.A. was close behind with an average of $21,787 in two. The only holdover in the $10,000 club was Colette with an average of $10,172 in 38 theaters. It will continue to expand.
More...
September 30th, 2018
The weekend box office lived up to expectations, for the most part. Night School is projected to earn $28 million over the weekend, which almost matches its $29 million production budget. It would take tiny legs to fail to cover its production budget, which is unlikely. Granted, its reviews are only 31% positive, but it earned an A minus from CinemaScore, so its target audience liked it a whole lot more than the critics did. Its international start wasn’t great at $5.5 million in 19 markets, but within expectations. It earned second place in the U.K. with $2.02 million in 452 theaters, as well as third place in Australia with $1.20 million on 198.
More...
August 16th, 2018
-1-News.jpg)
Skate Kitchen and Madeline’s Madeline had nearly identical openings earning $18,605 and $18,009 respectively. Both films were playing in only one theater a piece. The only other film in the $10,000 club was The Meg at $11,025.
More...
August 9th, 2018
The Miseducation of Cameron Post was the only film in the $10,000 club this past weekend earning an average of $24,319 in two theaters.
More...
August 2nd, 2018
-1-News.jpg)
Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood dominated the theater average chart earning first place with $28,144 in one theater. The next closest film was a fellow documentary, McQueen, which earned an average of $16,692 in five theaters during its second weekend of release. The overall number one film, Mission: Impossible—Fallout, was next with an average of $13,962. The final film in the $10,000 club was Puzzle, with an average of $12,243 in five theaters.
More...
July 25th, 2018
Eighth Grade remained on top of the theater average chart with an average of $24,975 in 33 theaters over the weekend. McQueen and Blindspotting were right behind with averages of $24,718 and $24,024 in 4 and 14 theaters respectively. The re-release of Wanda opened with $10,679 in one theater. The two wide releases of the week were next with The Equalizer 2 and Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again! in a virtual tie at $10,629 and $10,537 respectively.
More...
July 18th, 2018
Eighth Grade had the best theater average of the year with $65,949 , topping the previous champ, Isle of Dogs, by nearly 10%. On the other hand, Isle of Dogs opened in 27 theaters vs. 4 for Eighth Grade. Second place went to Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot with an average of $20,835 in four theaters. The only other member of the $10,000 club was the overall box office leader, Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation, which pulled in an average of $10,629.
More...
July 15th, 2018
It was not a close race at the box office this weekend, as Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation topped expectations and Skyscraper did not. Transylvania 3 will open with a projected $44.1 million over the weekend for a total opening of $45.4 million, including June 30th’s special showings. This is average for the franchise, as is its reviews and A minus CinemaScore. The film will have no trouble earning enough to cover its $65 million production budget domestically. Meanwhile, the film opened with $46.4 million on 12,600 screens in 442 markets internationally, representing just under half of the total international marketplace. Its biggest market was Mexico, where it earned $8.6 million, while it was also impressive in Russia with $5.8 million. Its only holdover is Australia, where it added $2.4 million to its running tally, which sits at $10.2 million after three weeks of release.
More...
July 14th, 2018
Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation easily won the box office race on Friday with $16.65 million during its opening day. This is a bit better than expected and puts it on pace for an opening weekend of $44 million, including special previews that took place June 30th. Its reviews are just below the overall positive level, while it managed an A minus from CinemaScore. That’s as low as a family film can go before it would hurt its legs. It should get to $100 million domestically without difficulty, but it won’t match the previous films in the franchise. It will break even and could even justify a fourth film.
More...
July 13th, 2018
There are several films based on real life events on this week’s list, three of which look like they were precision engineered to win Oscars. Of these, only Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot is earning good reviews. It’s not even earning the best reviews of the week, as Eighth Grade takes that title. Those two films could be in a battle for top spot on the theater average chart over the weekend.
More...
March 29th, 2018
Coming-of-age drama starring Elsie Fisher opens July 13 ... Full Movie Details.
More...
