February 3rd, 2014
It's another slow week on the home market. There are five or so first run releases, but the biggest box office was earned by Free Birds, which earned $55 million. Fortunately, while there are no box office hits, there are some high quality releases, led by Dallas Buyers Club. Unfortunately, the DVD and Blu-ray Combo Pack has so few extras that I'm convinced a special edition is on its way, so it isn't a Pick of the Week contender. So what are the Pick of the Week contenders this week? First there's Cutie and the Boxer on DVD or Blu-ray. Second there's ... Cutie and the Boxer is the Pick of the Week.
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February 1st, 2014
Escape Plan features two of the biggest action stars of the 1980s, Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger. It earned mixed reviews and failed to find an audience here. (It did perform well enough internationally that it could break even early on the home market.) Is the film better than its box office performance? Or did it fail to find an audience for a reason?
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November 20th, 2013
Thor: The Dark World completed the hat trick earning first place for the third weekend in a row. It pulled in $52.5 million on 3,841 screens in 69 markets for totals of $332.8 million internationally and $477.9 million worldwide. This is already more than the original Thor finished with and possibly already enough to break even. (It depends on its global P&A budget.) The film had no major market openings this past weekend, but it did debut in first place in Argentina with $1.73 million on 256 screens. Its biggest market so far is China at $41.8 million, while Russia is second with $32.07 million. The film has yet to open in Italy and Japan, so it might hit a few more milestones. On the other hand, it will surrender top spot this weekend to The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.
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November 14th, 2013
Thor: The Dark World debuted last weekend, but thanks to a number of new markets this weekend, it was even more dominant on the international chart. It pulled in $94 million in 66 markets, which lifts its running tally to $240.9 million internationally and $326.6 million worldwide. Its biggest market was China where it made $20.98 million. In comparison, Thor made about $15 million there, in total. This is incredible growth. It grew in Russia rising to $11.44 million on 1,500 screens for a total of $24.04 million after two weeks of release. The original Thor finished with $268.30 million internationally, which is a figure Thor 2 will smash through by the weekend. It might make more internationally than the first film made worldwide and it could help Disney break the all-time single year global box office record, currently at $3.791 billion, which it earned in 2010.
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October 30th, 2013
Gravity earned first place for the fourth week with $37.7 million on 7,340 screens in 53 markets for a total of $164.4 million internationally and $364.0 million worldwide. This weekend it debuted in first place in France with a very impressive $10.76 million on 398 screens. It also remained in first place in South Korea with $5.29 million on 531 screens over the weekend for a two-week total of $15.55 million. It also repeated in top spot in Mexico with $3.79 million on 1,563 screens over the weekend for a total of $12.04 million after two. The film will likely pull in close to $100 million in just these holdovers, plus it has yet to open in the U.K., Japan and China, so it could make another $100 million in those three markets as well.
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October 29th, 2013
The month long slump 2013 has been on is finally over, thanks in part to Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa. However, the overall box office still wasn't that good, as it was down slightly from last weekend to $102 million. Granted, "slightly" in this case means a fraction of 1%, so it isn't troubling. On the other hand, it was 10% higher than the same weekend last year. Unfortunately, year-to-date, 2013's lead over 2012 has shrunk to just $50 million or 0.6% at $8.49 billion to $8.44 billion. In fact, 2013 has not sold less tickets than 2012 had at this point in its run. That's not good and it is unlikely things will turn around in the coming few weeks.
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October 24th, 2013
For the third weekend in a row, Gravity led the way on the international chart and reached a major milestone in the process. This past weekend, it pulled in $33.5 million on 7,900 screens in 51 markets for an international total of $114.2 million and a worldwide total $283.8 million. It opened in first place in two major markets led by South Korea where it earned $6.30 million on 636 screens over the weekend for a total opening of $7.29 million. Meanwhile in Mexico, it made $5.75 million on 1,783 screens. Its biggest market overall is Russia where it has earned $17.60 million in total, including $2.19 million on 700 screens this past weekend.
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October 22nd, 2013
As expected, Gravity remained on top of the weekend box office chart for the third weekend it a row. It became the first film released in 2013 to earn the hat trick, and very likely the last. Unfortunately, two of the three wide releases missed expectations, which hurt the overall box office numbers. Compared to last week, the overall box office was down by 11% to $103 million. Compared to last year, the box office was down 35%. Ouch. 2013 is still ahead of 2012's pace, but by less than 1% at $8.36 billion to $8.29 billion.
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October 20th, 2013
Gravity will become the first film in 2013 to win three straight three-day weekends, according to studio estimates released on Sunday. With $31 million expected, the film is down just 28% from last weekend and has reached a formidable $170.5 million. That puts in in the top 10 for the year, with plenty more to come. Fellow Oscar-hopefuls 12 Years a Slave, All is Lost and Kill Your Darlins are the other films making waves this weekend (literally in one case).
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October 18th, 2013
There are two wide releases this week, Carrie and Escape Plan. However, neither film is earning critical praise and neither film is expected to be a breakout hit. There is a third film opening semi-wide, The Fifth Estate, but despite being clearly made for Oscars, its reviews are worse than the two more mainstream releases. It looks like Gravity will have no trouble earning the hat trick at the box office. It should also earn more than last year's winner, Paranormal Activity 4. Unfortunately, last year had much better depth than this year will have, so 2013 will likely lose yet again in the year-over-year comparison.
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October 11th, 2013
Next week the wide releases are limited to Carrie and Escape Plan. Carrie hopes to perform better than most horror remakes manage; in other words, it hopes to become a midlevel hit, nothing more. Escape Plan could become one of the most expensive flops of the year, if some of the reports about its production budget are true. Since Carrie is expected to come out on top, it is the target film for this week's box office prediction contest. In order to win, one must simply predict the opening weekend box office number for Carrie.
Whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend box office (Friday to Sunday), regardless if they go over or not, will win a copy of White Collar: Season Four on DVD.
Entries must be received by 10 a.m., Pacific Time on Friday to be eligible, so don't delay!
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October 1st, 2013
October is an awkward month. It sits between the dumping ground that is September and November, the unofficial start of Awards Season / holiday blockbuster season. For the most part, September was stronger than average for the month and there's reason to be optimistic going forward. After all, box office success tends to feed on itself, as does box office struggles. That said, there are not a lot of sure hits over the coming four weeks. Of the nine or ten films opening wide this month, only Gravity has a better than 50/50 chance at $100 million. Captain Phillips could have a shot at the century mark, but only if it becomes a serious Awards Season player. Its early reviews suggest that could be a possibility. Last October, there were two films to reach the $100 million mark, Taken 2 and Argo. On the other hand, pretty much everything else that opened that month crashed and burned. While this October doesn't have as strong a top end, it will hopefully have much better depth.
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