May 28th, 2019
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We are back to normal on the home market for a summer week. That is to say, there’s almost nothing to talk about. The biggest physical release of the week is Outlander: Season Four. The show’s reviews have slipped a little, but they are still earning amazing reviews. However, it airs on Starz, so most people have never seen it and I don’t think it is a good idea to jump into the show in season four. Greta is the next biggest physical release, but it is not Pick of the Week material. That leaves How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, which came out last week, but the screener arrived late. And of course Captain Marvel, which is coming out on VOD this week. So the choice for Pick of the Week is down to a movie I already awarded the title to and a movie that isn’t out on DVD / Blu-ray this week. It’s a tough call, but in the end, I went with How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World. Captain Marvel will have another chance when it comes out on Blu-ray.
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March 12th, 2019
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That burst of hot air you feel is box office analysts and movie executives breathing a sigh of relief as 2019 finally has its first win in the year-over-year comparison. Captain Marvel beat expectations earning $153.43 million over the weekend. This is more than the entire box office earned last weekend, helping the box office grow 85% week-over-week to $209 million. The year-over-year growth wasn’t as explosive, but this was still 51% more than the same weekend last year. 2019 is still way behind 2018, $480 million or 22% to be more precise at $1.75 billion to $2.23 billion. However, this gap is about 10% smaller than it was this time last week, so while 2019 has a long, long way to go to catch up to 2018, it at least looks like it is possible instead of just wishful thinking.
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March 4th, 2019
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2019 has hit its low point, I hope. While Tyler Perry’s A Madea Family Funeral opened faster than anticipated, Greta couldn’t pull its weight and How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World slipped faster than expected. The overall box office fell 9.4% from last weekend to $113 million. Worse still, this is 23% lower than the same weekend last year. Unfortunately, this is actually better than average for the year so far, as 2019 is now 26% or $540 million behind 2018’s pace at $1.51 billion to $2.04 billion. Fortunately, Captain Marvel should help things turn around when the film debuts in a few days.
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March 3rd, 2019
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According to estimates, How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World really bounced back on Saturday and its Sunday number will help it earn first place over the weekend with $30.05 million. This is lower than predictions and a sophomore decline of 48% is a little steep for a family film. That said, the film is nearly at $100 million domestically after just 10 days and its worldwide total is at $375 million, again according to estimates. The film opened in first place in China with $33.38 million in approximately 10,000 locations. The film’s only remaining major market is Japan, but it doesn’t open there until August. In the meantime, the film should have little trouble getting to $500 million worldwide before then.
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March 2nd, 2019
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Tyler Perry’s A Madea Family Funeral got off to a faster than expected start on Friday earning $9.2 million. This might be enough to keep it in first place over the full weekend. It depends on its legs. Its reviews are only 29% positive, which normally would be a disaster, but the Madea franchise has been critic-proof for its entire history, so this really shouldn’t have an effect and opening with $26 million or more is likely.
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March 1st, 2019
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Tyler Perry’s A Madea Family Funeral got off to a great start by earning $1.1 million during previews on Thursday. This is the biggest previews result for a Tyler Perry film, topping the $1 million Acrimony earned last year. Madea tends to attract older women who are the demographic least likely to rush out for previews, so this start is more impressive than its raw number would suggest. The early reviews are mixed, which is better than expected, but there are only four reviews on Rotten Tomatoes at the moment, so that could change rapidly.
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March 1st, 2019
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2019 has been terrible so far and by the end of February, will be about half a billion dollars behind 2018’s pace. March should be the first step in 2019’s attempt to recover from this hole it has dug for itself. Captain Marvel will be the biggest film of the year so far and tracking has it opening with more than $100 million during the second weekend of March. While that film is undoubtedly going to become the biggest hit of the month, it isn’t the only potential hit opening in March, as both Us and Dumbo are expected to earn $100 million domestically; Dumbo might even top $200 million domestically. As for last March, there were only two films that hit $100 million, A Wrinkle in Time and Ready Player One, and neither of them came close to $200 million. There’s a slim chance this March will be better than last year, even if we ignore Captain Marvel. We could cut the deficit in half by the end of the month, if everything goes well. Then again, if everything went well during the first two months of the year, we wouldn’t be in such a deep hole at this point.
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February 28th, 2019
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2019 has been a terrible year and we really need things to turn around soon or there will be no chance for things to turn around by the end. Fortunately, things should turn around in March. Unfortunately, it won’t be this week. The two wide releases this week are Tyler Perry’s A Madea Family Funeral and Greta. The former is expected to become a midlevel hit. The latter might not top the Mendoza Line. This weekend last year, Black Panther continued to dominate the box office with $66.31 million. This is likely more than the combined final domestic box office numbers of the two wide releases. 2019 will lose the year-over-year comparison, again, but hopefully for the last time in several weeks.
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February 20th, 2019
Thriller starring Chloë Grace Moretz and Isabelle Huppert opens March 1 ... Full Movie Details.
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