January 24th, 2012
Yesterday was one of the biggest days during Awards Season as The Oscar nominations were announced in the morning. It was a two horse race for top spot as far as the big winners are concerned. Hugo earned the most nominations with eleven, while The Artist was right behind with ten. However, one could argue The Artist is the bigger winner, as more of its nominations were in the more prestigious categories.
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January 3rd, 2012
The first Tuesday of the year is not a great time of year for new releases on the home market. It's an even worse time of year for critics, especially this year. With Christmas Day landing on the Sunday, many studios took the entire week off, so there are plenty of screeners that still haven't made it my way. (There is some good news here, as I was able to get caught up on all of the screeners that had previously arrived late.) A couple of these potential late arrivals are contenders for Pick of the Week, like Justified: Season Two - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray and Mildred Pierce - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray Combo Pack. They also have competition from Contagion - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray, but in the end I gave that honor to The Guard - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray.
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December 16th, 2011
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced their nominations and the Awards Season picture started to look a whole lot clearer. The Artist led the way with six nominations, while The Descendents and The Help were right behind with five apiece.
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November 1st, 2011
Like Crazy was the only film to reach the $10,000 mark on the per theater chart, but was stellar with an average of $30,785 in four theaters. Its reviews suggest it will be able to expand somewhat, but it's a little too weak to be an Awards Season player. While it didn't get to the $10,000 mark, Ra. One came relatively close to reaching the top ten with $1.65 million in 189 theaters over the weekend for an average of $8,751. That's amazing for this type of film and it deserves a special mention.
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September 27th, 2011
Weekend earned nearly perfect reviews, but I'm still surprised by its box office strength as it earned $27,245 in one theater during its opening weekend of release. The Man Nobody Knew was next with $15,411, also in one theater. Machine Gun Preacher also topped expectations with an average of $11,283 in four theaters, but its reviews suggest it won't last long. Pearl Jam Twenty earned an average of $10,245 in ten theaters over the weekend, and including the special showing it had earlier in the week, it already has close to $400,000.
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September 14th, 2011
There was only one film to reach the $10,000 mark on the per theater chart, but it did it with style. Kevin Hart: Laugh at My Pain earned just under $2 million in 98 theaters for an average of $19,474. I wasn't expecting it to earn $2 million in total.
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September 7th, 2011
The per theater chart is nearly empty and only Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame topping $10,000 over the three-day portion of the weekend. It's average from Friday through Sunday was $17,533 in three theaters. Bodyguard earned an average of $9,813 in 88 theaters over the three-day portion of the weekend, but crossed over the $10,000 mark if you include Monday. It was even more impressive if you take into account its Wednesday and Thursday numbers.
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August 24th, 2011
Red State continued its run of special engagements this past weekend earning $25,800 in one theater. The only other film to reach the $10,000 mark was Senna, which earned an average of $11,365 in 14 theaters.
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August 9th, 2011
Just as it led the overall box office chart, Rise of the Planet of the Apes led the per theater chart with an average of $15,024. Gun Hill Road was in second place with an average of $12,609, which put it just ahead of El Bulli: Cooking in Progress's haul of $12,149 in its lone theater. Bellflower's amazing reviews helped it earn an average of $11,140 in two theaters. The final member of the $10,000 club was The Guard with an average of $10,209 in 19 theaters. It should still find room to expand while reaching at least one major milestone is likely.
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August 3rd, 2011
Miranda July's second film, The Future, opened about as well as her first film, Me and You and Everyone We Know, did. It earned $27,137 in its lone theater, which was enough for top spot on the per theater chart and suggests a strong potential for expansion. The Devil's Double and The Guard were in a virtual tie with averages of $19,283 and $19,209 respectively. Attack the Block was one of the wider limited releases of the week, and it had the biggest opening in terms of raw dollars. Furthermore, its average of $17,198 suggest potential to expand. El Bulli: Cooking in Progress opened in one theater earning $12,756 over the weekend and $20,699 since Wednesday. Sarah's Key expanded from 5 theaters to 33, but still managed a very strong per theater average of $11,112. The final film to cross the $10,000 per theater average was The Smurfs at $10,489.
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July 31st, 2011
Universal and Sony showed how compromise is done on Sunday, as each studio settled on an identical weekend estimate, with Cowboys & Aliens and The Smurfs tied on an estimated $36,206,250. That's a slight disappointment for Cowboys (although certainly up from the worst fears of a few weeks ago) and above expectations for Smurfs, which showed the resilience of kids movies to weak reviews and gave 3D a needed boost.
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July 29th, 2011
There are five films opening in limited release that are earning Tomatometer Scores of 80% or better. There are also a couple others earning reviews that are good, but not great. That's a lot of competition and sadly it likely means a few of them won't live up to their potential as a result. Some, like Attack the Block, might have to wait till the home market to find an audience. Others won't be as lucky.
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