June 19th, 2018
Summer is the worst time of the year for the home market and this week is no exception. The “biggest” new release of the week is Pacific Rim: Uprising, but it is not worth picking up. There are a few contenders for Pick of the Week, including the final season of Dark Matter; a dark comedy, The Death of Stalin; and an Anime release, Re:Zero - Starting Life in Another World. In the end, I went with Dark Matter as the Pick of the Week.
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April 10th, 2018
Ready Player One remained in first place on the international chart with $83.8 million on 33,787 screens in 65 markets for totals of $297.1 million internationally and $393.6 million worldwide. The film’s best new market was Germany, where it opened in first place with $2.88 million on 866 screens. Its best market overall was China with $43.45 million in 17,738 screens over the weekend for a two-week total of $162.26 million.
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April 4th, 2018
Ready Player One opened in first place on the international chart with $127.5 million on 35,600 screens in 62 markets. Its biggest single market was China with $61.61 million on 18,200 screens over the weekend for a total opening of $62.06 million. This is Warner Bros.’ biggest opening ever in this market. The film’s second biggest international market of the weekend was South Korea, where it earned second place with $6.35 million on 1,079 screens for a total opening of $8.08 million. The film also had to settle for second place behind Peter Rabbit in the U.K. with $7.3 million on 1,251 screens. The film did open in first place in several other major markets, including France ($6.15 million on 719 screens) and Russia ($5.74 million on 1,461).
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April 3rd, 2018
Ready Player One not only opened in first place over the weekend, but its three-day total of $41.77 million was Steven Spielberg’s best opening weekend as a director in almost exactly a decade. Acrimony was a solid second place finisher with $17.17 million. God’s Not Dead: A Light in Darkness missed the top ten. Overall, the box office rose 4.9% from last weekend hitting $136 million, but this was still 20% lower than the same weekend last year. 2018 is now 4.9% or $150 million behind 2017’s pace at $2.84 billion to $2.99 billion.
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April 1st, 2018
The gulf between blockbusters and also-rans could hardly be starker these days. Since the release of Black Panther to a whopping $202 million on February 16, three movies that could have caught the general public’s imagination have arrived on the scene, and earned somewhere between a fifth and a seventh of that on opening weekend. Ready Player One is the most successful among them, with an opening of $41.2 million predicted by Warner Bros. as of this morning. That compares favorably to the openings of A Wrinkle in Time (which started out with $33.1 million), and Pacific Rim: Uprising ($28.1 million), and is, in fact, the best weekend in 2018 for a movie not called Black Panther, but it barely starts to chip away at considerable marketing costs, let alone a reported $150 million production budget.
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March 29th, 2018
March comes to a close with three wide releases. Of these, only Ready Player One is expected to be even a midlevel hit. In fact, it will likely earn more over its four-day weekend than the other two films earn in total. Acrimony should open in the mid to low teens, while God’s Not Dead: A Light in Darkness will barely make the top ten. This weekend last year, The Boss Baby opened with just over $50 million. Maybe Ready Player One will make that much over four days. Even if it does, 2017’s impressive depth means there’s almost no chance 2018 will win in the year-over-year comparison.
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March 28th, 2018
Pacific Rim: Uprising easily earned first place on the international chart with $122.4 million in 61 markets during its opening weekend. The film earned first place in China with $63.80 million over the weekend for a total opening of $65.19 million including previews. There were two markets who could claim second place: Russia and South Korea. In Russia, the film earned $6.76 million on 1,538 screens. Meanwhile in South Korea, it opened with $5.27 million on 1,143 screens over the weekend for a total opening of $6.80 million.
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March 27th, 2018
Pacific Rim: Uprising opened in first place over the weekend. In fact, it opened better than expected with $28.12 million. Unfortunately, that’s nowhere near enough compared to its production budget, so it will need international numbers to thrive. Black Panther was finally removed from top spot, but it also held on better than expected with $17.10 million. As for the rest of the new releases, they ranged from serious disappointments like Sherlock Gnomes and Paul, Apostle of Christ, to complete bombs like Midnight Sun and Unsane. The overall box office slipped just 2.0% from last week earning $129 million. However, this is 36% lower than the same weekend last year. 2018’s lead has completely evaporated and it is now $60 million or $2.1% behind 2017’s pace at $2.64 billion to $2.69 billion. I don’t see that improving this coming weekend.
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March 25th, 2018
Black Panther’s run at the top of the domestic chart will finally come to an end this weekend, with Pacific Rim: Uprising taking over as the most popular film in the US and Canada. The switch over is mostly due to Panther beginning to run out of steam, rather than Uprising showing any particular strength though. Universal’s sci-fi action movie will pick up $28.005 million over its opening weekend in North America, about in line with expectations, but disappointing for a film that cost $150 million to make. Overseas markets, particularly in Asia, are where the box office action is at for this one.
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March 24th, 2018
As expected, Pacific Rim: Uprising earned first place on Friday. In fact, its opening day box office of $10.36 million is actually a little better than expected and it is on pace for a $26 million opening weekend. Granted, this is a terrible opening compared to the film’s production budget, which is reportedly in the $155 million to $175 million range. Neither its reviews, nor its B-rating from CinemaScore will help its legs, but this film was never made to win over domestic audiences. It was made to shine in Asia, specifically China. It is too soon to tell for sure if that’s a viable strategy, or if Universal is going to have to suck up massive losses. Based on Friday numbers, the studio is predicting a $65 million opening weekend China alone and a $120.5 million international debut. That’s obviously better than here, but the film will need at least $400 million internationally to break even any time soon.
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March 23rd, 2018
Pacific Rim: Uprising got off to an okay start with $2.35 million from Thursday previews. Given its reviews and the recent results of films like Tomb Raider and last year’s Power Rangers that puts the film’s projected weekend haul at $26 million. That’s a little higher than we predicted, but close enough to call it a victory.
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March 22nd, 2018
Black Panther will finally give up its hold on first place, that is unless something goes horribly wrong for Pacific Rim: Uprising. There are four other wide or semi-wide releases hitting theaters this weekend, which is at least two too many. Sherlock Gnomes and Paul, Apostle of Christ are the only two that have a legitimate shot at the top five. Meanwhile, Midnight Sun and Unsane are just hoping to not miss the top ten. This weekend last year, there were three wide releases that earned a combined $60 million. This is more than the five wide releases this year will earn. Also, Beauty and the Beast remained in second place with $90 million. 2018 has already lost its lead over 2017 and this weekend it is going to get crushed in the year-over-year comparison.
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March 18th, 2018
A spirited opening by Tomb Raider won’t be quite enough to knock Black Panther off its perch at the top of the domestic box office chart this weekend. The final numbers will be close: Raider is predicted to earn $23.52 million by Warner Bros., while Disney has Panther coming in with $27.024 million. If the numbers hold (and it would be a huge surprise if they don’t), Black Panther will become the first film since Avatar to spend its first five weekends at the top of the chart.
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March 1st, 2018
February was an amazing month, thanks mainly to Black Panther, but Fifty Shades Freed and Peter Rabbit were also significant hits and overall the month was a massive improvement over last February. Looking forward, there’s nothing opening in March that will earn as much in total as Black Panther did during its opening weekend. That said, A Wrinkle in Time and Ready Player One should have no trouble getting to $100 million, while Tomb Raider has a 50/50 chance of getting there. Unfortunately, compared to last March, this is still a pittance. There’s a chance that no film opening this March will earn as much in total as Beauty and the Beast opened with last march. We will need Black Panther to have good legs to keep 2018 ahead of 2017 by the end of the month.
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January 25th, 2018
Sci-fi action movie starring John Boyega opens March 23 ... Full Movie Details.
When legions of monstrous creatures, known as Kaiju, started rising from the sea, a war began that would take millions of lives and consume humanity’s resources for years on end. To combat the giant Kaiju, a special type of weapon was devised: massive robots, called Jaegers, which are controlled simultaneously by two pilots whose minds are locked in a neural bridge. But even the Jaegers are proving nearly defenseless in the face of the relentless Kaiju. On the verge of defeat, the forces defending mankind have no choice but to turn to two unlikely heroes—a washed up former pilot and an untested trainee—who are teamed to drive a legendary but seemingly obsolete Jaeger from the past. Together, they stand as mankind’s last hope against the mounting apocalypse.
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October 19th, 2017
Sci-fi action movie starring John Boyega opens on March 23 ... Full Movie Details.
When legions of monstrous creatures, known as Kaiju, started rising from the sea, a war began that would take millions of lives and consume humanity’s resources for years on end. To combat the giant Kaiju, a special type of weapon was devised: massive robots, called Jaegers, which are controlled simultaneously by two pilots whose minds are locked in a neural bridge. But even the Jaegers are proving nearly defenseless in the face of the relentless Kaiju. On the verge of defeat, the forces defending mankind have no choice but to turn to two unlikely heroes—a washed up former pilot and an untested trainee—who are teamed to drive a legendary but seemingly obsolete Jaeger from the past. Together, they stand as mankind’s last hope against the mounting apocalypse.
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