2018 Awards Season: Oscars: And the Winner is... Green Book for Best Picture

February 24th, 2019

It’s Oscar night and we will be live blogging the show. We will announce the winners and have our reactions as they happen, while keeping track of how our readers did in predicting the outcomes. More...

2018 Awards Season: Oscars Nominations: Final Look

February 24th, 2019

It’s Oscar Day, and we will be live blogging the show. Before that, let’s take a last look at the nominations with a few annotations. in Italics are those that have received the most votes from our readers so far in our Oscar contest (which is open to new entries until noon, Pacific, today—enter now!). Bold films are those films I think will win. Meanwhile, those that are Underlined are those I want to win. Not all categories have underlined nominees, because not all categories have someone I’m cheering for, or because there are two nominees I couldn’t pick between. For example, I would be happy with half of the Best Picture nominees winning. More...

2018 - Awards Season: WGA - Winners

February 18th, 2019

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...

2018 Awards Season: Oscar Nominations

January 23rd, 2019

The Oscar nominations were announced yesterday starting at just after 5 am Pacific time. They do this every year for reasons no one has been able to adequately explain to me. Because it was the day after a long weekend, it took a bit of time to get all the normal work done and digest the results. And there were some interesting results to digest. No one film led the way with total nominations, as two films, The Favourite and Roma tied with 10 nominations each. More...

2018 - Awards Season: BAFTA - Nominations

January 12th, 2019

The BAFTA nominations were announced and The Favorite led the way with 12 nominations. Sometimes the BAFTAs are a really good indicator for who will do well on Oscar night. Other times their bias to British films is too much. I think this year will be an example of the latter and I don't think The Favourite is suddenly an Oscar favorite. That said, there’s still some things you can learn here. More...

2018 - Awards Season: WGA - Nominations

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...

2018 - Awards Season: PGA - Nominations

January 4th, 2019

The Producers Guild of America announced their nominations in the theatrical categories today and there are some trends building. However, there are also some questions generated after these nominations were announced. More...

2018 - Awards Season: SAG - Nominations

December 12th, 2018

The Screen Actors Guild were the third group to announce their nominations for this awards season. There’s not a lot of surprises on this week’s list. A Star is Born led the way with four nominations, while The Favourite was right behind with three. More...

2018 - Awards Season: Golden Globes - Nominations

December 6th, 2018

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...

2018 - Holiday Gift Guide - Part I - First-Run Releases and Franchise Box Sets

November 19th, 2018

It's Thanksgiving weekend, which means Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and of course the first installment of our Holiday Gift Guide. This week we will tackle first run releases and franchise box sets as well. Unfortunately, 2018 has not been a good year for blockbusters for any studio not named Disney. In order to be on this list, a film has to be a major release, earn critical praise, and be on out DVD / Blu-ray and that’s a really short list this year. For example, Universal is the second best studio this year in terms of total domestic box office, but they’ve only released one film that has earned $100 million and overwhelmingly positive reviews. That film, Halloween doesn’t come out on DVD / Blu-ray till January. Most of the rest of the big six are lucky to have more than one entry on this week’s list. More...

Home Market Releases for July 24th, 2018

July 24th, 2018

It is an incredibly slow week on the home market. Most of the films in the main list would be filler on even a below average week. The only real exception is Ready Player One, which did earn better than expected reviews, but it’s still not Pick of the Week material. There were a few actual contenders for that title, including Gravity Falls: The Complete Series and A Matter of Life and Death, but in the end, I went with In the Mouth of Madness on Blu-ray. More...

Featured Blu-ray and DVD Review: A Quiet Place

July 23rd, 2018

A Quiet Place was expected to be a box office hit, but very few people thought it would be this big a hit. It pulled in over $300 million on a budget of just $17 million. It had a very interesting hook, but is that all it had? Does it do something with the hook? More...

Home Market Releases for July 17th, 2018

July 18th, 2018

It’s a shallow week in terms of the total number of releases, but a lot of films on this list are worth picking up. Rampage is the biggest and it is worth buying, if you are into popcorn action flicks. There are a lot of other releases that are worth picking up, but not quite Pick of the Week contenders, like Disobedience, The Good Place: Season Two, etc. As for true Pick of the Week contenders, we have a limited selection and I’m going with Isle of Dogs on Blu-ray Combo Pack for that title. More...

Home Market Releases for July 10th, 2018

July 10th, 2018

It’s still summer and that means the home market is still terrible. There are less than a dozen new releases on disc on this week’s list, and a lot of them feel like filler. Half of them wouldn’t make the list during a moderately busy week. Only one of them, A Quiet Place, truly stands out and the Blu-ray Combo Pack is easily the Pick of the Week. It’s not the only release worth picking up, as both Lean on Pete on Blu-ray and The Magicians: Season Three are worth picking up. More...

International Box Office: Deadpool Piles Up $300 million in Cash

May 23rd, 2018

Deadpool 2 dominated the international box office with $174.9 million on 25,091 screens in 82 markets, for a worldwide opening of $300.4 million. The studio’s share of this opening weekend is close to $140 million, which is significantly more than the film’s $110 million production budget. The film’s biggest market was the U.K., where it earned $17.48 million in 636 theaters. In South Korea, the film earned $11.84 million on 1,576 screens over the weekend for a total opening of $16.73 million. Russia wasn’t far behind, with $11.61 million on 1,477 and it cracked $10 million in Australia, if you include previews, as it pulled in $9.48 million on 602 screens for a total opening of $11.45 million. The film has yet to open in Japan, but there’s no rational way this film won’t break even before it reaches the home market. More...

Weekend Wrap-Up: Infinity War Helps 2018 Take on Guardians

May 15th, 2018

The weekend was better than expected, for the most part. All of the holdovers, including the number one film, Avengers: Infinity War, held on better than we predicted, while one of the two new releases also opened faster. Life of the Party was the only film in the top five that didn’t beat expectations. Overall, the box office still slipped 19% from last week, down to $137 million. However, this is 1.2% higher than the same weekend last year. Year-to-date, 2018 maintains a strong 5.2% / $210 million lead over 2017 at $4.24 billion to $4.03 billion. More...

Weekend Predictions: Infinity War Looks to Complete the Threepeat

May 10th, 2018

Avengers: Infinity War will have no trouble earning first place for the third time at the box office chart. It’s only competition is the sophomore stint of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2, which earned $65 million this weekend last year. Hopefully Infinity War will come within $10 million of that. As for the new releases, Life of the Party should earn more than all three new releases earned last weekend, while Breaking In is on track for an opening in the low to mid teens. If all three films can meet these expectations, then 2018 will have a shot at winning in the year-over-year comparison. More...

Weekend Wrap-Up: Infinity Tops Charts, can’t Quite Match Guardians Debut

May 8th, 2018

It was a relatively good weekend at the box office with every film in the top five matching or beating expectations. This includes Avengers: Infinity War, which had the second best second weekend of all time, earning $114.77 million. Overall, the box office fell 46% from last weekend, but $169 million is still a good total. It is 13% lower than the same weekend last year, but it had to go up against Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 opening weekend, so being this close is actually a positive result. Year-to-date, 2018 has pulled in $4.05 billion, which is 5.6% or $220 million higher than last year’s pace. More...

Weekend Predictions: How Badly will Infinity War Beat the New Releases?

May 3rd, 2018

Last weekend, Infinity War destroyed the weekend record. This weekend, there are three new releases that are just hoping to not get embarrassed. Overboard is the biggest film in terms of buzz, but the buzz isn’t good, to be kind. Tully is the smallest film in terms of theater count, but its reviews are stellar and it has a shot at the top five. Bad Samaritan’s early reviews, are good, but its buzz is so quiet that it will likely bomb in theaters. This weekend last year, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 opened with $146.51 million. There’s almost no chance 2018 will match last year’s performance. Thanks to Infinity War’s record-breaking opening, 2018 should be relatively close. More...

Weekend Wrap-Up: Infinity War Opened as Close to Infinity as Any Film

April 30th, 2018

Infinity War was expected to dominate the box office over the weekend. However, not a lot of people thought it would break the all-time record, but it did. Not only did it break the record, it smashed it, topping The Force Awakens by nearly $10 million at $257.70 million. The MCU now has six of the top ten openings of all-time. Remember, when Disney bought Marvel for $4 billion, a lot of people thought they overpaid. Disney’s share of just the domestic box office numbers is close to $4 billion at this point. The overall box office rose 150% from last weekend to $312 million. This is within a rounding error of the record and we might get there as smaller studios report their numbers later in the week. This is 212% higher than the same weekend last year; granted, this is because summer started a week early this year. Year-to-date, 2018 has retaken the lead by $140 million or 4.0% at $3.78 billion to $3.64 billion. However, and this is important, this is a misleading number, because summer started a week early this year. I would wait till Deadpool 2 comes out to judge the year-to-date numbers. It will take that long for Infinity War coming out a week early to fully balance out. You will probably make solid judgments before then, but I think it is wise to be a little cautious. More...

Weekend Predictions: Will Avengers go to Infinity?

April 26th, 2018

Infinity War. Do I need to say more? Infinity War is easily the most anticipated movie of the year, and some argue the most anticipated film in the past few years. There’s even talk that it will have the best three-day opening of all time. This weekend last year, The Fate of the Furious earned its third first place result with just under $20 million. Infinity War could make twice that during its midnight previews. It will make more than the entire box office made last year. More...

International Box Office: Rampage Retains Lead on International Chart

April 25th, 2018

Rampage remained in first place on the international chart with $58.0 million on 33,140 screens in 61 markets, for totals of $217.6 million internationally and $283.3 million worldwide. The studio’s share of this is very likely above the film’s $120 million production budget, so it has an excellent shot at breaking even early in its home market run. The film’s biggest market of the weekend was China, where it earned $27.07 million on 16,900 screens over the weekend for a two-week total of $106.57 million. The film has yet to open in France, Germany, and Japan and by the time it’s done, it will be very close to breaking even. More...

Weekend Wrap-Up: Quiet Retakes Top Spot, Rampage Right Behind

April 24th, 2018

As expected, A Quiet Place returned to the first place with $20.94 million over the weekend. However, Rampage was much closer than expected with $20.09 million. It is on pace for $100 million domestically, assuming Infinity War doesn't reduce it to rumble this coming weekend. The new releases were led by I Feel Pretty, which came within a rounding error of expectations, while Super Troopers 2 beat expectations earning fourth place. Traffik barely made the top ten, but it could have been worse. Overall, the box office still fell 17% from last week, falling to $122 million. This is still 13% higher than the same weekend last year, which I was not expecting. I really thought The Fate of the Furious would earn more than the top two films earned this weekend, while the depth was also a lot better this week than I was anticipating. Year-to-date, 2017 is still behind 2018, by a 2.1% or $75 million margin at $3.43 billion to $3.51 billion. This should change this coming weekend. It better change. More...

Friday Estimates: Troopers has Super Opening, I Feel has a Pretty Good One

April 21st, 2018

Super Troopers 2 opened in first place on Friday with $7.9 million, which is more than I predicted it would make over the entire weekend. On the other hand, this film’s reviews are wea. It managed a B plus from CinemaScore, which isn’t terrible, but it’s not particularly good either. Its legs likely won’t be great, as the target demographic is much more likely to rush out to the movie opening night, leaving the film with just over $17 million during its opening weekend. This could be more than its combined budget, especially if you disregard the money it earned from Kickstarter. (The film doesn’t have to earn a profit on those numbers.) More...

Weekend Predictions: The Quiet Before the Storm

April 19th, 2018

There are two wide releases this week, I Feel Pretty and Super Troopers 2, as well as a semi-wide release that has a shot at the top ten, Traffik. However, most analysts think A Quiet Place will return to first place on the box office chart. Meanwhile, Infinity War opens next week and that’s all most moviegoers are talking about and this will likely really hurt this week’s box office. This weekend last year, The Fate of the Furious remained on top with $38 million, while the top three films combined earned $60 million. I don’t think 2018 will be able to match that, but it should be close. More...

International Box Office: Rampage Runs Roughshod over Competition topping Century Mark

April 18th, 2018

Rampage dominated the international box office earning more than the rest of the top ten combined with $115.7 million on 40,200 screens in 61 markets for a worldwide opening weekend of $151.5 million. The film’s biggest opening was in China, where it managed $54.88 million on 21,500 screens over the weekend for a total opening of $55.56 million. This is a good result, compared to recent results. It’s better than Tomb Raider managed, but not as good as Ready Player One, for example. The U.K. and South Korea were in a close race for second place with the former earning $5.8 million on 883 screens and the latter earning $4.99 million on 909 screens over the weekend for a total opening of $5.60 million. More...

Weekend Wrap-Up: Rampage Climbs Ahead of A Quiet Place with $35.75 million

April 16th, 2018

Rampage was widely expected to earn first place over the weekend, and it did. However, A Quiet Place gave it a real run for its money and after Friday’s estimates, it looked like the horror film would repeat on top. Meanwhile, Truth or Dare was also a pleasant surprise at the box office earning close to $19 million on a $3.5 million production budget. Overall, the box office fell 9.8% from last weekend to $147 million. This is also 13% lower than the same weekend last year. That said, The Fate of the Furious opened this weekend last year and earned almost $100 million, so it could have been worse. Year-to-date, 2018 is still behind behind 2017 by $70 million or 2.0% or $3.27 billion to $3.33 billion. More...

Weekend Estimates: Rampage Squeaks Out a Win

April 15th, 2018

Rampage isn’t exactly living up to its name this weekend, as it heads for a $34.5 million debut—just enough to keep A Quiet Place in second place, with $32.6 million in its second outing (down a very respectable 35% from its debut). As might be expected, international markets are proving friendlier to Rampage than the US and Canada, and it’s off to a healthy $114.1 million start in 61 territories, according to Warner Bros.’ Sunday morning estimate. More...

Friday Estimates: Quiet Looks to Silence Rampage

April 14th, 2018

Rampage earned first place on Friday, barely, with $11.5 million. Its reviews slipped down to exactly 50%, but that’s still the best ever for a wide release based on a video game, and it earned an impressive A minus from CinemaScore. This adds up to a $32 million opening weekend. Unfortunately, the film cost $120 million to make and even more for its global P&A. And as we will see shortly, A Quiet Place was right on its tail on Friday. Fortunately, the film is doing better in some international markets. For example, it earned $15.6 million in China alone, with an early estimate of $21.2 million for Saturday. More...

Thursday Night Previews: Rampage Wrecks Previews with $2.4 million

April 13th, 2018

Rampage started its box office run with $2.4 million during its Thursday night previews. This is almost $2 million lower than A Quiet Place managed last weekend, but last weekend was also Easter weekend, so a lot of the target audience had Friday off. Even so, this isn’t quite where I was hoping it would land when I made my prediction yesterday. $35 million is still possible, but it would take strong legs to get there. Fortunately, its reviews have continued to improve and the film’s Tomatometer Score is now 53% positive. According to this metric, it is the best wide release based on a video game of all time. This actually makes some sense. The original video game was based on movies like King Kong or Godzilla, so it should be able to inspire at least a passable version of those films. More...

Weekend Predictions: Will Rampage Shake Up the Box Office?

April 12th, 2018

Rampage is the biggest new release of the week and at one time it was widely assumed it would be the biggest hit of the month. Granted, this changed the second Infinity War moved up to an April release. However, now the film likely won’t even be the second biggest hit of the month, as A Quiet Place dominated last weekend. Truth or Dare has to deal with direct competition and that’s going to kill it. Finally, Isle of Dogs is expanding semi-wide. It likely won’t reach the top five, but it is already doing well for a limited release. This weekend last year, The Fate of the Furious opened with nearly $100 million. That’s about what the top four will earn this year. I can’t imagine 2018 coming ahead in the year-over-year comparison. More...

Theater Averages: Never Really Here Arrives on the Top

April 11th, 2018

You Were Never Really Here was the clear winner on the theater average chart earning over $130,000 in just three theaters for an average of $44,276. This isn’t the best theater average for a film released in 2018, but it is in the top five. The overall number one film, A Quiet Place, was next with an average of $14,311. The final film in the $10,000 club is Lean on Pete, which earned an average of $11,744 in four theaters. More...

International Box Office: Ready Remains First, Nears $400 million Worldwide

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. More...

Weekend Wrap-Up: Quiet Place Helps the Box Office Make Some Noise

April 9th, 2018

A Quiet Place not only topped predictions, it nearly doubled them earning $50.20 million during its opening weekend. The rest of the new releases also beat expectations, albeit by much smaller margins. Blockers nearly matched its production budget, while Chappaquiddick and The Miracle Season didn’t embarrass themselves. Add in some strong holds and the total box office was a surprisingly robust $162 million. This is 19% higher than last weekend and 36% higher than the same weekend last year. Year-to-date, 2018 is still behind 2017 by $60 million or 1.8% at $3.07 billion to $3.12 billion. This is half as much as the gap was this time last week, which is great news going forward. More...

Weekend Estimates: A Quiet Place Opens in the Black with $50 million

April 8th, 2018

If it weren’t for Black Panther, A Quiet Place would be the biggest surprise hit of the year so far. The film earned $50 million during its opening weekend, on a budget of just $17 million. Its initial ad buy was probably less than $25 million, meaning this film earned more in its opening weekend that its combined budget. However, I assume Paramount Pictures put in at least another $10 million ad buy on Saturday after Friday’s estimates showed up. As for the film’s future, its reviews are close to Award-worthy and it earned a B plus from CinemaScore, which is impressive for a horror film. Additionally, the film saw its score rise on Saturday when compared to Friday, which is not common for a new release. Previews plus the opening day rush usually result in small declines for films aimed at this target audience. It is still a horror film and next week there is big competition and direct competition, so its legs likely won’t be great, but its nearly guaranteed a profit by this time next week. More...

Friday Estimates: A Quiet Place has Deafening Opening with $19 million

April 7th, 2018

There are people at Paramount Pictures walking around with confused looks on their faces. They don’t know what to do, because it has been so long since they have had an unqualified box office hit like this. A Quiet Place earned $19 million on Friday, which is well above expectations and more than it cost to make. Its reviews are 97% positive, while it earned a B plus from CinemaScore, which is amazing for a horror film. Granted, horror films still tend to be front-loaded, but an opening weekend of close to $50 million is possible. Being a little more conservative is probably a good idea, so let’s go with $47 million. We would have to go back to 2016's Arrival to find the last time Paramount had a film that was an unqualified box office hit. That film likely broke even early in its home market run. A Quiet Place will likely break even just on its domestic theatrical numbers. More...

Thursday Night Previews: Quiet Makes Some Noise on Thursday Night earning $4.3 million

April 6th, 2018

A Quiet Place stunned analysts with $4.3 million during Thursday night previews. This is almost 50% more than many were expecting. Add in its 96% positive reviews and the film has a real shot at opening with over $30 million. By comparison, earlier this year, Insidious: The Last Key earned nearly $2 million during its previews on its way to a nearly $30 million opening. On the other hand, it is a horror film and those tend to be front-loaded, it is wise to be a little conservative. I suspect we will have to raise our expectations when Friday’s numbers arrive tomorrow. More...

Weekend Predictions: Will April Have a Quiet Start?

April 5th, 2018

There are only two wide releases this week, A Quiet Place and Blockers, both of which are expected to be midlevel hits. There are also two films opening semi-wide, Chappaquiddick and The Miracle Season, neither of which are expected to open in the top five. This weekend last year, The Boss Baby led the way with $26.36 million during its second weekend of release. A Quiet Place could top that, but even if it does, last year’s depth will probably keep 2017 behind 2018 in the year-over-year comparison. More...

2018 Preview: April

April 1st, 2018

Well, March has ended and it was a very disappointing month. Black Panther made more than any of the new releases did. The only potential big hit that didn’t miss expectations was Ready Player One. Because of this, 2018 lost its lead over 2017 and is now over $100 million behind last year’s pace. April is usually a terrible month, because it is a dumping ground, especially late in the month. No studio wants to compete with the first monster hit of the Summer. This year, the first monster hit of the summer, Avengers: Infinity War, opens in April. It will make more during its opening weekend than any other April release will make in total. It might make more opening day than any other April release will make in total. The only film that has a real chance to earn more than $100 million is Rampage, a video game adaptation. Last April, The Fate of the Furious earned more than $1.2 billion worldwide, but “only” earned $225.76 million of that domestically. Infinity War should earn more than that opening weekend. The second biggest hit of last April was Smurfs: The Lost Village and Going in Style, both of which earned $45.02 million. If 2018 doesn’t retake the lead by the end of the month, then 2018 is in trouble at the box office. More...

A Quiet Place Trailer

March 13th, 2018

Horror movie starring Emily Blunt and John Krasinski opens April 6 ... Full Movie Details.

A family of four must navigate their lives in silence after mysterious creatures that hunt by sound threaten their survival. If they hear you, they hunt you. More...