May 9th, 2013
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey was one of three new releases to finish in the top three spots on the March 24th, 2013 edition of the Blu-ray sales chart. It sold 1.36 million units and generated $31.34 million for an opening week Blu-ray share of 56%. It wasn't that long ago that reaching the 50% mark would have been record-breaking, but here it was expected.
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May 9th, 2013
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey dominated the new releases and easily won first place on the March 24th edition of the DVD sales chart. The film sold 1.07 million units and generated $13.05 million in opening week sales, putting it in the top ten of the year after just one week of release.
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March 19th, 2013
It is a very healthy week on the home market, at least at the top, as there are a number of big hits and Awards Season contenders. The biggest of these is The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. The film didn't live up to expectations, but it is still worth picking up, especially if you've made the leap to 3D. There are also a couple of Awards Season contenders coming out this week, but I'm waiting for the screeners for both of them. Les Miserables has generated a lot of praise, but also some harsh criticisms. On the other hand, Zero Dark Thirty was one of the best movies of the year and even sight unseen, the Blu-ray Combo Pack is the Pick of the Week.
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February 25th, 2013
Argo was the big winner at the Oscars last night, although arguably, there were no big winners, but a lot of films that shared in the glory. There were also some pretty interesting twists and a few events that stand out. Due to ongoing computer difficulties, I was unable to live-blog the Oscars this year. I will still be giving my reactions on a category by category basis, but not in the order they were handed out.
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February 24th, 2013
The box office crown for Oscar weekend will be claimed by Identity Thief, according to studio estimates released on Sunday morning, even though the comedy will fall by a relatively large 41% from last weekend. So its win is in large part due to the low-key new releases: Snitch will be second with $13 million in a modest 2,511 theaters and Dark Skies is headed for 6th place with $8.85 million from 2,313 theaters. Neither new film has particularly low per theater averages ($5,177 and $3,826 respectively), so their so-so debuts are as much a factor of their smallish opening theater counts as lack of demand.
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February 22nd, 2013
With our annual Oscar Prediction contest underway, now is the best time to look at the nominees and try to figure out who the favorites are and which films should just feel honored to be nominated. We wrap up our look at the prestigious categories with the most prestigious of them all: Best Picture. Like last year, there are nine nominees. Unlike last year, none of them were completely out of left field. That's not to say they all have a legitimate shot at winning; there's definitely a favorite. However, politics could become an issue. I don't mean politics as in Democrat vs. Republican. I mean behind-the-scenes issues might play a bigger role than what is on the screen. Let's take a look at the nominees, and their chances to claiming the crown on Sunday.
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February 21st, 2013
With our annual Oscar Prediction contest underway, now is the best time to look at the nominees and try and figure out who the favorites are and which films should just feel honored to be nominated. Today we will look at the two writing categories, finishing with Best Original Screenplay. There are actually three films that could win that and it wouldn't be a total shock if they did. That said, there is still a favorite to contend with.
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February 21st, 2013
With our annual Oscar Prediction contest underway, now is the best time to look at the nominees and try and figure out who the favorites are and which films should just feel honored to be nominated. This week we will look at the four acting categories, finishing with Best Lead Actress. This race is easily the most competitive of the four acting categories this year. The person seen as the favorite has switched, more than once, and at the moment, I'm not sure who is going to win.
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February 19th, 2013
Argo continues its winning ways at the WGAs this weekend. It has become the defacto favorite for the Oscars, despite the high profile Oscar snub.
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February 4th, 2013
There were a number of factors that hurt the box office over the weekend, not the least of which was the rather exciting Super Bowl game. (At least it sounds like it was exciting. I Googled the score a couple times, but I didn't watch the game.) Warm Bodies easily won the weekend race and finished on the high end of expectations, while Silver Linings Playbook remains on pace to reach $100 million. On the other hand, Bullet to the Head bombed. Overall, the box office fell 21% to just $89 million. Again, the Super Bowl had a lot to do with that. Compared to last year, the box office was down 23%. 2013 is still ahead of 2012 by 3.4% at $917 million to $887 million but that lead could be gone by the end of next weekend.
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January 28th, 2013
January ended, and we should all be glad it did. Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters did beat modest expectations, but most of the rest failed that test with Movie 43 crashing worse than even my low expectations. The overall box office fell 20% from last weekend to $112 million. This was 11% less than the same weekend last year; fortunately, this was the first miss of 2013 and the year still has a lead of 10% over 2012 at $797 million to $721 million.
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January 24th, 2013
There are three wide releases during the final weekend of January, but it looks like none of them will please critics. As I write this, the three films have a total of seven reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, none of them are positive. Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters should easily be the biggest hit of the three new films, but not everyone thinks it will come out on top, as Mama could remain potent. Parker and Movie 43 will likely struggle and getting to just $10 million over the weekend might be asking too much. Fortunately, the combination of new releases and holdovers is very similar to last year, so 2013 could win yet another weekend to start the year.
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January 22nd, 2013
Mama easily won the box office race over the Martin Luther King, Jr. long weekend, with Zero Dark Thirty earning a solid second place. Unfortunately, the other two new releases, Broken City and The Last Stand, were weak and weaker. The overall box office was on par with last week, down less than 1% to $139 million, over the three-day weekend. This was 6% higher than the same weekend last year, over the same period. Adding on Monday, and the total weekend was $165 million, or about 1% higher than last year. It is still way too early to pay real attention to the year-to-date stats, but 2013 is ahead of 2012 by a 7.0% margin at $658 million to $615 million.
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January 20th, 2013
For all the Oscar hype, moviegoers are voting with their feet this MLK weekend for a more straightforward entertainment bang for their buck. Mama is set to win the weekend by a large margin, with Universal estimating a $28.1 million three-day weekend and about $33 million over four days. With the film playing in a relatively modest 2,647 theaters, that translates into a per theater average of $10,625, comfortably ahead of any other wide release. Jessica Chastain has dual reasons to celebrate, with Zero Dark Thirty set to finish second for the weekend with $17.6 million. Fellow Oscar-hopeful Silver Linings Playbook will be third with about $11.35 million over three days in its first weekend in wide release.
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January 17th, 2013
There are a trio of new releases opening on Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend, but it looks like Zero Dark Thirty has a good chance to remain in first place. Mama is earning pretty good buzz, even if its reviews are only mixed. The Last Stand is the widest release of the week and the reviews are positive, but the buzz is mixed, to be kind. Finally, there's Broken City, which has the quietest buzz and the weakest reviews. Last year, Underworld: Awakening opened with just over $25 million and there's almost no chance that will happen again this year. Then again, we might have better depth.
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January 15th, 2013
Quartet opened on top of the per theater chart with an average of $23,561 in two theaters. This is very impressive, especially for this time of year. Amour expanded from 3 to 15 theaters, but you couldn't tell from its per theater average, as it held very well down just 14% to $17,138.
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January 14th, 2013
Oscar nominations didn't produce a big box office bounce over the weekend, but Zero Dark Thirty still managed an easy win, despite missing my admittedly high expectations. The only film in the top five to be a pleasant surprise was A Haunted House, although "pleasant" is not a word most critics were using to describe it. The box office pulled in $141 million overall, which was 4.7% lower than last weekend. More importantly though, it was 6.3% higher than the same weekend last year, which means if A Haunted House bombed like I thought it would, 2013 would have lost in the year-over-year comparison. Fortunately, we had a second win in as many weeks and 2013 is off to an early 22% lead, at $441 million to $362 million.
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January 14th, 2013
The Directors Guild of America handed out their nominations for Feature Films last week and Documentaries today. No, I have no idea why they split up their announcements. Usually, there's a lot of overlap between the DGAs and the Oscars, but that's not the case this year, so we again have some surprises.
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January 14th, 2013
Hollywood Foreign Press Association handed out their awards last night, and the trend of surprises continues. Les Miserables led the way with three awards, only one of which I was truly expecting. Meanwhile, Argo won more awards than Lincoln. I don't think anyone was predicting that.
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January 11th, 2013
With the Oscar nominations announced yesterday, most movie aficionados are focusing on that. This is great news for Zero Dark Thirty, which picked up five Oscars yesterday and should lead the box office this week. There are other films opening wide this week. This includes Gangster Squad, which should do acceptable business, even though its reviews are weak. Finally there's A Haunted House, which is an early contender for worst movie of the year. Last year, Contraband opened with just over $24 million and I think Zero Dark Thirty will top that. Overall, 2013 looks pretty good in comparison.
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January 10th, 2013
The Oscar nominations were announced this morning, and there's certainly a lot to talk about. There are some nominations that should surprise no one. For instance, Lincoln led the way with twelve nominations, and it has been seen as the major contender for a long time. However, there were also a few surprise nominations and some major snubs. Here are the list of nominations, and some reactions.
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January 8th, 2013
Zero Dark Thirty remained on the top of the per theater chart with an average of $44,933 in 60 theaters. To emphasize, the film saw its theater count leap from 5 to 60, but its per theater average only dropped 29% from $63,283 to $44,933. That's a lower drop-off than the average film in the top ten. At this point, expanding wide is a given, while the film has a solid shot at $100 million. 56 Up opened very strong with $22,088 in one theater. This should help it expand, but it is a documentary, so it is not going to expand wide. Amour remained in the $10,000 club with an average of $19,944. It is still playing in 3 theaters, but it should have room to expand significantly.
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January 7th, 2013
Surprises seems to be the word of the day, as the WGA nominations included a number of them. Granted, Zero Dark Thirty and a lot of the other films that have earned Awards Season success thus far were here, but there were almost as many surprises as there were obvious choices.
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January 6th, 2013
Producers Guild of America announced their nominations this week, including the three theatrical categories. There were a number of films on the list that have been mentioned time and time again this awards season, like Zero Dark Thirty, but there were also a few surprises.
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January 3rd, 2013
Zero Dark Thirty shot up to the top of the per theater chart with averages of $83,430 during its opening weekend and $63,283 during its sophomore stint. Expanding truly wide is virtually guaranteed. Amour was well back with an average of $20,005 over the past weekend and $22,755 during its opening weekend. The Impossible rose 27% to $12,172 in 15 theaters. This is a great sign and while its reviews are too low to be a major contender during Awards Season, it should still do well enough to expand significantly, but probably not truly wide. The final film in the $10,000 club was Django Unchained, which opened with an average of $10,008.
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January 1st, 2013
December ended on a positive note with 2012 topping 2011 with a week to spare. Hopefully this will translate into strong box office numbers going forward. There are several January releases that actually look very interesting, but you always have to ask, if the films are as good as they look, why are they opening in January? The biggest hit on this list will likely not be a January release, but a limited release from December that is expanding wide in January. Zero Dark Thirty opened in limited release the Wednesday before Christmas and right away it got off to an incredible start. If it can turn some of its Awards Season nominations into wins, which seems very likely at this point, it should be the biggest hit of January. If it can earn some major Oscars, then it might crack $100 million. Unfortunately, no other film on this release list is likely to come close to the $100 million mark. Last January was unseasonably strong with three films opening with $20 million or more and four films finishing with $50 million or more. It is possible that none of the new releases will reach those relatively weak standards.
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December 20th, 2012
There are not a lot of limited releases on this week's list; however, there are three films that have already found some Awards Season success, plus a couple others that are earning great reviews. Of the Awards Season hopefuls, Zero Dark Thirty is poised to earn the best per theater average, but it likely won't be the only success story over the weekend.
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December 13th, 2012
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced their nominations and the same list of films that have been mentioned since the beginning of Awards Season were rewarded today. Lincoln led the way with seven nods, while Argo and Django Unchained were close behind with five.
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December 12th, 2012
SAG nominations were announced and there were only a few surprises to deal with. Leading the way for total nominations was The Silver Linings Playbook, Lincoln, and Les Miserables, all of which earned nominations in four of the six categories.
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