May 19th, 2022
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For the third consecutive week, Doctor-Strange in the Multiverse of Madness stands perched atop our theater count chart. After compiling over $715 million worldwide since its release in early May, the film keeps its opening location count of 4,534 heading into week three, while two new wide releases appear this week: Focus Features’ Downton Abbey: A New Era and A24’s Men.
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August 6th, 2020
It is a busier week than usual for theatrical releases, with twelve of them in total. Unfortunately, most of them are earning reviews that are merely good, or worse. Much worse in some cases. The few films that have the reviews strong enough to thrive are the wrong genre for the pandemic era. Hopefully films like I Used to Go Here will do well enough in VOD, but don’t expect much in theaters.
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August 2nd, 2018
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There are four films opening wide or semi-wide during the first weekend of the August. This includes the only potential $100 million hit, Christopher Robin. The Spy Who Dumped Me’s roller coaster ride on Rotten Tomatoes appears to be coming to an end at the mediocre end of things, but that’s not bad compared to the average August release. On the other hand, bad is the best way to describe The Darkest Minds, while calling Death of a Nation “bad” is a glorious understatement. While most of the new releases are not expected to make an impact at the box office, there could be a close race on top between Christopher Robin and Mission: Impossible—Fallout. This weekend last year, The Dark Tower opened in first place with just under $20 million. This year, the top two films should beat that with ease. Last year’s depth was better, but 2018 should still win in the year-over-year comparison.
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July 15th, 2016
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It’s not a grand week for limited releases. Café Society is the only big release of the week and while its reviews and its pedigree suggest it should be a hit, it might be the only hit of the week.
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July 7th, 2014
As expected, Transformers: Age of Extinction won the race to the top of the box office chart and did so with ease. However, that film, and practically every film in the top five, failed to live up to expectations. Tammy still took second place with ease, but it was the only other film to earn more than $10 million over the Independence Day long weekend. Overall, the box office pulled in $132 million over the weekend, which is 27% less than last weekend. Compared to the same weekend last year, the box office was 42% lower this year. Ouch. To put this into perspective, even if you take out Despicable Me 2 from last year's box office, 2014 would have still failed to match 2013's weekend numbers. Year-to-date, 2014 is now $130 million or 2.4% below 2013's pace at $5.35 billion to $5.48 billion. It is still too early to panic, but if things don't turn around soon, the panic button will be pushed.
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July 1st, 2014
Overall, June was not good. Most films matched expectations, or came close enough that there weren't major disappointments. However, it looks like How to Train Your Dragon 2 will miss expectations by more than $100 million. This was such a massive amount that 2014 lost its lead over 2013 and not even Transformers: Age of Extinction's $100 million opening was able to turn things around. Looking forward to July, there's not a lot of good news. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes might be the only film coming out during July that will reach the $100 million milestone, but on the high end, it might reach the $200 million mark. There are a few others that have a shot, but are not favored to reach the century mark. On the other hand, there are more films that may or may not open / expand wide and even if they do, they will likely have no real impact at the box office. By comparison, last July, Despicable Me 2 was the top draw and finished with more than $350 million. There were also four other films that surpassed $100 million at the box office. It seems practically impossible for 2014 to match those numbers and will likely finish the month behind last year's pace. Overall, 2014 isn't doing poorly, but the summer has been much weaker than the spring was, so we've gone from potential record breaking year to merely average.
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June 27th, 2014
There are more than a dozen limited releases on this week's list, including two films that are opening in limited release this week with a scheduled wide expansion next week. Unfortunately, I don't have high hopes for either of those two films. There are some films worth checking out, including a pair of documentaries, The Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz and Whitey: United States of America v. James J. Bulger, both of which are also playing on Video on Demand. The film I hope has the best start is Snowpiercer, a South Korean film that is earning amazing reviews.
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June 22nd, 2014
FrackNation is an environmental documentary, and there have been a lot of those that have come out in recent years. It is forgivable if the average moviegoer can't tell them apart anymore. How does it compare to the other film's in this genre? Does it stand out?
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October 14th, 2012
2016: Obama's America started out in limited release in the summer, but thanks in part to the GOP convention boosting political enthusiasm among conservatives, it managed to climb into the top ten and expand truly wide. In the end, it became one of the highest grossing political documentaries since Fahrenheit 9/11 set the gold standard for the genre. That film went on to win an Oscar. Will this film do the same?
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