This graph shows Jude Law’s score on our annual analysis of leading stars at the box office. The Star Score represents points assigned to each of the leading stars of the top 100 movies (based on box office) in the current year and two preceding years. For appearing in the number one movie in a year a star gets 100 points, the number two movie 99 points and so on..
Latest Ranking on Selected Box Office Record Lists
Bad Boys: Ride or Die provided a healthy bump for the box office last weekend as the latest installment in the franchise launched with $56.53 million in its opening frame. The action-comedy currently enjoys a six-day domestic total of $74.76 million while having secured over $123 million from global earnings. While the film easily topped the box office charts in its debut, it will be one and done for the Bad Boys at the top as Inside Out 2 arrives in a whopping 4,440 theaters.
More...
After a superb opening week at the box office, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 gains theaters this week, becoming the widest release in its second week, after taking a back seat to Morbius last week. By a narrow margin, the action-adventure sequel staves off newcomer Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, 4,258 to 4,208 theaters respectively.
More...
Professor Albus Dumbledore knows the powerful Dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald is moving to seize control of the wizarding world. Unable to stop him alone, he entrusts Magizoologist Newt Scamander to lead an intrepid team of wizards, witches and one brave Muggle baker on a dangerous mission, where they encounter old and new beasts and clash with Grindelwald’s growing legion of followers. But with the stakes so high, how long can Dumbledore remain on the sidelines?
More...
Captain Marvel started with two strikes against it, because it’s an origin story and a prequel. There have been so many origin stories for super heroes released over the past decade plus that audiences have grown tired of them. Furthermore, prequels are difficult to do right, because it’s much harder to surprise audiences. Can this film overcome these obstacles? Or should fans of the M.C.U. just wait till the sequel comes out when this character can really shine?
More...
October continued 2018’s phenomenal box office run, for the most part. There were a couple of films that missed expectations by $10 million or more, but on the other hand, Vemon and Halloween were smash hits and are now the first and second biggest October debuts of all time. Furthermore, 2018’s lead over 2017 is, as I’m writing this, just shy of $1 billion and if 2018 can maintain this lead, it will be one of the biggest year-over-year increases of all time. It won’t. The fun times end now. Why is that? Last November was amazing. There were only eight wide releases, but six of them earned more than $100 million. Three of those hit $200 million, including Thor: Ragnarok, which earned over $300 million. This year, there are a lot more movies opening in November, but it is a case of quantity over quality. No movie is expected to come close to $300 million and it would take a bit of luck just to have five $100 million hits. The film I’m looking forward to the most is Ralph Breaks the Internet, while it, Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch, and Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald are all aiming for $200 million this month. Fortunately, even if 2018 is behind 2017’s pace by around $300 million, 2018 has built up such a large lead that it should still go into December with an insurmountable lead at the box office.
More...
Summer is usually the slowest time of the year on the home market; however, this week we have the biggest theatrical hit of the year so far coming out. Unfortunately, Beauty and the Beast isn’t really Pick of the Week material. It’s not bad and the DVD or Blu-ray Combo Pack hav enough extras to be worth picking up, but that’s not enough to put it over the top. Unfortunately, the film was such a massive hit at the box office that it scared away all of the competition and there’s no real Pick of the Week films on this week’s list.
More...
Spy is the latest collaboration between Melissa McCarthy and Paul Feig. The previoustwo were hits, both with critics and with moviegoers. Does Spy complete the hat trick? And is the Blu-ray worth picking up?
More...
May turned out to be softer than anticipated with The Avengers: Age of Ultron missing expectations by about $100 million. Additionally, only Pitch Perfect 2 really topped expectations. May 2015 kept pace with May of 2014, more or less. June doesn't have any films as strong as Age of Ultron, but there are two films that should have no trouble getting to $200 million. Those two films are Jurassic World and Inside Out and I'm not sure which one will turn out to be the biggest hit of the month. Last June, the biggest hit was Transformers: Age of Extinction, but both Jurassic World and Inside Out should top that film, albeit by small margins. On the other hand, last June had four other films that reached $100 million, while this time around only Spy! and Ted 2 have a real shot at that milestone. 2015 is stronger at the top, but has weaker depth. It will be interesting to see if 2015 will keep pace with 2014 over the course of the full month.
More...
It is not a great week for limited releases, as there are many films opening with mixed reviews and opening on Video on Demand as well as in theaters. That doesn't mean there aren't some films that could be hits. Mommy's reviews suggest it could land near the top of the per theater chart. Meanwhile, Red Army is still rocking 100% positive reviews, but it is a documentary.
More...
There are a number of big releases on this week's list, especially if you like TV on DVD. However, there are not a lot of releases in total. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is the biggest release by a wide margin, but it is not the best. For that honor, I would have to chose Boardwalk Empire: Season 4 on Blu-ray.
More...
The Grand Budapest Hotel is the latest film from auteur director, Wes Anderson, and it is also his biggest box office hit. I liked some of his earlier films, but after The Life Aquatic and The Darjeeling Limited, I didn't consider myself a fan of his work. Then I saw The Fantastic Mr. Fox and Moonrise Kingdom and I lovedboth. Because of this, I was super excited to see The Grand Budapest Hotel and its box office success caused my expectations to rise even more. Did they rise too high? Is this Wes Anderson's best movie, as well as his biggest hit?
More...
It is a busy week, not only in terms of quantity, but also quality. There are seven films earning 80% positive reviews or higher (at least when I checked last). Some of these, like Afflicted, probably won't find an audience in theaters, because it is just the wrong genre. Others, like The Unknown Known and Watermark, might do well for the genre, but won't find any real measure of mainstream success. On the other hand, Under the Skin and Alan Partridge might find audiences in theaters.
More...
Rise of the Guardians is a family friendly film that came out right around Thanksgiving. That's a recipe for box office success. It didn't bomb, but it also didn't live up to expectations, while it will need a little help from the home market to break even. Did it struggle for a reason? Or will the Blu-ray sales push it over the top into profitability?
More...
For the most part, January was a really good month and 2013 got off to a really good start. I'm not so sure about February, on the other hand. There's only one film that has a statistically significant shot at $100 million, A Good Day to Die Hard, but I'm a little concerned that it won't live up to expectations. The franchise has been around a long time and it is possible that the target audience has either moved on or are too young to remember when these films were huge at the box office. The film I'm most looking forward to seeing is Warm Bodies, which is earning amazing early reviews (the keyword there is "early"), but it is too high-concept to be a major hit. Last February, there were a coupleof films that topped $100 million, plus a few other midlevel hits. I would like to think that would also be the case this year, but I have to be more cautious than that. The evidence points to a weak month ahead, for the most part.
More...
eXistenZ is a Canadian movie that cost more than $30 million Canadian dollars to make, but made less than $3 million at the domestic box office. There's never been a time when the exchange rate was great enough to cover that difference. Is it a bad movie? Is that why it failed to find an audience? Or is it, like so many David Cronenberg movies, just too weird for a mainstream audience?
More...
There's good news and bad news this week when it comes to limited releases, and both focus on the same film: Silver Linings Playbook. At the beginning of the month, this was one wide release I was really looking forward to and I thought it had a real chance of being a sleeper hit. However, it was moved up a week and is rolling out in limited release this week before expanding to select cities next week. It should be the biggest hit this week, but expanding wide is never an easy task. There are a few other limited releases this week that have earned some measure of pre-release buzz, but none of them have earned reviews to match.
More...
October was pretty good with a few films really crushing expectations, which made up for the few duds that opened at the end. 2012 gained about $100 million over 2011 during the month of October. We really needed this success and hopefully November will continue this push forward. However, November is a bit of a weird month. There are five weekends, but only eight true wide releases, half of which open on the Thanksgiving long weekend, leaving the other four weeks with just one true wide release each. There are a couple others opening in the semi-wide level and another opening in limited release with a planned wide release, but even so, it is not a busy month. That said, it is a case of quality over quantity. There are four films that are pretty much guaranteed to reach $100 million, one of which should reach $300 million. By comparison, last November only produced one $100 million film. Granted, that film was The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 1, which made nearly $300 million, which is a huge number no matter how you look at it. But this year, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2 should top that number and with the other $100 million movies pulling in more than $400 million combined, it should be a very profitable month at the box office.
More...