June 19th, 2019
It is a shallow week with a lot of films on the main list that would be secondary Blu-ray releases on a normal week. There are only two contenders for Pick of the Week: Us and Killing Eve: Season Two. The Us Blu-ray screener hasn’t arrived yet, but it is still Pick of the Week, even with an unknown quality of extras.
More...
June 17th, 2019
Slaughterhouse Rulez is the first film produced by Nick Frost and Simon Pegg’s new production company. I was really looking forward to the movie, but then the reviews came out and my enthusiasm dampened, a lot. Is it better than its Tomatometer Score? Or is having low expectations the only way to see this film?
More...
March 1st, 2015
February was strong thanks to The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water and Fifty Shades of Grey, both of which beat expectations. This March could actually be even better, as there are three or four films that have a decent shot at earning $100 million or more. The top film will likely be Cinderella, which has a real shot at $200 million. Insurgent will almost assuredly get beyond the $100 million mark, while Get Hard, Home, and perhaps Chappie will also get to the century mark. Last March, there were four $100 million hits, led by Divergent, which pulled in $150 million. While this March should be better than February, I'm not sure it will be better than last March. I don't think March 2015 will be much worse than last year, but I think its percentage lead will be chipped away at by the end of the month.
More...
April 11th, 2014
This weekend is almost as busy for limited releases as last week, and on the plus side, there are a handful of films that are worth checking out. Only Lovers Left Alive and Joe are both earning great reviews. On the other hand, Only Lovers Left Alive is probably too "Art House" to thrive, while Joe is opening too wide and on Video on Demand, so its box office chances are also limited. Dancing in Jaffa is earning perfect reviews, but documentaries rarely have breakout success. Finally, Disco Singh could be a surprise hit, as it could be on track to break records in its native India.
More...
November 18th, 2013
The World's End is the final film of the Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy. The first two films were Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. This film was the least financially successful of the three films, but is it also the weakest? If so, is it so weak that it isn't worth checking out?
More...
November 18th, 2013
Kinky Boots came out in 2006 and did relatively well in limited release. Most limited releases don't crack the $1 million mark at the box office. But I think the studio was hoping for a whole lot more. This explains why it is coming out on DVD this week as a bargain release from Echo Bridge. Is it worth checking out if you missed it the first time? And despite being a bargain release, does it have any extras?
More...
August 1st, 2013
July was hit and miss at the box office, mostly miss. In fact, only two films really topped expectations, Despicable Me 2 and The Conjuring. That said, 2013 has nearly closed the gap with 2012 and it won't take much to pull ahead. Looking forward to August, we find that it is a very busy month with 16 or so films opening wide over five weeks. Of course, the closer you get to September, the more likely these films will struggle to find an audience, and more often than not, there are simply too many films opening wide to suspect they will all find an audience. On the high end, 2 Guns could be the biggest hit of the month with just over $100 million. The Smurfs 2 and Elysium could pull in $100 million. All three of those films are opening in the first two weeks of the month. After that, most of the new releases will be lucky if they reach $50 million during their theatrical runs. By comparison, last August was not as busy with 14 wide releases. Of those, only one film, The Bourne Legacy, topped $100 million, although a couple came reasonably close. Hopefully we will have more $100 million hits this time around and 2013 will be able to complete the comeback.
More...
December 9th, 2012
I've seen all of the Ice Age films. I thought the first film was great and the second film was good, but I thought the third film was only average for a kids film. Will the franchise bounce back with Ice Age: Continental Drift? Or will the fourth film continue the decline?
More...