June 19th, 2018
Summer is the worst time of the year for the home market and this week is no exception. The “biggest” new release of the week is Pacific Rim: Uprising, but it is not worth picking up. There are a few contenders for Pick of the Week, including the final season of Dark Matter; a dark comedy, The Death of Stalin; and an Anime release, Re:Zero - Starting Life in Another World. In the end, I went with Dark Matter as the Pick of the Week.
More...
June 18th, 2018
Flower got off to an amazing start in limited release, opening in the $10,000 club. However, it collapsed as soon as it tried to expand. Is it as good as its opening weekend? Or did it collapse for a good reason?
More...
June 4th, 2018
This is a busier week than usual on the home market, but that’s only because there are a higher than usual number of box office flops coming out the same week. The biggest box office hit of the week is A Wrinkle in Time, which did okay here, but bombed internationally. I’m still waiting for a screener to see if it is at least worth a rental. As for Pick of the Week contenders, there’s My Hero Academia: Season Two, Part Two and Thoroughbreds on Blu-ray. In the end, I went with Thoroughbreds, but both are worth owning.
More...
May 2nd, 2018
It is a really shallow week. There are releases that are fighting for a spot in the top five that normally would be so far down the list that we wouldn’t even cover them. That doesn’t mean there are no releases that are worth picking up. In Between was a limited release that earned near perfect reviews. The 1970s film, Legend of the Mountain, got a recent release and its reviews are even better. I reviewed Mary and the Witch’s Flower last week and it nearly won Pick of the Week then. I reviewed Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid: The Complete Series this week and it is one of my favorite recent Anime comedies. It was a really close race between these four films and in the end, it came down to a coin-toss with Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid coming out ahead.
More...
March 20th, 2018
The Death of Stalin remained in first place on the theater average chart with an average of $16,791 in 32 theaters, while Flower was right behind with an average of $16,306 in 3 theaters. Keep the Change did really well for a rom com with $12,445 in its lone theater. I Can Only Imagine opened semi-wide managing an average of $10,507.
More...
March 18th, 2018
A spirited opening by Tomb Raider won’t be quite enough to knock Black Panther off its perch at the top of the domestic box office chart this weekend. The final numbers will be close: Raider is predicted to earn $23.52 million by Warner Bros., while Disney has Panther coming in with $27.024 million. If the numbers hold (and it would be a huge surprise if they don’t), Black Panther will become the first film since Avatar to spend its first five weekends at the top of the chart.
More...
March 16th, 2018
It’s a relatively slow week for limited releases, at least those not going to VOD release. In fact, if I were strict about the 10 review limit, there would be as many secondary VOD releases as there are entries in the main list. That’s not to say there are no films worth seeing in theaters. Keep The Change and Ramen Heads are on the top of my list. However, Journey’s End is likely the only film that will find success in theaters.
More...