DEG Watched At Home Chart: Sony Scores Again

May 14th, 2020

Sony continues to have a good year, given the circumstances. They just chalked up a win on the DEG Watched at Home Chart for the third week in a row. However, this week it was Bloodshot that topped the chart by rocketing up the chart 11 places. Why the massive jump? It debuted on DVD / Blu-ray. We haven’t seen an increase that dramatic since we’ve been tracking this chart; however, this is also a film that was still in theaters when Covid-19 forced it into VOD early, so there’s mitigating circumstances. More...

DVD and Blu-ray Releases for May 5th, 2020

May 6th, 2020

It’s a sad week for DVDs / Blu-rays as there are no top-notch first-run releases. Gretel and Hansel is the biggest and the best first-run release on this week’s list, but its DVD / Blu-ray don’t have enough extras to be a Pick of the Week contender. Likewise, The Lodge is amazing, but its DVD / Blu-ray have no extras… Is Elvira: Mistress of the Dark really the Pick of the Week? It came out last week, but the screener was late, so it is the best release on this week’s list. More...

Thursday Night Previews: Invisible Man Makes a Showy Entrance

February 28th, 2020

The Invisible Man is easily the best-reviewed horror film released in 2020 so far. It also looks like it should be one of the highest grossing, as it pulled in $1.65 million in previews on Thursday. The current 2020 champ is Fantasy Island, which didn’t even have previews, so we can’t us that film as a comparison. However, both Gretel and Hansel and The Turning earned between $400,000 and $500,000, so this is a stellar debut in comparison. It is still too early to tell if it will match predictions, but I remain cautiously optimistic. More...

Thursday Night Previews: Wild has a Tame Debut

February 21st, 2020

The Call of the Wild earned $1 million on Thursday, which is better than expected. Granted, it is nowhere near the $3 million Sonic the Hedgehog earned last Thursday, but if The Call of the Wild can open with a third as much as Sonic the Hedgehog did last weekend, then it will beat expectations, but won’t come close to what it needs to earn to break even. Its reviews are about the same as Sonic’s reviews, but this film has a much smaller Fanboy Effect, so it should have better legs. We will have to wait till tomorrow to tell if that is true. More...

Weekend Wrap-Up: 2020 Suffers Its First Loss

February 11th, 2020

It was bound to happen, I was just hoping it wouldn’t happen this soon, but 2020 suffered its first loss in the year-over-year comparison. Birds of Prey failed to live up to the very low end of expectations opening with just $33 million. On the positive side, the holdovers held on really well and that helped limit losses. In fact, the overall box office was $95 million this weekend, up 18% from last weekend. That said, this is still down 16% from the same weekend last year and this number is a lot more important. Year-to-date, 2020 is still ahead of 2019 by $62 million or 6.2% at $1.07 billion to $1.01 billion, so we clearly shouldn’t be panicking this early on, but there are some troubling signs at the box office. More...

Weekend Wrap-Up: Bad Boys Still Feeling Good, New Releases are Bad and Worse

February 4th, 2020

The Super Bowl turned out to be a good game, at least according to the score sheet. This perhaps hurt the box office over the weekend, as Bad Boys for Life fell a little faster than expected. That said, it still dominated the box office with a huge lead over the second place film, 1917. Meanwhile, the two new releases, Gretel and Hansel and The Rhythm Section, both bombed to varying degrees. The overall box office fell 33% from last weekend, hitting $81 million; however, an extreme decline like this is to be expected on Super Bowl weekend. More importantly, this is 11% higher than the same weekend last year and that helped 2020 extend its lead over 2019 to 8.9% / $77 million at $945 million to $868 million. A few more weeks like this and I’ll actually become optimistic about the year’s box office chances. More...

Weekend Estimates: Bad Boys Enjoy Life at the Top

February 2nd, 2020

Bad Boys for Life is extending its run at the top of the chart the weekend with Sony projecting a total of $17.675 million as of Sunday morning. That’s down 48% from last weekend, which is another solid hold, and takes the film to the brink of $150 million at the domestic box office—it’s expected to have around $148 million by close of business. The studio is baking in a big 71% drop today thanks to competition with the Super Bowl, so it may end up doing just a little better than predicted. More...

Friday Estimates: Bad Boys Beat Up Newcomers

February 1st, 2020

If Friday’s estimates are any indication, then the weekend will be a little weaker than anticipated. Bad Boys for Life will easy lead the way after pulling in $5.19 million on Friday. Sony is projecting $17 million based on this result, which is a little lower than our $19 million to $20 million prediction, but still a great hold for a mainstream action film on Super Bowl weekend. This won’t be enough to get the movie to $150 million by the end of the weekend and it likely ends the film’s chances at $200 million domestically. That said, it is still going to be the biggest hit in the franchise by the end of Saturday, so there’s still plenty of reasons to celebrate. More...

Thursday Night Previews: Gretel Gets off to a Faster Start than Rhythm

January 31st, 2020

Gretel and Hansel got off to a faster start than The Rhythm Section did during Thursday previews. This isn’t surprising, as horror movies tend to be more front-loaded than nearly all other genres. The movie managed $475,000, which his a little more than the $425,000 The Turning earned during its previews. Furthermore, its reviews are flirting with the overall positive level, so its legs could be decent, all things considered. That said, even optimistic projections from this point have it barely beating our prediction with between $7 million and $8 million. This is a good start for a film that reportedly cost just $5 million to make. More...

Weekend Predictions: The Box Office Looks far from Super

January 31st, 2020

It is Super Bowl weekend, which is one of the biggest media events of the year. Even people who have no interest in the NFL tend to at least pay attention to the game. Because of that, no studio wants to release a typical film this time of year and instead focus on counter-programming, usually female-led counter-programming. Neither The Rhythm Section nor Gretel and Hansel are expected to challenge Bad Boys for Life for first place, but the pair could be in a close race with each other. This weekend last year, no movie earned $10 million or more, while Miss Bala opened with less than $10 million. 2020 should end the month on a huge winning note. More...

Gretel & Hansel Final Trailer

January 2nd, 2020

Fairytale horror starring Sophia Lillis opens January 31 ... Full Movie Details.

A long time ago in a distant fairytale countryside, a young girl leads her little brother into a dark wood in desperate search of food and work, only to stumble upon a nexus of terrifying evil. More...

2020 Preview: January

January 1st, 2020

It’s the year 2020, the year where we find out how many times you can say, “Well, hindsight is 20/20.” before you get punched. On the positive side, while December wasn’t a great month, it was good enough to help 2019 end on a positive note, a positive note that should continue into January. There are no real potential monster hits coming out this month, but there are three films that have a real shot at $100 million domestically. These are, in alphabetical order, 1917, which will rely on Awards Season to get to the century mark. Bad Boys for Life will have a much, much easier time getting to $100 million, assuming people still care about the franchise 17 years later. Finally, Dolittle is looking like a disaster with a really troubled production; however, a $100 million run isn’t out of the question and if it can get there, it will at least save face. As for last January, Glass was the biggest hit of the month in terms of raw dollars, but The Upside was more impressive, as it is one the biggest hits in STX Entertainment’s history. We need two of the three potential $100 million hits to reach that mark to keep pace with last year, but we also have one more weekend to get there. More...

Gretel & Hansel Trailer

September 4th, 2019

Fairytale horror starring Sophia Lillis opens January 31 ... Full Movie Details.

A long time ago in a distant fairytale countryside, a young girl leads her little brother into a dark wood in desperate search of food and work, only to stumble upon a nexus of terrifying evil. More...