March 27th, 2019
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It is an amazing week for home releases. Not only do we have the biggest hit of last winter on this week’s list, but Aquaman is actually worth owning. That’s only the second time I can say that about the D.C.E.U. Additionally, there are a huge number of contenders for Pick of the Week, ranging from Oscar contenders (If Beale Street Could Talk on Blu-ray Combo Pack); limited releases (The Miseducation of Cameron Post: Special Edition Blu-ray); animated imports (My Hero Academia: Two Heroes on Blu-ray); TV movie aimed at teens (Kim Possible on DVD); and classics (For A Few Dollars More: Special Edition Blu-ray). It was an exceptionally close call, but in the end, I went with If Beale Street Could Talk.
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March 13th, 2019
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It’s not a good week on the home market. There are some big releases, like Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, but none of them are good. There are a couple of contenders for Pick of the Week, but the The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends: The Complete Series DVD is a re-release at a more reasonable price, while it is worth waiting to get the The Miseducation of Cameron Post: Special Edition Blu-ray. In the end, I went with a late screener, The Forbidden Photos Of A Lady Above Suspicion: Collector’s Edition Blu-ray. It is definitely the best bet for fans of Giallo and / or Film Noir.
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February 24th, 2019
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It’s Oscar night and we will be live blogging the show. We will announce the winners and have our reactions as they happen, while keeping track of how our readers did in predicting the outcomes.
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February 24th, 2019
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It’s Oscar Day, and we will be live blogging the show. Before that, let’s take a last look at the nominations with a few annotations. in Italics are those that have received the most votes from our readers so far in our Oscar contest (which is open to new entries until noon, Pacific, today—enter now!). Bold films are those films I think will win. Meanwhile, those that are Underlined are those I want to win. Not all categories have underlined nominees, because not all categories have someone I’m cheering for, or because there are two nominees I couldn’t pick between. For example, I would be happy with half of the Best Picture nominees winning.
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February 19th, 2019
With our annual Oscar Prediction contest underway, now is the best time to look at the nominees and try and figure out who the favorites are and which films should just feel honored to be nominated. Today we look at the two Screenwriting Categories, starting with Best Adapted Screenplay, which is not among the most competitive categories, but it isn’t inconceivable that there will be an upset.
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February 12th, 2019
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With our annual Oscar Prediction contest underway, now is the best time to look at the nominees and try and figure out who the favorites are and which films should just feel honored to be nominated. This week we look at the four acting categories, starting with Best Supporting Actress. In this category, there is not an overwhelming favorite this year, which is a bit of a change, as the acting categories haven’t been particularly competitive the past few years.
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January 24th, 2019
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Who Will Write Our History topped the theater average chart with $13,390 in its lone theater. One could also argue Dragon Ball Super: Broly was the true leader on this chart. Because the film played in a different number of theaters each day over the weekend, it is hard to come up with a real theater average for the weekend. Taking the average of the daily averages gets us $13,643, which would be number one of the weekend. Using the maximum theater count still gets us an average of $7,870, which is still amazing. The only other film in the $10,000 club was the overall box office leader, Glass, with an average of $10,500.
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January 23rd, 2019
The Oscar nominations were announced yesterday starting at just after 5 am Pacific time. They do this every year for reasons no one has been able to adequately explain to me. Because it was the day after a long weekend, it took a bit of time to get all the normal work done and digest the results. And there were some interesting results to digest. No one film led the way with total nominations, as two films, The Favourite and Roma tied with 10 nominations each.
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January 17th, 2019
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There were no films in the $10,000 club with Cold War coming the closest with $9,751 in ten theaters. The best new release was Touch Me Not, which opened with $7,903 in one theater.
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January 10th, 2019
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Destroyer rose to first place on the theater average chart with an average of $16,383 in six theaters. Cold War actually saw its average grow to $15,127, also in six theaters. Last week’s winner, On the Basis of Sex was next with an average of $14,370 in 112 theaters. It’s rare for a limited release to land in the $10,000 club while playing in more than 100 theaters. The final member of the $10,000 club was Stan and Ollie with an average of $10,920 in 8 theaters.
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January 7th, 2019
The Golden Globes were the first major Awards Season ceremony this year handing out the hardware on Sunday night. Are last night’s events a strong indicator for the Oscars? I hope not! Certainly not in all categories, as there were some puzzling results last night.
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January 2nd, 2019
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It was a busy week on the theater average chart, as there were three new releases and three holdovers in the $10,000 club. On the Basis of Sex led the way with an average of $20,799 in 33 theaters. That’s an excellent start for a limited release playing in that many theaters. Second place went to Destroyer with an average of $18,449 in three theaters. The final new release in the $10,000 club was Stan and Ollie, which earn an average of $15,935 in five theaters. Cold War held on really well earning an average of $14,777 in three theaters. The overall box office leader, Aquaman, was next with an average of $12,634. If Beale Street Could Talk rounded out the $10,000 with an average of $11,788, and it managed this despite expanding its theater count to 65.
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December 27th, 2018
There were not many new limited releases releases, which let If Beale Street Could Talk remain on top with an average of $21,853 in five theaters. Cold War was the best of the new releases with an average of $18,118 in three theaters. The only other film in the $10,000 club over the weekend was Aquaman with an average of $16,485. Two films had averages of over $10,000 during their Christmas Day debuts, On the Basis of Sex (average of $14,483 in 33 theaters) and Destroyer (average of $10,246 in three).
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December 19th, 2018
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There was only one new release in the $10,000 club this past weekend. If Beale Street Could Talk opened with an average of $56,119 in four theaters. The only other member of the $10,000 club was Mary Queen of Scots, with an average of $10,602 in 66 theaters during its second week of release. It will continue to expand, but it very likely won’t expand even semi-wide.
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December 16th, 2018
Sony’s estimates have Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse earning $35.4 million over the weekend. Its reviews and its A plus from CinemaScore should both helps its legs, as will the upcoming holidays. On the other hand, it does have direct competition next weekend, more or less. Aquaman will attack it from the super hero side of things, while Mary Poppins Returns will take from its family film side. That said, with a start like this, $100 million domestically is practically guaranteed, while $150 million is a solid goal to aim for.
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December 15th, 2018
Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse debuted with $12.6 million on Friday, putting it on pace for $35.5 million over the full weekend, at least according to Sony. It will get a tiny boost on Sunday, because about 5% of school kids start their winter holidays on Monday. It will get a larger boost from its reviews, which remain Oscar-worthy. And this is not a case of the critics loving it and the audiences being more ambivalent, as the film earned an A plus from CinemaScore and a five-star rating from PostTrak. If the film does match Sony’s estimates, then it will be a little better than our prediction. More importantly, if its word-of-mouth boosts its legs, it could earn more than $200 million domestically. That’s asking a lot, but it is a possibility. It is certainly something to keep our eyes on.
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December 14th, 2018
It’s a great time of year to release an Awards Season contender. Ironically, there is so much competition in that space that the number of Oscar-bait films already in release is too much competition, so there are not too many films coming out this week. That’s not to say there are no prime releases coming out. If Beale Street Could Talk is an Awards Season contender, but it is arguably the only film on this week’s list with a realistic chance of doing well at the box office.
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December 6th, 2018
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The Golden Globes nominations are the second major Awards Season set to come out. It is still very early in the year and the predictive value of the Golden Globes is a little suspect, but there are still some things to learn here. For example Vice led the way with six nominations, so its Oscar chances have gone up, but don’t expect it to lead the way when the Oscars nominations are announced.
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November 17th, 2018
The Independent Spirit Awards nominations were announced on Friday and thus the 2018 Awards Season begins. We The Animals topped the list with five nominations, while A24 earned 12 as a studio.
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September 21st, 2018
Historical drama written and directed by Barry Jenkins, based on the book by James Baldwin opens November 30 ... Full Movie Details.
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