February 27th, 2011
The Oscar are being handed out tonight and we will be going over the winners as they are announced and giving a few reactions, perhaps there will be a few surprises along the way. This story will be updated as the winners are announced, so check back throughout the evening to see if The King's Speech will be this year's winner, or if The Social Network will manage the upset. Plus there are many other potentially interesting results ahead.
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February 20th, 2011
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 nominees should just feel honored to be nominated. This weekend we wrap things up and the final category is the most prestigious, Best Picture. With ten nominations, it's a crowded field; however, all but a couple of those are clearly long shots.
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February 20th, 2011
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 nominees should just feel honored to be nominated. This weekend we wrap things up with our final two categories, starting with Best Director, which looks to be a two-horse race. But what a race!
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February 13th, 2011
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 nominees should just feel honored to be nominated. This weekend we will look at the four acting categories, continuing with Best Lead Actor, which is possibly the least competitive of the four acting races.
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February 8th, 2011
Among the new releases to reach the top 30 on the sales chart this week, there were two that were in a relatively close race for first place. At least it was close compared to the third place film. Coming out on top was Red with 1.12 million units sold for $15.07 million in opening week consumer spending.
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February 6th, 2011
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 Best Adapted Screenplay, which is one the categories that I think could give us a surprise. There's a favorite, and one or two that could pull off an upset.
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February 5th, 2011
WGA handed out its awards this weekend, and while there were many winners, only three categories were for theatrical releases.
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February 1st, 2011
Takers led a list of four new releases that reached the top 30 on this week's sales chart. It won the race with relative ease selling 714,000 units and generating $11.42 million in opening week consumer spending at retail. The Social Network was pushed into second place with 469,000 units for the week and 1.51 million units after two. Its total sales of $19.57 million are a little on the low end, but with its performance during Awards Season heating up, it could last on the chart for a long time. Speaking of which, Despicable Me remained in third place, again, with 253,000 units / $5.09 million for the week giving it totals of 6.74 million units / $117.10 million after six weeks of release. Death Race 2 opened in fourth place with 218,000 / $4.04 million, which is good for this type of release.
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January 25th, 2011
The Oscar nominations were announced this morning, thus ending months of speculation. Along with a (very) few surprises, the list of nominees is mostly a case of Deja Vu. Leading the way, as it has so often this year, was The King's Speech, with 12 nominations, including six in seven of the most prestigious categories (Best Picture, Director, Screenplay, and the four acting categories). But it was far from the only multi-nominated film on the list.
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January 25th, 2011
A few films tend to cross the $100 million milestone every January, as late December releases finish their run and this year is no exception. For instance, late last weekend Due Date hit the century mark on the 73rd day of its theatrical release. That's not a record, but it is certainly unusual for a wide release to take that long to get there. This past weekend, Voyage of the Dawn Treader became the 27th film released in 2010 to hit that mark, and the first for 20th Century Fox to reach that milestone all year long. Just a year after they released Avatar and five other $100 million movies, Fox was nearly shut out of the century club. That's quite a slump.
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January 25th, 2011
While there were not many new releases on this week's sales chart, one of them, The Social Network, dominated the sales chart with 1.08 million units / $14.06 million during its opening week.
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January 16th, 2011
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association handed out the hardware tonight, and while there were plenty of winners, one film, The Social Network, stood out by winning four awards, including three of the major ones.
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January 12th, 2011
The Directors Guild of America spreads out the nomination process, but the last of the theatrical categories were announced today. The guild hands out awards in nearly a dozen categories, but only two for theatrical release. Two categories, ten nominations, and only one that wasn't completely foreseen.
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January 10th, 2011
This week, among the many DVD / Blu-ray releases, is what could be the Best Picture Oscar winner. However, after The Social Network, there's quite a drop-off in quality. There are a few that are worth checking out, as well as a couple that are worth picking up, but there's no competition for The Social Network's Two-Disc DVD or Blu-ray for Pick of the Week.
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January 4th, 2011
Producers Guild of America announced the nominations in seven categories, three of which are for theatrical releases. Like last year, there was only one repeat nominee, and again like last year, it was a Pixar release.
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January 4th, 2011
WGA nominations were announced this week, and there were some strange results, as the guild is sticking to their rules, which resulted in a number of possible Oscar contenders being ruled ineligible. That said, of the non-documentary films, only one hasn't picked up a single nomination previously, so it is hard to say this list is too out there.
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December 22nd, 2010
The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader remained in top spot over the weekend, but it fell more than 50% to $31.53 million on 10,107 screens in 61 markets for a total of $126.02 million internationally. Over the weekend it opened in Germany, but only managed second place with $2.46 million on 893 screens, which is about 40% less than Prince Caspian made during its opening weekend and less than half of what the original opened with. It was down 50% in Russia, but still going strong with $3.89 million on 1284 screens over the weekend for a total of $16.29 million after two. In France it held well, down just 40% to $3.10 million on 739 screens over the weekend and $8.77 million in total. It will not match its predecessors at the box office, but it should make enough internationally that it will break even, eventually.
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December 17th, 2010
The SAG nominations were handed out this week, and while there were a couple of interesting notes, overall there was a decided lack of surprises. The King's Speech and The Fighter led the way with four nominations each, while Black Swan and The Kids Are All Right were right behind with three. All four have been considered Awards Season players for a long time, so their success with SAG merely confirms that and is not shocking in the least.
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December 14th, 2010
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced their nominations early this morning, and there are some interesting surprises included in the mix. Leading the way was The King's Speech, which has long been seen as one of the major players this Awards Season. Meanwhile, The Fighter and The Social Network were right behind with six each. There were many, many other films nomination, including more than a few shocks. ... Mostly in one category.
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November 17th, 2010
Unstoppable opened in first place on the international box office over the weekend. (It has likely already fallen to Harry Potter on the daily chart, which opened on Wednesday.) Its opening weekend haul was $18.72 million on 4137 screens in 39 markets giving it a total opening of $19.31 million. It earned first place in Spain with $1.56 million on 336 screens, but was not as potent in South Korea or Germany earning third place with $1.33 million on 323 screens and $1.20 million on 504 respectively. It only managed fourth place in France, with $2.63 million on 430 screens, while it barely squeezed into the top five in Italy with $755,000 on 251.
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November 10th, 2010
Unlike its domestic debut, Due Date was able to open in first place internationally with $21.69 million on 3572 screens in 32 markets. It was tops in Germany with $3.90 million on 519 screens, while it also led the way in the U.K. with $3.78 million on 449 screens. On the other hand, it had to settle for second place in Russia, but with $3.88 million on 543 screens, it was still a huge success there. In comparison, the cumulative opening weekend was nearly identical to The Hangover, which bodes well for the film's chances internationally, even if it likely won't have the same long legs.
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November 3rd, 2010
Thanks in part to holidays in France, Despicable Me was able to return to top spot with $21.65 million on 4511 screens in 44 markets for a total of $234.58 million internationally and $482.46 million worldwide. By this time next week, it will have more internationally than domestically and a total of more than half-a-billion worldwide. Its top market was France, where school holidays helped it more than double its take at $6.17 million on 657 screens, but that's for the 5-day weekend. Overall it has made $19.80 million in that market. It opened in second place in Japan with $2.93 million on 225 screens over the weekend and $3.12 million in total. It was flat in the U.K. adding another $4.15 million on 532 screens for a three week total of $24.21 million.
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October 27th, 2010
Mirroring its domestic debut, Paranormal Activity 2 opened in first place internationally with $22.32 million on 2752 screens in 21 markets. The film opened in first place in the U.K. with $5.92 million on 389 screens, while it also topped the charts in Australia with $2.68 million on 185 screens and in Mexico with $1.86 million in 452. On the other hand, it had to settle for second place in South Korea with $1.05 million on 218 screens over the weekend and $1.18 million in total. While in Italy it could do no better than fourth place with $1.55 million on 250.
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October 25th, 2010
I'm not willing to say the slump is over after just one weekend, but we did finally see some real positive signs over the weekend. Not only did the number one film top expectations, but no film in the top five really flopped. In fact, only one film in the top ten fell more than 33.6%. Overall the box office was down 2% from last week earning $129 million; however, it was up by 12% over the same weekend last year, which is far more important. A double-digit increase in the year-over-year comparison was pretty commonplace earlier in the year, so hopefully this is a portent of things to come, and not just a momentary blip. Year-to-date 2010 has now earned $8.65 billion giving it a 3.4% lead over 2009's running tally of $8.37 billion.
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October 21st, 2010
For much of the year, 2010 has been a banner year at the box office. We've already broken records for the most $300 million movies in the calendar year, 2010 is the first year where two films released during the same year, have reached $1 billion worldwide. We are currently nearly $300 million ahead of last year's pace. However, recently things have not been quite as rosy and we've seen declines on a year-over-year basis five of the past six weeks. Will that change this weekend? There are some positive signs. For instance, this time last year there were three or four wide releases. (It depends on your definition of "Wide".) All four failed to reach initial expectations, dramatically in some cases. This leaves a real opportunity for 2010 to expand its lead. There is only one movie opening wide, plus another expanding wide, but perhaps the lack of competition will be good for the two films.
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October 20th, 2010
Despicable Me completed its climb to the top of the international chart with $27.03 million on 4751 screens in 40 markets for totals of $170.27 million internationally and $417.32 million worldwide. This week's openings include the U.K., where it topped the chart with $5.81 million on 522 screens, which is a good result, but not a great result. It placed second in Italy with less money at $4.86 million on 544 screens, but ironically, this is a better result due to the relative size of the two markets and it only placed second due to a massive local hit. Meanwhile, the film was down just 23% in France adding $3.57 million on 657 screens for a two-week total of $8.82 million. It was down 35% in Spain, but remained in first place with $2.25 million on 542 screens over the weekend and $8.27 million in total. The film is running out of places to open in, but by this time next week it should have $200 million internationally, while $500 million worldwide is still the main goal.
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October 18th, 2010
After more than a few films missed expectations over the past few weeks, it is nice to see a film crush expectations so soundly. Jackass 3D slapped around the naysayers so thoroughly that it nearly helped turn around 2010's losing streak. It did help the overall box office grow 42% from last weekend to $132 million, but that was still roughly 5% lower than the same weekend last year. (This was due to better depth at the box office last year.) 2010 is still ahead of 2009 at $8.48 billion to $8.22 billion, but I'm a little concerned that lead won't last till the end of the year.
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October 17th, 2010
Jackass 3D is set to record the biggest October weekend ever, according to Paramount's Sunday estimate.
With $50 million over the weekend, the movie will also set a new mark for a factually-based movie, beating the record held by its predecessor in the series, Jackass: Number Two.
Although the debate on 3D's long-term future continues, this is a movie that seems to be perfectly suited to the medium.
Expect to see talk of Jackass 4D very soon.
We don't even dare to speculate what the 4th D will entail.
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October 14th, 2010
The past few weeks haven't exactly been kind to the box office, with more films struggling than soaring. The industry as a whole is obviously hoping things turn around this weekend and 2010 ends its losing streak against 2009. We've lost ground four of the past five weekends. Worse still, three of those times 2010 failed to get within 10% of 2009's weekend number. Turning things around might be more than a little difficult, as this time last year there were five films that earned $10 million or more, while this year we might not have three films do the same.
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October 11th, 2010
The race for top spot was pretty close this weekend with the first and second place films finishing within $1 million of each other. On the other hand, combined there were significantly weaker than last year's number one film, Couples Retreat. Because of this, it should come as no surprise that the overall box office was down, falling 2% from last weekend to $93 million and 15% from last year. 2010 still has a massive lead over 2009 at $8.31 billion to $8.04 billion, but year-over-year declines like this mean that lead is not safe.
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October 7th, 2010
There could be a real tight race for top spot at the box office this week, which is good news as it gives us something to talk about while we avoid the year-over-year comparison. There are three wide releases coming out this week; however, it is very possible that their combined opening weekend results will be less than last year's number one film, Couples Retreat. Even if 2010 avoids that fate, there's almost no chance it will keep up with last year's pace.
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October 4th, 2010
October started in such a way that it feels like September was extended a weekend. The top film wasn't bad, but the other two wide releases bombed. Overall the box office brought in $95 million, which was down 6% from last week and 11% from the same weekend last year. 2010 is still ahead of 2009 by 4% at $8.19 billion to $7.90 billion, but if it were to lose 11% each weekend, that lead would evaporate by the end of the year.
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October 3rd, 2010
The Social Network connected with about three million moviegoers this weekend to top the box office chart with an estimated $23 million, according to Sony's Sunday estimate.
While that's a very respectable start, interest in the movie was mainly concentrated in urban areas, particular on the coasts, and the movie was soft in the central United States.
While stellar reviews should lead to good word-of-mouth, the film's limited demographic appeal certainly seems to have held it back from being a huge success.
That said, this weekend's other openers are looking on in envy.
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October 1st, 2010
September is nearly over and the Fall box office season is about to begin in earnest.
September wasn't too bad this year, with more films matching or exceeding expectations than missing them, and we managed to keep pace with last year, more or less.
Can October do the same? Well, last year there was only one $100 million hit, Couples Retreat (not counting Paranormal Activity, which opened in September). We might not see any film hit $100 million this time around.
In fact, we might not even see any that come all that close.
On the other hand, there were also five wide releases that clearly bombed last year, and on that end, 2010 looks a lot better.
Not every film that opens over the next five weekends will be a mid-level hit or better, but most should get there.
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September 30th, 2010
It's the beginning of October, so it should come as no surprise there are a couple of horror films are coming out. More surprisingly, a couple of films released this week are also earning Oscar- or near Oscar-worthy reviews.
(There's only three films, so there's some crossover.)
Direct competition between the films could hurt, but hopefully not so much that 2010 falls behind last year's pace.
It's not like last year was explosive at the box office, as Zombieland just missed $25 million at the box office, and it was the clear winner.
Will any of the wide releases top that figure? And will the overall box office help 2010 maintain its lead over 2009?
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