November 25th, 2014
It is the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, which means there are only a few days before Black Friday, which is one of the busiest shopping days of the season. At first glance, this might seem like a great day to release a DVD or Blu-ray; however, the massive sales will instead overshadow anything that comes out this week. This explains why there are so few interesting releases. The biggest release of the week is The Expendables 3 on DVD or Blu-ray Combo Pack, but it might be so bad it killed the franchise. The best release is Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Turkey Day Collection (XXXI), which is the Pick of the Week. We also have a Puck of the Week for Rhymes for Young Ghouls on DVD, a Canadian film that deserves a wider audience.
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November 24th, 2014
I've reviewed every film in the Step Up franchise, except Revolution. Step Up 3D is a prime example of the genre. The plot, and lead characters, take a back seat to the dancing. The latest installment of the franchise, Step Up All In, comes out on the home market this week. (Maybe. There seems to be some confusion on the release date over on Amazon.com.) Is it more of the same? Will that be enough for fans of the franchise?
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August 19th, 2014
Only one of the three wide releases this past weekend did reasonably well over the weekend. Despite earning reviews that were flirting with single-digits, Let's Be Cops was the best of the new releases this weekend earning an acceptable opening. On the other hand, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Guardians of the Galaxy held on well earning first and second places over the weekend. The overall box office plummeted from last weekend down 23% to $143 million, but this is still 2.5% more than the same weekend last year. Year-to-date, 2014 is still behind 2013, even though the gap shrunk a little bit at 4.5% or $6.75 billion to $7.07 billion.
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August 11th, 2014
Despite earning some of the worst reviews of the summer, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles easily won the race for the top of the box office chart unseating Guardians of the Galaxy, which earned some of the best reviews. The rest of the new releases were well back. Overall, the box office was down from last weekend, but by less than 0.5% to $185 million. Compared to last year, the box office was 16% higher, which is a great result. Year-to-date, 2014 is still behind 2013, but the deficit was down to 4.4% or $300 million at $6.52 billion to $6.82 billion.
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August 10th, 2014
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles didn’t just overcome the bad guys in a movie this weekend. They also overcame almost universally-scathing reviews and an end-of-Summer release date to top the box office. With expectations going into the weekend ranging from the low 30s to $50 million or so, an opening that Paramount is projecting at $65 million as of Sunday morning is a triumph. Even with the prospect of steep declines in the weeks ahead, the film should hit $150 million domestically, and with international markets expected to be the film’s strong suit, a sequel or two are likely to follow. The weekend’s other openers have less rosy futures.
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August 7th, 2014
Yep. It's August alright. There are four wide releases coming out this week, the largest of which is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which is currently earning 17% positive reviews. It's not even the worst reviewed film of the weekend so far, as Into the Storm is a little worse. There are a couple of films that might earn overall positive reviews: The Hundred Foot Journey and Step Up All In. None of the new releases are on track to match Guardians of the Galaxy. In fact, all four combined won't make as much as Guardians of the Galaxy opened with last weekend. This weekend last year, there were also four wide releases, three of which earned more than $20 million. I don't think that will be true this year, but I think based on the strength of Guardians of the Galaxy and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, 2014 will win in the year-over-year comparison.
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August 1st, 2014
July was... well... let's just pretend it didn't happen. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes did well, but week after week 2014 fell further behind 2013 in the year-to-date comparison. At the moment, we are roughly $400 million behind last year's pace and while I don't think August will continue the losing streak, there's really no chance August will put a dent in that number. It looks more and more likely that Guardians of the Galaxy will be a hit, especially given its early reviews, but it could be the last $100 million hit till October, if the bad buzz surrounding Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles turns into bad ticket sales. Last August there were two films that reached $100 million, plus two others that came close. This August might match that, while the biggest film this year should top the biggest film from last year. I think the slump 2014 is suffering through will end the first weekend and overall I think it will cut the deficit a little bit. That said, summer 2014 will still end as one of the worst recent summers at the box office.
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