December 7th, 2023
It’s a rare scenario that a film becomes the widest release in its fourth week in theaters but that is just the case for The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes. Even as the film loses 26 locations this week, it is still available in 3,665 cinemas, which tops our list this week. The film logged in over $14 million in its latest weekend, good enough for second place, in between the two newcomers, RENAISSANCE: A FILM BY BEYONCÉ, and Godzilla Minus One, which earned $21.8 million and $11.42 million respectively. This week in wide arrivals, two new arrivals make their way into theaters a two classics come back to the big screen.
More...
November 27th, 2015
It's Thanksgiving weekend, which means Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and of course the first installment of our Holiday Gift Guide. This week we will tackle first run releases, as well as franchise box sets. I'm going to try to keep it to a dozen or so releases, as these columns are notorious for getting out of hand. Also, while there were a record number of $1 billion box office hits, there were not as many first run releases that earned stellar reviews this year.
More...
October 13th, 2015
There are two $100 million movies on this week's list of Home Market Releases: Spy, which earned more than $100 million domestically, and Tomorrowland, which merely cost more than $100 million to make. Spy is arguably the best release on this week's list, but the Blu-ray was already named Pick of the Week, so that honor is going to Aladdin's Blu-ray debut this week.
More...
September 19th, 2013
New releases were even worse on the July 7th, 2013 edition of the Blu-ray sales chart than they were on the DVD sales chart. Leading the way was Despicable Me with 88,000 units / $1.23 million for the week and 2.35 million units / $58.37 million after more than two-and-a-half years of release. This puts it just outside of the top 20 on the All-Time Blu-ray Chart, and it has already made it there as of the writing of this column.
More...
July 29th, 2013
New releases earned the top three spots on the DVD sales chart, but there was only one other to earn a spot in the top 30. Oz the Great and Powerful earned first place with 549,000 units / $9.97 million, which is a good result, given the time of year.
More...
June 18th, 2013
It's another typical summer week on the home market. That is to say, it's a bad week on the home market. There are several first-run releases, the biggest of which was Jack the Giant Killer, which bombed at the box office. There are some limited releases that help the overall quality, but it is still a bad week. As far as Pick of the Week candidates go, Quartet on DVD or Blu-ray is the best choice. One could argue it is the only choice, but there are three Criterion Collection releases that are worth checking out, as well as some horror films, both old and new, that should please genre fans. On a side note, there are six Disney Channel releases on this week's list. That's a little strange.
More...
June 16th, 2013
The Die Hard franchise has been around for 25 years. The first Die Hard film cost less than $30 million to make, but earned $80 million. This is $150 million, if you take into inflation. The most recent installment was Live Free or Die Hard, which didn't quite live up to expectations. A lot of people thought that perhaps the franchise was running out of steam, or perhaps it was just a product of its times and it was no longer relevant today. Was A Good Day to Die Hard able to revitalize the franchise? Or is there something seriously wrong here?
More...
March 21st, 2013
Oz the Great and Powerful remained in first place with $48.2 million on 10,433 screens in 55 markets for totals of $138.6 million internationally and $282.7 million worldwide. The film took top spot in France with a hair under $5.00 million on 620 screens. During its second weekend in Russia, the film added $4.93 million on 1,137 screens for a total of $21.63 million so far. At this pace, it should have no trouble earning a profit. The only question is whether or not it will get there before it reaches the home market.
More...
February 25th, 2013
The Oscars proved to be too much competition for the new releases as neither Snitch nor Dark Skies were able to find much success. Indeed, it was Identity Thief that rose to top spot in its third week of release. Most films in the top five were able to at least match expectations, but the overall box office still plummeted 27% from last weekend to just $103 million. The comparison to last year was not quite as bad, but it was still down by a stunning 23%. Ouch. 2013 is now behind 2012 by a full $100 million or 6.7% at $1.41 billion to $1.51 billion.
More...
February 21st, 2013
There are just two wide releases coming out this week, Snitch and Dark Skies. Most analysts think Snitch is the stronger of the two films, but most also think Identity Thief will return to top spot. Looking at all of the evidence, it certainly seems that way. Unless one of the new releases is a truly big surprise, it looks like we won't keep pace with last year again this weekend. 2013 needed to get off to a really fast start, because there's no film that's going to match The Hunger Games, and once we are dealing with that film in the year-over-year comparison, 2013 might be sunk for good.
More...
February 20th, 2013
The Valentine's Day / President's Day five-day weekend wasn't as lucrative as many had hoped, at least not at the top, which is really bad news for a year that is not off to a great start. A Good Day to Die Hard won the race, but barely, with Identity Thief coming in a very close second over the weekend. Other new releases, like Safe Haven and Escape From Planet Earth did better than expected, while Beautiful Creatures crashed. The overall box office did rise by 36% to $141 million over the three-day period, but the holiday explains that growth. Compare to last year, 2013 actually failed to match last President's Day by 9.3% over the three-day period and with $168 million including Monday, missed the four-day period by 13%. Year-to-date, 2013 is behind 2012 by 6.7% at $1.28 billion to $1.37 billion. I am officially concerned.
More...
February 14th, 2013
It's Valentine's Day today, while Monday is President's Day, so the box office has an unofficial five-day weekend. There's not much of a mystery regarding which of the four wide releases will top the chart this weekend, as nearly everyone expects A Good Day to Die Hard will come out on top. Maybe Safe Haven will earn first place tonight, but very few expect that will last after Valentine's day. Despite earning better than expected reviews, Beautiful Creatures isn't expected to compete for the top spot, or even second place. So far there are no reviews for Escape From Planet Earth and it might be stuck in fifth place. Because of a misalignment in Valentine's Day, we should do better this weekend compared to the same weekend last year, which is good news, as 2013 is in a mini-slump.
More...
February 1st, 2013
For the most part, January was a really good month and 2013 got off to a really good start. I'm not so sure about February, on the other hand. There's only one film that has a statistically significant shot at $100 million, A Good Day to Die Hard, but I'm a little concerned that it won't live up to expectations. The franchise has been around a long time and it is possible that the target audience has either moved on or are too young to remember when these films were huge at the box office. The film I'm most looking forward to seeing is Warm Bodies, which is earning amazing early reviews (the keyword there is "early"), but it is too high-concept to be a major hit. Last February, there were a couple of films that topped $100 million, plus a few other midlevel hits. I would like to think that would also be the case this year, but I have to be more cautious than that. The evidence points to a weak month ahead, for the most part.
More...
January 28th, 2013
There are quite a few films that opened wide in theaters on this week's list, but most of them bombed at the box office. Hotel Transylvania is the only exception, but while it is a good kids movie, it isn't Pick of the Week material. The best release of the week, in my opinion, is Seven Psychopaths on either DVD or Blu-ray.
More...
December 18th, 2012
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey had a record-breaking start on IMAX earning $15.1 million on 452 screens worldwide, which is the best ever December opening for the format. The worldwide total was split $10.1 million on 326 screens domestically and $5 million on 126 screens internationally.
More...