February 24th, 2008
The Independent Spirit Awards are one of the earliest to announce their nominees, but they don't hand out the hardware until almost the very end. This year the big winner was Juno with three awards, which could be followed by a couple of Oscars tonight.
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April 30th, 2007
It was a tough week to write this column, partially because of the selection of DVD coming out tomorrow, and partially because my DVD player had a meltdown while I was in the middle of reviewing Dinosaurs - The Complete Third and Fourth Seasons . (And then today my mouse stops working while my Internet connection has been sporadic all day. It's like my electronics are conspiring against me.) There were a few DVDs that were contenders for DVD Pick of the Week, but in the end I went with Dreamgirls - 2-Disc Showstopper Edition while giving Michael Palin's Around the World in 80 Days an honorable mention.
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November 29th, 2006
As always, Award Season officially begins with the announcing of the
Independent Spirit Award nominations. While this is the first major awards to announce their nominations, they are one of the last to hand them out so the nominees have a long wait ahead of them.
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October 3rd, 2006
The Queen was crowned champion of the per theatre charts this weekend after it earned an astounding $122,000 in 3 theatres for an average of $40,671. Even more impressive is the fact that it earned that in just two days as Friday's debut was actually part of the New York Film Festival and not a theatrical release. Second place went to another regally titled film, The Last King of Scotland; this film brought in $143,000 in 4 theatres for an average of $35,725. Even more impressive is the fact that it opened on Wednesday, which undoubtedly kept its weekend box office lower than it otherwise would have been. Both films seemed poised to earn some measure of mainstream success, which will really help their chances come awards season.
There were two other films to top $10,000 on the per theatre charts, Old Joy at $13,029 and A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints at $11,848.
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September 26th, 2006
The Science of Sleep started its theatrical run atop the per theatre charts with nearly $350,000 in 14 theatres for an average of $24,852. The studio hopes to expand the film into 200 theatres this weekend but it is too soon to tell if the film will be able to attract an audience outside the art house circuit.
Second place went to American Hardcore as the documentary took in $18,102 in its lone theatre. Next up were a pair of holdovers with Old Joy earning $17,556 in one theatre, which is more than it made during its entire, nearly month-long release. Finally, Keeping Mum fell just 25.67% to just over $20,000 in 2 theatres for an average of $10,077.
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August 29th, 2006
The Illusionist was able to climb to the top of the per theatre charts this week despite seeing its theatre count nearly triple. The film's average of $12,745 was significantly, but not overwhelmingly ahead of second place Suicide Killers, which earned $10,601 in its lone theatre. Half Nelson, which led the charts the previous two weeks, slipped to third but still managed to maintain its $10,000 per theatre average with nearly $211,000 in 21 theatres for an average of $10,036.
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