February 6th, 2020
-(2019)-1-News.jpg)
Our annual Oscar Prediction contest is underway so 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. We are continuing our shortened schedule with Best Original Screenplay. We have yet another close race with two films that are practically a coin-toss away from being the winner.
More...
January 13th, 2020
-1-News.jpg)
The Oscar nominations were announced on Monday, and the results were... well, there were some puzzling results. Joker led the way with eleven nominations. ... A film with 69% positive reviews earned the most nominations. It’s not the worst-reviewed movie to earn a Best Picture Nomination—after all, Bohemian Rhapsody was nominated just last year. However, this film is arguably the worst-reviewed movie to ever earn the most nominations in a single year.
More...
December 11th, 2019
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. (This is especially true on the TV end, as there’s talk about how strange the nominations are this year.) Marriage Story led the way with six nominations, just ahead of The Irishman and Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood, both of which picked up five nods.
More...
October 13th, 2017
The two biggest limited releases in terms of buzz, Breathe and Goodbye Christopher Robin, both failed to live up to expectations with critics and likely won’t have long legs at the box office. On the other hand, there are several documentaries worth checking out, like 78/52: Hitchcock’s Shower Scene, The Departure, Human Flow, and Wasted! The Story of Food Waste.
More...
December 13th, 2015
The third installment of the Holiday Gift Guide focuses on smaller releases, movies that opened in limited release, foreign films, classics getting new releases, and a few Canadian films. This year the list looks different to the previous guides for a simple reason. While there were only eight releases on the TV on DVD installment of the holiday gift guide, the first pass had more than 30 films on this list. I tried trimming the list, but that resulted in me remembering more films I wanted to add to it. Even after getting rid of the ones that won't be released until after Christmas, like Bone Tomahawk, there are still way too many releases to deal with. So let's not delay anymore and get to the list, starting with the biggest release...
More...
August 14th, 2015
It is both a very busy week with nearly a dozen releases on this week's list and a disappointing one. The slate of new releases is really weak, with only Mistress America having a decent shot at box office success. There are a couple of other releases that have the reviews to do well, but are playing on VOD. Of these, People Places Things is my choice for Video on Demand Pick of the Week, although I'm hoping Final Girl is better than its early reviews would indicate.
More...
June 30th, 2015
There's a short list this week, for two reasons. Firstly, there's not a lot of new releases worth mentioning. Secondly, I really have to concentrate on the July preview (look for that on the site tomorrow). The biggest release of the week is clearly Get Hard, but it was not the best. As for the best, there are two that jump out: Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter (Blu-ray) and The Decline Of Western Civilization Collection (DVD or Blu-ray). Both are top-notch picks, but I went with Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter.
More...
June 29th, 2015
While We're Young is the latest film from writer / director Noah Baumbach. He has a great streak going by his Tomatometer Scores and this film earned 84% positive reviews. However, the audience score is only 58% positive. That dichotomy is a bit troubling. Is this film designed to wow critics, but will leave the average moviegoer cold?
More...
April 28th, 2015
There were no films in the $10,000 club this week and no new releases really came close. The closest was Full Moon in Paris, which rose 58% from last weekend to $7,987, still in one theater. Felix et Meira was next with an average of $6,590 after expanding from one to four theaters. Don't Think I've Forgotten: Cambodia's Lost Rock and Roll was the biggest new release with an average of $6,402 in three theaters over the weekend for an average of $8,465 from Wednesday to Sunday.
More...
April 1st, 2015
While We're Young has set a new record for 2015 earning the best per theater average for a film that opened in 2015 with an average of $56,922 in four theaters. The most negative thing you can say about this result was that it wasn't that unexpected, as several Noah Baumbach films have earned similar opening weekend per theaters averages. Up next was the first of two wide releases in the $10,000 club, Home, with an average of $14,053. The Salt of the Earth earned an average of $11,234 in four theaters. This is excellent for a documentary. The final film in the $10,000 club was the second wide release on this week's list, Get Hard, which pulled in an average of $10,647.
More...
March 29th, 2015
DreamWorks Animation has been having a tough time of it recently. Aside from How to Train Your Dragon 2, their last three films, Penguins of Madagascar, Mr. Peabody & Sherman and Turbo were all financial failures, and, as an animation house, they are stuck with a business model that demands putting $100 million–$200 million into each film and hoping for a $500 million-plus global hit. That’s made doubly-difficult when you’re operating as a standalone entity and can’t fall back on the wider resources of the studio during hard times.
The opening weekend for Home, projected at $54 million, according to distributor Fox, is therefore very welcome news indeed. It marks the best opening by a non-sequel for the production house since Monsters vs. Aliens opened with $59.3 million on this weekend in 2009, and the third-best non-sequel debut in their history behind that film and Kung Fun Panda’s $60 million start in 2008.
More...
March 27th, 2015
It's a pretty good week as far as limited releases are concerned with a number of them earning excellent reviews. Unfortunately, the biggest in terms of cast and theater count is Serena, but its reviews are among the worst of the week. Hopefully films like Serena (Reviews) or Man from Reno (Reviews) can pick up the slack.
More...
May 19th, 2013
Paramount downplayed talk of a $100 million opening weekend for Star Trek Into Darkness, and the results for the weekend show that they were right to do so. The film is predicted to earn $70.5 million over the three-day weekend for a total of $84.1 million after four days. That compares to a three-day opening of $79.2 million for the previous Star Trek outing, which means the franchise is essentially treading water in spite of generally good reviews and enthusiasm among its core audience. This clearly won't be the breakout into super-blockbuster territory that some were hoping for, although it should set a franchise record thanks to improved international numbers.
More...
May 17th, 2013
I mentioned last week that every summer there is usually one limited release that has break out success and expands, if not wide, at least wide enough to earn a real measure of mainstream success. This week, we have that first film that might reach that level of success. Frances Ha not only has the best reviews on this week's list, but it also has an impressive pedigree. There are also a couple foreign language films that might find an audience on the art house circuit, Augustine and Pieta, but their chances to expand significantly are much more limited.
More...
-Thumbnail.jpg)
