May 21st, 2015
The winners of our Bad Prizes contest were determined and the entrants with the closest predictions for Mad Max: Fury Road opening weekend were...
More...
May 7th, 2015
There is a two-horse race next week with Mad Max: Fury Road and Pitch Perfect 2. While I think people are underestimating Pitch Perfect 2, Fury Road should have a faster start. Because of this, it is the choice for the target film in this week's box office prediction contest. In order to win, one must simply predict the opening weekend box office number for Mad Max: Fury Road.
Whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend box office (Friday to Sunday), without going over, will win a Frankenprize. Normally I just grab prizes at random, but in this case the first prize I grabbed was Bad Santa on Unrated DVD. At first I thought, "I can't give out Christmas DVDs in May?" But why not? So each Frankenprize includes one Christmas release.
Whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend box office (Friday to Sunday), without going under, will win a Frankenprize consisting of a previously reviewed DVD or Blu-ray and a Christmas release.
Finally, we will be choosing an entrant from the group of people who haven't won, or haven't won recently, and they will also win a Frankenprize consisting of a previously reviewed DVD or Blu-ray and a Christmas release.
Entries must be received by 10 a.m., Pacific Time on Friday to be eligible, so don't delay!
More...
November 20th, 2007
This week, we have another big list of DVD releases, including nearly a dozen spotlight reviews.
And again, we had to split the list into two parts.
There are also a number of high quality releases this week, making the selection for DVD Pick of the Week a tough one.
Live Free or Die Hard had me interested, either the Unrated 2-Disc Edition or as part of the Blu-Ray Die Hard Collection, but in the end I went with Star Trek - The Original Series - Season 1 - HD-DVD/DVD Combo.
Even at a steep price, it is still the best on this week's list.
More...
December 23rd, 2006
Part IV of the Holiday Gift Guide is aptly named because if you are still shopping for gifts at this late date, every other word out of your mouth has exactly four letters.
Hopefully there's enough ideas in these four installments to find a gift for everyone on your list.
More...
October 10th, 2006
The Thanksgiving long weekend signifies the start of the holiday shopping season... Of course, that's the American Thanksgiving, which occurs sometime in November. The
Canadian Thanksgiving, which occurred this weekend, is most closely associated with the start of
Hockey season. (Have I mentioned how much I hate the
New York Rangers? I have. Good.) However, just because shopping season has officially started, doesn't mean it's a slow week.
Far from it.
This week there was a bumper crop of contenders for the DVD Pick of the Week.
I narrowed the list to two TV on DVD releases (
Scrubs - The Complete Fourth Season -
Buy from Amazon and Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law - Volume 2 -
Buy from Amazon) and two limited releases, (
Twelve and Holding -
Buy from Amazon and
A Prairie Home Companion -
Buy from Amazon).
If I was forced at gunpoint to choose just one, it would be
Scrubs - The Complete Fourth Season -
Buy from Amazon, but I can all but guarantee all four, and a few others, will end up in my DVD collection.
More...
December 20th, 2004
Every week films get a second chance at success from the home market; or, in some cases, a first chance at success. Here is a list of wide releases, limited releases and a few from the growing TV on DVD section, including the winners of the DVD Pick of the Week, Shaun of the Dead - Buy from Amazon and Napoleon Dynamite - Buy from Amazon
More...
December 1st, 2004
With a nearly 3-1 lead over its nearest competitor,
The Incredibles took top spot on the International Box Office charts this week with $44.3 million on 4,362 screens in 22 markets for a running tally of $59.1 million. The film opened number one in all twelve markets and in a few of the markets the film debuted in this week it was able to break the record for biggest debut by an
animated films. However, in others it fell short to either
Finding Nemo, (France) or
Shrek 2 (the U.K. and Spain.) Its biggest single market was the U.K., where the brought in $18.1 million, including sneak peaks, which was a
Disney record. Other highlights include $9.2 million in France, $5.6 million in Spain, $5.4 million in Italy, and $1.3 million in Belgium. Considering the results so far it should challenge for supremacy among the elite
animated films and $400 million to $500 million isn't out of the question.
More...
November 24th, 2004
Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason's second round of openings was no quite as strong as last week's, but it was still more than enough to keep its first place finish at the international box office. Overall the British
comedy took in $20.6 million on 1,854 screens in 18 markets lifting its tally to $59 million. Out of the new openings, the film was most impressive in Spain with $2.6 million while its best market overall was the U.K. where the film dropped just 29% to $9.3 million. The film is still tracking well ahead of the
original and is becoming one of the monster hits of the fall.
More...
November 17th, 2004
Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason opened in a mere half a dozen international markets over the weekend, but what an opening it was. Despite place on fewer than 1000 screens the film was able to pull in an amazing $26.7 million, the lion's share coming from the U.K. where the film took in $19.1 million on 496 screens, (including $5.9 million from sneak peaks.) That was the best opening for a Working Title film smashing the previous record of $11.1 million for
Love Actually. In each market the film broke the record for Working Title films and more than doubled the
original's debut. And even with legs that are expected to be much lower, it should be able to break $300 million internationally, although it may have trouble hitting $50 million domestically.
More...
November 10th, 2004
It's a rare feat for a non-Hollywood film to top the international charts, but that's just what the German spoof, Seven Dwarfs, did this week. Playing in just three markets the film took in $10.6 million on under 1,000 screens. In its home market of Germany the film eased just 19% to $9.2 million; the result was not quite as good in Austria where it dropped a respectable 30% to $915,000, but it was in Switzerland where it shined -
increasing 4% to $500,000. Overall the film has now made $29.0 million so far but the real test comes with increased competition from holiday fare and the ability to find an audience in non-German speaking markets.
More...
June 21st, 2004
Every week films get a second chance at success from the home market; or, in some cases, a first chance at success. Pretty light week both in terms of quantity and quality. Less than 200 films on Amazon's release list and only a handful of those are worth mentioning. Of that small number,
Bad Santa, or to be more specific,
Badder Santa is the DVD pick of the week, but its dark humor is not for everyone.
More...
January 25th, 2004
With the awards ceremony only hours away, here's one last look at the theatrical nominations for tonight's 61st annual Golden Globes awards.
More...
December 15th, 2003
While the weekend after Thanksgiving is usually soft, the weekend after that usually sees a bit of a rebound. Last year, for instance, we saw a nearly 20% week-to-week increase at the box office. This year we weren't so lucky. No movie in the top five beat box office expectations, while a couple did place higher on the charts due to weaker than expected competition. This led to a drop of nearly 9% from last week and 13% from last year.
More...
December 9th, 2003
The post Thanksgivings weekend was even tougher on the movie industry than predicted with only one movie in the top five living up to expectations. Some analysts are blaming it on the storm in the Northeast, but the internal multiplier doesn't really support that. And while the box office did drop 40% from last week, it was well ahead of last year to the tune of almost 20%. Year-to-date 2003 is still more than $100 million behind 2002 and with only one movie left that is a sure bet to make that much, catching up is not expected.
More...
December 5th, 2003
Guessing what movie will finish first this weekend is a no-brainer. Guessing where the second new release of the weekend will land is a little trickier. Leftovers... I mean holdovers will suffer the post holiday blues this weekend, especially family friendly films.
More...
December 1st, 2003
While all but one for the movies opening over the 5-day Thanksgiving weekend failed to make a big splash at the box office, the holdovers picked up the slack. The extra helpings of family films helped this Thanksgiving weekend 7% up from last year for the 3-day weekend. But a weak Wednesday / Thursday lead to a 6% drop for the 5-day weekend. The mixed results sent 2003's box office a little further behind 2002.
More...
November 28th, 2003
This Thanksgiving is turning out to be rather disappointing. Early estimates are about on par with last year when all five wide releases failed to make a major impact at the box office. This year will be a little better, but only because of inflation.
More...
November 26th, 2003
The Thanksgivings Long weekend is traditionally one of the busiest times of the year at the box office. And tonight there are four new movies opening competing for the holiday dollar.
More...
