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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September 17th, 2014
Since this time last week, Lucy topped $200 million internationally. Considering a significant number of people thought it wouldn't reach $200 million worldwide, this is a great result. Over the weekend, it remained in first place with $24.9 million in 59 markets for totals of $230.6 million internationally and $354.1 million worldwide. The film opened in first place in Russia with $9.77 million on 1,013 screens, which was more than $9 million more than the second place film.
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September 10th, 2014
Lucy reclaimed top spot on the international chart with $26 million in 54 markets for totals of $193 million internationally and $314 million worldwide. I don't think a lot of people thought this movie would reach $300 million worldwide, so this is a great run. The film opened in second place in South Korea with $7 million, but includes weekday numbers. The film remained in first place in the U.K. with $1.96 million on 506 screens over the weekend for a total of $17.26 million after three weeks of release. Lucy opens in Russia and China this weekend and could remain in first place.
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September 4th, 2014
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes rose from eighth to first place thanks to its debut in China. Overall, the film made $51.2 million in 29 markets for totals of $408.0 million internationally and $613.3 million worldwide. It dominated the box office in China with $45.13 million and if it has any legs in this market, it will reach $500 million internationally and $750 million worldwide is within reach after its run in Japan.
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August 26th, 2014
Of the three wide releases, none topped expectations and only If I Stay did decent business at the box office. It only managed third place, but it did have the best per theater average in the top twenty. This left holdovers atop of the box office chart with Guardians of the Galaxy returning to first place and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles slipping to second place. Overall, the box office was down 20% from last weekend to $115 million. However, this was 4.7% higher than the same weekend last year, which is the more important metric. Unfortunately, 2014 is still behind 2013 by a large margin of $330 million or 4.7% at $6.91 billion to $7.24 billion.
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August 20th, 2014
How to Train Your Dragon 2 debuted in first place in China with $26.32 million. This helped the film earn first place on the international chart with $37.7 million in 28 markets for totals of $366.0 million internationally and $537.2 million worldwide. The film is already ahead of its predecessor internationally and worldwide, so the studio should be happy, even if it didn't earn as much domestically.
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August 20th, 2014
The winners of our Shell Full of Prizes contest were determined and they are...
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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 17th, 2014
Three lackluster debuts have allowed Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Guardians of the Galaxy to keep the top two spots at the box office this weekend. Turtles will be down a fairly modest 57% in its second weekend for $28.4 million, and $117.6 million in total after two weekends. Guardians will be down 41% in its third weekend for a total of $222 million, and will remain on track to become the highest-grossing film of the Summer. Things look much less pretty for the openers.
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August 14th, 2014
The strong opening by Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles allowed summer to be extended one more weekend. This week three films look to avoid flopping, thus signaling the end of summer, but in order to do so, they must defy critics. The Expendables 3 is the biggest of the three films opening this weekend, but the franchise appears to be on a downward trajectory. Let's Be Cops opened on Wednesday, but with simply awful reviews, the word-of-mouth could kill it by the time the weekend starts. Finally, The Giver is the latest Young Adult adaptation, but this genre has produced more flops than even midlevel hits. Frankly, the most interesting aspect of the weekend box office will likely be milestones reached by Guardians of the Galaxy and other movies, rather than the new releases. This weekend last year was also arguably the the end of summer. The Butler was the only movie to make more than $20 million, while three of the four wide releases opened in fifth place or weaker. It looks like 2014 will continue its winning streak.
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August 7th, 2014
This week, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles opens wide and we have a trio of TMNT prizes to give away. However, obviously we can't use that film as the target film, so we have to look to next week. I think Let's Be Cops will be the better movie, perhaps even the bigger movie. However, it opens on the Wednesday, so The Expendables 3 is the better choice for the target film for this week's box office prediction contest. In order to win, one must simply predict the opening weekend box office number for The Expendables 3.
Whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend box office (Friday to Sunday), without going over, will win a copy of Turtle Power: The Definitive History Of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on DVD, plus a previously released TMNT DVD.
Whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend box office (Friday to Sunday), without going under, will also win a previously reviewed TMNT DVD.
Finally, one additional entry will be chosen, regardless of the accuracy of their prediction, and that person will also win a previously reviewed TMNT DVD. So if you are really bad at predicting box office numbers, this is the contest to enter.
Entries must be received by 10 a.m., Pacific Time on Friday to be eligible, so don't delay!
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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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