December 22nd, 2014
Like every other week, new releases on the home market come out on Tuesday. Unlikely every other week, Christmas Eve is on Wednesday. Christmas Eve is the busiest shopping day of the year, but it is mostly last minute food purchases and almost no one is paying attention to new DVD and Blu-ray releases. This explains why there are so few new releases of note. That's not to say there are no releases worth checking out; in fact, there are four contenders for Pick of the Week. Continuum: Season 3 (DVD or Blu-ray); The Good Lie (Blu-ray Combo Pack); and The Trip to Italy (DVD or Blu-ray) were all in the running. However, in the end, I went with Pride (DVD or Blu-ray).
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October 21st, 2014
Birdman debuted in first place on the Per Theater Chart with an amazing average of $106,099. This is the best per theater average since The Grand Budapest Hotel opened with just over $200,000 for its per theater average. It wasn't the only film in the $10,000 club, as Dear White People opened with an average of $31,633 in eleven theaters. The Tale of Princess Kaguya was surprisingly strong during its opening weekend earning an average of $18,305 in three theaters. God the Father earned $15,037 in one theater. The final film in the $10,000 club was Listen Up Philip, which earned an average of $11,642 in two theaters. Diplomacy might have made it in the $10,000 club if it opened on Friday. However, it opened on Wednesday earning $8,518 in one theater over the weekend for a total opening of $12,750.
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October 15th, 2014
There were a trio of new limited releases topping the per theater chart, led by St. Vincent with an average of $27,470 in four theaters. Whiplash was close behind with an average of $22,565 in six theaters. The final film in the $10,000 club was Awake: The Life of Yogananda with an opening of $18,885 in one theater.
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October 7th, 2014
Keep On Keepin' On had the best weekend of its run earning an average of $13,291 in two theaters. Gone Girl earned an average of $12,446 in just over 3,000 theaters. Annabelle was very close behind with an average of $11,659 in close to 3,200 theaters.
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October 3rd, 2014
The list this week is less detailed than usual for reasons I'm not going to go into detail about. I'm just going to say two words, "Food poisoning", and leave it at that. There are not a lot of limited releases on this week's list that are earning good reviews and strong buzz. The Good Lie is the best limited release of the week in that regard, but I already talked about it on the weekend predictions, because I think it will reach the top ten. I don't think any of the films below will earn breakout success.
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October 2nd, 2014
The first weekend in October promises to be better than the average weekend in September was, but then again, it would practically have to. Gone Girl is aiming for first place and most analysts think it will get there. On the other, Annabelle has an outside shot at top spot over the weekend. That seems unlikely, but thanks to its genre, it has a better shot at earning first place on Friday's daily chart. The final wide release of the week is Left Behind, which as it turns out isn't opening truly wide. The buzz is so bad that some expect the film to open below the Mendoza Line. This weekend last year, Gravity opened in first place with $55.79 million. No film is going to open with that much money. In fact, all three wide releases combined might not make that much. 2014 is going to lose in the year-over-year comparison, but frankly we should all be used to that by now.
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