February 26th, 2011
Independent Spirit Award hand out their nominations earlier than the other major awards, but don't hand out the hardware till the day before the Oscars. The long wait ended last night and Black Swan became the big winner sweeping the four categories it was nominated it. It wasn't the only winner of the night, however.
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February 20th, 2011
With our annual Oscar Prediction contest underway, now is the best time to look at the nominees and try and figure out who the favorites are and which nominees should just feel honored to be nominated. This weekend we wrap things up and the final category is the most prestigious, Best Picture. With ten nominations, it's a crowded field; however, all but a couple of those are clearly long shots.
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February 13th, 2011
With our annual Oscar Prediction contest underway, now is the best time to look at the nominees and try and figure out who the favorites are and which nominees should just feel honored to be nominated. This weekend we will look at the four acting categories, ending with Best Lead Actress, which is, while not exactly competitive, at least has a long shot with a shot.
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February 13th, 2011
With our annual Oscar Prediction contest underway, 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. This weekend we will look at the four acting categories, with Best Supporting Actor, which is a two-horse race, if you want to be very generous.
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February 6th, 2011
With our annual Oscar Prediction contest underway, 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. Today we look at Best Original Screenplay, which is not only one of the more competitive categories this year, it is also one of the harder ones to predict due to complications with other awards.
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January 25th, 2011
The Oscar nominations were announced this morning, thus ending months of speculation. Along with a (very) few surprises, the list of nominees is mostly a case of Deja Vu. Leading the way, as it has so often this year, was The King's Speech, with 12 nominations, including six in seven of the most prestigious categories (Best Picture, Director, Screenplay, and the four acting categories). But it was far from the only multi-nominated film on the list.
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January 16th, 2011
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association handed out the hardware tonight, and while there were plenty of winners, one film, The Social Network, stood out by winning four awards, including three of the major ones.
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January 4th, 2011
Producers Guild of America announced the nominations in seven categories, three of which are for theatrical releases. Like last year, there was only one repeat nominee, and again like last year, it was a Pixar release.
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January 4th, 2011
WGA nominations were announced this week, and there were some strange results, as the guild is sticking to their rules, which resulted in a number of possible Oscar contenders being ruled ineligible. That said, of the non-documentary films, only one hasn't picked up a single nomination previously, so it is hard to say this list is too out there.
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December 17th, 2010
The SAG nominations were handed out this week, and while there were a couple of interesting notes, overall there was a decided lack of surprises. The King's Speech and The Fighter led the way with four nominations each, while Black Swan and The Kids Are All Right were right behind with three. All four have been considered Awards Season players for a long time, so their success with SAG merely confirms that and is not shocking in the least.
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December 14th, 2010
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced their nominations early this morning, and there are some interesting surprises included in the mix. Leading the way was The King's Speech, which has long been seen as one of the major players this Awards Season. Meanwhile, The Fighter and The Social Network were right behind with six each. There were many, many other films nomination, including more than a few shocks. ... Mostly in one category.
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December 9th, 2010
Christmas shopping season continues, as does our Holiday Gift Guide. We started with Part I, which talked about the big first run releases, while Part II dealt with box sets and TV on DVD releases. This week we look at limited releases, foreign releases, and some old time classics, starting with...
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December 1st, 2010
The official arrival of winter is still a few weeks away, but Winter's Bone ushered in the start of Awards Season picking up seven Independent Spirit Award nominations. This was the most of any film, with The Kids Are All Right placing second with five.
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November 16th, 2010
It's getting really close to Black Friday, which is sometimes reported as the busiest shopping day of the year. (It's not. That would be Christmas Eve.) So it should come as no surprise that there's a prime release this week, or should I say re-release. Avatar: Extended Collector's Edition on Blu-ray is the biggest, and arguably the best, release of the week and it is the Pick of the Week. However, there was some competition from The Kids Are All Right on DVD or Blu-ray.
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September 14th, 2010
There were just a ton of films to reach the $10,000 mark on the per theater chart over the weekend, led by The Romantics with an average of $22,764 in two theaters. However, with its reviews, it probably won't last long. Heartbreak opened in second place with an average of $17,543 in three theaters, but it will likely have better legs. Ahead of Time and My Dog Tulip were neck-and-neck with $12,790 and $12,648 respectively. Finally, Dabangg opened with more than $600,000 in 62 theaters for an average of $10,131.
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August 17th, 2010
One of the ways of telling when summer is over, is when the number one film on the overall box office chart doesn't top the $10,000 mark on the per theater chart. That didn't happen this weekend, but it came close, as The Expendables was the only film to earn better than $10,000 on the per theater chart, and it was close with an average of $10,650.
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August 10th, 2010
Leading the way on the per theater chart this weekend was Cairo Time with a healthy average of $13,249 in five theaters. The only other film to top $10,000 on the per theater chart was Avatar. Yes, that Avatar. It played in just one theater over the weekend and earned $10,511.
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August 3rd, 2010
Get Low opened in first place on the per theater chart with an impressive average of $22,046.
I expect it will be able to expand significantly.
Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child was down barely more than 1% and added $17,226, while still playing in just one theater.
The final film to make the $10,000 club was The Concert with an average of $10,871 in two theaters.
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August 1st, 2010
Inception will see off a strong challenge from Dinner for Schmucks to record a third straight win at the weekend box office, according to studio estimates released on Sunday.
Inception will be down about 36% from last weekend at $27.5 million for a cume to date of $193.3 million.
Schmucks hit the ground running on Friday, topping the chart with $8.4 million, but will settle for second place over three days with $23.3 million.
That's very much in line with Steve Carell's previous comedy outing this year, Date Night, which opened with $25.2 million (admittedly at a slightly quieter time of year).
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July 27th, 2010
The $10,000 club was busy this weekend with five films reaching that milestone. This includes Life During Wartime with $30,507 in its lone theater. Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child also opened in just one theater and earned $17,466 over the weekend.
Countdown to Zero was the second documentary in the $10,000 club with an average of $13,769 in three theaters.
The Kids are All Right spent its fourth week in the $10,000 club with an average of $12,909 in just over 200 theaters.
The overall box office leader, Inception, earned an average of $11,267.
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July 25th, 2010
An impressive second weekend hold by Inception will give it a relatively comfortable win this weekend, according to studio estimates released on Sunday.
With a decline of just 31%, Christopher Nolan's sci-fi thriller will end up with around $43.5 million, according to Warner Bros., $7 million ahead of Salt, which is set to open with about $36.5 million.
Both movies topped a per theater average of $10,000, and Sony won't be too disappointed with second place.
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July 20th, 2010
The Kids are All Right continued to lead the way on the Per Theater Chart with a stunning average of $28,009 in 38 theaters that helped it earn more than $1 million over the weekend.
Its per theater average did fall 40%; however, its theater count rose from 7 to 38, so this is actually a very good result.
The only other film in the $10,000 club was the overall box office leader, Inception, with an average of $16,557.
That's a little below expectations, but if it holds really well, it might remain in the $10,000 club next week.
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July 13th, 2010
The Kids are All Right stunned box office analysts by earning nearly $500,000 in a mere seven theaters for an average of $70,282.
That's virtually unheard of.
I still look at that number and think, "Typo".
The only other confirmed entry in the $10,000 club was Despicable Me with an average of $16,225.
I say confirmed member, because it is likely that The Girl Who Played with Fire also earned an average of $10,000 in the United States; however, its weekend numbers included a number of theaters in Canada, where it has been playing for more than six months.
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July 11th, 2010
The long wait for an out and out hit is over for Universal this weekend, thanks to a great opening weekend for Despicable Me.
The kids comedy had been getting good reviews, and benefited from a great marketing campaign, but was going head-to-head with Toy Story 3, and had to fight for every screen (2D and 3D) that it played on.
So the studio will be delighted with its estimated $60.1 million opening.
With good word-of-mouth, the film can set its sights on $200 million, and strong video revenues to come.
With a production budget of $69 million, the studio will be reaping big profits on this one.
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July 9th, 2010
Not a huge list of limited releases this week, but all four have a chance at becoming hits. [REC] 2 is the sequel to a popular horror film, at least it's popular among genre fans. Grease is one of the biggest musicals of all time. The Kids Are All Right has an outstanding cast and it reviews are just as strong. While The Girl Who Played with Fire is a global phenomenon. I would be shocked if all four films thrived, but I would be even more shocked if at least one of them didn't.
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