March 6th, 2010
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 Picture and we actually have a real race in this category.
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March 5th, 2010
While the Independent Spirit Awards are one of the first to announce their nominations, they are one of the last to hand out the awards. This year the clear winner was Precious, which swept all five categories it was nominated for. However, it wasn't the only winner.
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March 4th, 2010
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 feel honored to just be nominated. Today we look at Best Original Screenplay, which is one of the more competitive categories this year.
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February 9th, 2010
Not a particularly great week for DVD or Blu-ray releases. The biggest movie to hit the home market is Couples Retreat, but it was a terrible movie and should be avoided at all costs. The best film coming out this week is A Serious Man and while the DVD is worth picking up, the Blu-ray is the better deal. However, the Pick of the Week goes to The Guild: Season Three, which is one of the funniest things on the Web.
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February 2nd, 2010
Oscar nominations were announced at 5:38 this morning, continuing a tradition that have never been adequately explained to me. (Why so early in the morning? Does earning an Oscar nomination become sweeter if people have to wake you up to congratulate you?) Leading the way in nominations were Avatar and The Hurt Locker, both of which pick up nine nods each, many of them in the same categories.
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January 31st, 2010
It's Complicated saw its weekend haul climb 16%, but it still fell out of the top five.
It added $10.37 million over the weekend on 2,665 screens in 32 markets for a total of $50.92 million after a month of release.
The film opened in third place in Germany with $2.40 million on 552 screens over the weekend and $2.74 million in total.
Meanwhile in the U.K. it added $1.84 million on 431 screens over the weekend for a total of $8.72 million after three weeks of release.
With debuts in Japan, South Korea, and Italy still ahead of it, it could reach $100 million internationally to go with its $100 million domestic total.
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January 12th, 2010
The WGA announced their nominations this week, which include eleven awards, three of which are for theatrical releases.
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December 16th, 2009
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced their nominations this week, but looking over the list of films chosen, it is hard to declare any one film as the big winner. Up in the Air did pick up six Golden Globe nominations, including several of the most prestigious nominations, but it is far from the only major player.
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December 13th, 2009
A number of international releases reached the top 30 this week, including Zweiohrkuken, a.k.a. The Chicken With Two Ears, from Germany, which placed sixth with $10.72 million on 839 screens in 3 markets.
It made $9.39 million on 714 screens in its native market, which was easily enough for first place and more than twice what the original,Keinohrhasen, a.k.a., No Ear Hare, opened with in 2007.
Keinohrhasen went on to earn $74 million worldwide, of which more than $60 million was earned in Germany.
However, I don't think this film will have the same legs.
That said, since it was written, directed, and stars Til Schweiger who was recently in Inglourious Basterds, it could earn see releases in more markets.
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December 2nd, 2009
As always, the Independent Spirit Awards represent the unofficial start of Awards Season with the announcement of their nominations.
This year The Last Station and Precious topped the list of nominees with five each.
For the former, it should help build buzz for its 2010 release.
For the latter, it is the first step towards possible Awards Season glory and further enhances its already lofty box office potential.
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November 10th, 2009
Precious had a record-breaking opening on the per theater chart with close to $1.9 million in just 18 theaters for an average of $104,025.
This is just shy of the record for best per theater average for a live action movie; however, the current record holder, Dreamgirls, opened in fewer theaters and with prestige pricing, so this is arguably the better result.
Precious did set the record for highest per theater average for a film playing in more than 10 theaters.
It wasn't the only film in the $10,000 club with La Danse earning $14,000 in its lone theater while Splinterheads opened with $10,515, also in one theater.
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November 3rd, 2009
The per theater chart took a hit over the weekend and no movie topped $10,000; however, An Education was close with an average of $9,737 in 48 theaters.
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October 27th, 2009
Antichrist was the only new release to reach the $10,000 club over the weekend earning a strong average of $11,900 in six theaters. An Education was just $49 behind at $11,851, which is about 5 or 6 tickets per theater. Finally, Paranormal Activity was able to reach first place on the overall chart while maintaining an average $10,850 in nearly 2000 theaters.
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October 20th, 2009
Paranormal Activity remained on top of the per theater chart with an average of $25,711. The film finally saw its per theater average drop this past weekend, but it should still have no trouble expanding. Second place went to The Maid, which earned $17,036 in one theater. An Education remained in the $10,000 club with an average of $12,882, while A Serious Man took in more than $800,000 in 82 theaters for an average of $10,275.
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October 18th, 2009
Where The Wild Things Are got off to a strong start over the weekend, according to studio estimates released on Sunday.
The Spike Jonze adaptation of the Maurice Sendak book earned a very healthy $30.47 million, according to Warner Bros. estimates, making it one of October's biggest openers (see full list).
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October 13th, 2009
No less than six films broke the $10,000 per theater average barrier over the weekend.
Paranormal Activity topped the per theater chart with its record-breaking weekend, earning an average of $49,379 in 160 theaters.
An Education was relatively close behind with an average of $39,754 in 4 theaters, which is a spectacular result at any time.
A Serious Man remained strong with an average of $21,872, which is enough to suggest further significant expansion over the coming weeks.
The number one film at the box office, Couples Retreat, was next with an average of $11,429.
Yes Men Fix the World and Bronson had nearly identical averages at $10,956 vs. $10,940.
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October 11th, 2009
The Columbus Day holiday weekend produced two big winners, according to studio estimates released on Sunday.
At the top of the chart, Couples Retreat exceeded expectations with $35.3 million.
A per theater average of nearly $12,000 for the poorly-reviewed comedy is a testament to Universal's marketing campaign and the box office power of its ensemble cast.
A great marketing campaign from Paramount can also be attributed to the success of the weekend's other big success: Paranormal Activity, which jumped into the top 5 with an estimated $7.066 million in just 159 theaters.
That's the smallest number of theaters for a movie to hit the top five ever, beating the performance of Platoon, which hit 4th place the weekend of January 16, 1987 playing in 174 theaters.
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October 6th, 2009
A Serious Man showed the competition who was serious by earning first place on the per theater chart earning an average of $41,890 in six theaters. Paranormal Activity climbed into the $10,000 club with a sophomore average of $16,129 and now there's a push to get it into 1000 theaters nationwide. More Than a Game earned an average of more than $10,000, $13,067 to be precise, placing third in the process. Coco Before Chanel repeated in the $10,000 club with an average of $12,878, but it will need some strong word-of-mouth if it wants to stay they one more week.
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October 2nd, 2009
While there are five limited releases on this week's list, there is really only one that has a short at significant expansion. That film is A Serious Man, which should not only have the best per theater average over the weekend, but has a chance at picking up several Oscar nominations.
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October 1st, 2009
September ended with a thud, but at least there's good news. September has finally ended. Last month more movies missed expectations that topped them, which has put a cooling effect on the overall box office and that could hurt the business going into this month. October should still be stronger than last month, and since October of last year wasn't particularly great, 2009 should at least maintain its lead over 2008 going into the holiday season, even if it isn't as strong every single week.
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October 2nd, 2008
This week's round of new casting information contains updates for Paper Man, Sherlock Holmes, Kung Fu Panda 2, and more!
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September 30th, 2008
This week another number of upcoming movies, new stars and directors have been added to our archive!
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