August 7th, 2019
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Pokémon: Detective Pikachu is the biggest release of the week and it is also one of the best. Amazing Grace and Penguin Highway and better movies, but Pikachu is the only one of the three Pick of the Week contenders with significant extras on its DVD / Blu-ray release.
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July 9th, 2019
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Spider-Man: Far From Home really brightened up the box office earning $92.58 million over the three-day weekend for a six-day opening of $185.06 million. This is one of the biggest positive surprises of the year and we desperately needed some good news after June. Toy Story 4 and Aladdin held on better than expected and the overall box office surged growing 21% from last weekend to $183 million. This is still lower than this weekend last year, but by only 2.7% and at this point, I’m willing to call that a victory. Year-to-date, 2019 did manage to close ground with 2018, thanks mostly to Far From Home’s strength before the weekend. However, this year is still 8.4% or $540 million behind last year at $5.88 billion to $6.42 billion.
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July 2nd, 2019
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June ended with shrug, as the weekend was neither a success nor a disaster. Toy Story 4 was the top draw, but it fell faster than most family films do, down 51% to $59.70 million. Annabelle Comes Home had the weakest opening in the franchise, while Yesterday did well as counter-programming, but that’s all. The overall box office fell 26% from last weekend and, more importantly, 15% from the same weekend last year. Year-to-date, 2019 has fallen behind 2018’s pace by a margin of 9.5% or $580 million at $5.52 billion to $6.10 billion. At the beginning of June, I thought 2019 would have cut into 2018’s lead by $100 million, but that clearly didn’t happen.
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June 29th, 2019
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It looks like June won’t end on a high note, as Toy Story 4 is falling faster than hoped for. The film earned $17.04 million on Friday, which is almost as much as the rest of the top five earned in total. However, and more importantly, it is 64% lower than the film’s opening Friday and that’s a sharper decline that I was anticipating. Granted, its $196.03 million running tally is in line with budget expectations, so it will break even, even if it doesn’t match expectations. A profitable disappointment.
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June 27th, 2019
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So far June has been a disaster with no film topping expectations to any significant degree. In fact, Aladdin was the last time we had a film that really beat expectations at the box office and that came out more than a month ago. This weekend is the last chance for June to not be a complete disaster and frankly I’m not optimistic. Annabelle Comes Home is part of the biggest horror franchise around. However, the most recent installment was also the weakest by far and I fear this film will also be significantly below average for the franchise. Yesterday is the smaller of the two films, but in this case this means it doesn’t have to do much business at the box office to be seen as a success. Meanwhile, Toy Story 4 is expected to remain in top spot over the weekend and if its legs are long enough, it could be seen as a real success rather than a profitable disappointment. This weekend last year, there were no major new releases, but Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and Incredibles 2 were strong as holdovers.
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May 9th, 2019
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Avengers: Endgame continued to dominate the international box office with $282.2 million in 55 markets for totals of $1.57 billion internationally and $2.19 billionh worldwide. Like last week, we’ve been tracking these numbers as they have been released on our page for the movie, so there’s no need to go into much more detail here. I would like to point out that the film earned more in several individual markets than the second place film earned in total. This includes China ($63.83 million over the weekend for a two-week total of $572.64 million); The U.K. ($18.83 million / $91.09 million); and South Korea ($17.93 million / $80.40 million).
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May 2nd, 2019
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Avengers: Endgame absolutely destroyed the international record book earning $866.5 million internationally for a worldwide debut of $1.223 billion. However, as daily readers will know, we’ve been tracking these numbers as they have been released, so there’s no need to go into further detail here. You can see the most recent Daily Tracking here.
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April 29th, 2019
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Avengers: Endgame was expected to break records with some high-end predictions going as high as $350 million. Its final weekend numbers actually topped the high end expectations, as it opened with $357.12 million. This is almost exactly $100 million more than the previous record, set this weekend last year by Avengers: Infinity War. In fact, it is significantly more than the previous record for an overall weekend, set a few years back by The Force Awakens et al. Needless to say, the overall box office rose considerably from last weekend, up 270% to $402 million. More importantly, this was 29% more than the same weekend last year and this one weekend put a serious dent in 2019’s deficit in the year-over-year comparisons. Granted, 2019 is still behind 2018’s pace by more than 11% or $420 million at $3.28 billion to $3.70 billion. I suspect May will also be a very good month in the year-over-year comparison so hopefully that gap will be more reasonable in a month’s time. I don’t think 2019 will catch up to 2018 any time soon, but if it can cut the deficit in raw dollars in half by the end of May, then I will be happy.
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April 28th, 2019
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As expected, Avengers: Endgame is dominating the weekend with an estimated $350 million. Unsurprisingly, this sets a new record for opening weekend, topping the previous champion, Avengers: Infinity War, by just close to $100 million. It is also enough to push the film into ninth place on the M.C.U. chart after just three days of release. Its international numbers are looking even better, at a jaw-dropping $859 million. More on that coming shortly…
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April 27th, 2019
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“Hulk Smash!” is a common phrase in the comics and it’s clear Avengers: Endgame is following Hulk’s lead. The film pulled in $156.7 million on Friday. This not only absolutely demolishes the previous record for biggest single day at the domestic box office, it is already more than The Incredible Hulk made in its entire run. It took less than 30 hours from the start of the movie’s previews to rise out of last place in the M.C.U.. This is simply stunning. Furthermore, thanks to the film’s 96%-positive reviews and its unbelievable A plus from CinemaScore, it could have decent legs. Granted, it is the definition of a Fanboy film and it is clear many people rushed out to theaters to see it, but there were also so many sold out shows that even many of the hardcore fans will have to wait until Saturday or Sunday to see the movie. I would put the over / under of the weekend total at nearly $350 million, which is well above our original prediction. This is also more than over a dozen films in the M.C.U. earned domestically and it will be just days away from entering the top five for the franchise.
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April 25th, 2019
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Avengers: Endgame opens this weekend and it’s overstating things only fractionally to say that nothing else at the box office matters. Endgame will earn more during its Thursday night previews than any other film will earn during the full weekend. In fact, it could earn more opening day than any other film released this April will earn in total. It’s only competition is Avengers: Infinity War, which opened this weekend last year. All available evidence suggests Endgame will easily win this race and propel 2019 to a massive win in the year-over-year competition. It won’t be enough to close the gap with 2018 entirely, but it will be an important step in turning 2019’s box office around.
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April 24th, 2019
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The Curse of La Llorona earned first place on the international chart with $29 million on 13,155 screens in 71 markets. This is excellent for a film that cost $9 million to make. However, it is also playing in nearly every major market, so it doesn’t have a lot of room to grow. The film had a very strong opening in Mexico with $5.1 million on 2,432 screens, while it was equally strong in Colombia with $2.3 million on 421. It easily earned first place in both markets. On the other hand, the film struggled in France ($2.0 million on 254 screens); Spain ($1.8 million on 330 screens); and Russia ($1.1 million on 1,758). It failed to crack $1 million over the weekend in a number of major markets. It came the closest in South Korea with $905,000 on 620 screens over the weekend for a total opening of $1.25 million, while it was further behind in Italy ($852,000 on 314 screens) and Brazil ($775,000 on 561). The film opens in the U.K. and Japan in the next couple of weeks.
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April 23rd, 2019
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Easter weekend gave box office watchers a few reasons to celebrate. The Curse of La Llorona topped expectations and earned first place with $26.35 million over the weekend. That’s a very strong debut for this time of year. Additionally, both Shazam and Captain Marvel held on amazingly well, which bodes well for their chances against Avengers: Endgame. Overall, the box office rose 1% from last weekend to $108 million. This was 14% lower than the same weekend last year, and it wasn’t Easter weekend last year. On a side note, I’ve seen some stories call this past weekend the worst Easter weekend in over a decade. However, this is misleading, as it was the first time Easter weekend was one weekend before the start of the Summer Blockbuster season. Avengers: Endgame opening on Friday had more to do with the weak box office than any other factor and if Endgame is as big as some box office analysts expect, then by this time next week, we will be talking about how quickly 2019 will turn things around rather than how bad 2019 has been. In the meantime, we’ve hopefully sunk to the low point in the year-over-year comparison, as 2019 is now behind 2018 by a $570 million or 17% margin at $2.84 billion to $3.41 billion.
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April 21st, 2019
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The Curse of La Llorona is leading the way on the weekend chart with a surprising $26.51 million. Granted, this is the weakest opening in the The Conjuring franchise, while its reviews and B minus from CinemaScore suggest short legs. Also, Avengers: Endgame opens in just a handful of days, so it will be pushed into the smallest screens in most multiplexes very soon. That said, the film reportedly only cost $9 million to make and < HREF="https://www.the-numbers.com/market/distributor/Warner-Bros">Warner Bros.’ share of the opening weekend will be close to double that. Internationally, the film is opening even better with an estimated $30 million debut. On the downside, it is playing in 71 markets already, so it has very few major markets left to open in.
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April 20th, 2019
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The Curse of La Llorona got off to a fantastic start on Friday with $11.8 million during its opening day. This is a stronger opening day than Pet Sematary managed, but not as strong as its preview numbers were in comparison to Pet Sematary, so it likely won’t have the same legs. This isn’t surprising, as its reviews are much worse and it is part of a long-running franchise. Both of those factors tend to shorten legs. On the positive side, it earned a B minus from CinemaScore, which is actually really good for a horror film. The Curse of La Llorona would have to have tragically short legs to not earn first place after a start like this. Look for an opening weekend of $26 million.
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April 19th, 2019
The Curse of La Llorona opened with $2.75 million in previews. This is more than Pet Sematary managed a couple of weeks ago. However, this film is earning much weaker reviews and, since it is part of a franchise, it could have shorter legs. That said, even with short legs, it should still top our prediction and earn first place for the weekend with about $20 million.
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April 19th, 2019
It’s Easter weekend and, while it is not a true long weekend, there are enough kids out of school to give the box office a boost. On the negative side, Avengers: Endgame comes out next weekend and no one wants to try to compete against that. Because of this, none of the three wide releases this weekend are in the top tier. The one with the biggest potential is The Curse of La Llorona, but it is also earning the worst reviews of the weekend. Breakthrough is the first film made by Fox to come out since the studio’s acquisition by Disney was finalized, so there’s some significance there. Finally there’s Penguins, a film I thought would be a hit, but isn’t garnering much attention. This is not a strong contingent of new releases and Shazam could remain on top. This weekend last year wasn’t Easter weekend, so maybe that will give 2019 the edge. I don’t think 2019 will win in the year-over-year competition, but hopefully it will at least be close.
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April 1st, 2019
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March was a good month at the box office with most films beating expectations. The biggest hit was Captain Marvel, which is still on pace for $400 million domestically and may have crossed $1 billion worldwide by the time you read this. The biggest “miss” was Dumbo, but it is still going to top $100 million domestically with ease. This month, it is a battle between Avengers: Endgame and last year’s Infinity War. To be fair, A Quiet Place got last April off to a very fast start and Shazam! should do the same this year, so there will be more than one potential box office hit to talk about. That said, Endgame will almost certainly open with more than any other April release earns in total and if 2019 is going to cut into its deficit with 2018, it will be on the back of that one film.
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March 11th, 2019
Horror movie starring Linda Cardellini opens April 19 ... Full Movie Details.
La Llorona. The Weeping Woman. A horrifying apparition, caught between Heaven and Hell, trapped in a terrible fate sealed by her own hand. In life, she drowned her children in a jealous rage, throwing herself in the churning river after them as she wept in pain. Now her tears are eternal, and those who hear her death call in the night are doomed. La Llorona creeps in the shadows and preys on the children, desperate to replace her own. In 1970s Los Angeles, La Llorona is stalking the night—and the children. Ignoring the eerie warning of a troubled mother suspected of child endangerment, a social worker and her own small kids are soon drawn into a frightening supernatural realm. Their only hope to survive La Llorona’s deadly wrath may be a disillusioned priest and the mysticism he practices to keep evil at bay, on the fringes where fear and faith collide. Beware of her chilling wail… she will stop at nothing to lure you into the gloom.
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