The Numbers News - October 2019

October 31, 2019

It’s the first weekend of November, which is the unofficial start of both the Christmas blockbuster season and of Awards Season. There are four films hoping to take advantage of time of year to create some box office success. Of these, only Terminator: Dark Fate is expected to be a true box office hit. It will likely earn more during its opening weekend than any of the rest of the new releases earn in total. I think Harriet will do okay and could even crack $10 million during the weekend. On the other hand, Arctic Dogs still has no reviews and that’s a really bad sign. Finally there’s Motherless Brooklyn, which is opening in well under 2,000 theaters. This weekend last year, Bohemian Rhapsody opened with more than $50 million and even the high end predictions don’t have Terminator: Dark Fate earning that much. It’s going to be another bad week for 2019 in the year-over-year competition. More...

Weekend Theater Counts: Terminator: Dark Fate to be Released in 4,086 Theaters

October 31, 2019

Our weekly theater counts article is back by popular demand. We’ll be publishing this every Thursday, in the early afternoon, Pacific Time, and updating the article as new reports come in from the studios on Thursday and Friday.

This week, Terminator: Dark Fate is the widest new release, while Harriet starts out in just over 2,000 locations. More...

New at The Numbers: Actuals vs. Inflation-Adjusted Figures for Movie Comparisons

October 31, 2019

We are happy to announce that we have added a switch to our custom movie comparison pages that allows for switching between the actual figures and figures adjusted for inflation. The switch, located above the titles when creating a movie comparison chart, can change the Production Budget, Domestic Opening Weekend, Domestic Box Office, International Box Office, and Worldwide Box Office from "Actuals" to "Infl-Adj".

Our Movie Comparison feature creates a custom graph and table of up to 6 films, allowing for the easy comparison of total box office results and a breakdown of the films' daily, weekend, and weekly results. These are also adjusted for inflation at the flick of the switch.

The Movie Comparison tool can be accessed by selecting it from the Research Tools tab at the top of the page or by going to a film's page and selecting "Compare this performance with other movies…" in the film's Box Office tab. For example, if you were curious about the performance of a few of the films that James Cameron has had a hand in writing, you can build a custom chart comparing Avatar, Titanic, and Alita: Battle Angel and adjust the figures for inflation to have an easier time making a realistic comparison. More...

Jumanji: The Next Level Trailer

October 31, 2019

Adventure movie starring Dwayne Johnson, Karen Gillan, Jack Black, and Kevin Hart opens December 13 ... Full Movie Details. More...

Theater Averages: Most New Releases Struggle, but Holdovers Thrive

October 31, 2019

There was only one new release in the $10,000 club, No Safe Spaces, which earned $45,548 in its lone theater. While this is a great start, its reviews suggest it won’t stick around long, as the film is preaching to the choir. Jojo Rabbit expanded from five to 55 theaters, but still managed an impressive average of $18,983. Parasite was next with an average $14,158 in 129 theaters during its third weekend of release. Jay and Silent Bob Reboot expanded to 17 theaters, and earned an average of $12,774. It will likely continue to expand, as a lot of shows on its road tour were sold out weeks in advance. More...

The Grudge Trailer

October 30, 2019

Horror movie starring Andrea Riseborough opens January 3 ... Full Movie Details.

A house is cursed by a vengeful ghost that dooms those who enter it with a violent death. More...

International Box Office: Chinese Movie Fans Have Seen Better Days

October 30, 2019

Better Days opened in first place in China with $86.11 million, which was also enough to give it first place internationally. This is an amazing start, all things considered. The movie was supposed to open in June, but the Chinese censors yanked the film at the last minute, then announced a new release day less than a week before the film opened. It is a minor miracle it was able to do this well. More...

New at The Numbers: Sorting on Franchise Pages

October 30, 2019

We've had a lot of helpful user feedback over the past week, and a popular feature we've been asked to implement is the ability to sort films on our franchise pages. Now, films can be sorted by Release Date, Title, Production Budget, Opening Weekend, Domestic Box Office, and Worldwide Box Office in ascending or descending order.

This makes it easy to see, for example, which Marvel movie had the biggest opening weekend or which Jurassic Park movie had the highest production budget. You can also search and sort all franchises on our main Movie Franchises list.

You can find franchises either by using the Search function from our navigation bar, from our franchise records page, or by clicking on the franchise link on a movie page. By the way, movies can be members of more than one franchise. For example, Avengers: Endgame is a member of both the Avengers franchise, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. More...

Home Market Releases for October 29th, 2019

October 30, 2019

It’s a weird week on the home market, as there is not a big new wide release to talk about. However, there are several older releases, imports, etc. that are easily worth picking up and a couple of them are contenders for Pick of the Week. This includes the An American Werewolf in London: Limited Edition Blu-ray and the Godzilla The Showa-Era Films Box Set. Both are absolute must haves, but the latter’s price-tag might scare away some folks. More...

New at The Numbers: Weekly Change on Daily Chart

October 29, 2019

We’ve been receiving a lot of emails over the past few days with suggestions for ways to improve the site. Thank you to everyone who’s dropped us line! We’re starting to implement new features based on your requests, and today we’ve rolled out an update to the daily chart.

We’re now showing the weekly change in box office for each film, as well as the daily change that we showed before. We’ve also added links to the daily chart for the previous week, and to the daily chart for the same day last year. More...

Weekend Wrap-Up: Maleficent Holds Off Joker for Top Spot

October 28, 2019

It was a super close race for top spot on the weekend box office chart with Maleficent: Mistress of Evil and Joker neck-and-neck. In fact, they changed positions over the weekend and even reversed positions from the weekend estimates. Both of these films topped expectations by a small degree, as did most of the new releases. Unfortunately, this wasn’t enough, as the box office fell 24% from last weekend to $105 million. This is also lower than the same weekend last year, but by a tiny 0.7% margin. I’m not going to get upset about a decline this small, but it does mean 2019 has fallen further behind 2018’s pace with the deficit growing to $520 million / 5.4% at $9.00 billion to $9.52 billion. More...

Weekend Estimates: Joker Wrestles First Place from Maleficent, Probably

October 27, 2019

Joker is returning to first place on the weekend chart with $18.9 million, which is a tiny bit ahead of expectations. However, it is in a close enough race with Maleficent: Mistress of Evil that the pair could switch places when the final numbers show up tomorrow and I wouldn’t be too surprised. Internationally, the film is earning an estimated $47.8 million on 14,000 screens in 79 markets for totals of $571.5 million internationally and $849.1 million worldwide. It is now the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time worldwide, and is on pace to become the first R-rated film to reach $1 billion globally. More...

Featured DVD Review: Anna and the Apocalypse

October 26, 2019

Anna and the Apocalypse hit theaters last year as a limited release and opened well, especially for its genre. Horror films rarely do well in limited release. However, it collapsed as soon as it tried to expand. Is it just too niche of a film? Or did poor word-of mouth hurt its box office chances? More...

Welcome New Readers!

October 26, 2019

We’ve noticed quite a few new users coming to the site over the past few days, and had messages of encouragement from some regular readers who say they plan to come to The Numbers a lot more in the future. Welcome to you all, and thank you for all the kind words! We’ve already made some changes in response to your feedback, including turning down the number of ads we deliver (more users=fewer ads needed to cover our costs!), and bringing back our Thursday theater counts column. We’ve also had some questions about finding content on the site. We’re working to fine-tune our navigation to help guide you to some content that you might be looking for, and we’ll roll out some updates soon. In meantime, we’ve put together some quick links to get you started. More...

Friday Estimates: Joker Returns to the Top

October 26, 2019

Joker wasn’t gone from top spot for long, as it earned first place on Friday with $5.46 million, putting it on pace for close to $19 million over the weekend. This is very close to our prediction, but it is ranking better, due to marginally-weaker-than-expected competition. It also reportedly became the highest grossing R-rated movie of all time, at least worldwide. It is not going to catch up to The Passion of the Christ domestically. More...

Thursday Night Previews: Black and Blue in the Green

October 25, 2019

Black and Blue had the best previews on Thursday with $675,000. I was not expecting the film to have the best previews last night, nor was I expecting it to earn this much. Additionally, its reviews are have improved and are now mixed, in fact, they are currently exactly 50% positive, so it could surprise and top $10 million during its opening weekend. Just over $8 million is more likely, but this is still a solid debut for this time of year. More...

Black Christmas Trailer

October 25, 2019

Horror movie starring Imogen Poots, Aleyse Shannon, Brittany O’Grady, and Lily Donoghue opens December 13 ... Full Movie Details.

Hawthorne College is quieting down for the holidays. But as Riley Stone and her Mu Kappa Epsilon sisters—athlete Marty, rebel Kris, and foodie Jesse—prepare to deck the halls with a series of seasonal parties, a black-masked stalker begins killing sorority women one by one. As the body count rises, Riley and her squad start to question whether they can trust any man, including Marty’s beta-male boyfriend, Nate, Riley’s new crush Landon or even esteemed classics instructor Professor Gelson. Whoever the killer is, he's about to discover that this generation’s young women aren't about to be anybody’s victims. More...

Limited and VOD Releases: Who Will be The Boss of Limited Releases This Week?

October 25, 2019

There are several films on this week’s list earning merely good reviews, which probably isn’t good enough to thrive in limited release. There are exceptions, including Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound, which is earning some of the best reviews on this week’s list. However, Western Stars appears to have much louder buzz to go with its reviews. More...

Weekend Predictions: Halloween Scares Away Wide Releases

October 25, 2019

The final weekend before Halloween is rarely a good time to release a film and the paltry selection of new releases on this list shows this year will be no different. The Current War: Director’s Cut is the only film earning good reviews, but it is opening in the fewest theaters by far. Countdown has the worst reviews, but it is a horror film opening just before Halloween, so its opening weekend could be okay. Black and Blue is in the middle in terms of reviews, theater count, and box office chances. Sadly, it is very likely all three films will open below $10 million over the weekend. There’s a slim chance none of them open in the top five. By comparison, this weekend last year saw only one wide release, Hunter Killer, which bombed. This year will be much better in terms of new releases, but none of the holdovers will match Halloween on top. 2019 does have much better depth, so I think we will get a small win in the year-over-year comparison. More...

Weekend Theater Counts: Addams Family Remains Widest Release

October 24, 2019

Our weekly theater counts article is back this week by popular demand. We’ll be publishing this every Thursday, in the early afternoon, Pacific Time, and updating the article as new reports come in from the studios on Thursday and Friday.

This week, The Addams Family clings on as the widest release, with Countdown the widest new release. More...

Antlers Trailer

October 24, 2019

Horror movie starring Keri Russell and Jesse Plemons opens April 17, 2020 ... Full Movie Details.

A small-town Oregon teacher and her brother, the local sheriff, discover that a young student is harboring a dangerous secret, with frightening consequences. More...

Theater Averages: Jay and Silent Bob Give Limited Releases a Kick in the Pants

October 24, 2019

It was an amazing week on the theater average chart with five films in the $10,000 club, incluing three new releases that earned averages of more than $50,000. Jay and Silent Bob Reboot opened with two days of special engagements where the film earned just over $1 million, before having a roadshow performance in one theater over the weekend earning $93,520. However, this wasn’t a usual run and tickets range from about $50 to over $200 for the VIP packages at some shows. That said, even with normal ticket prices, it would still have earned a spot in the $10,000 club. Second place went to Jojo Rabbit with an impressive opening of average $69,911 in five theaters. This is more than enough to expand significantly, perhaps even enough to justify a wide expansion. The Lighthouse also opened well enough to justify significant expansions earning an average of $53,475 in eight theaters. Parasite was the only holdover in the $10,000 club earning an average of $37,616 in 33 theaters. The film topped $1 million over the weekend and it has plenty of room to grow. The final film in the $10,000 club was The Cave, which earned an average of $10,593 in two theaters. More...

International Box Office: Maleficent Takes Her Evil Worldwide

October 23, 2019

Maleficent: Mistress of Evil topped the international chart with $117.0 million in 56 markets during its debut weekend. This includes a $23.41 million first place debut in China, which is a little more than the original opened with there. On the other hand, the film slipped a little in Russia earning $11.1 million during its opening there, although it still managed first place in that market. On the other hand, the film really struggled in Mexico, when compared to its predecessor, earning $7.62 million, which is barely more than half of the first film’s debut there. Furthermore, the film has debuted in every international market, so it won’t be able to rely on new releases to hang around on the international chart for long. More...

Home Market Releases for October 22nd, 2019

October 23, 2019

The Lion King is scaring away all of the competition and while the Blu-ray / 4K Ultra HD is not Pick of the Week material, there’s almost nothing else to talk about. It might be worth buying WorldEnd: What Do You Do at the End of the World? Are You Busy? Will You Save Us?: The Complete Series just because of that ridiculously long name. More...

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Final Trailer

October 22, 2019

The sci-fi nonology reaches its climax on December 20 ... Full Movie Details. More...

Weekend Wrap-Up: It Took a Trio of Hits for 2019 to Win

October 22, 2019

The weekend went about as well as expected, overall. Maleficent: Mistress of Evil didn’t open as well as expected, but Zombieland: Double Tap helped make up the difference. The overall box office was still down 6.5% from last weekend at $140 million; however, this was 5.3% higher than the same weekend last year and that is a much more important number. 2019 is still behind 2018’s pace by 5.3% or $500 million at $8.86 billion to $9.35 billion, but that’s not as bad as it has been this year. More...

Bloodshot Trailer

October 21, 2019

Action movie starring Vin Diesel opens February 21 ... Full Movie Details. More...

Weekend Estimates: Maleficent Leads the way, but Box Office is a Team Effort

October 20, 2019

Maleficent: Mistress of Evil did bounce back on Saturday and that is helping it earn an estimated $36.0 million during its opening weekend. It is still missing expectations, but by a more reasonable margin. Its internal multiplier is about the same as the first film managed, despite this film earning weaker reviews. Audience reactions were the same, as both films earned an A-rating from CinemaScore. As for the movies international numbers, it is pulling in $117.0 million, but it also opened everywhere, so it needed a monster start and I’m not sure this was it. The film did have a faster opening that its predecessor did in China with $22.4 million, while it cracked $10 million in Russia with an an opening of $10.7 million. The film cost $185 million to make, so this is not a fast enough start to break even in the short term, but with Disney+ starting next month, it could break even eventually. More...

Featured Blu-ray and DVD Review: The Lion King

October 20, 2019

The Lion King is one of the biggest hits of the year and one of only two films to top $1 billion internationally. It is also a remake of the 1994 animated classic of the same name and is widely considered part of the “Live-Action Disney remake” trend, although it is not live-action, but a photo-realistic, digitally-animated film. Is this enough to set it apart from the original? Or was photo-realism a mistake? More...

Friday Estimates: Maleficent isn’t Evil, but it is far from Good

October 19, 2019

Maleficent: Mistress of Evil wasn’t expected to be a monster hit, but its previews gave reason to be optimistic. That optimism is gone as a result of Friday’s estimates. The film pulled in just $12.5 million on Friday, meaning it will have to have nearly as good legs as the original had just to avoid opening below the low end of expectations. That seems unlikely, especially with its weaker reviews, although it did manage the same A rating from CinemaScore. Maybe it will really bounce back today, but we won’t really know till the weekend estimates come out tomorrow. More...

Thursday Night Previews: Zombieland Shows Signs of Life

October 18, 2019

Zombieland: Double Tap had the better previews of the two wide releases earning $2.85 million last night. Solid reviews should also help the film’s legs during its opening weekend and it should have no trouble topping Zombieland’s debut and our $25 million prediction. In fact, it has a shot at $30 million over the full weekend. More...

The Gentlemen Trailer

October 18, 2019

Guy Ritchie crime caper with an ensemble cast led by Matthew McConaughey, Henry Golding, and Hugh Grant opens January 24 ... Full Movie Details. More...

Limited and VOD Releases: Will Jojo Light the Way?

October 18, 2019

There are not a lot of films on this week’s list that are earning both great reviews and loud buzz. The Lighthouse is one of the best, both in terms of buzz and in terms of reviews, but Jojo Rabbit is the one I want to see the most. More...

Weekend Predictions: Can a Dynamic Duo of Sequels Stop the Joker?

October 18, 2019

There are two wide releases this week and both of them are delayed sequels. Maleficent: Mistress of Evil is widely expected to top the box office chart this weekend, but it is also widely expected to fail to match the original by a huge margin. On the other hand, Zombieland: Double Tap will likely only manage third place, but it has a real shot at matching Zombieland, at least in terms of raw dollars. By comparison, this weekend last year saw the near record-setting debut of Halloween. (It would have set the October record, had Venom not set it two weeks earlier.) I really thought 2019 would have a chance to win in the year-over-year comparison, but unless Maleficent: Mistress of Evil really beats expectations, that’s not going to happen. More...

Theater Averages: Parasite Sinks Its Teeth into the Competition

October 18, 2019

Parasite was the only new release in the $10,000 club, but it not only led the way over the weekend, its average of $128,072 in three theaters is the best average this year. In fact, this is not only the best average of the year, its the best average since La La Land’s debut in 2016. While Parasite was the only new release in the $10,000 club, it wasn’t the only member. Joker was in a distant second place, a very, very distant second place with an average of $12,771. Meanwhile, Célébration was very close behind with $12,678 in its lone theater. Pain and Glory remained in the $10,0000 club with an average of $11,819 and it managed this feat despite expanding its theater count to 23 theaters. More...

Bombshell Trailer 2

October 17, 2019

Real-life drama starring Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman, and Margot Robbie opens December 20 ... Full Movie Details. More...

International Box Office: Joker Takes on All of the Top Five and Wins

October 17, 2019

Like last weekend, this weekend’s international box office was toped by Joker, while the nearest competition was a Chinese film. Unlike last weekend, Joker dominated the chart earning more than the rest of the top five combined. It managed a weekend haul of $125.3 million on 24,555 screens in 79 markets for totals of $354.7 million internationally and $548.3 million worldwide. The film hit half a billion dollars worldwide in just 12 days and given its legs so far, it is on pace to reach $1 billion. Joker had very similar openings in France and Germany with $10.6 million on 630 screens and $9.8 million on 1,003 screens respectively. It goes without saying that the film was the best Warner Bros. opening of 2019 in both markets. However, the film flopped in those markets when you compare how well it is doing in the U.K. In that market, Joker was down just 22% earning $12.0 million on 1,472 screens during its sophomore stint for a running tally of $36.9 million. It has earned more in the U.K. than it has domestically, relatively speaking, and I don’t think anyone was expecting that. On the downside, the film is done with openings and it will be coasting on holdovers from now on. That’s not much of a downside. More...

Home Market Releases for October 15th, 2019

October 17, 2019

It’s a really slow week with Crawl being the biggest release of the week, and it wasn’t a monster hit at the box office. Fortunately, it is also the best DVD / Blu-ray release of the week and was the only real contender for Pick of the Week. More...

Dolittle Trailer

October 15, 2019

Adventure starring Robert Downey, Jr. January 17 ... Full Movie Details. More...

Featured TV on DVD Review: The Haunting of Hill House

October 15, 2019

The Haunting of Hill House has nothing to do with the 1999 film, House on Haunted Hill, despite incredibly similar names. It is based on the same novel that The Haunting was based on, which also came out in 1999. Hollywood is weird like that. This show earned a lot of critical praise and even some Awards Season glory. Was I also won over by the show? Or am I one of the dissenters? More...

Weekend Wrap-Up: Joker’s Hold is No Laughing Matter

October 15, 2019

Joker dominated the weekend box office, crushing expectations and setting records in the process. The Addams Family also beat expectations and this really helped 2019. Granted, the box office was still down 7.8% from last weekend to $138 million; however, this was 3.8% higher than the same weekend last year. More...

Jungle Cruise Trailer

October 14, 2019

Adventure starring Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt opens July 24, 2020 ... Full Movie Details. More...

Featured Blu-ray and DVD Review: Crawl

October 14, 2019

Crawl is the latest horror film from director Alexandre Aja. It’s a Nature Horror film, a subgenre that usually features killer animals or extreme weather. This one has both. Can the film mix these two threats in an effective way? Or is it just get silly trying to combine the two? More...

Weekend Estimates: Joker Setting October Sophomore Record with $55 million

October 13, 2019

Joker is setting the record for the biggest sophomore weekend in October. It is estimated to earn $55.0 million over the weekend, which is nearly $12 million more than the current record held by Gravity. It is also nearly $20 million more than Venom earned during its second weekend of release. If this estimate holds, then Joker will have earned nearly $192.7 million after just ten days of release. Furthermore, its international numbers are just as potent with a weekend haul of $123.7 million on 24,000 screens in 79 markets giving it totals of $351.2 million internationally and $543.9 million worldwide. Given its legs so far, $1 billion worldwide seems like a safe bet. It would be nice to get a billion dollar hit from 2019 that isn’t from Disney / Marvel. The film had a pair of stunning debuts in France ($10.3 million on 630 screens) and Germany ($9.3 million on 912). However, its biggest weekend haul was in the U.K., where it was down just 22%, earning $12.0 million on 1,472 screens for a two-week total of $36.9 million. More...

Friday Estimates: The Joker Laughs at the Competition

October 12, 2019

Joker remained in first place earning $17 million on Friday. This is 57% lower than the film’s opening Friday, which is a really good hold and puts it on pace for $58 million over the full weekend. This would lift its running tally to nearly $200 million after just 10 days of release and might even be enough to cover the film’s entire combined production and advertising budget. More...

Thursday Night Previews: Gemini Has No Equal, For Now

October 11, 2019

As expected, Gemini Man, got off to the fastest start of any of the three films opening this weekend. After all, it is an action film with a bankable star. Unfortunately, it didn’t open as fast as expected, earning $1.6 million. Because it is an action film with weak reviews that will likely turn into poor word-of-mouth, it will very likely have short legs. It needed about $2 million to match our $24 million prediction, so with this opening, I’m not convinced it will get to $20 million during its opening weekend. More...

Charlie’s Angels Trailer 2

October 11, 2019

Action movie starring Naomi Scott, Ella Balinska, and Kristen Stewart, directed by Elizabeth Banks opens November 15 ... Full Movie Details.

The Angels are working for the mysterious Charles Townsend, whose security and investigative agency has expanded internationally. With the world’s smartest, bravest, and most highly trained women all over the globe, there are now teams of Angels guided by multiple Bosleys taking on the toughest jobs everywhere. More...

Limited and VOD Releases: Will Parasite Burrow Its Way into Audiences?

October 11, 2019

It is a shallow week for limited releases with more secondary VOD titles than ones that made it onto the main list. Of these, Dolemite is My Name has the best shot at a fast opening; however, it doesn’t have long before it comes out on VOD itself. This means Parasite could have the best long-term health in theaters. More...

Weekend Predictions: It Looks Like a Scary Weekend

October 11, 2019

There are three wide releases coming out, two of which have terrible reviews, The Addams Family and Gemini Man, while the third film, Jexi, as no reviews. It’s one of those weekends. Joker is widely expected to earn first place and it should hold better than Venom did during its second weekend of release, which is great news for 2019. Furthermore, this weekend last year, there were three wide releases with a total opening of $40 million. We should be able to top that this year by a significant margin, but A Star is Born is the one reason why 2018 could win in the year-over-year competition. More...

Theater Averages: All Gain for Pain

October 10, 2019

Pain and Glory dominated the theater average earning an average of $40,022 in four theaters. Joker was next with an average of $21,994 in over 4,000 theaters. The final film in the $10,000 Club this weekend was My Country, My People with an average of $13,069 in 67 theaters. That is very impressive and could be a portent of things to come as Chinese films gain a foothold in the domestic market. More...

Onward Trailer

October 10, 2019

Pixar animated adventure with the voices of Chris Pratt and Tom Holland opens March 20 ... Full Movie Details. More...

International Box Office: Joker Wins Weekend, But China Has the Last Laugh

October 10, 2019

Joker earned top spot on the international chart, but China was the big story this weekend. The DC Comics film opened in first place with $152.2 million on 25,090 screens in 73 markets for a worldwide opening of $248.2 million. Both the film’s international debut and its worldwide debut are records for an October release. Likewise, it set the October opening weekend record in a number of major markets, including Australia, Brazil, Mexico, South Korea, and Spain. South Korea was also the film’s biggest total opening with $16.18 million on 1,418 screens, including $9.58 million over the weekend. The film’s U.K. debut was better, if you just look at the three-day weekend, as it earned $15.45 million on 666 screens. It managed $13.48 million in Mexico, $7.4 million in Brazil, $6.59 million in Australia, and $4.8 million in Spain. More...

Home Market Releases for October 8th, 2019

October 10, 2019

It’s another week with a monster hit and nearly nothing else. Fortunately, that monster hit is Toy Story 4, which is easily the Pick of the Week and would be during all but the best weeks of the year. Midsommar comes close to being a contender for Pick of the Week, but the extras are well below average, even compared to a limited release. More...

Frankie Trailer

October 9, 2019

Drama starring Isabelle Huppert opens October 25 ... Full Movie Details.

Unfolding over the course of a late summer’s day in the fabled resort town of Sintra, Portugal, the film follows three generations who have gathered for a vacation organized by the family matriarch. In this fairy tale setting, husbands and wives, parents and children, friends and lovers, stirred by their romantic impulses—discover the cracks between them, as well as unexpected depth of feeling. More...

Featured Blu-ray and DVD Review: Midsommar

October 8, 2019

Midsommar is writer / dirctor Ari Aster’s second film. His first, Hereditary, only managed a D plus from CinemaScore, which is bad, even for a horror film. However, CinemaScore tends to measure not just quality, but expectations. A good movie that doesn’t match audience expectations in terms of tone and subject matter tend to get very weak scores from CinemaScore and no one going into Hereditary day one could have know what to expect. Midsommar earned a C plus, which is actually about average for a horror film. Is it also merely average in quality? Or is it just not as accessible as most mainstream horror movies are? More...

Birds of Prey Trailer

October 8, 2019

Action movie with an ensemble cast led by Margot Robbie opens February 7 ... Full Movie Details. More...

Weekend Wrap-Up: Joker Destroys Box Office, Nearly Reaches Century Mark

October 8, 2019

Joker easily dominated the weekend box office crushing Venom’s October record in the process. The film’s $96.20 million opening was more than 60% of the $150 million total box office earned this weekend. Furthermore, the weekend total was 64% more than last weekend, which is great news for 2019, as it has been struggling. Unfortunately, this is still 15% lower than the same weekend last year when Venom had A Star is Born opening strong as counter-programing. Year-to-date, 2019 has pulled in $8.46 billion, which is a lot, but it is 5.2% or $470 million behind 2018’s record-setting pace of $8.93 billion. More...

Featured Blu-ray and DVD Review: Toy Story 4

October 7, 2019

Toy Story 3 gave the franchise such a perfect send off that when Toy Story 4 was first announced it was met with a lot of trepidation. Most assumed it would be impossible to live up to its predecessor and many were worried it would fail at that task so much that it would retroactively make the franchise worse. Was it able to do the impossible? If not, was it at least able to avoid being a disaster? More...

Weekend Estimates: Joker Takes a Bite Out of Venom

October 6, 2019

Joker is not only dominating the weekend, likely earning more than the rest of the films in release combined, but it will also top Venom’s October record by more than $10 million. Its domestic weekend estimate is $93.5 million, which is only dwarfed by its international debut. The film is projected to earn $140.5 million on 22,500 screens in 73 markets during its opening weekend. Highlights includes A $16.3 million debut on 1,418 screens in South Korea, which is a record opening for Warner Bros. in that market. It wasn’t able to break records in the U.K., but is still very impressive at $14.8 million on 669 screens, while it also cracked $10 million in Mexico ($13.1 million on 4,684 screens) and Russia ($10 million on 1,907. More...

Friday Estimates: Another Day, Another Record for Joker

October 5, 2019

Joker opened with an outstanding $39.9 million on Friday, topping the previous biggest October day record of $33.08 million set last year by Halloween. This film does have weaker reviews and only a B plus from CinemaScore, which means its word-of-mouth won’t be as great. Additionally, a larger percent of its opening day came from previews, which is another sign it likely won’t have great legs. That said, it would really have to stumble to not get at least close to $100 million over the full weekend. It is not doing quite as well internationally, but close enough that it could earn enough during its opening weekend that it will cover its entire production budget. It will break even before Halloween. More...

Limited and VOD Releases: Painful Week for Limited Releases

October 4, 2019

There are not a lot of prime limited releases on this week’s list and a couple that had the loudest pre-release buzz ended up with weak reviews. Pain & Glory is the film with the best shot at box office success, while Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl is the film I want to see the most. More...

Thursday Night Previews: Joker Starts with Record-Breaking Previews

October 4, 2019

Joker raced into theaters with $13.3 million during its previews. This is a record for an October release, ahead of Venom’s $10 million debut last year, and not too far behind the $18.6 million R-rated record earned by Deadpool 2. The reviews have fallen to 69%, so it should have lost its Certified Fresh rating, but it is still there on Rotten Tomatoes, at least as I’m writing this. More...

The King’s Man Trailer 2

October 4, 2019

Historical action movie starring Ralph Fiennes, directed by Matthew Vauughn, opens February 14 ... Full Movie Details. More...

Weekend Predictions: Will Joker Have the Last Laugh?

October 4, 2019

Joker is the only wide release of the week and this should help it thrive at the box office. In fact, there are many who think it will top Venom’s October record. Venom set that record this weekend last year, so if it breaks the record that’s good news for 2019 in the year-over-year comparison, right? It’s not that simple, as A Star is Born also debut this weekend last year and that depth will likely prove too much for 2019 to overcome. More...

Theater Averages: In Love with the Theater Average Chart

October 3, 2019

First Love was the only film in the $10,000 Club this weekend earning an average of $10,576 in two theaters. More...

Richard Jewell trailer

October 3, 2019

Real-life drama, directed by Clint Eastwood, starring Paul Walter Hauser and Sam Rockwell, opens December 13 ... Full Movie Details. More...

International Box Office: Ad Astra Shines on Top of the Chart

October 3, 2019

Ad Astra spent a second weekend on top of the international box office earning $18.0 million in 50 markets for totals of $53.5 million internationally and $88.9 million worldwide. The film had an elite opening in Russia with $3.16 million on 1,337 screens, earning first place in the process. On the other hand, it failed to crack $1 million during its debuts in both Brazil ($900,000) and Italy ($898,000). More...

Home Market Releases for October 1st, 2019

October 3, 2019

It’s a great week for home market releases with a couple of monster hits coming out. Spider-Man: Far From Home was already named Pick of the Week when it came out on VOD and the DVD / Blu-ray / 4K lives up to that title. Meanwhile, Toy Story 4 is the best release of the week, but it is only coming out on VOD and I don’t like giving the Pick of the Week title to VOD releases. This leaves Maiden and That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime: Season One, Part 1 as the Pick of the Week contenders. It is a close race, but the latter has better extras on its Blu-ray and that was the tiebreaker. More...

PLAYMOBIL Trailer

October 1, 2019

Animated adventure opens December 6 ... Full Movie Details.

When her younger brother disappears into the colourful and animated world of Playmobil, Marla is forced to abandon her organised and structured life to rescue him. Finding herself on an incredible and unpredictable adventure within this new world, Marla begins to see potential she never dreamed of. More...

Featured Blu-ray and DVD Review: Spider-Man: Far From Home

October 1, 2019

Spider-Man: Far From Home was the first installment in the M.C.U. to come out after Endgame. It not only needs to tell a story by itself, it has the unenviable goal of setting up the post-Infinity Stones era of the M.C.U. Is it able to accomplish both of these tasks? More...

Weekend Wrap-Up: Abominable Leads Small Box Office

October 1, 2019

Abominable led the way at the box office this weekend, but there wasn’t a lot to celebrate. That film merely did okay for this time of year, while there were no other new releases to boost the box office. This led to a 25% drop-off from last weekend, down to a mere $92 million. Worse still, this is 13% lower than the same weekend last year when Night School and Smallfoot were a strong one-two box office punch. We’ve had a couple of winning weeks in a row, so this loss doesn’t hurt 2019’s chances too much and the deficit is practically the same as it was last week at 5.6% or $490 million at $8.28 billion to $8.77 billion. More...

2019 Preview: October

October 1, 2019

September ended on a bit of a weak note, but overall the month was excellent helping 2019 gain some ground on 2018. Can October continue this trend? There are certainly some potential box office hits coming out this month, starting with Joker, which opens the first weekend of the month and should be the biggest hit of the month. Maleficent: Mistress of Evil is aiming for $150 million and should be a hit, even if it doesn’t match the original at the box office. There are also a handful of films with an outside shot at getting to $100 million and I wouldn’t be shocked if one of them made it to that milestone. Meanwhile, last October, Venom broke records during its opening weekend, while A Star is Born had stellar legs helping both earn more than $200 million domestically. I don’t think the top two films will be able to match that this year, but we do have better depth, for the most part, so perhaps 2019 will continue its winning ways and close ground, at least by a little bit. More...

The Numbers News - October 2019

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