March 31st, 2020
-(2020)-1-News.jpg)
Talk of a Sonic the Hedgehog movie first began 25 years ago. It’s a super popular video game franchise, or at least it was at its peak. A string of subpar instalments in the franchise hurt its popularity, while the overall terrible quality of the average video game movie made a live-action movie seem like a risk. Then that first trailer came out. Granted, the effects quality improved dramatically as a result of the backlash, but I was still not interested in the substance the trailer offered. Then the reviews showed up and many people said this film was the best video game adaptation of all time. It then went on to become one of the biggest hits of 2020 so far. Is it as good as its reviews / box office numbers? Or do I think this film benefited from low expectations?
More...
November 1st, 2018
October continued 2018’s phenomenal box office run, for the most part. There were a couple of films that missed expectations by $10 million or more, but on the other hand, Vemon and Halloween were smash hits and are now the first and second biggest October debuts of all time. Furthermore, 2018’s lead over 2017 is, as I’m writing this, just shy of $1 billion and if 2018 can maintain this lead, it will be one of the biggest year-over-year increases of all time. It won’t. The fun times end now. Why is that? Last November was amazing. There were only eight wide releases, but six of them earned more than $100 million. Three of those hit $200 million, including Thor: Ragnarok, which earned over $300 million. This year, there are a lot more movies opening in November, but it is a case of quantity over quality. No movie is expected to come close to $300 million and it would take a bit of luck just to have five $100 million hits. The film I’m looking forward to the most is Ralph Breaks the Internet, while it, Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch, and Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald are all aiming for $200 million this month. Fortunately, even if 2018 is behind 2017’s pace by around $300 million, 2018 has built up such a large lead that it should still go into December with an insurmountable lead at the box office.
More...
August 26th, 2016
While there are a lot of films on this week’s list, none of them look like they will be box office hits. Southside with You is one of the best releases this week, but it is playing in over 800 theaters, which is likely too many. There are a number of other films that are worth seeing, like Floyd Norman: An Animated Life, but most of them are playing on Video on Demand, so their box office chances are nearly zero.
More...
April 13th, 2014
Ride Along is the second film I'm reviewing this weekend that earned bad reviews that already has a sequel in the works. I'm not surprised it is getting a sequel. After all, it did earn nearly $135 million on just a $25 million production budget, but a big box office doesn't mean high quality. Were the critics right to lambast this film? Or were moviegoers right to check it out in theaters? And if so, is the Blu-ray Combo Pack worth picking up?
More...
January 1st, 2014
It's the first month of the new year, but the biggest hit might be a film released in December. Last month ended on a slow note with all five Christmas day releases failing to become hits, some more than others. (It's a little too soon to tell if The Wolf of Wall Street or The Secret Life of Walter Mitty will do well enough to break even any time soon, but neither is a serious hit.) There are still some December releases that will likely remain on the charts through the opening weekends of January, while there are some films that opened in limited release last month with a scheduled wide release this month. Of the purely January releases, I would guess Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit will be the biggest hit. Even then, it won't live up to the previous films in the franchise, even if you don't take inflation into account. Most of the rest of the new releases will be happy if they can become midlevel hits. Last January was led by Mama, which earned more than $70 million. I think Shadow Recruit will top that figure at the box office, while there are a similar number of likely box office bombs opening this year as there were last year. 2014 could start out ahead of 2013's pace, but it likely won't be a huge difference either way.
More...
