September 4th, 2020
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This year’s Labor Day weekend in the United States may prove to be historic. While Warner Bros. tests the viability of the theatrical market with a novel release strategy for Tenet, Disney is seeing how far it can get when it eschews theaters altogether with the Premium VOD release of Mulan on Disney+.
While it’s not in the same league as those $200-million behemoths, Charlie Kaufman’s psychological horror movie I’m Thinking of Ending Things provides some counter-programming, and is significant in its own right as part of another trend in the industry: major art-house film-makers finding a home in the home market.
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September 3rd, 2020
It’s a busy week on VOD, especially if you are a fan of horror. Blood Quantum, Followed, and Z are all worth checking out. There are also some smaller horror releases or ones with weaker reviews that might be worth it for more hardcore fans. If you are not a fan of horror, then The Wind Rises is your best bet.
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August 1st, 2018
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Overall, July was a a little weaker than expected. Ant-Man and the Wasp appears to be on pace for $200 million, while it is too soon to tell if Mission: Impossible—Fallout will also get there. That said, 2018 is still ahead of 2017 by $550 million, so the month of July was a success in that regard. As for August, there’s only one movie that is expected to earn $100 million, Christopher Robin, and maybe a few others that could hit $50 million. It’s a rather sad slate of movies. Fortunately, last August was even worse, so 2018 should at least maintain its lead. Maybe we can get lucky and come away with a $600 million lead by the end of the month.
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August 1st, 2017
July is over and we should all be happy about that. Granted, there were some positive results we can talk about. Spider-Man: Homecoming is a huge hit and Despicable Me 3 will pull in a sizable profit before it reaches the home market. There were also a couple of other $100 million hits and a midlevel hit or two; however, overall, 2017 wasn’t able to compete with 2016 and the box office finally lost its lead over last year. 2017 started the summer about $200 million ahead of 2016, but will finish July about $100 million behind last year’s pace. August doesn’t look any better. There are a couple of films that have a reasonable shot at $100 million, The Dark Tower and Annabelle: Creation, as well as a few that should be solid midlevel hits. However, last year we had Sausage Party and Don’t Breathe, both of which nearly hit $100 million, then we had midlevel hits like Pete’s Dragon, Kubo and the Two Strings, and War Dogs. I don’t know if 2017 will be able to compete with that. ... Now some of you are thinking I forgot about Suicide Squad. Trust me, I will never forget that movie. I ignored it to make a point. Even without Suicide Squad, I don’t think 2017 will make up the deficit it has with 2016. With Suicide Squad, it is going to be a disaster. I want to be optimistic, but there’s no evidence to suggest I should be.
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