Inside Out was one of the monster hits of the summer earning more than $350 million domestically and $800 million worldwide. This makes it the third biggest hit in Pixar's history. Is it also one of their best? Or was it swept up in the "irrational exuberance" we saw at the box office this summer?
More...
May turned out to be softer than anticipated with The Avengers: Age of Ultron missing expectations by about $100 million. Additionally, only Pitch Perfect 2 really topped expectations. May 2015 kept pace with May of 2014, more or less. June doesn't have any films as strong as Age of Ultron, but there are two films that should have no trouble getting to $200 million. Those two films are Jurassic World and Inside Out and I'm not sure which one will turn out to be the biggest hit of the month. Last June, the biggest hit was Transformers: Age of Extinction, but both Jurassic World and Inside Out should top that film, albeit by small margins. On the other hand, last June had four other films that reached $100 million, while this time around only Spy! and Ted 2 have a real shot at that milestone. 2015 is stronger at the top, but has weaker depth. It will be interesting to see if 2015 will keep pace with 2014 over the course of the full month.
More...
There are a number of big releases on this week's list, especially if you like TV on DVD. However, there are not a lot of releases in total. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is the biggest release by a wide margin, but it is not the best. For that honor, I would have to chose Boardwalk Empire: Season 4 on Blu-ray.
More...
The first full weekend of December and less than three weeks till Christmas. The second installment of our Holiday Gift Guide is where we talks about TV on DVD releases. We limit ourselves to the first season of new shows or the Megasets for complete shows. We do this, because generally speaking, you don't need our advice whether or not to give someone the sixthseason of Murdoch Mysteries as a gift. Did they buy and enjoy the first five? Then yes, but the sixth season as a gift. If not, I wouldn't bother. Like with Part I, this year's selection doesn't seem very strong. There were very few new shows that were truly great. According to Metacritic, the best new show of the season was Nashville, which is a bit of a surprise. The second best show was Call the Midwife, but season two has already come out on DVD and Blu-ray, so it is not really a new show. Meanwhile, the third best show was canceled before its first season was completed. It wasn't a good year for high quality TV. There are also not a lot of Megasets for shows that recently ended that are obviously worth picking up, but the best of the group is...
More...