July 11th, 2016
Richard Linklater is one of those directors with lots of Indie Cred that rarely have breakout success at the box office. The biggest hit of his career has been School of Rock. Everybody Wants Some was expected to do well enough to earn some measure of mainstream success. Some were even expecting it to be one of the biggest limited releases of the year so far, topping $10 million. That didn’t happen. Is this one of the director’s weaker movies? Or was it unfairly overlooked by moviegoers?
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April 26th, 2015
The Boy Next Door only cost $4 million to make and even if its P&A budget was just north of $20 million, it made enough worldwide to cover that. All it needs to do on the home market is cover any additional production and advertising costs to break even. However, it earned reviews that were just 11% positive. Is it really this bad? Or were the critics unfairly harsh on the movie?
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January 1st, 2015
2014 is over and for the most part, December was a soft ending to a weak year. This is bad news for two reasons. Firstly, it means the overall box office is still soft and it is unlikely that January will start strong. Secondly, last January was a great month, thanks in part to Frozen and other holdovers. The slump can't last forever and Taken 3 should help 2015 get off to a reasonably fast start and it even has a shot at $100 million. American Sniper got off to a really fast start in limited release, so it too could be a hit when it expands wide. By comparison, last January was led by Ride Along, but there were only two other films that didn't completely bomb. I want to say 2015 will start out on a winning note, but given the box office losing streak, it will likely pay to be pessimistic.
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November 24th, 2014
I've reviewed every film in the Step Up franchise, except Revolution. Step Up 3D is a prime example of the genre. The plot, and lead characters, take a back seat to the dancing. The latest installment of the franchise, Step Up All In, comes out on the home market this week. (Maybe. There seems to be some confusion on the release date over on Amazon.com.) Is it more of the same? Will that be enough for fans of the franchise?
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August 1st, 2014
July was... well... let's just pretend it didn't happen. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes did well, but week after week 2014 fell further behind 2013 in the year-to-date comparison. At the moment, we are roughly $400 million behind last year's pace and while I don't think August will continue the losing streak, there's really no chance August will put a dent in that number. It looks more and more likely that Guardians of the Galaxy will be a hit, especially given its early reviews, but it could be the last $100 million hit till October, if the bad buzz surrounding Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles turns into bad ticket sales. Last August there were two films that reached $100 million, plus two others that came close. This August might match that, while the biggest film this year should top the biggest film from last year. I think the slump 2014 is suffering through will end the first weekend and overall I think it will cut the deficit a little bit. That said, summer 2014 will still end as one of the worst recent summers at the box office.
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