January 11th, 2019
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It is going to be a while before it is a good time for limited releases. We at least need this year’s Oscar contenders to no longer dominate theaters before high-quality limited releases can thrive. The biggest “new” release of the week is They Shall Not Grow Old, which broke records at the end of last year during special engagements. Now it looks to thrive in regular limited release. I think it will. There are a few others that could do well in VOD, but that’s as good as it gets for most films on this week’s list.
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April 13th, 2018
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There are not many limited releases that have a shot at box office success on this week’s list. The biggest ones are either opening too wide, like Beirut, or are already playing on VOD, like Borg vs. McEnroe, Wildling, and others. This leaves Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami as the film I think has the best shot at earning some measure of mainstream success.
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March 31st, 2017
It’s one of those weeks. There are a number of films earning good reviews, and some are earning great reviews. However, none of them are earning loud enough buzz to suggest they will escape the art house circuit. Worse still, there are many like The Blackcoat’s Daughter that are opening simultaneously on Video on Demand, which will all but kill their box office chances.
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May 2nd, 2016
This week the biggest releases are busted Oscar-bait, Joy; a post-apocalyptic young adult adaptation, The 5th Wave; and the latest from Nicholas Sparks, The Choice. Joy is worth at least a rental. The other two are not. There are no major releases that are contenders for Pick of the Week, so that title will go to a smaller release, East Side Sushi on DVD. It has earned unanimously positive reviews, but no buzz.
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January 17th, 2016
The Diary of a Teenage Girl opened with amazing reviews and even scored some major Season Nominations. However, it never really caught on with moviegoers. When this happens, there's the chance the film can be dismissed as one aimed solely at critics and not the average moviegoer.
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January 9th, 2016
The BAFTA nominations were announced and you can read them on their site... in alphabetical order. Alphabetical order is very useful in most circumstances, but not here. On the other hand, the nominees within each category are not presented in alphabetical order. ... Are the BAFTAs trolling us? As for the actual nominees, the big winners here are Bridge of Spies and Carol, both of which earned nine nominations. For Carol, this is just another impressive score, but this was a pleasant surprise for Bridge of Spies.
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December 4th, 2015
It's a very busy weekend with way too many limited releases. Because of this, we had to be a little more selective with what films made the cut to appear in our column. Chi-raq is opening the widest and should earn the most over the weekend. However, there are more than half-a-dozen films on this week's list earning overwhelmingly positive reviews. Some of these might pick up some major Awards Season nominations.
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November 25th, 2015
Awards Season begins with the Independent Spirit Awards nominations. There were definitely some surprise nominees this year, but that also meant there were some unfortunate snubs as well. The overall leader was Carol, which just opened this past weekend. This is great timing and should help its box office numbers, as well as its chances throughout Awards Season. Its six nominations were one ahead of Beasts of No Nation and Spotlight. (One of Spotlight's was the Robert Altman Award, which has no nominations, just one winner.)
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August 7th, 2015
It could be a really good week in limited release, as there are several films earning great reviews and loud buzz. Leading the way in raw size is Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection "F", which could become one of the biggest Anime hits of all time, at least Stateside. Other films with a shot at thriving in limited release include Cop Car and The Diary of a Teenage Girl, but they are not the only films worth checking out.
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