Weekend Estimates: Hotel Transylvania 2 Breaks September Record

September 27th, 2015

Hotel Transylvania 2 is off to an impressive start this weekend with a new record weekend for September, according to Sony’s estimate released on Sunday. The animated comedy is expected to earn $47.5 million, beating the record held by the first film in the franchise, which debuted with $42.5 million this time in 2012. It’s also on the high end of expectations, which had it coming in the high 30s or low 40s. It’s a welcome turnaround for Adam Sandler, after a string of flops, but even more so for Sony Pictures, which has had a dismal year so far, with no film earning more than Pixels $76.7 million before now. More...

Friday Estimates: Hotel Fully Booked

September 26th, 2015

As expected, Hotel Transylvania 2 earned first place on Friday, but it did so with an unexpectedly strong result. The film pulled in $13.25 million for the day; by comparison, this is 21% higher than the first film’s debut. Sequels do tend to be a little more front loaded than the original film, but this is still a fantastic start. For instance, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs had a 3.72 internal multiplier of (weekend box office divided by Friday box office) while its sequel had an internal multiplier of 3.68. Granted, that's a tiny drop, but the reviews of these two films dropped dramatically, which likely had some effect. On the other hand, the two Hotel Transylvania films have earned nearly identical reviews. Hotel Transylvania earned an internal multiplier of 3.88, so if that drops to about 3.7, then Hotel Transylvania 2 would pull in about $49 million over the weekend. That's seems excessive. On the other hand, even earning just over $42.5 million and breaking the September record would be disappointing after an opening day like this. More...

Labyrinth of Lies Trailer

September 25th, 2015

Historical drama starring Alexander Fehling opens September 30 in New York and Los Angeles... Full Movie Details. More...

Limited and VOD Releases: Taking a Gamble on Limited Releases

September 25th, 2015

While it isn't a quiet week for limited releases, nearly all of the buzz is directed towards two films, 99 Homes and Mississippi Grind. The former will likely be the biggest box office hit, but the later is a gambling movie, so it is the one I most want to see. More...

Contest: Rescue Mission

September 25th, 2015

The first weekend of October has only one wide release, The Martian. It should easily dominate the box office and could be one of the best wide releases for the rest of the year. As such, it is the only real choice for the target film for this week's Box Office Prediction contest. In order to win, one must simply predict the opening weekend box office number for The Martian.

Whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend box office (Friday to Sunday), without going over, will win a Frankenprize consisting of two previously reviewed DVDs or Blu-rays. Whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend box office (Friday to Sunday), without going under, will win a Frankenprize consisting of two previously reviewed DVDs or Blu-rays. Finally, we will be choosing an entrant from the group of people who haven't won, or haven't won recently, and they will also win a Frankenprize consisting of two previously reviewed DVDs or Blu-rays. There is a difference this time. Two people will earn Frankenprizes consisting of two horror movies. The other winner will earn a Frankprize consisting of two "horror" movies, that is to say movies so bad that it will fill you with horror. Entries must be received by 10 a.m., Pacific Time on Friday to be eligible, so don't delay! More...

Weekend Predictions: Busy September Weekend is Quantity Over Quality

September 25th, 2015

There are two wide releases this week, a wide expansion, and a semi-wide release. That's a lot of films to talk about. Of the three new films, none of them are earning more than 50% positive reviews. This is sadly typical of this time of year. Hotel Transylvania 2 is easily the biggest new release of the week and the only film with a shot at $40 million. The second wide release, The Intern, and the wide expansion, Everest, should be in a tight race for second place with $20 million each. On the other hand, The Green Inferno, the semi-wide release, is staring down the barrel of the Mendoza Line. If you look at the top three films from last year and compare them to the top three films from this year, they look about the same. The Equalizer's opening is on low the end of Hotel Transylvania 2's range of expectations. Additionally, the depth this year looks better than last year. 2015 should end the month on a high note in the year-over-year comparison. More...

Home Market Numbers: Walking Dead Can't Revive the Home Market

September 24th, 2015

While there were a huge number of new releases from August 25th to reach the top 30 on the combined DVD and Blu-ray chart for August 30th, none were big hits. The Walking Dead: Season Six led the way with 295,000 units / $7.69 million. Its opening week Blu-ray share was 34%, which is average for the format as a whole, but excellent for a TV on DVD release. More...

International Box Office: Runner Breaks Out to an Early Lead

September 23rd, 2015

The Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials rose to first place with $43.3 million in 67 markets over the weekend for a total of $78.0 million internationally and $108.3 million worldwide. The film's biggest opening came from South Korea, but it only managed second place there with $5.66 million on 804 screens over the weekend for a total opening of $7.20 million. On the other hand, the film dominated the Russian box office with $4.19 million on 2,328 screens. The original movie opened stronger in Russia, but The Scorch Trials performed better in its opening in South Korea. Given these results, it is still too soon to tell how well this film will do compared to its predecessor. That said, it already has more worldwide than it cost to make. In fact, it almost has enough worldwide to pay for its entire production budget. Its advertising budget would have to be much larger than expected for it to not break even sooner rather than later. More...

Contest: Lovely Prizes: Winning Announcement

September 22nd, 2015

The winners of our Lovely Prizes contest were determined and the entrants with the closest predictions for The Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials opening weekend were... More...

Per Theater Chart: Sicario is the Most Wanted Limited Release

September 22nd, 2015

Sicario not only led the weekend on the Per Theater Chart with an average of $66,881 in six theaters. It also had the best per theater average for any film released in 2015, beating out the previous record-holder, Ex Machina, by about $7,500. On a related note, there's already reports of a sequel in the works. Jeremy Scott: The People's Designer was up next with an average of $18,750 in twelve theaters. Finally, there's Everest. This film not only earned a spot in the top five overall, but pulled in an average of $13,251 in over 500 theaters. More...