Limited and VOD Releases: No Monster Releases

August 19th, 2016

There are a number of interesting limited releases on this week’s list, including Lo And Behold, Reveries Of The Connected World, Morris from America, Imperium, and Closet Monster. Unfortunately, while all of them are earning good reviews, none of them are likely to be hits in theaters. More...

Thursday Night Previews: Dogs Go to War with $1.9 million Preemptive Strike - Updated with Ben-Hur Numbers

August 19th, 2016

War Dogs got off to a surprisingly strong start with $1.9 million during its midnight previews last night. This is about 20% more than Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates made a few weeks ago. The two films are great comparisons, but we don’t have a lot of other films to work with. This is good news for the film and makes it likely that it will beat predictions by a small margin. More...

Contest: Hold Your Breath

August 18th, 2016

There are two and a half wide releases next weekend with Don’t Breathe being the widest release and very likely the only film earning good reviews. I think it is the easy choice for the target film in this week's Box Office Prediction contest. In order to win, one must simply predict the opening weekend box office number for Don’t Breathe.

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 a previously reviewed full-season TV on DVD release, two previously reviewed movies, or three single-disc kids DVDs. Whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend box office (Friday to Sunday), without going under, will also win a Frankenprize consisting of a previously reviewed full-season TV on DVD release, two previously reviewed movies, or three single-disc kids DVDs. Finally, we will be choosing an entrant from the group of people who haven't won, or haven't won recently, and they will win the final Frankenprize, as described above.

Entries must be received by 10 a.m., Pacific Time on Friday to be eligible, so don't delay! More...

Weekend Predictions: Dog Days of Summer are Here

August 18th, 2016

Summer is over, at least as far as the box office is concerned. There are three films opening wide and another expanding wide-ish, but none of them are expected to crack $20 million over the weekend. War Dogs should come the closest, but even then, it is only aiming at the midteens. Kubo and the Two Strings is the best of the new releases, but recent history isn’t kind to stop-motion animated films. The final wide release of the week is Ben-Hur. This film cost nearly $100 million to make and it is expected to bomb spectacularly. Hell or High Water is expected to expand semi-wide, perhaps wide enough to score a spot in the top ten. Suicide Squad will likely win the box office race, but this has less to do with the film’s strength and more to do with the weak competition. Speaking of weak competition, this weekend last year, Straight Outta Compton earned more than all three wide releases combined. 2016 won’t be able to match it at the top of the chart, but there’s much better depth this year than last year, so 2016 should win in the year-over-year comparison. More...

Theater Counts: Suicide Squad Remains Top Dog

August 18th, 2016

Suicide Squad will lose 331 venues this weekend, but remain the film in widest release. The theater count hasn’t been announced yet for Kubo and the Two Strings, but Focus Features had it pegged around 3,100 this time last week, and it will clearly fall far short of the 3,924 claimed by Suicide Squad for the weekend. War Dogs will land in 3,258 locations and is the widest new release to have reported so far. Ben Hur will launch in 3,084, which is a weak number for a film that needs to make a lot of money. More...

International Box Office: Suicide Slips, but Still Tops Chart with $58.7 million

August 17th, 2016

Suicide Squad saw its numbers fall dramatically, but still held onto top spot on the international chart with $58.7 million in 62 markets. The film’s totals rose to $242.5 million internationally and $465.1 million worldwide. The film’s two biggest new markets were Argentina, where it earned $2.5 million, and Italy, where it pulled in $2.15 million. Its best holdover was the U.K., where it remained in first place despite falling 62% to $5.52 million in 587 theaters for a two-week total of $28.90 million. At this pace, the film will be over $500 million worldwide before the weekend, while it is on track for $750 million worldwide in total. That should be enough to break even before its home market run. More...

Contest: For Pete’s Sake: Winning Announcement

August 17th, 2016

The winners of our For Pete’s Sake contest were determined and the entrants with the closest predictions for Pete’s Dragon opening weekend were... More...

Theater Averages: Hell of a Good Time

August 16th, 2016

Hell or High Water led the way on the Theater Average Chart with an average of $19,417 in 32 theaters. The studio was hoping for only half of that, so this is a fantastic start. The biggest new release of the week, Sausage Party, was next with an average of $11,042, while the overall number one film, Suicide Squad, was right behind with $10,232. More...

Home Market Releases for August 16th, 2016

August 16th, 2016

There are a lot of releases on this week’s list, but most of them are like The Angry Birds Movie on DVD, Blu-ray Combo Pack, or 4K Combo Pack. They are good, but not good enough to be a Pick of the Week contender. The best new release is The Fits, but it is only coming out on Video on Demand. More...

Weekend Wrap-Up: Suicide Slumps to $43.54 million, Sausage Soars with $34.26 million

August 16th, 2016

The overall box office was a little weaker than expected with Suicide Squad falling nearly as fast as Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice did. On the other hand, Sausage Party opened better than expected earning a solid second place. Overall, the box office pulled in $172 million over the weekend, which is 25% smaller than last weekend. Compared to the same weekend last year, the box office was 16% higher and that’s the most important number. Year-to-date, 2016 has pulled in $7.43 billion, putting it 5.3% ahead of last year’s pace. The box office just needs to maintain its $380 million lead throughout the rest of the summer to be considered a success. More...