April 18th, 2011
This year's big Oscar winner, The King's Speech, is hitting the home market this week. It leads the way in terms of quality and is likely to be the best-selling new release. It's certainly the Pick of the Week, with neither the DVD nor the Blu-ray being a substantially better deal than the other. The only other real contender is the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part I Blu-ray / DVD Combo Pack, but that came out on Friday.
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April 17th, 2011
Rabbit Hole was released in limited release in the middle of December, which just screams Oscar Bait. It did earn one Oscar nomination, as well as a Golden Globe nomination, a SAG nomination, and two Independent Spirit Award nominations, but went home empty handed each time. Likewise, it opened well at the box office earning a per theater average of more than $10,000 during its opening weekend, but the very next weekend it tried to expand and suffered. (Granted, Christmas Eve landed on a Friday, so that did have some effect as well.) It sets up a strange dichotomy when it comes to expectations.
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March 1st, 2011
There were no films that managed a per theater average of $10,000 or more over the weekend, but I Am came the closest with an average of $9,649 in two theaters. Meanwhile the best new release was Of Gods and Men with an average of $9,360 in 33 theaters.
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February 13th, 2011
With our annual Oscar Prediction contest underway, now is the best time to look at the nominees and try and figure out who the favorites are and which nominees should just feel honored to be nominated. This weekend we will look at the four acting categories, ending with Best Lead Actress, which is, while not exactly competitive, at least has a long shot with a shot.
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January 25th, 2011
The Oscar nominations were announced this morning, thus ending months of speculation. Along with a (very) few surprises, the list of nominees is mostly a case of Deja Vu. Leading the way, as it has so often this year, was The King's Speech, with 12 nominations, including six in seven of the most prestigious categories (Best Picture, Director, Screenplay, and the four acting categories). But it was far from the only multi-nominated film on the list.
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January 18th, 2011
After an Oscar-qualifying run and a limited release in Canada, Barney's Version, finally started its theatrical run in the United States with an average of $16,310 in four theaters, which was enough to lead the per theater chart. Sort of. It's also playing in Canada, and despite the fact that Canada's considered part of the domestic box office when it comes to wide releases, smaller releases often don't have their box office numbers North of the border reported. This means it is possible that Phil Ochs: There But For Fortune remained on top with $12,377 in its lone theater.
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January 1st, 2011
Well, 2010 is over and while it started amazingly, it ended on a real down note. I'm not saying December was a disaster. ... Actually I am. There were only ten wide releases, and of those, eight missed expectations, some by very wide margins. Despite having a $200 million lead going into the month, 2010 still managed to lose out to 2009. The bad news continues in 2011, as Avatar made $300 million during January alone. With no strong holdovers to help power the box office, and only one or two potential solid hits among the new releases, 2011 will likely get off to a very weak start.
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December 21st, 2010
It was a good week for The King's Speech, as it led the way for Golden Globe nominations and SAG nominations, while retaking top spot on the per theater chart. Despite expanding from 19 theaters to 43 theaters, its average fell just 20% to $25,515. This was twice as much as Tron: Legacy, which placed second with $12,758. The only other film to reach the $10,000 mark was Rabbit Hole at $10,756. This is not bad, but given the Awards Season Buzz, I was expecting more.
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December 19th, 2010
The weekend before Christmas brought little cheer to the movie industry, with Tron: Legacy posting a fairly ordinary $43.6 million opening, and the weekend's two other wide openers and one wide expansion missing the mark.
Since Avatar was released this weekend last year, the year-on-year comparisons look bad for the industry as a whole, and 2010 looks certain to lag 2009 in tickets sold, and possibly in total revenue.
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December 17th, 2010
The SAG nominations were handed out this week, and while there were a couple of interesting notes, overall there was a decided lack of surprises. The King's Speech and The Fighter led the way with four nominations each, while Black Swan and The Kids Are All Right were right behind with three. All four have been considered Awards Season players for a long time, so their success with SAG merely confirms that and is not shocking in the least.
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December 17th, 2010
There are only five films on this week's limited release list, three of which were likely aiming for Oscars, of which two have already picked up major nominations. Hopefully this will be enough to escape a crowded limited release field, which includes some films that are expanding wide (in the case of The Fighter) or in the process of expanding wide (in the case of Black Swan).
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December 14th, 2010
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced their nominations early this morning, and there are some interesting surprises included in the mix. Leading the way was The King's Speech, which has long been seen as one of the major players this Awards Season. Meanwhile, The Fighter and The Social Network were right behind with six each. There were many, many other films nomination, including more than a few shocks. ... Mostly in one category.
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December 1st, 2010
The official arrival of winter is still a few weeks away, but Winter's Bone ushered in the start of Awards Season picking up seven Independent Spirit Award nominations. This was the most of any film, with The Kids Are All Right placing second with five.
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December 1st, 2010
It's the end of the year and there are certainly some question marks that will be answered over the next 31 days. Are there any monster hits left for 2010? Will 2010 manage to stay ahead of 2009? Will it actually start winning again at the box office? Unfortunately, the answer to all three of those questions might be no. First of all, of the November wide releases, only two will really match expectations, with a couple of others coming close. So December starts on the weak side. Additionally, last December saw the release of Avatar, the biggest box office hit of all time. There's no film coming out this month that will match that movie. In fact, there's a chance no movie coming out this month will match last December's second place film, Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel. This means that even though 2010 had a $300 million lead over 2009 just a few weeks ago, by the end of the year, 2010 might fail to break last year's record.
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