Friday Box Office Estimates

Three disappointing launches this weekend. Disney has it’s softest non-animal opening in almost 2 years, reminding us both why they need a different marketing team if they are going to add Fox product to their line-up. Very few teams re built to hit to more than one spot at the very highest level. Meanwhile, Fox fails utterly to open The Darkest Minds. And Lionsgate has a comedy that stumbles into the market, about 60% behind its similar male take, The Bodyguard’s Hitman.

The DVD Wrapup: Final Portrait, Overboard, Dark Crimes, Iron Brothers, Streets of Vengeance, Piranha II, Star Wars Rebels, Myanmar … More

Although known almost exclusively as a sculptor, Final Portrait focuses on the creation of one of Alberto Giacometti’s hauntingly distinctive paintings, “The Portrait of James Lord.” The American journalist/critic first met Giacometti at the Café des Deux Magots in February 1952. As Lord recalled later, he was ‘instantly mesmerized’ by the artist.

The Weekend Report

Cruise Control The folks at IMF were at full tilt as Mission: Impossible – Fallout led weekend movie going with an estimated 60.8 million. The session’s counter-programmer Teen Titans Go! To the Movies slotted fifth with a respectable $10.4 million. In the niches a clutch of new Indian imports largely tanked apart from the Punjabi…

Friday Box Office Estimates

Mission: Impossible – Fallout lands with its best opening of the franchise, though M:I2 opened on a Wednesday and if you count Thursday and Friday together, the number is slightly better. But M:IF only had Thursday from 7p on to accrue $s in our new Friday box office count methodology. Teen Titans Go To The Movies wilts on opening, though Saturday should improve the weekend to the mid-high teens. MM2 and TE2 both have soft holds, though those too should improve to the high 50s by the end of the weekend.

The DVD Wrapup: Night of Virgin, Lovecraft, Carpenter, Moss, Love After Love, Gravity Falls, Keeping Faith, Spiral … More

If I didn’t have a calendar on my computer – and it weren’t 110 degrees outside – I’d think that Halloween was barreling down on us, like a zombie bitch in heat. And, by bitch, I mean of the canine persuasion. This week’s selection of horror on DVD/Blu-ray is nothing short of thrilling. …

Weekend Report

Ant-Man and the Wasp BV 76.1 (18,090) NEW 4206 76.1 Incredibles 2 BV 28.8 (6,990) -38% 4113 504.1 Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom Uni 28.6 (6,570) -53% 4349 333.3 The First Purge Uni 17.1 (5,650) NEW 3031 31 Sicario: Day of the Soldado Sony 7.4 (2,430) -61% 3055 35.4 Uncle Drew Lionsgate 6.6 (2,400) -57% 2742…

The Weekend Report

It was a weekend surprise as The Equalizer 2 edged in front of Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again with an estimated $35.4 million to take the frame’s box office crown. The ABBA musical debuted to $34.4 million. The session’s other wide release newcomer was Unfriended: Dark Web that slotted ninth with $3.5 million.

Friday Box Office Estimates

Mamma Mia!: Here We Go Again will out-open the original by a good amount while The Equalizer: Here We Kill Agian will come up a smidgen short of the launch of the first film. McQueen and Blindspotting will both top $10k per screen in exclusive launches.

The DVD Wrapup: I Feel Pretty, Never Really Here, In Harmony, Leisure Seeker, Scorpion’s Tail, Hong Sangsoo, Doom Asylum, T2, The Tunnel, The Good Place … More

Everything that made the let-it-all-hang-out comic such a hot commodity, only two years ago, appears to have been drained from a property that suffers from an almost complete lack of bodacious, in-your-face humor and self-deprecating mischief. Seemingly, it would be too easy to blame what must have been a demand for a PG-13 rating, but if you put a muzzle on an attack dog, it loses its bite.

The Weekend Report

It was scary stuff kids (not really) as the debut of Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation hit the beach and the top of the charts with an estimated $43.9 million. The session’s other freshman national release was the burning inferno yarn Skyscraper that slotted third with $25.5 million.

New exclusive entries had a couple of standouts including the unconventional biopic He Won’t Get Far on Foot that opened to $84,500 from four venues and the coming-of-ager Eighth Grade that graduated with honors of $250,000 from an alternate quartet of screens.

A number of alternative titles also managed to secure significant expansions. The urban comedy Sorry to Bother You added 789 playdates and posted a potent $3.8 million box office. New engagements also maintained momentum for Three Individual Strangers and Leave No Trace.

Friday Box Office Estimates

Dracula bites The Rock as the third animated take on classic monsters by Genndy Tartakovsky continues to build on the previous films, opening $3.2 million better on opening day than Hotel Transylvania 2. Skyscraper opens behind what was considered a soft launch for Dwayne Johnson’s Rampage last April. And the rest of the returning Top 10 titles (save a solid expansion for Sorry To Bother You) had a tough Friday, with 50%+ drops across the board. In limited, a strong launch for Eighth Grade and a reasonable start for Don’t Worry He Won’t Get Far On Foot.

The DVD Wrapup: Quiet Place, Dietrich/Steinberg, A Ciambra, Maborosi, Chappaquiddick, Josephine Baker, Lean on Pete, Jazz Ambassadors, Blue Desert … More

The twist here involves the curious aftermath of a cataclysmic event that, in 2020, wipes out most of humanity. Its payload of sightless creatures, possessing hypersensitive hearing and seemingly impenetrable exoskeletons, has attacked and devoured anything that makes noise. How the Abbott family has managed to survive is anyone’s guess. The advantage they hold over other Earthlings appears to be that they’re conversant in American Sign Language.

Weekend Report

What’s Buzzin’ Ant-Man and the Wasp infested the multiplex with an estimated $76.1 million to handily take command of weekend movie-going. The session other wide national opener The First Purge was fourth in the pecking order with $17.1 million. In limited wide release the tuneful doc Whitney (Houston) arrived with $1.2 million to mild applause….

The DVD Wrapup: Blockers, Finding Your Feet, Ismael’s Ghosts, Don’t Grow Up, Last House on Left, Sartana, Striking Back, Sharks … More

Although the term, “cockblock,” has been traced to 1972, via “DawgSpeak!: The Slanguage Dictionary of the University of Georgia,” it wasn’t until it was used in Superbad (2007) that it took hold among young white scenesters. The original script was titled “Cherries,” which not only would have been too blatantly suggestive for the MPAA, but also more than a tad misleading …

The Weekend Report

Jurrasic World: Fallen Kingdom led the Canada Day frame with an estimated $59.9 million. The session featured two new national releases on the pre-Indie Day altar. Sicario: Day of the Soldado slotted third with $18.5 million with the basketball comedy Uncle Drew right behind at $15.3 million.

Exclusive newcomers included excellent starts for the intense father-daughter saga Leave No Trace of $209,000 from nine screens. Also the doc Three Identical Strangers bowed to an upbeat $161,000 at five locales.

Friday Box Office Estimates

Sicario: Day of the Soldado and Uncle Drew arrive, each floating around the $20 million mark for the weekend. If they can triple that, both will be legit successes. Anything more will be gravy. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom falls as expected, Friday-to-Friday. Leave No Trace and Three Identical Strangers open per-screen strong.

The DVD Wrapup: Acrimony, Sheikh Jackson, El Sur, Endless, Back to Burgundy, Hamlet, Mimic, M:I 4K, Addiction, Vigil … More

Tyler Perry’s Acrimony: Blu-ray To say that Melinda, Taraji P. Henson and Ajiona Alexus’s character in Tyler Perry’s Acrimony, has rage issues is like comparing the lava pouring from Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano to the acid reflux one experiences after eating too much pizza. Both burn, but only one of them destroys everything in its path….

The Weekend Report

The domestic debut of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom debuted at the top of the charts with an estimated $149.8 million. It was the only new national release because the industry is well aware that you don’t mess with dinos whether they happen to be called Rex or Raptor. It ranks as its studio’s second biggest bow ever behind, unsurprisingly, Jurassic World.

Friday Box Office Estimates

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom breaks the all-time record for most $125 million openings in the first 7 months of the year, a success which is reasonably followed by the question of whether there will be any more such openings this year. The record is 6 in one year – 2016 – which included an August and a December release. Meanwhile, the mid-week July 4 holiday is not a friend to JW2… because there is no 3-day or 4-day weekend and the holiday bump (last seen in 2012) is minor at best. It doesn’t hurt, but it doesn’t help much. Strong Friday-to-Friday hold for Incredibles 2 after its massive open last weekend. The King joins Won’t You Be My Neighbor in the 10K per-screeen doc club.

The DVD Wrapup: Double Lover, Death of Stalin, Flower, Hooked, Alex & Me, Guilty Men, Night of Lepus, Greaser’s Palace, Man in Orange Shirt … More

Double Lover is as different François Ozon’s previous period drama, Franz, as noon is to midnight. The same could be said about most of the movies in Ozon’s credits.