Author Archive
 

 

Behind the US/Worldwide Weekend Box Office – 11.12.2023

  OPENINGS:  THE MARVELS (Marvel/Disney) fulfilled the ghastliest projections assigned to it, setting a new low for the MCU with a $47M US opening, and it was similarly dismal overseas, with $63.3M from 51 territories.  ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

Announcing Metcalf Entertainment Intelligence

  Anyone who’s been following the tumult in television, typified by the recently-concluded WGA strike and the ongoing-as-of-this-post SAG-AFTRA strike, knows that a key issue for the industry is that the streamers, w...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

Behind the US/Worldwide Weekend Box Office – 11.5.2023

  OPENINGS:  This was supposed to be the kick-off weekend for the holiday movie season, but Dune 2 decamped for 2024 and the studios didn’t step in to replace it, so the biggest arrival of the week was the expansion...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

Behind the US/Worldwide Weekend Box Office – 10.22.2023

  OPENINGS:  What are we to make of the $23M start for KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON (Paramount/Apple)?  As serious 3+hour historical epics go, while it’s a small fraction of Oppenheimer‘s $82.5M launch, it̵...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

Behind the US/Worldwide Weekend Box Office – 10.15.2023

  OPENINGS:  Just about everything about the release of TAYLOR SWIFT: THE ERAS TOUR (Variance/AMC Theaters) has been unique, and that includes the fact that the theater chain, a first-time distributor, has announced the w...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

Behind the US/Worldwide Weekend Box Office – 10.8.2023

  OPENINGS:  THE EXORCIST: BELIEVER (Blumhouse/Morgan Creek/Universal) was at the low end of expectations with $27.2M, and it was also below projections internationally with $17.9M in 52 markets.  It’s hard to tell...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

Behind the US/Worldwide Weekend Box Office – 10.1.2023

  OPENINGS:  PAW PATROL:  THE MIGHTY MOVIE (Nickelodeon/Paramount) launched with $23M, above expectations and an impressive rise over the $13.1M start for the 2021 installment of the franchise.  It also has $23.1M overs...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

Behind the US/Worldwide Weekend Box Office – 9.24.2023

  OPENINGS:  THE EXPEND4BLES (Lionsgate) had a disastrous start with $8.3M, about half of both expectations and the $15.9M opening of Expendables 3 in 2014.  Expend4bles may only total $20M in the US, and while the franc...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

Toronto Film Festival Reviews: “The Burial,” “Wildcat” & “Poolman”

  THE BURIAL (MGM/Amazon – Oct. 13):  A yarn that’s also a true story.  Jeremiah O’Keefe (Tommy Lee Jones) was the owner of a family-run, regional Mississippi business that for decades had offered funer...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

Toronto Film Festival Reviews: “American Fiction,” “The Critic” & “Mother, Couch”

  AMERICAN FICTION (Orion/MGM/Amazon – Nov. 17):  The Toronto People’s Choice Award has been something of a golden ticket to a Best Picture nomination over the years, and this year the prize went to Cord Jeff...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

Toronto Film Festival Reviews: “Rustin,” “Memory” & “Fingernails”

  RUSTIN (Netflix – Nov. 17):  The director and producer George C. Wolfe is a towering figure in American theater, but his films to date have been wobbly at worst (A Night in Rodanthe, You’re Not You) and stur...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

Toronto Film Festival Reviews: “The Boy and the Heron,” “Dumb Money” & “North Star”

  THE BOY AND THE HERON (GKids – Dec. 8):  Hiyao Miyazaki, a legend of animation (Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, Princess Mononoke), had announced his retirement as a feature film director a decade ago, upon the...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

Toronto Film Festival Reviews: “Hit Man,” “Daddio” & “Next Goal Wins”

  HIT MAN (no distrib):  A clever, funny, sexy entertainment from Richard Linklater and emerging star Glen Powell, who co-wrote the script with the director (both also produced), inspired by an already-wild true story.  ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

Toronto Film Festival Reviews: “His Three Daughters,” “Backspot” & “Lee”

  HIS THREE DAUGHTERS (no distrib):  The premise of Azazel Jacobs’ film is simple enough to be staged as a play:  as their father Vincent (Jay O. Sanders) lies dying in an unseen room of his Bronx apartment, Katie...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

Toronto Film Festival Reviews: “Wicked Little Letters,” “Anatomy Of A Fall,” & “All The Light We Cannot See”

  WICKED LITTLE LETTERS (no distrib):  In The Lost Daughter, Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley played the same character at different ages, which prevented them from sharing the screen.  That’s remedied in the fair...
by Mitch Salem