This graph shows Ryan Reynolds’s score on our annual analysis of leading stars at the box office. The Star Score represents points assigned to each of the leading stars of the top 100 movies (based on box office) in the current year and two preceding years. For appearing in the number one movie in a year a star gets 100 points, the number two movie 99 points and so on..
Latest Ranking on Selected Box Office Record Lists
Twisters blew into theaters last weekend, whisking up a splendid $81 million in its opening frame, and currently enjoys a six-day domestic total of just over $113 million. The disaster film’s reign at the top of the box office, however, will likely be short-lived as two new wide releases make their way into theaters, including the long-awaited arrival of Deadpool & Wolverine.
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A girl discovers that she can see everyone’s imaginary friends, IFs, and has to decide what she does with that superpower. She decides to embark on a magical adventure to reconnect forgotten IFs with their kids.
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After a solid opening week at the box office for Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, the latest primate venture rolls into its second week retaining its debut count of 4,075 theaters, making it once again the most widely-available film in North America. It outperformed most expectations by earning $58.4 million in its opening weekend, and currently enjoys a six-day total of $72.32 million. This week sees another trio of films arriving in wide release, one of which holds a good chance of toppling reigning box office title holder from its top spot.
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The Fall Guy began its theatrical run last weekend with a three-day haul of $27.75 million from 4,002 locations. While it didn’t meet most expectations, the lack of major contenders easily earned it a spot as the biggest movie of the week at the domestic box office. The Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt stuntman action-comedy will inevitably drop into second place this week as the latest from the Planet of the Apes franchise arrives in theaters with the release of Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.
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An impressive $28.4-million opening for Free Guy will more than make up for weakness in the rest of the market to give us a welcome “up” weekend at the box office. Free Guy’s start beats The Suicide Squad’s debut last weekend, which will undoubtedly add fuel to the debate on the viability of releasing major films simultaneously in theaters and on streaming platforms—Free Guy gets a 45-day window before it lands exclusively on Disney+, while The Suicide Squad is already playing on HBO Max.
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After having only one new wide release debut last week, this week will see three arrive in theaters. The largest of the three is 20th Century Studios’ oft-delayed action comedy, Free Guy, starring Ryan Reynolds and Jodie Comer. The film about a bank teller who discovers he is actually a background player in an open-world video game, opens in 4,165 theaters. The count is enough to topple Jungle Cruise from its two week reign as widest release, as the latter drops to 3,900 theaters this week. Next up is the biographical drama Respect, from United Artists Releasing and starring Jennifer Hudson as the late “Queen of Soul”, Aretha Franklin. The film opens in 3,207 locations. Lastly, is Sony Pictures, Don’t Breathe 2, the follow up to Don’t Breathe, which earned a worldwide total of $170 million nearly five years ago. The horror film, which returns Stephen Lang as “The Blind Man” releases in 3,005 theaters…
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Only one wide release hits theaters this week: Warner Bros.’s The Suicide Squad. The James Gunn-directed action film, starring a plethora of Hollywood stars opens in an estimated 4,000 locations, while also being available to stream exclusively on HBO Max. Previews for the latest DCEU/Harley Quinn feature begin at 7pm on Thursday evening. The Suicide Squad has so far scored $6.7M in five international territories, including $4.5M in the United Kingdom. Last week’s widest release, Jungle Cruise dominated the box office during its opening weekend by taking in $35 million from 4,310 locations. The Walt Disney adventure film retains its 4,310 theater count from last week, taking the top spot once again this week.
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Two wide releases arrive in theaters this weekend to challenge the horror films that have dominated the box office charts the past two weeks. After stellar openings for A Quiet Place: Part II two weeks ago, and The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It last week, the films opening wide this week couldn't be more of a contrast. The long awaited Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway makes its entrance after a series of release date changes. The sequel from Sony Pictures will open in 3,346 theaters. The original Peter Rabbit earned just north of $347 million worldwide back in 2018. Getting a jump on the weekend is Warner Bros’, In The Heights as it opens today, Thursday. The musical, directed by John M. Chu and produced by Lin-Manuel Miranda, will open in an estimated 3,400 theaters while also being available to stream on HBO Max. Early reports have the film tracking around $20 million in its opening weekend.
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The world’s most lethal odd couple—bodyguard Michael Bryce and hitman Darius Kincaid—are back on another life-threatening mission. Still unlicensed and under scrutiny, Bryce is forced into action by Darius’s even more volatile wife, the infamous international con artist Sonia Kincaid. As Bryce is driven over the edge by his two most dangerous protectees, the trio get in over their heads in a global plot and soon find that they are all that stand between Europe and a vengeful and powerful madman. Joining in the fun and deadly mayhem is Morgan Freeman as… well, you’ll have to see.
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The country might be distracted by a drawn-out election right now, but the movie business soldiers on this month, even though recovery from the pandemic looks as far away as ever. While theatrical grosses remain tiny, Universal is currently planning to try its luck with three new wide releases, two from the studio itself and one from its specialty division Focus Features.
At least, that’s their current plan. Two of the films seem certain to roll out, but their Thanksgiving release of The Croods: A New Age has to come with an asterisk attached. Perhaps this release will be an olive branch to theater operators after the studio caused controversy in March by pulling Trolls World Tour from theaters and sending it direct to PVOD. Universal is maybe taking this opportunity to look they’re supporting the theatrical business, and their case is made more convincing by the fact that every other major studio is sitting out November. Even looking beyond the end of the month, 20th Century Studios is the only other distributor that looks like it’ll have a wide release between now and Christmas, with Free Guy on December 11 and Death on the Nile on December 18. (Universal has another film, All My Life slated for December 4.)
If Universal sticks to its plans, and a couple of other expected changes (Coming 2 America going direct to Amazon Prime, and Wonder Woman 1984 getting pushed back again) happen, it’ll be the only studio offering real support to the theatrical business between now and the end of the year. Maybe everyone will let bygones be bygones, and we can at least point to that as a ray of hope for the industry going in Holiday Season.
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I think it’s a great week on the home market for a few reasons, one of which is selfish. Amazon finally got its act together and upcoming releases are appearing on the site so I can pre-plan weeks, which makes my job easier. It also is making my wallet very scared, because there are a number of amazing releases coming out soon. This includes several new releases this week that are worth picking up like Buffaloed, Emma., Justice League Dark: Apokolips War, etc. and those aren’t even the contenders for Pick of the Week. That list is limited to The Good Place: The Complete Series Blu-ray and The Quintessential Quintuplets: Season 1. In the end I went with The Good Place, which I think will have a wider appeal.
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Fast and the Furious is one of the largest franchises around with the nine installments so far earning nearly $6 billion worldwide. However, it appears to be off its peak as far as ticket sales are concerned with Hobbs & Shaw having the lowest box office haul since Fast Five exploded the franchise into the top-tier. Is the franchise off its peak in terms of quality as well? If so, is Hobbs & Shaw still worth checking out? Or is it time for fans to move on?
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It's Thanksgiving weekend, which means Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and of course the first installment of our Holiday Gift Guide. This week we will tackle first run releases and franchise box sets as well. Unfortunately, 2018 has not been a good year for blockbusters for any studio not named Disney. In order to be on this list, a film has to be a major release, earn critical praise, and be on out DVD / Blu-ray and that’s a really short list this year. For example, Universal is the second best studio this year in terms of total domestic box office, but they’ve only released one film that has earned $100 million and overwhelmingly positive reviews. That film, Halloween doesn’t come out on DVD / Blu-ray till January. Most of the rest of the big six are lucky to have more than one entry on this week’s list.
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April was all about Avengers: Infinity War, which earned about as much during its opening weekend as the next two biggest films, A Quiet Place and Rampage, will earn in total. However, moving Infinity War to April has left a big gap for the first two weeks of May. It isn’t until Deadpool 2 debuts that we have a potential $100 million movie, while the week after Solo: A Star Wars Story closes the month on a strong note. Fortunately, both of those films are expected to earn more than $100 million during their opening weekends alone and combined could earn over $700 million domestically. Last May, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 helped the month get off to a fast start, but it was the only monster hit of the month. Infinity War opening a week early will mean the month will start slower, in terms of new releases, but Infinity War’s record-breaking debut should help 2018 come out ahead in the end.
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The Hitman’s Bodyguard held onto first place for three weeks in a row, and earned just over $75 million domestically on a $30 million budget. Granted, it opened in the middle of the worst box office slump we’ve seen in years, so there was no competition to deal with. Is that the only reason the film did well at the box office? Or is it worth checking out?
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We’re at that point in the year when we’ll take what we can get at the box office, and The Hitman’s Bodyguard will deliver according to that lowered metric this weekend with about $21.6 million, according to Lionsgate’s Sunday morning projection. That’s in line with to a little ahead of expectations, but a B+ CinemaScore and mediocre reviews suggest it won’t have substantial legs. For Ryan Reynolds, the opening is ahead of this year’s Life, which debuted with $12.5 million, and well clear of 2015’s Self/Less ($5.4 million). Samuel L. Jackson, meanwhile, appears in such a mess of movies it’s hard to say how this compares to any one of them.
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July is over and we should all be happy about that. Granted, there were some positive results we can talk about. Spider-Man: Homecoming is a huge hit and Despicable Me 3 will pull in a sizable profit before it reaches the home market. There were also a couple of other $100 million hits and a midlevel hit or two; however, overall, 2017 wasn’t able to compete with 2016 and the box office finally lost its lead over last year. 2017 started the summer about $200 million ahead of 2016, but will finish July about $100 million behind last year’s pace. August doesn’t look any better. There are a couple of films that have a reasonable shot at $100 million, The Dark Tower and Annabelle: Creation, as well as a few that should be solid midlevel hits. However, last year we had Sausage Party and Don’t Breathe, both of which nearly hit $100 million, then we had midlevel hits like Pete’s Dragon, Kubo and the Two Strings, and War Dogs. I don’t know if 2017 will be able to compete with that. ... Now some of you are thinking I forgot about Suicide Squad. Trust me, I will never forget that movie. I ignored it to make a point. Even without Suicide Squad, I don’t think 2017 will make up the deficit it has with 2016. With Suicide Squad, it is going to be a disaster. I want to be optimistic, but there’s no evidence to suggest I should be.
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February was an okay month. The films that missed expectations were mostly balanced by the films that were pleasant surprises. Unfortunately, last February was amazing as Deadpool dominated the chart, so 2017 has fallen further behind 2016 and 2016’s lead is now about $100 million. It is not so bad that a good March won’t help 2017 back into the lead. Will that happen? We have some good news and some bad news. Good news: Every week there is one movie that has at least a shot at $100 million. Two of them, Logan and Beauty and the Beast, could reach $200 million or a lot more. Bad News: last March, both Zootopia and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice earned more than $300 million. That’s a really powerful one-two punch and I don’t think we can replicate that this time around. On the other hand, last March, the third best film of the month was 10 Cloverfield Lane, while there were four films that were expected to open wide that earned less than $10 million at the box office. 2017 likely won’t be as good at the top, but I also don’t think it will have as many bombs either. If Beauty and the Beast reaches the very high end of expectations, then 2017 could even close the gap with 2016 entirely. I’ll be happy getting halfway there.
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The Golden Globes nominations were announced and we are starting to see a few names pop up over and over again. La La Land led the way with seven nominations, but Moonlight was right behind with six and Manchester by the Sea earned five. You will be hearing those three names over and over and over again this Awards Season.
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It’s Thanksgiving weekend, which means Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and of course the first installment of our Holiday Gift Guide. This week we will tackle first run releases, as well as franchise box sets, although there aren’t many of the latter to talk about. In fact, the best movie box set of the year includes more TV shows than movies in its running time and I’ve decided to include it in our second part, which deals with TV on DVD releases. There are still a number of big first-run releases this year that are definitely worthy gifts. We are going to start with the biggest domestic hit of the year...
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Over the weekend was Columbus Day, or as it is known in more and more places, Indigenous People’s Day. It’s also Thanksgiving Day up here in Canada and it would make more sense for Americans to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving than Columbus Day. Canadian Thanksgiving is where you give thanks to all the Canadians that make your life better. For example, both Ryan Gosling and Ryan Reynolds are Canadian. Anyhoo... The weekend box office numbers were not buoyed by the semi-holiday on Monday as none of the new releases matched expectations. The Girl on the Train led the way by a wide margin with $24.54 million compared to $15.14 million for Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. Neither The Birth of a Nation nor Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life made it into the top five. The overall box office fell 9.5% from last weekend dropping to $103 million. That was 13% lower than the same weekend last year. Year-to-date, 2016 has earned $8.64 billion, putting it 4.4% / $370 million ahead of 2015. A couple of more weeks like this and we will have reason to hit the panic button.
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The Deadpool Blu-ray arrived last Tuesday, which is par for course for Fox, as their screeners always seem to arrive as late as possible while still technically not being late. There are updates below with the extras. On a side note, the film is so good, I was tempted to make it the Pick of the Week for the second week in a row. However, in the end I went with Dark Passage, a classic Film Noir with a famous hook. The Blu-ray is the Pick of the Week.
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Deadpool is proof that a troubled production doesn't necessarily result in a bad product. A Deadpool film with Ryan Reynolds was first proposed more than a decade ago, while this version has been in some form of production on and off since 2010. Now that the film has finally been made, was the wait worth it? And is the DVD / Blu-ray worth picking up? ... I won't be able to answer that second question, because I only have a digital screener. This also means I have to watch the movie on my computer, which is a pain. At least I don't have to stream it.
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March was a really good month, for the most part. There were a few bombs, but the two biggest films, Zootopia and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, both beat expectations by significant margins, so overall the box office was better than expected. Unfortunately, April is a mess, which makes prognosticating really tough. Every single week has at least one film that either moved, switched from wide to limited release, or disappeared entirely. The Jungle Book appears to be the biggest film of the year, but The Huntsman: Winter's War could also be a $100 million hit. Sadly, last April was led by Furious 7, which earned more than $350 million at the box office. That's very likely more than both The Jungle Book and The Huntsman: Winter's War will make combined. Worse still, there were only four weekends in April last year, meaning the month ends by going head-to-head with The Avengers: Age of Ultron. By the time the month ends, 2016's lead over 2015 might be gone. Let's hope it is not that bad.
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As expected, January was dominated by holdovers with Star Wars: The Force Awakens and The Revenant leading the way. That's not to say there were no new releases that did well, as Ride Along 2 and Kung Fu Panda 3 were hits with moviegoers. Looking forward, there is only one film that looks like a sure hit, Deadpool. There's a slim chance it could be a surprise $200 million hit. There's a much better chance it will be the only $100 million hit. Conversely, last February started with a $100 million hit coming out, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, while there were two other $100 million movies to come out that month, Fifty Shades of Grey and Kingsman: The Secret Service. Looks like 2016 is going to lose in the year-over-year comparison.
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The third installment of the Holiday Gift Guide focuses on smaller releases, movies that opened in limited release, foreign films, classics getting new releases, and a few Canadian films. This year the list looks different to the previous guides for a simple reason. While there were only eight releases on the TV on DVD installment of the holiday gift guide, the first pass had more than 30 films on this list. I tried trimming the list, but that resulted in me remembering more films I wanted to add to it. Even after getting rid of the ones that won't be released until after Christmas, like Bone Tomahawk, there are still way too many releases to deal with. So let's not delay anymore and get to the list, starting with the biggest release...
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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.
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2015 is becoming a golden year for blockbuster openings, and a platinum year for Universal. The studio is celebrating yet again, with Minions heading to a gigantic $115.2 million projected opening weekend. That’s the second-best debut of all time for an animated film (see all-time opening weekend records), although, incredibly, it’s only the third-best weekend for the studio this year after the debuts of Furious 7 and Jurassic World. The studio, which would usually consider a 12% market share an excellent year, has so far earned a whopping 26% share for 2015—quite literally off the charts.
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June was a much better month than expected due to two films, Jurassic World and Inside Out. Had those two films merely matched expectations, then 2015 would have likely fallen behind 2014. As for this coming month, there are five weekends in July and each week there is at least one film with the potential to reach $100 million. Most weeks there are two films that at least have a shot at getting to the century mark. The biggest hit of the month will likely be Minions, which has already opened in several international markets and it's ahead of Despicable Me 2 at the same point. That film made more than $300 million and nearly $1 billion worldwide, so any growth would be fantastic. There are also a number of potential $200 million films, led by Ant-man. Ant-man is the latest release in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a franchise that has averaged $300 million domestically over eleven films and all of the past six films have reached at least $200 million. I'm not saying this one is guaranteed to do the same, but you can't dismiss that possibility. Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation and Pixels have smaller chances to get to $200 million, but you have to at least entertain the possibility. Additionally, last July was a lot weaker than this July looks to be, so 2015 should win in the year-over-year comparison most weeks. Or I might have let the box office success of June cloud my judgment. We will soon find out.
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It is a slow week on the home market, because it is the Tuesday after Easter. Easter tends to be a busy weekend for DVDs and Blu-rays, mostly family-friendly films. It is also post-Christmas on the home market. The final big releases from the holiday season have mostly come out and there are only a few limited release stragglers to deal with, but for the most part we are entering the summer dead zone on the home market. That doesn't mean there are no releases worth picking up. In fact, there are a few contenders for Pick of the Week, led by A Most Violent Year (Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray Combo Pack). Meanwhile, we have a Puck of the Week, The Book of Negroes on DVD, for the best Canadian release of the week.
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The Captive was co-written and directed by Atom Egoyan, who has made some amazing films over the years. It stars Ryan Reynolds, who showed he can really act with his performance in Buried. However, the film struggled in its opening weekend and failed to find an audience in theaters. Is it a worthy addition to the two men's filmography? Or is there a good reason audience stayed away?
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We are deep into Awards season with three major awards nominations already handed out. Unfortunately, there's not a lot of limited releases coming out this week that will be part of Awards Season. Inherent Vice is the biggest release of the week, but its reviews are only good and not great, while there are a lot of great films in theaters at the moment.
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There are a number of good releases this week. The two biggest releases are Man of Steel and Turbo. While the former has a larger target audience, the latter is the better film. It is still not Pick of the Week material. The best films are some of the smaller releases, like The Attack, Barbara, Blackfish, City Lights, and Prince Avalanche. All of those are worth picking up, but I think Nosferatu on Blu-ray is the Pick of the Week.
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The Croods opened in March with more than $40 million and lasted long enough to pull in more than $180 million domestically and $570 million worldwide. That's a very impressive run for a spring release. Did it deserve this box office success? Or did it thrive because of the lack of direct competition?
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For the most part, June was a really strong month at the box office with nearly every film either matching expectations, or at least coming close enough to call it a victory. Looking forward, there are a dozen films opening wide in July, more or less. One of them, The Smurfs 2, is opening on a Wednesday, so I'm going to hold off talking about that movie till the August preview. Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain is opening in less than 1000 theaters, but it has a shot at reaching the top ten during its opening weekend. If we include both of them, there are twelve films, but I think it is better to stick with the ten truly wide, truly July openings. Of these, Despicable Me 2 is clearly going to be the biggest hit at the box office. It could become the second biggest hit of the year so far. It is not the only film that could be a $100 million hit. In fact, there are six films opening in July that I think have a better than 50% chance of reaching that level. There is currently only one film that I think won't at least become a midlevel hit. By comparison in 2012, there were three $100 million movies, led by The Dark Knight Rises, but the rest of the new releases struggled. There's no chance any movie opening this month will top $400 million, in fact, it is quite possible no film will get to $300 million. That said, 2013 has a lot better depth, so it might come out on top in the end.
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February is over, and for the most part, we should be very happy it is done and buried. The biggest hit of the month turned out to be Identity Thief, which will cross $100 million shortly. There were also a couple of impressive midlevel hits, like Warm Bodies and Escape from Planet Earth, but for the most part, it was miss after miss. This is bad news for March, which is not only dealing with a slumping 2013 box office, but will be compared with a strong March of 2012. Last March started with The Lorax, which earned more than $200 million. There's a good chance no March release this year will reach this milestone. Last March was also the month The Hunger Games opened, which earned more than $400 million. There's a chance the top three films opening this month won't earn that much combined. 2013 is going to take a beating in the year-over-year comparison and it is already $100 million behind last year's pace.
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