February 9, 2012

Chronicle and The Woman in Black Duke it Out at the Box Office

by Rebecca Pahle | Published Feb. 6, 2012

New releases Chronicle and The Woman in Black each took in a higher-than-expected haul over Super Bowl weekend, though it was the former film—director Josh Trank's low-budget sci-fi drama—that managed to climb to the top with a weekend gross of $22 million. Still, The Woman in Black wasn't that far behind, pulling in $21 million over the weekend. (No comments yet)

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Don’t Go in There! Cinema’s Scariest Haunted House Movies

by Kyle Rupprecht
Creaky floorboards. Rattling window shutters. Creepy noises in the attic. What could be scarier than a lonely old house on a dark and stormy night? The haunted house subgenre has been around for a long time and has proven to be endlessly fascinating to moviemakers and audiences alike. With the two newest entries in this enduring subgenre—The Woman in Black and The Innkeepers—hitting theaters today, MM is taking a look back at some of the scariest haunted house movies of all time. (No comments yet)

Box Office Goes to the Wolves with The Grey

by Rebecca Pahle
The box office went to the wolves this weekend, with Joe Carnahan's The Grey beating out last week's reigning champ Underworld: Awakening to land at the number one spot. The man vs. nature actioner did better than expected, earning $20 million in its first weekend; meanwhile, the latter film's weekend haul of $12.5 million brings its total gross to $45.1 million. (No comments yet)

Distribution in the Year 2012

by David Albert Pierce, Esq.
Distribution is the sole source by which film revenue is earned, but between the advent of digital theatrical distribution, the rise of Netflix and VOD and the collapse of the DVD market, recent years have seen some radical changes in how films are distributed. It makes sense that independent moviemakers, always been on the cutting edge themselves, should be the ones to race to exploit emerging distribution methods.

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Underworld: Awakening Takes a Bite Out of the Box Office

by Rebecca Pahle
Underworld: Awakening took a bite out of the box office last weekend, earning $25.4 in its first three days and beating out second-place finisher, fellow new release Red Tails, by a substantial margin. Last week's number one film, Contraband, fell two spots to number three, while Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close celebrated its first weekend in wide release—it hit select theaters across the country over Christmas weekend—with a weekend gross of $10.5 million. Rounding out the top five was the newest from Steven Soderbergh, Haywire, which earned $9 million over its first weekend.
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Ed Burns Is Forever Indie

by Paul Osborne
Edward Burns is no stranger to the world of indie film. He launched his career with the $25,000 The Brothers McMullen at the Sundance Film Festival back in 1995, during the dark, pre-digital days of 16mm cameras and now-foreign concepts like optical houses and film prints. In 2010, after seven larger-budget features as a writer-director, Burns returned to the low-budget arena with Nice Guy Johnny. He bypassed traditional distribution methods by releasing the film himself, first with a short festival tour and then with a simultaneous day-and-date rollout on VOD, DVD and Pay-Per-View. Now Burns is taking this new model even further with Newlyweds, which he produced for a staggering $9,000 sum. (No comments yet)

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