Eric the Clown

January 18 Glass: Alright. Now we're talking. Split was a popular hit, people got excited over the Unbreakable connection at the end, and Blumhouse has been killing it lately at the box office. The trailers have been strong and have garnered a lot of buzz amongst genre fans and the GA. With Aquaman and Bumblebee already being out for a whole month, this is the perfect action tentpole at the right time. Adding in Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson will only further drive interest in the film. It also has a clear schedule in terms of competition until Alita. I know that Han's prediction will be much crazier, but I'm gonna be conservative, and say it won't see that big of a jump from Split. However, it will still have a solid run and be another smash for Shyamagod and Blum. It probably won't reach Get Out's total, but maybe Blumhouse has another trick up its sleeve for this March? 55/70/170 (3.1x, 2.43x)

LET'S GO SON

Han and I will unveil the remaining January numbers later today. I wanna spend time with family.

I've been at a lot of family get-togethers with the TV on, and Vice has seen a pretty sizable amount of ad space there. Annapurna's been pretty aggressive with their campaign, and all the awards attention have helped it offset the more mixed reactions. This might not hit Big Short numbers, but this will still do decent, and both this and Beale Street should hopefully turn things around for the company.

We all thought Infinity War would be the best crossover BOT would see this year. But oh no.

January 11 A Dog's Way Home: This is one of those movies I can’t put my finger on. This is the first of two adaptations of books written by the same author as A Dog’s Purpose set to come out this year. That 2017 film did pretty solid results, especially considering it was hit by controversy from the infamous TMZ footage. Seeing as production has likely gone a lot smoother in order to avoid stuff like that happening again, it should do better than that film, right? Well, I don’t know. Dog’s Purpose came out a month after only two major family films, Rogue One and Sing. By that point, those movies were just about done with their runs, so Purpose worked in bringing in something new for that audience. A Dog’s Way Home opens three weeks after Mary Poppins, Aquaman and Bumblebee, as well as four weeks after Spider-Verse. Not only will all of these films continue to play into Dog’s weekend, but a lot of family’s wallets have likely been drained from all the holiday releases. Then again, January’s pretty barren with new releases, and despite spoiling the whole movie, the trailer is still effective. I’m gonna be pessimistic with its opening, but it could still very well surprise. Legs are sure to be excellent though. 15/55 (3.67x) Replicas: Oh Entertainment Studios. It’s coming out a week before Glass, so this will die by weekend two, and adults will likely choose Glass or one of the Oscar movies instead of this. Sorry Keanu. At least you have John Wick 3. 3/6 (2x) The Upside: Yet another movie I can't put my finger on. When I got the trailer in front of A Star is Born, there were a lot of laughs and people buzzing about how good it looked. Hart and Cranston also have strong fanbases. But does Hart’s fanbase have interest in a dramedy like this? Hell, with Hart in a recent PR disaster over the Oscars, will people be eager to see a movie starring him? And the film does have mixed reviews, which isn’t going to help it stand out from the other adult dramas with Oscar buzz that will surround it. But with that said, in spite of the mixed reception, this seems like a genuine crowdpleaser, and Hart’s controversy could die down by the time of its release, so this could carve out a good niche. 18/58 (3.2x)

Allow me to kick things off. January 4 Escape Room: Ah yes, the annual first weekend of January horror release. This time, it's from the director of Insidious 4, and features the asshole kid from Love, Simon. The concept is relevant, the trailer's alright, and there will probably be plenty of bored teens looking for a horror fix. This won't overperform like Insidious: The Last Key did last year, but this should do on par with other horror films that opened on this weekend. 13/28 (2.15x)

2019 is just around the corner, and with that comes a lot of endings. Not just the end of the decade, but also the finales to a lot of film franchises and stories. While many of these properties will still be alive and well in the 2020s, they won’t be the same after this year. Avengers 4 will end phase 3 of the MCU, concluding the Thanos arc that began all the way back in 2012, and possibly is the last story for many of the franchise’s greatest characters. Star Wars: Episode IX will end the sequel trilogy, concluding the Skywalker saga, as well as the stories of Rey, Finn, Poe, Rose, and Ben. Dark Phoenix will likely be the end of the FOX-Men, Glass will conclude the Unsplittable series, How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World will finish Dreamworks’ most critically-acclaimed franchise, John Wick 3 will conclude Lionsgate’s cult series, It: Chapter Two will follow up and finish what the highest-grossing horror movie delivered two years ago, and so on and so forth. Even on television, Game of Thrones, one of the largest epics ever produced for the small screen, will finally end, concluding an epic HBO series almost an entire decade in the making. And of course, the biggest ending of all is the decade that was the 2010s. A decade of political changes from black to orange. A decade of mass-produced smartphone technology, and VR. A decade of Game of Thrones and Stranger Things. A decade of fidget spinners. A decade that saw the MCU become the biggest film franchise of all time. A decade that saw Illumination Entertainment becoming the biggest non-Disney animation house in town. A decade that saw A24 rise. A decade that saw the Weinsteins fall. A decade that saw nostalgia at an all-time high, A decade that saw horror becoming a consistent critical and commercial draw. A decade that saw Disney buying everything. A decade that saw a greater call for more diverse stories and filmmakers. A decade that saw an obscenely high amount of petty and whiny fanboy wars. When 2019 ends, this wild decade for the world and for the box office will finally be over. And thankfully, the studios are all attempting to go out on a high note, by delivering all of their top franchises and delivering one incredible year, at least when it comes to the box office. Disney will have Marvel, Star Wars, Toy Story, Frozen, Dumbo, Aladdin, and Lion King, in addition to potential new hit properties like Artemis Fowl. Warner Bros. will have LEGO, DC, Godzilla, Conjuring, It, and potential hits like The Kitchen and Detective Pikachu. Universal will have Blumhouse, Will Packer, Dreamworks, Illumination, Fast and Furious, and potential hits like Cats. Sony will have Spider-Man and Jumanji, as well as potential hits like Men in Black and Charlie’s Angels. Paramount is still rebuilding and restructuring their franchise plans, but they’re going gung-ho with old properties like Terminator and Dora, as well as new potential hits like Sonic and Wonder Park. And while 20th Century Fox will, unfortunately, become a Disney subsidiary by the middle of the year, they still have X-Men and Blue Sky. Your excitement for these films may vary, but it’s hard to deny that the next year is going to be big, and it’s going to be a wild roller coaster. And a big year like this needs more than just one person to do the job. Many of you may be aware that @WrathOfHan usually does these annual prediction series where he predicts the box office for every single wide release over every single weekend at the very beginning of the year, often with little knowledge. Well, this year is a two-fer. Now both Han and I will take charge and predict every single wide release over every single weekend from January 4 to December 25. What will make this exciting is that we have no idea what our predictions our. We’re two very different people with very different thoughts. In some cases, we might completely disagree on what we predict. But that’s what will make it fun and exciting. It’s going to be a wild few days, and I hope you’re all ready for it. Starting now, WrathofHobbs and Cool...Shaw...258 (I can’t think of a clever pun with my name) are here to go through the new year. Will BOT survive? Only time will tell.

Merry Chrysler fam

Speaking of which, did that Singer hitpiece from Esquire ever happen?

Guess a lot of Americans got a fat fetish

MIB is not a Disney movie. Therefore, we won’t get any conspiracy theories over its RT score or critics being “nice” to Gray.

Uni should have copied the playbook of The Peanuts Movie and made a “Marwen-ize yourself” app. Would have doubled the OW

The consensus on BOT was pretty mellow. General reactions were either “eh, looks kinda lame” or “eh, looks kinda decent”. You and Blanks are the only hardcore fans. I dunno about Blanks, but you’re a smart kid. Don’t be a dummy, and the thread will probably be okay.

My laptop’s in the shop, so I’m on my phone, so I can’t do any long-winded essay. But I definitely agree with all of what people here are saying about how BOT is nowadays. Even this thread has people angry and whiny over people not praising Aquaman, and “Disney bias” (as the Poppins over 400M guy, I never said it would crush Aquabrah). Next year seems destined to be an utter nightmare. The only big weekend threads that probably won’t be obnoxious are Glass, Wick, MIB, and...Hobbs and Shaw?

We get it

Your post just made me realize that we’re probably gonna have Napoleon and TombRaider argue about J-Lo for like five pages this weekend. 😑

Second Act and Marwen have their previews below $500K right now. Surprising for the latter. We know how crazy the Marmen can be.

My dumb ass thought this was Billy Ray Cyrus

Alright. Guess you're gonna be on ignore for the next few weeks. Shame really, I was happy for a while that you were back, but I guess I spoke too soon.

You're gonna be a real obnoxious asshole these next couple of weeks, aren't you?