November 8th, 2011
The DVD sales chart returned to normal, at least what passes for normal as we witness the decline of DVD sales. There were not a lot of new releases to chart, but at least the best of them was able to move a lot of units. Captain America: The First Avenger was dominant earning first place with 726,000 units / $12.56 million.
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November 2nd, 2011
While the new releases were terrible on DVD, the Blu-ray sales chart was incredibly active thanks to Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. This film sold 1.71 million units and generated $48.50 million in opening week sales; however, the DVD only release doesn't come out till the 15th of November, so it is not quite fair to compare this result to other concurrent Blu-ray sales. That said, the strategy appears to have worked.
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November 1st, 2011
The top of the DVD sales chart was the weakest it's been since August, as Bad Teacher was the number one selling DVD with just 265,000 units sold and $4.71 million in opening week revenue.
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October 18th, 2011
It should be a relatively good week in terms of DVD and Blu-ray sales with Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides leading the way. However, it's not a particularly deep week in terms of home market releases. Nor is it really strong when it comes to contenders for Pick of the Week. Degrassi: Season Ten is in competition, but in the end I went with Robotech: The Complete Series.
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October 3rd, 2011
It was a good news / bad news weekend and the box office. First the bad news. Only one of the four new wide releases made any real impact and this led to a 16% drop-off from last weekend to just $99 million. The good news is that's still 4% higher than the same weekend last year. Year-to-date, 2011 is still behind 2010 by 3% at $7.99 billion to $8.27 billion, but at least there's a little hope left that we can turn things around, if October beats expectations.
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September 1st, 2011
For the third weekend in a row, The Smurfs earned first place on the international chart. This time they pulled in $26.82 million on 9,023 screens in 48 markets for a total of $258.27 million internationally and $384.22 million worldwide. It was a pretty slow weekend in terms of new releases (it earned $739,000 on 137 screens in Denmark) but that changes next weekend with an opening in Japan, while Australia and Italy are also just around the corner. Even if the film had no markets left to open in, it would still get to $300 million internationally and $400 million worldwide, but even with these three major markets, it probably won't hit any other major milestones.
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July 13th, 2011
Transformers: Dark of the Moon repeated as champion on the international stage with $94.70 million on 11,222 screens in 58 markets for a total of $386.43 million internationally and $647.51 million worldwide. At this pace, by this weekend it will be ahead of Transformers and will have no trouble becoming the biggest hit in the franchise. As for individual markets, it earned the most in South Korea where it was down just 31% to $15.11 million on 1,301 screens over the weekend for a total of $54.47 million after two. It became the fastest film to reach $50 million in that market. It wasn't able to hold on as well in the U.K. down 56% to $7.58 million on 522 screens over the weekend for a total of $31.45 million after two. In Australia it was down 43%, which at first glance seems strong, but it was a holiday weekend in that market and half the films in the top five saw growth. It still added $7.52 million on 596 screens over the weekend for a running tally of $29.13 million, which is stronger than its performance, given the relative size of the two markets. The film fell 56% in Russia, which isn't bad compared to the average drop-off in that market. It managed $7.47 million on 1,385 screens over the weekend for a two-week total of $36.03 million.
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July 11th, 2011
Transformers: Dark of the Moon led the way for the second weekend in a row and overall the top five films were a little stronger than expected, but sadly that wasn't enough for 2011 to score a win. It didn't even come close. The overall box office was just $156 million, which was 23% lower than last weekend, but the post-holiday slump mostly explains that. However, it was 19% lower than the same weekend last year and there's no excuse for that. The bad news continues as 2011 has fallen more than $500 million behind 2010's pace, while attendance is just down close to 10%. Unless Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 is an exceptional hit at the box office, the summer of 2011 could have the worst ticket sales in more than a decade.
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July 7th, 2011
While there are two wide releases coming out this week, it seems unlikely that either of them will seriously challenge Transformers: Dark of the Moon for top spot at the box office. In fact, it's more likely that Horrible Bosses and Zookeeper combined won't make as much as Dark of the Moon will make this weekend. The new releases are certainly weaker than those from last year and there's no hope any film will make more than Despicable Me did during its opening weekend. Worse still, June 2011 sold the fewest number of tickets for any June since the year 2000; we really can't afford another slow week at the box office, but that's likely to be exactly what we are going to get.
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July 6th, 2011
There was mostly good news over the Independence Day long weekend, with the number one film topping expectations. However, while Transformers: Dark of the Moon set records, it was the only film to surpass Thursday's predictions by any serious degree. The total box office take was $202 million over three days and $241 million over four, but the lower-than-expected Monday numbers meant that, while the combined take from Friday to Sunday for all films was up 15% from last weekend and 7% from last year, over four days, 2011 was down 4% compared to last year. I think we can conclude 4th of July fireworks had a lot to do with this.
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June 30th, 2011
It's Independence Day long weekend, which is generally one of the busiest weekend of the year. School kids are all out of school for summer, adults have Monday off, and it is the perfect time to celebrate by going to an air conditioned movie theater. Unfortunately, while there's a lot of hype surrounding the megawide release of the week, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, the reality might not live up to the hype. It's already off to a slow start compared to last year's number one film, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, and since 2011 is still $400 million behind 2010, we can't afford a major loss this weekend.
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June 29th, 2011
In a battle of digitally animated sequels, Cars 2 came out on top with $39.23 million on 4,873 screens in 25 markets for a total opening of $43.98 million. Its best market was Russia where it opened in first place with $9.42 million on 950 screens. By comparison, the original Cars made $4 million in that market, in total. The film was also very strong in Mexico with $8.08 million on 1,981 screens and in Brazil with $5.29 million on 747 screens over the weekend for a total opening of $7.04 million. The film had to deal with direct competition in Australia, but still came out on top with $5.13 million. The final major market it debuted in was Italy, where it earned $3.86 million on 834 screens over the weekend for a total opening of $5.71 million. Overall, the film more than doubled the debuts of Cars in the markets it opened in, while it was on par with Toys 3's openings. Granted, it likely won't have the same legs, but this is still a great start.
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June 29th, 2011
Not only did Cars 2 win the overall box office race, but it also won the race on the per theater chart with an average of $16,072. A Better Life and PASSIONE: A Musical Adventure were right behind with $15,522 and $15,377 respectively. The final film in the $10,000 club was Bad Teacher, which was a surprise entrant with $10,365.
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June 28th, 2011
July starts with one of the most important holidays of the year, which is good news for the industry, as June was a little weaker than expected, at least on average. None of the films were shockingly bad at the box office, even if a few missed early predictions by significant degrees. But conversely, none really shocked analysts with their box office prowess. As such, 2011 continued to slide a little further behind 2010's pace, a trend the movie industry hopes will end this month. Fortunately, that is a reasonable goal. Last July was home to two $100 million movies, two $200 million movies, and a one $300 million movie, assuming you count The Twilight Saga: Eclipse as a July film. This time around, we could see two films top $300 million, assuming you count Transformers: Dark of the Moon as a July release. Meanwhile, there are several potential $100 million films. I count up to six films with a statistically significant shot at reaching the century mark, but I would be amazed if more than half of them got there.
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June 27th, 2011
Despite what critics thought of the film, Cars 2 proved popular with moviegoers while Bad Teacher was also a hit in its counter-programing role. Their combined effort helped the overall box office grow 15% from last weekend to $176 million. That's 7% higher than the same weekend last year, which gives 2011 a much-needed win. The year is still $400 million behind last year's pace at $4.90 billion to $5.30 billion, but even little victories are important. Remember, 2010 was ahead of of 2009 by $300 million at the beginning of October, but just three months later, that lead had completely evaporated. Hopefully the reverse can happen this time around and 2011 can squeeze out a victory. However, for that to happen, it needs to slowly chip away and close the deficit.
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June 26th, 2011
Pixar continues its run as Hollywood's most successful production house this weekend with a 12th consecutive number one opening -- a run that dates back to its very first theatrical release, Toy Story back in November, 1995. Cars 2 will be middle of the pack as far as Pixar openings are concerned, but enjoys a big lead this weekend with an estimated $68 million, somewhat ahead of predictions going in to the weekend. In second place, Bad Teacher is estimated at $31 million, also better than expected, which should mean that this weekend ends up ahead of last year.
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June 23rd, 2011
While the summer blockbuster season starts the first weekend in May, for many school kids the summer is only just about to get into full gear. Cars 2 is arguably the most anticipated kids movie of the summer, possibly of the year. However, there are some signs it might not live up to past Pixar releases with a few predicting it might actually become the studio's first miss at the box office. This is bad news, as 2011 has started to fall further behind 2010's pace after a few bright weeks in late spring and early summer. This weekend last year wasn't particularly strong when it comes to new releases with Toy Story 3 repeating in top spot with just under $60 million, so there was an opportunity for the box office to recover some ground. Unfortunately, the number one film this year might not match that figure and there's not as much depth either.
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June 1st, 2011
After a strong May in which most weekends saw growth year-over-year, there is finally some real optimism at the box office. Will that continue this month? It might be tough, as last June was actually pretty good, all things considered. It was certainly busier. This time around there are only seven wide releases, but the lack of competition should help each individual film reach its full potential, and there's a chance five of the seven films will earn more than $100 million at the box office. If less than three of them reach the century mark, it would be a huge shock. On the other hand, there's nothing opening this month that will compare to Toy Story 3, which earned more than $400 million last year. The only one that has a real shot to come close is Transformers: Dark of the Moon. However, since that film opens on a Wednesday the 29th of June and the Friday is the 1st of July, it is more of a July release and we will preview it at the beginning of next month.
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