September 19th, 2012
None of the new releases were able to unseat Battleship on top of the Blu-ray Sales Chart this week, as it sold 145,000 units / $3.63 million for the week giving it totals of 729,000 units / $15.30 million after two. This is better than it is performing on DVD, but that's not saying a lot.
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September 19th, 2012
It was a bad week for new releases, at least in terms of quality. How bad? The Hunger Games was able to return to first place on the DVD sales chart. It sold an additional 256,000 units / $5.11 million over the week for a total of 5.38 million units / $93.21 million. It has now sold more units than any other DVD in 2012, but it is still a little behind Breaking Dawn, Part 1 in terms of revenue.
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September 12th, 2012
Battleship was one of four new releases to reach the top five on the Blu-ray Sales Chart this week scoring first place with 584,000 units / $11.67 million. Its opening week Blu-ray share was 61%, which is fantastic.
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September 12th, 2012
There were a ton of new releases on this week's DVD sales chart with four in the top five and nine in the top eleven. We have a new number one release, The Lucky One, with 515,000 units sold and $7.70 million in revenue generated during its first week of release. This is a solid opening for a midlevel hit.
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August 28th, 2012
We are clearly in TV on DVD season on the home market as there are five TV on DVD releases among the top six selling releases, with Battleship being the only first run release to break up the TV on DVD dominance. There are many such releases that are contenders for Pick of the Week: Boardwalk Empire: Season Two on Blu-ray, Homeland: Season One on Blu-ray, Once Upon a Time: Season One on Blu-ray, and The Walking Dead: Season Two on Blu-ray. However, in the end I went with The Pirates! Band of Misfits on 3D Combo Pack as the Pick of the Week. Meanwhile, Monsieur Lazhar on DVD or Blu-ray earns a rarely awarded Puck of the Week.
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June 4th, 2012
Snow White and the Huntsman not only earned first place on the weekend box office chart, it did so with ease, topping all but the most bullish predictions. In fact, it even topped last year's opening of X-men: First Class, which means the film nearly helped 2012 back in the winning circle. The overall box office did fall 7% when compared to last weekend, but it was the post-Memorial Day weekend, so that's a very strong finish. The year-over-year decline was 11%, which normally would be really disappointing, but the previous weekend, the decline was over 30%, so this represents a huge recovery and bodes well for the next few weeks. 2012's lead over 2011 has shrunk to just under 10% at $4.47 billion to $4.07 billion, but even if the overall box office is flat for the rest of the year, a $400 million increase over the full year would be worth celebrating.
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May 31st, 2012
Snow White and the Huntsman is the only new wide release of the weekend and it is looking to overthrow Men in Black 3 on the top of the chart. It should have a pretty easy time winning, if not, the box office is in serious trouble. It is more important to compare its opening to that of X-men: First Class, which opened this weekend last year. Asking Snow White to make $55 million is probably asking too much, while the holdovers won't be able to match last year's crop, so June will likely start off on a low note when compared to last year. After an amazing start to the year, 2012 is starting to really struggle. Hopefully it is just a minor bump in the road.
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May 29th, 2012
While the latest installment of the Men in Black franchise topped the box office over the Memorial Day long weekend, it was The Avengers that continued to be the big story of the year. Men in Black 3's opening was merely average given the release date, and well below average given the film's production budget. On the other hand, The Avengers continued to break records. Overall, the box office was up by 7% from last weekend reaching $153 million over the three day portion of the weekend. However, that's 31% lower than Memorial Day last year. Ouch. Over four days, the weekend pulled in $194 million, which was 30% lower than last year. Again, ouch. Year-to-date, 2012 is still ahead of 2011, but the lead is down to 12.5% at $4.28 billion to $3.85 billion.
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May 24th, 2012
It looks like The Avengers run on top will finally come to an end this weekend with the release of Men in Black 3. It better. If The Avengers earns more during its fourth weekend of release than MiB3 opens with, then the overall box office will be in such serious trouble that I don't even want to talk about it. So the number one film shouldn't be in doubt, but there are still some questions to ask. Will Men in Black 3 live up to the previous two installments in the franchise? I am quite confident it will. However, in order for 2012 to earn the win on the year-over-year comparison, it will need to match The Hangover 2, which opened this weekend last year. I'm not very confident it will do that, to be very generous. Even if it manages the minor miracle needed to reach that level, there's still Kung Fu Panda 2 to deal with and the only other new release, Chernobyl Diaries, won't come anywhere close to that film's debut. It's probably going to be a really bad weekend at the box office.
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May 23rd, 2012
The Avengers remained on top of the international chart for the fourth weekend in a row and that helped it reach fourth place on the all time worldwide chart. Over the weekend it pulled in $59.1 million giving it totals of $726.4 million internationally and $1.18 billion worldwide. To put this into perspective, if the film had earned $700 million worldwide, it would have been considered a smash hit and it would have broken even before the home market. The film was pushed into second place in the U.K. with $4.45 million on 496 screens over the weekend, but it has $71.11 million in that market, making it the film's biggest single intentional market. China is right behind with $69.3 million. It has also topped $50 million in Mexico ($3.27 million on 1,757 screens over the weekend for a total of $53.53 million) and in Brazil ($5.40 million on 915 screens over the weekend for a total of $50.49 million). The film has yet to open in Japan and by the time it does, it will likely have overtaken Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part II for third place on the all-time chart.
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May 23rd, 2012
The winners of our Winning the Battle contest were determined and they are...
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May 21st, 2012
The Avengers continued its monster run and it crushed Battleship, The Dictator, and What to Expect When You're Expecting. In fact, The Avengers made more than the three new releases made combined. This is partially due to the film's strong hold, but in large part due to the newcomers' weaknesses, and this led to a 16% decline from last week to $143 million. Unfortunately, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides didn't show this weakness when it opened and the overall box office was a 15% lower than this weekend last year. 2012 still has a massive 16% lead over 2011 at $4.03 billion to $3.49 billion. Hopefully this is just a momentary blip and 2012 gets back to its winning ways very soon.
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May 17th, 2012
For the first time all month, there is more than one new release coming out. However, despite this, it looks like The Avengers will still reign on top of the box office chart. Only Battleship has a real shot at beating it, while The Dictator and What to Expect When You're Expecting combined probably won't make as much as The Avengers will over the weekend. This is a little worrisome, as last year saw the release of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, which opened with $90 million. There's almost no chance any film will make that much this weekend. In fact, the top two films might not make that much combined. So will 2012 lose on the year-over-year comparison? Probably not, as this year has a little more depth. It could be uncomfortably close though.
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May 16th, 2012
The Avengers reached the $1 billion worldwide milestone in a mere 19 days, tying the record set by Avatar and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part II. However, this is even more impressive, as The Avengers opened domestically one week later than it opened internationally. Over the weekend the film added $93.8 million on 17,104 screens in 54 markets for totals of $635.1 million internationally and $1.01 billion worldwide. It is the first Marvel film to reach this milestone, but amazingly the fifth Disney movie to do so. There have only been twelve films to reach $1 billion worldwide, and Disney have made five of them.
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May 11th, 2012
Next week is the busiest week of the month with three wide releases. However, The Dictator is opening on Wednesday while What to Expect When You're Expecting is strictly counter-programing, which leaves Battleship as the obvious choice for the target film in this week's box office prediction contest. In order to win, one must simply predict the opening weekend box office number for Battleship.
Whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend box office (Friday to Sunday), without going over, will win a copy of Bob's Burgers: Season One on DVD.
Meanwhile, whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend box office (Friday to Sunday), without going under, will win a copy of Strawberry Shortcake: Bright Lights Big Dreams on DVD.
Entries must be received by 10 a.m., Pacific Time on Friday to be eligible, so don't delay!
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May 9th, 2012
The Avengers crushed the competition on the international chart this week and held on so well that it became the biggest hit on the worldwide chart for 2012, overtaking The Hunger Games. Over the weekend it managed $151.5 million on 12,410 screens in 52 markets for totals of $475.8 million internationally and $683.2 million worldwide. It just pushed Forrest Gump out of the top 50 on the All Time chart and is climbing the ranks quickly. By the end of business on Monday, it had topped $700 million worldwide and will be fighting for a spot in the top 40 before the weekend begins.
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May 3rd, 2012
The weekend international numbers came in a little late for two main reasons. Firstly, it was May Day. In North America the normal reaction to that is, "Huh?" (My knowledge of the holiday is limited to a joke on Red Dwarf.) But internationally, it's a pretty big deal. Secondly, it takes a long time to count to $200 million, which what The Avengers made. Technically, it made $185.1 million on 12,152 screens in 39 markets over the weekend, for a total opening of $218.2 million. To put this into perspective, this is more than Captain America made in total on the international scene, as well as both of the Hulk films. It is possible that the film will reach $300 million internationally by the end of business on Thursday, while by the end of this weekend, it will be one of the biggest hits Marvel has produced.
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May 1st, 2012
There's good news / bad news going forward into May. First the bad news, April was really weak. It was weak compared to the previous month and weak compared to last year. For the first time all year, we had losses for a month on the year-over-year comparison. As for the good news... it could have been worse? Maybe there wasn't good news with regards to April, but there is certainly good news going forward. Every weekend in May has at least one film with the potential to hit $100 million, while there are a couple that could hit $200 million, and one that, pie in the sky, could reach $400 million. That one film is The Avengers, or as it is officially called, Marvel's The Avengers. I guess they don't want people reminded of the 1998 TV adaptation. While there are four films that should reach $100 million, there are only three other films opening wide, maybe two, maybe four. (More sources have Chernobyl Diaries opening wide than in limited release, but it is not a sure thing either way. Meanwhile, the opposite is true for LOL.) Additionally, there are a couple films opening in limited release this month with a real potential to expand wide: The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and God Bless America. By comparison, last year had no film reach $300 million, but it had five films reach $100 million. If we are going to earn the win this year, we need strength from the top.
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April 26th, 2012
For the second weekend in a row, Battleship and Titanic 3D were battling for top spot on the international chart, but this week Battleship came out on top. It managed $60 million on 9,038 screens in 50 markets for an early total of $131.1 million. The film opened in second place in China with $17 million on 2,287 screens, while it placed first in Russia with $11.20 million on 809. It also maintained first place in a trio of major markets, led by South Korea with $3.44 million on 624 screens over the weekend for a total of $12.68 million. It also repeated on top in Germany ($2.16 million on 637 screens for a total of $7.39 million) and in the U.K. ($2.06 million on 497 screens for a total of $9.80 million).
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April 18th, 2012
Titanic 3D had an insane second weekend on re-release on the international chart earning $98.90 million on 10,066 screens in 69 markets for totals of $157.15 million internationally and $201.87 million worldwide. Its complete total is now $2.04 billion, which is a stunning figure. The majority of the film's weekend haul came from China, where it broke records with $67 million, which broke Transformers: Dark of the Moon's record opening weekend in that market. The film remained in top spot in Russia with $3.15 million on 972 screens for a total of $10.34 million after two. Its total in the U.K. rose to $12.68 million after two weeks of release, including $2.87 million on 429 screens this past weekend. At this point, I can imagine studio heads looking at every film that earned more than $300 million and trying to figure out if they can be converted to 3D or not. If it only costs $18 million to convert a film and it can make $200 million worldwide, it's an easy way to make money. Of course, it's also an easy way to over-saturate the market to the point of no return.
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April 4th, 2012
Wrath of the Titans opened with $8.6 million on IMAX screens worldwide, including $4.7 million on 292 screens domestically. It has a short run as
Titanic 3D opens in theaters on Wednesday.
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