December 21st, 2010
It's the last chance for Christmas gifts, although if you have to order online, you better choose the overnight option. Or do what I do, tell them you pre-ordered it and it will arrive a little late. One of the gifts I'm giving this year is being sent from Japan via boat. It might not get here till February, but the person I'm giving it to knows and they're cool with that. Anyhoo, if you are looking for good gifts, Easy A on Blu-ray is the best reviewed wide release of the week, while geeks would be happy with Family Guy: Laugh It Up, Fuzzball on Blu-ray for Futurama: Volume Five on Blu-ray. However, this week the Ultimate Geek Gift and Pick of the Week is The Guild: Season Four.
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December 13th, 2010
This week we have the last of the major summer blockbusters hitting the home market, and not only did Despicable Me earn $250 million domestically and more than $500 million worldwide, it also earned amazing reviews. This makes it an obvious contender for Pick of the Week. Unfortunately, the screener is late, and I hate to award that honor to a release when this is the case. As far as its competition is concerned, there are two main releases vying for that title: The Quintessential Guy Maddin! on DVD and The Town on Blu-ray. Despite my well-documented pro-Canada bias, I'm giving it to the latter.
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December 13th, 2010
Of all of the limited releases that were released this past summer, very few were able to expand wide enough to claim some slice of mainstream success. Cyrus was one of the few exceptions and it managed to ride its strong cast, and equally strong reviews to more than $7 million at the box office. Will it be able to improve upon that number on the home market? And is it worth checking out, or perhaps even buying?
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December 10th, 2010
It's the last chance to get yourself a Christmas gift from our box office prediction contest. Of course, while the winners will be announced before Christmas, the prizes won't get to you till after. Next week has a trio of wide releases, but only one of them, Tron: Legacy, has a shot at top spot and it is this week's target film. In order to win, one must simply predict the opening weekend box office number for Tron: Legacy.
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 Cyrus 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 also win a copy of Cyrus on DVD.
Finally, a third person will be chosen from all eligible entries and that person will win the final copy of Cyrus 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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December 9th, 2010
Christmas shopping season continues, as does our Holiday Gift Guide. We started with Part I, which talked about the big first run releases, while Part II dealt with box sets and TV on DVD releases. This week we look at limited releases, foreign releases, and some old time classics, starting with...
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December 1st, 2010
The official arrival of winter is still a few weeks away, but Winter's Bone ushered in the start of Awards Season picking up seven Independent Spirit Award nominations. This was the most of any film, with The Kids Are All Right placing second with five.
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July 20th, 2010
The Kids are All Right continued to lead the way on the Per Theater Chart with a stunning average of $28,009 in 38 theaters that helped it earn more than $1 million over the weekend.
Its per theater average did fall 40%; however, its theater count rose from 7 to 38, so this is actually a very good result.
The only other film in the $10,000 club was the overall box office leader, Inception, with an average of $16,557.
That's a little below expectations, but if it holds really well, it might remain in the $10,000 club next week.
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July 13th, 2010
The Kids are All Right stunned box office analysts by earning nearly $500,000 in a mere seven theaters for an average of $70,282.
That's virtually unheard of.
I still look at that number and think, "Typo".
The only other confirmed entry in the $10,000 club was Despicable Me with an average of $16,225.
I say confirmed member, because it is likely that The Girl Who Played with Fire also earned an average of $10,000 in the United States; however, its weekend numbers included a number of theaters in Canada, where it has been playing for more than six months.
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July 12th, 2010
It was a great weekend at the box office with four of the top five films beating expectations. The helped the overall box office climb to $192 million, which was an increase of 2% from last weekend and considering last weekend was a holiday, this is impressive. (Granted, July 4th did land on a Sunday, which undoubtedly hurt the industry's three-day weekend haul, but I'm still impressed.) Additionally, the weekend saw 34% growth from the same weekend last year, which is beyond impressive. Year-to-date, 2010 now has a 4.9% lead over 2009, $5.94 billion to $5.66 billion.
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July 11th, 2010
The long wait for an out and out hit is over for Universal this weekend, thanks to a great opening weekend for Despicable Me.
The kids comedy had been getting good reviews, and benefited from a great marketing campaign, but was going head-to-head with Toy Story 3, and had to fight for every screen (2D and 3D) that it played on.
So the studio will be delighted with its estimated $60.1 million opening.
With good word-of-mouth, the film can set its sights on $200 million, and strong video revenues to come.
With a production budget of $69 million, the studio will be reaping big profits on this one.
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July 7th, 2010
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse not only led the way on the overall chart, but also topped the per theater chart with an average of $14,510 over three days and $18,719 over four. The second placed film overall, The Last Airbender, was second on the per theater chart as well with an average of $12,725 over three days and $16,347 over four. Cyrus expanded to 77 theaters, and earned an average of $10,058 / $14,209, which was enough to reach the top ten on the overall four-day chart. Finally, Toy Story 3 missed the $10,000 club over the three-day weekend with an average of $7,517, but made it there when you add in Monday with an average of $10,689.
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June 29th, 2010
Restrepo opened in top spot on the per theater chart with an average of $17,791 in two theaters. This was just a hair above Cyrus' average of $17,719 during its second weekend of release. Further expansion is all but assured, as are at least a couple of earning milestones. Toy Story 3 remained in top spot on the overall chart, earning an average of $14,731. Meanwhile, a fellow wide release, Grown Ups, was the only other film in the $10,000 club, opening with an average of $11,462.
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June 27th, 2010
As expected, Toy Story 3 won a second straight weekend at the box office, and its decline of 47% wasn't bad for a movie that opened with over $100 million -- in fact, it's slightly better than WALL-E managed in its second weekend.
The story of the weekend, however, is the $41 million opening for the critically mauled Grown Ups, which showed that Adam Sandler and gang still have an impressively loyal following.
The day-by-day performance of the movie doesn't look particularly strong though, and the weekend estimate might prove to be a little optimistic.
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June 21st, 2010
It was another strong weekend on the per theater chart with Cyrus leading the way with $180,000 in just four theaters for an average of $45,429. This is strong enough to suggest the potential to expand wide, or at least wide enough to secure some measure of mainstream success. The overall box office leader, Toy Story 3, was next with an average of $27,385. I Am Love opened with $120,000 in eight theaters for an average of $15,188. Meanwhile, The Killer Inside Me and The Girlfriends opened with relatively similar results, the former earning $11,083 in one theater while the latter earned $10,092, also in one theater.
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June 20th, 2010
As expected, Toy Story 3 is dominating this weekend at the box office, and it is heading for a record opening for Pixar.
Disney is projecting a $109 million opening weekend, which is significantly ahead of the $70 million opening posted by The Incredibles back in 2004.
3D tickets sales and general ticket price inflation helped the cause, of course, but it's still a very impressive result, to go with Disney's success with Alice in Wonderland earlier in the year.
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June 18th, 2010
There's a very eclectic mix of limited releases this week, including a couple documentaries, a few foreign films, even a Canadian movie. If I were to pick one film that has the best shot at mainstream success, it would be Cyrus, but hopefully it will be a good week for limited releases.
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