September 23rd, 2013
The week of July 14th, 2013 was a bit strange on the home market, as the Blu-ray sales chart and the DVD sales chart didn't line up very well. Granted, in both cases, new releases dominated, but unlike on DVD, The Host led the way on Blu-ray. It sold 103,000 units and generated $2.38 million for an opening week Blu-ray share of 42%, which isn't bad for a film with a decidedly weak box run.
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September 23rd, 2013
There were a ton of new releases to reach the top 30 of the July 14th, 2013 edition of the DVD sales chart. This includes five films in the top six, which is impressive. (One could argue it is more a matter of quantity over quality.) Leading the way was Tyler Perry's Temptation, which sold 401,000 units and generated $2.97 million in revenue. This is a fine start, but nothing more.
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July 8th, 2013
It is a very busy week on the home market with four wide releases, five if you count Spring Breakers, which expanded semi-wide during its second weekend of release. None of these films were big hits at the box office. In fact, the five of them combined made $122 million. Additionally, only one of them earned good reviews. Fortunately, not only did Spring Breakers earn good reviews, its DVD and Blu-ray Combo Pack are loaded, enough to be a contender for Pick of the Week. The other main contender is The Legend of Korra - Book One: Air. Unfortunately, I'm still waiting for the screener for both of those releases, and I hate handing out the Pick of the Week when the screener is on its way. Because of that, I'm going with a late review, Wilfred: Season Two on DVD or Blu-ray.
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March 18th, 2013
As expected, Oz the Great and Powerful easily won the box office race this weekend matching predictions nearly perfectly. The Call was a surprise hit, but unfortunately, the other wide release for the week, The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, failed to find an audience. The overall box office fell 23% from last weekend to $107 million. Its decline from last year was much smaller at just 2.9%, but with 2013 so far behind 2012, any loss is still troubling. We really need to close the gap, which is now at 12% at $2.14 billion to $1.88 billion. Next weekend, it is just going to get worse.
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March 12th, 2013
Oz the Great and Powerful matched predictions perfectly with close to $80 million. The rest of the box office was well back, but there was still reason to celebrate, as the overall box office grew 28% from last weekend to $140 million. More importantly, it rose 5.4% from last year. Even so, 2013 is still way behind 2012's pace at $1.72 billion to $1.97 billion. I don't think 2013 can recover from this deficit, especially with 2012's biggest hits yet to come.
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March 10th, 2013
After a dismal showing for Jack the Giant Slayer last weekend, and generally soft box office all year, the industry has been in need of a boost. And it is getting one this weekend, with Oz The Great and Powerful opening to a robust $80.3 million, according to Disney's Sunday estimate. That's the third-biggest March weekend of all time, which is an impressive number of course. But the two films above it, The Hunger Games ($152 million) and Alice in Wonderland ($116 million), show what a true March blowout looks like, and this debut is much closer to The Lorax, which debuted with $70 million this time last year. That film went on to make $214 million domestically, and Oz will likely end up somewhere around that mark. Unless it delivers massive international numbers -- the studio has it at a very solid $69.9 million this weekend -- the film will end up basically a break-even proposition for the studio.
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March 7th, 2013
There are two wide releases opening this week, but their relative box office potentials could hardly be more different. Oz the Great and Powerful is opening in nearly 4,000 theaters and could make more than the rest of the box office combined. Dead Man Down, on the other hand, is opening in barely more than 2,000 theaters and on the low end of expectations, might not make the top five. The main competition for Oz is The Lorax, which opened last year with just over $70 million, while it made close to $40 million this weekend last year. If Oz fails to match that lower number, then the box office is in world of trouble. Let's be honest, the box office is already in a world of trouble, but if Oz bombs, then it is as good as dead.
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March 1st, 2013
February is over, and for the most part, we should be very happy it is done and buried. The biggest hit of the month turned out to be Identity Thief, which will cross $100 million shortly. There were also a couple of impressive midlevel hits, like Warm Bodies and Escape from Planet Earth, but for the most part, it was miss after miss. This is bad news for March, which is not only dealing with a slumping 2013 box office, but will be compared with a strong March of 2012. Last March started with The Lorax, which earned more than $200 million. There's a good chance no March release this year will reach this milestone. Last March was also the month The Hunger Games opened, which earned more than $400 million. There's a chance the top three films opening this month won't earn that much combined. 2013 is going to take a beating in the year-over-year comparison and it is already $100 million behind last year's pace.
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