April 22nd, 2009
There were plenty of new releases to chart this week, including the top two sellers. The new number one was Bedtime Stories 1.46 million units for its first full week of release, while including early sales it has made $28.78 million from 1.68 million in sales.
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April 22nd, 2009
There were six new releases to chart this week, but three of the top four were holdovers. That one new release was The Day the Earth Stood Still, which earned 50% more than last week's number one film, Marley and Me.
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April 7th, 2009
The last of the winter releases are trickling on to the home market; however, we are at the tale end of the hits and are getting the near misses now and that leaves a void in major hits at the top. I do like Deadliest Catch - Season 4, but I can't rate a featureless DVD as the DVD Pick of the Week. So that honor goes to Doubt, which is worth buying on DVD or Blu-ray. But I would go with the latter. As has become customary, this week's list has to be split into two, with the first part found here.
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April 7th, 2009
The last of the winter releases are trickling on to the home market; however, we are at the tale end of the hits and are getting the near misses now, which leaves a void in major hits at the top. I do like Deadliest Catch - Season 4, but I can't rate a featureless DVD as the DVD Pick of the Week. So that honor goes to Doubt, which is worth buying on DVD or Blu-ray. But I would go with the latter. As has become customary, this week's list has to be split into two, with the second part found here.
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February 22nd, 2009
Recep Ivedik opened in its native Turkey and a few other markets scoring sixth place with $8.32 million on 483 screens in 4 markets. Of that total, $6.10 million was earned on 390 screens during a first place opening in its native market, which is above the pace of its predecessor. The film managed fourth place in Germany with $1.75 million on just 75 screens. An excellent start for the film.
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February 22nd, 2009
Madea Goes to Jail dominated Oscar weekend at the movies with an impressive $41.1 million opening, according to Lionsgate's Sunday estimate.
That's a record for Perry, topping the $30 million debut of
Madea's Family Reunion two years ago.
Even after factoring in the exhibitor's share of box office,
Madea Goes to Jail has already recovered its $17.5 million production budget.
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February 20th, 2009
With our annual
Oscar Prediction contest under way, now is the best time to look at the
nominees and try and figure out who the favorites are and which films should just feel honored to be nominated. Today we look at Best Female Actor in a Leading Role and Best Male Actor in a Leading Role.
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February 19th, 2009
With our annual
Oscar Prediction contest underway, now is the best time to look at the
nominees and try and figure out who the favorites are and which films should just feel honored to be nominated. Today we look at Best Female Actor in a Supporting Role and Best Male Actor in a Supporting Role.
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February 18th, 2009
Gomorrah led the way on the per theater chart this weekend with an average of $15,540 in seven theaters. Second place went to Two Lovers with an average of $13,569, proving yet again there is no such thing as bad publicity. Under the Sea 3-D opened with $13,490, and it should be in theaters for at least a year, if not two. The final film in the $10,000 club was the overall box office leader, Friday the 13th, which opened with an average of $13,066 in more than 3,000 theaters.
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February 18th, 2009
With our annual Oscar Prediction contest under way, now is the best time to look at the nominees and try and figure out who the favorites are and which films should just feel honored to be nominated. Today we will look at Best Writing - Original Screenplay and Best Writing - Adapted Screenplay.
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February 15th, 2009
Bride Wars continues its bridesmaid run just missing the top five this week after just missing the top ten last week. It did ad $5.88 million on 2485 screens in 30 markets for a total of $32.11 million after a month of release. Openings this week include Germany, where the film placed second with $1.62 million on 455 screens, which is a mixed debut.
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February 8th, 2009
Slumdog Millionaire slipped to sixth place with $7.67 million on 1275 screens in 12 markets for a total of $42.46 million. The film had no major openings this past weekend, but it added $3.02 million on 416 screens during its fourth weekend on top of the charts in the U.K. for a total of $18.21 million in that one market.
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January 26th, 2009
The latest Awards Season ceremony was held last night by the Screen Actors Guild, and yet again Slumdog Millionaire came out a winner. However, it was not the only winner.
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January 22nd, 2009
For a year without an obvious front-runner for the Oscar race, there were not a whole lot of surprises when it came to the nominations. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced their nominations today and leading the way was The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with thirteen while Slumdog Millionaire was second with ten.
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January 21st, 2009
Notorious opened in fourth place overall, but in first place on the per theater chart with an average of $12,514, which was just a fraction above The Wrestler and its average of $11,824. Revolutionary Road remained strong earning an average of $10,427 in 171 theaters. The overall number one film, Paul Blart: Mall Cop, was next with $10,125. Finally, Slumdog Millionaire saw amazing growth and returned to the $10,000 Club with $10,050.
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January 13th, 2009
It is very rare for a film to repeat as champion on the per theater chart, but that's exactly what Defiance did this past weekend, as it earned an average of $34,092 in two theaters. The Wrestler climbed into second place with an average of $14,140 in 60 theaters, which suggests serious room to expand, especially if it continues its winning ways during Awards Season. Made in U.S.A. was the best of the new releases, as it pulled in $11,125 in one theater, while Revolutionary Road was right behind with an average of $10,558 in 135. Finally, Gran Torino earned an average of $10,500 during its first week of wide release.
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January 9th, 2009
The final guild nominations were recently announced, and there are several theatrical categories to get to. The three guilds, DGA, PGA, and WGA, announced out eight nominations in total, which really help to fill in the gaps for prediction the Oscar nods. Or in some cases, just make matters more confusing.
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January 6th, 2009
Despite earning mixed reviews, Defiance topped the per theater chart with a massive average of $61,757 in two theaters, and that's over the weekend. In total the film made more than $200,000 in 2 theaters over five days. Gran Torino's per theater average grew by 26% to $34,957 in 84 theaters. At this point, it would be fair to say it has earned some measure of mainstream success, and it expands wide this weekend. Revolutionary Road saw its theater count grow from 3 to 38, while it still managed a per theater average of $25,946. The Wrestler also saw growth with an average of $24,323, and it should expand over the coming weeks. I'm not sure it will expand wide, but it should do reasonably well. Che continues its Oscar qualifying run earning an average of $17,742 in 2 theaters. Last Chance Harvey saw small growth to $17,034 in 6 theaters, but I'm not sure how far it will expand. Waltz with Bashir was the final film in the $10,000 club with an average of $10,713 in five theaters.
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December 30th, 2008
Revolutionary Road was nothing short of fantastic on the per theater chart earning a stunning $190,000 in just three theaters for an average of $63,304. Gran Torino saw both is theater count and per theater average grow earning more than $2 million in 84 theaters for a stunning average of $27,652; the film might not earn as many awards as some were expecting, but its box office potential is as high as ever. The Wrestler slipped to third place during is sophomore stint with an average of $21,529 in 18 theaters, but it too should earn some measure of mainstream success. Che continued its Oscar qualifying run with $35,000 in 2 theaters for an average of $17,252. Last Chance Harvey opened with nearly $100,000 in six theaters for an average of $16,210, which would have been very impressive though most of the year, but we've hit such a winning streak recently that is feels merely average. The overall box office leader, Marley & Me earned an average of $10,448, while Waltz with Bashir barely managed to enter the $10,000 club with an average of $10,004 in five theaters.
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December 30th, 2008
Not every film lived up to expectations over the weekend, but more than enough did that we can safely say 2008 ended on a high note. Over the past three days, the box office pulled in $201 million, which was more than double last week's haul of $90 million. It was also close to 8% better than the same weekend last year, however, that's not enough for 2008 to recover, and it is still almost 1% behind last year's pace $9.55 billion to $9.63 billion. Ticket sales were off by more than 5%, which is the second worst decline in more than a decade. That said, nearly $10 billion in ticket sales is still huge, and as long as production budgets don't get out of hand, the industry is healthy.
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December 28th, 2008
The Screen Actors Guild nominations were announced last Friday, but in the holiday rush, they fell through the cracks. Perhaps that's because most SAG talk these days revolves around possible strike action. The big player here is undoubtedly Doubt, which picked up four individual nods and one for its primary cast.
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December 24th, 2008
There are five films opening wide tomorrow, as well as a limited release expanding into more than 1000 theaters, which could be enough to propel it into the top ten. Given the weak new releases for the past few weeks, there is a chance all five wide releases will place in the top five, while it is unlikely any will bomb completely (even the two saddled with negative buzz). Compared to last Christmas, the box office could see some growth, which will help the year end on a positive note.
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December 23rd, 2008
The Wrestler had one of the best opening per theater averages this year, pulling in just over $200,000 in 4 theaters for an average of $50,679; this impressive beginning is even more impressive once one realizes it was a Wednesday opener, which undoubtedly cut its weekend average. Gran Torino tripled its theater count but its per theater average held well at $24,643 during its second weekend of release. Likewise, Doubt saw a significant increase in its theater count while earning an average of $17,460 over the weekend. The Reader remained in 8 theaters with an average of $11,599, and it will be interesting to see how well it expands at this point, but momentum is not on its side.
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December 17th, 2008
Gran Torino opened on top of the Per Theater Chart with an outstanding average of $45,287 in six theaters. Wide expansion seems inevitable at this point. Likewise, Doubts debut of just over $500,000 in 15 theaters gave it an average $33,815 making expansion almost assured. Che - The Argentine was close behind with $30,535 in two theaters. The Reader opened with an average of $21,006 in 8 theaters, which most weeks would be enough to score top spot; however, given the competition, without continued success during Awards Season, it could struggle to expand. There were only two holdovers in the $10,000 club with Frost/Nixon earning an average of $16,061 and Slumdog Millionaire earning $12,873. The final $10,000 film was Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, which opened with $10,985. However, both My Name Is Bruce and Wendy and Lucy came relatively close with averages of $9,119 and $9,109 respectively.
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December 14th, 2008
The Day the Earth Stood Still topped the weekend chart with $31 million, according to studio estimates released on Sunday.
That's a strong start, helped in particular by $3.8 million on 123 IMAX screens, and gives Fox a nice lead-in to the holidays, with no competitive film coming out until Christmas Day.
However, weak reviews and tepid word of mouth will not help it, and a $100 million run is far from assured at this stage.
Four Christmases had an impressive week-to-week drop of just 20% to earn an estimated $13 million and finish second.
Its success probably dampened the opening weekend for Nothing Like the Holidays, which pulled in $3.5 million from 1,671 theaters.
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December 14th, 2008
One of the busier week's in a while when it comes to new releases, and there's a mix of wide releases and smaller Oscar hopefuls. It's the former category that has the best sites, with the widest release of the week, The Day the Earth Stood Still, having the best Official Site. On a side note, we also have a previous winner of the Weekly Website Award, Delgo - Official Site, and since the format of this column has changed since then, that will be the last time that happens.
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December 12th, 2008
Another week, another group of Awards Season hopefuls are being given a limited release. This week we have four films that have already earned nominations, plus a couple others that might later on. Of these, none are guaranteed to walk away winners, but I would be surprised if all of them were shut out.
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December 12th, 2008
The latest set of Awards Season nominations were handed out today as the Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced their nominations. There was not much in the way of surprises, and it is hard to look at one film and say it was the big winner, but Frost/Nixon and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button come the closest.
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December 1st, 2008
We end the year with a winning streak, one that will hopefully continue right through the New Year holiday. It seems nearly every film released this month is either an Oscar contender or a potential $100 million hit. Sometimes both. If all six films with box office potentials of $100 million or more reach that milestone, and Bolt and Four Christmases have the legs to make it there as well, we could set the record for most $100 million released in a single year. (It is currently at 29 films set in 2003.)
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June 29th, 2008
This week's round of new movie release information contains release dates for Pride and Glory, Final Destination 4, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and more!
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May 22nd, 2008
This week's round of new casting information contains updates for Doubt, The Go-Getter, Veronika Decides to Die, and more!
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May 20th, 2008
This week another number of upcoming movies, new stars and directors have been added to our archive!
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May 18th, 2008
This week's round of new movie release information contains release dates for Igor, Soul Men, Hotel for Dogs and more!
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