January 19th, 2009
The new releases overwhelmed the sales chart this week taking the top four places, and six of the top ten, and nine of the top thirty. This includes the new number one film, Pineapple Express, which opened in first place with 1.48 million units sold and $31.39 million in revenue.
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January 19th, 2009
New releases took the top four spots on the rental chart this week, just as they did on the sales chart, and they did it mostly in the same order. Pineapple Express led the way with about 16% more rentals than second place Righteous Kill.
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January 13th, 2009
There were a handful of new releases on the first sales chart of the year, including Eagle Eye, which led the way with 1.39 million units during the week. Adding in previous sales, the film has sold 1.58 million units and generated $34.29 million in consumer retail spending.
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January 13th, 2009
There was not a single new release to chart this week on the rental side of the home market. At least not an entirely new release. Eagle Eye led the way, but it placed fourth during its early release last week.
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January 9th, 2009
There are two films that are estimated to be opening with saturation level theater counts (3,000 or more) on Friday. These films are Paul Blart - Mall Cop and Hotel for Dogs. Either one would make a fine choice as the latest target film in our ongoing box office prediction contest, but we are going with ... Hotel for Dogs. In order to win, one must simply predict the opening weekend box office of Hotel for Dogs.
Whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend box office (Friday to Sunday), without going over, will win Eagle Eye - Single Disc Edition, as well as Cyborg Soldier 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 Eagle Eye - Single Disc Edition, as well as Kill Switch 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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January 7th, 2009
This week, new releases were practically non-existent on the DVD sales chart.
In fact, the best selling releases to make their debut on the chart were the late releases from last week. The best seller overall this week was The Dark Knight with 1.69 million units and $37.11 million in consumer retail spending for the week, giving it just a hair under 12.00 million units sold and $252.82 million in sales after three. This is clearly the best selling DVD of 2008 having sold over 1 million units more than WALL-E and nearly $70 million more in retail sales.
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January 7th, 2009
This week on the rental charts we have late releases from the week of the 16th, all the releases from the week of the 23rd, and early releases from the 30th. The number on rental for the week was Burn After Reading, which generated about a sixth more revenue than second place Death Race.
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December 29th, 2008
This week is a mess because we are dealing with DVDs released on the 26th, the 27th, and the 30th. Additionally, we are dealing with the latest two waves of Paramount Blu-rays, so there are a lot of spotlight reviews this week. (Although when it comes to those particular Blu-rays, I have previously reviewed nearly half of them previously, and I have seen more than half of the rest, so it was easy to review.) It was so easy, in fact, I was able to get a couple reviews done in advance, which lead to a record number of spotlight reviews. There are more spotlight reviews this week than the previous four weeks combined. Needless to say, the column had to be split into two, with the second part found here. As for the best of the best, Serenity - Blu-ray easily won the DVD Pick of the Week, while Duckman - Season Three and Four is the DVD Pick of Next Week. Also worth grabbing are Event Horizon on Blu-ray, Ghost Town on either DVD or Blu-ray, Greek - Chapter Two, and The Truman Show on Blu-ray
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December 26th, 2008
It's the beginning of the year, and as is costumary on the first weekend of each year, there are no new releases, which makes the process of choosing a target film a little more difficult. Also, we don't have box office information for Christmas day, so we are not exactly sure which film will top the charts this weekend, and therefore will likely top the charts next weekend. It should come down to either Bedtime Stories or Marley & Me. And our target film is ... (flips a coin) Marley & Me. In order to win, one must simply predict the upcoming weekend box office of Marley & Me.
Whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's upcoming 3-day weekend box office (Friday, January 2nd to Sunday, January 4th), without going over, will win The Wackness on DVD and in paperback.
Meanwhile, whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's upcoming 3-day weekend box office (Friday, January 2nd to Sunday, January 4th), without going under, will win Eagle Eye Special Edition DVD and Conspiracy 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 2nd, 2008
Tryptophan overload wasn't enough to slow do the box office as every film matched or exceeded Thursday's predictions (or came within a rounding error of doing so). This helped the overall box office pull in $164 million over the three-day weekend and an amazing $234 million over five. Over the three-day weekend the box office was down by less than 1% from last weekend, but it was up by just under 2% over last year and nearly 3% over the five day period. (Strangely, it is $10 million behind the record, which was set in 2000. Ticket price inflation alone should have resulted in that record going down by now.) Year-to-date 2008 has now brought in $8.60 billion compared to $8.57 billion over the same period on 2007.
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November 17th, 2008
High School Musical 3: Senior Year remained in second place with $14.63 million on 4413 screens in 30 markets for a total of $110.38 million internationally. This is more than it will make domestically by the end of its run, and at this pace hitting $200 million worldwide will not be an issue, as it has openings in Russia, Australia, and Japan still to go. Its biggest market of the weekend was Italy where it made $2.60 million on 487 screens over the weekend for a total of $9.02 million. Meanwhile, its biggest market overall was the U.K. with $31.44 million, including $2.39 million on 470 screens over the past weekend.
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November 12th, 2008
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa opened in more than 4,000 theaters in total, and that included 129 IMAX screens, where it earned $3.63 million over the weekend.
That gave it a per theater average of just over $28,000 on the really big screen, which was close to double its regular per theater average.
It is also more than twice the $1.6 million Eagle Eye opened with in 84 theaters in September.
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November 9th, 2008
Saw V slipped a spot to sixth place with $6.44 million on 1703 screens in 26 markets for a total of $16.52 million. This week it opened in fourth place in Russia with $745,000 on 200 screens while in earned seventh place in Mexico with just $148,000 on 120 screens. As far as holdovers go, the film fell more than 60% in the U.K. to $1.55 million on 367 screens for a total of $7.53 million.
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October 29th, 2008
High School Musical 3: Senior Year opened in first place on the international chart with an impressive $40.68 million on 3,165 screens in 19 markets.
This includes first place openings in a number of markets, including the U.K. where it pulled in $9.13 million on 493 screens over the weekend for $12.92 million in total.
Other first place openings include Germany with $5.69 million on 529 screens and in Spain, where it pulled in a hair under $5.00 million on 402 screens. The film also did well in France to place second with $4.3 million, while it also pulled in more than $1 million in Brazil ($1.7 million) and Poland ($1 million). Next up for the film is Italy this weekend, while it doesn't end its run until Japan in February, so it could be in the charts for a long time.
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October 23rd, 2008
Eagle Eye reached the top spot on the international charts this weekend with $11.48 million on 3,546 screens in 45 markets for a total of $44.81 million. This film opened in the two biggest international markets and scored second place in the both the U.K. with $1.92 million on 362 screens and in Japan with $2.44 million on 306. Meanwhile, it remained in first place in South Korea with $2.14 million on 441 screens over the weekend and $6.49 million after two.
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October 20th, 2008
It was a mixed weekend at the box office. The new releases were not able to match modest expectations, which caused the overall box office to drop 2% to $100 million compared to last weekend. However, this was close to 4% higher than the same weekend last year. Even better, year-to-date, 2008 has now just over $7.51 billion in ticket sales while at the same point in 2007, total receipts were just under $7.51 billion. With High School Musical 3 and Saw V opening this Friday, we could see continued growth at the box office.
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October 19th, 2008
First some updates on Wednesday's numbers. Due to Columbus Day, we were relying on studio estimates instead of final numbers, and while they were mostly accurate, they were not entirely accurate. The Russia film, Admiral (Koltchak), did indeed top the charts with $12.51 million on 1,223 screens in 2 markets over the weekend and $13.31 million in total. Meanwhile, Eagle Eye added $10.88 million on 3,030 screens in 38 markets for a still early total of $29.41 million. Mamma Mia! continues its quest for $400 million with $8.37 million on 3,713 screens in 46 markets for a total of $390.72 million. These three films were very close to the original figures, however, the rest of the top five was different than originally reported, starting with...
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October 16th, 2008
We had a new winner on top of the international charts as the Russia film, Admiral (Koltchak) opened in its native market with $11.35 million and $1.47 million in neighboring Ukraine. Its total weekend revenue of $12.82 million came on 1,088 screens, giving the film an impressive per screen average of $11,783. It has to be considered a hit already, but how well it holds on will determine how fast the studio will recoup its $20 million production budget.
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October 13th, 2008
With four wide releases this past weekend, I knew not all of them would be hits, but I also didn't expect all of them to be misses. Perhaps that's not entirely fair, and given the production budgets involved, not all films flopped at the box office, but enough did that overall box office receipts dropped 10% to $102 million. Compared to the same week last year, that still represents an increase, albeit by less than 3%, which is more or less in line with ticket price inflation. Year-to-date, 2008 and 2007 have both brought in $7.38 billion, but 2008 has had the edge the past few weeks and could retake the lead this upcoming weekend.
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October 9th, 2008
The truth is that we have too many movies right now.
It's hard enough for most films to thrive at the box office, and it is nearly impossible for them to do it when they have to deal with so much competition.
This week we have four films opening wide, which is half as many new openers as last week.
However, all four are opening in more in 2,000 theaters, which is twice as many as last week.
Despite this onslaught of new films, we might have a holdover come out on top, as Beverly Hills Chihuahua has a decent shot at repeating at number one.
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October 9th, 2008
Thanks to an impressive opening in Italy, Mamma Mia! was able to overtake Hancock on the yearly international charts. Over the weekend the film added $14.25 million on 4,222 screens in 48 markets for an international total of $377.29 million, just ahead of the $375 million Hancock has brought in. In Italy, the film opened in first place with $2.52 million on 400 screens, while it added $1.36 million on 403 screens in the U.K. for a total of $110.14 million after thirteen weeks of release. Worldwide the film has amassed an astounding $520.01 million, and with Japan ahead, it should reach the all-time top 50 before long.
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October 7th, 2008
Of the eight films that opened or expanded on Friday, only two were able to do some serious business, while most were lucky if they topped the Mendoza line by earning more than $2,000 per theater. It was just a disaster, in many ways. That said, it was still the first weekend in October and the overall box office was up 13% from last weekend to $113 million. More importantly, it was 35% higher than the same weekend last year. Year-to-date, 2008 closed the gap with 2007. 2008 is just a little below and 2007 a little above $7.25 billion. By this time next week, 2008 could retake the lead, at least in terms of raw dollars.
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October 5th, 2008
Eagle Eye opened in sixth place on the international chart with $4.51 million on 1,124 screens in 13 markets, much of that coming from two markets: Australia and Mexico. In the former it made $1.42 million on 231 screens while in the latter it made just a hair under $900,000 on 350 screens. In both markets the film finished in second place, while it opens in major markets every week until the end of October, while it doesn't end its run until early next year.
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October 3rd, 2008
If you thought last weekend was too busy, this weekend is worse with eight films opening or expanding wide, or at least wide-ish. However, only one film is opening at saturation level (3,000 or more theaters) and one other is opening truly wide (2,000 or more theaters). After those two films, the rest of the new releases will be forced to fight over the table scraps.
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September 30th, 2008
It was a relatively predictable weekend at the box office with four of the top five films matching expectations, more or less. There was only one film on Thursday's column that beat expectations by a serious degree, and it was matched by another film that missed expectations by nearly the same margin. Overall the box office just climbed above nine digits, hitting $101 million over the weekend. This was 14% more than last weekend and 11% more than the same weekend last year. 2008 is still behind 2007, but by less than 1% at $7.11 billion to $7.15 billion.
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September 28th, 2008
As expected, the weekend belonged to Shia LaBeouf and Eagle Eye.
The thriller posted a strong $29.2 million debut, according to studio estimates on Sunday, giving it the fourth-biggest September weekend (see list).
Nights in Rodanthe also opened solidly, as it picked up an estimated $13.57 million.
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September 27th, 2008
An absolutely huge list of movie sites this week, however, out of the more than a dozen sites on this week's list, most have just the basics, plus a few video clips. It's really hard to get excited about that. In fact, the only site that stood out was Eagle Eye's Official Site, but even here it felt too slick and lacked the substance needed to win the Weekly Website Award.
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September 25th, 2008
There are seven films opening in more than 250 theaters this weekend, but this is clearly a case of quantity over quality. Only two are opening in more than 2,000 and none of the seven are earning overall positive reviews. (Most of these films don't have a real shot at a top five placing, so we will deal with many of them in our round-up of limited releases.) There's no real question on which film will top the charts this week, as Eagle Eye is practically a lock for that position. But there are questions about whether it can top last year's winner, or whether 2008 can play catch up over last year.
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September 19th, 2008
There's only one saturation level film opening next week, Eagle Eye, and it is the target film in our latest box office prediction contest. In order to win, one must simply predict the opening weekend box office of Eagle Eye.
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 the Alvin and The Chipmunks - Holiday Gift Set on DVD and Rebel 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 Alvin's Thanksgiving Celebration on DVD and Manswers - The Best of Season One 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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September 1st, 2008
A pretty bland month with no wide release that look likely to surprise, either becoming a potential $100 million hit, or bombing so bad that they fail even to reach $10 million. The latter is a lot more likely, however, with a number of films that have serious obstacles to overcome, and it is very unlikely all of them will avoid bombing. On the other end of the scale, there are no films that have a legitimate shot at $100 million, while The top film of the month could make less than $70 million.
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August 28th, 2008
This week's round of new casting information contains updates for City of Ember, Flash of Genius, Toy Story 3, and more!
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March 28th, 2008
This week's round of new casting information contains updates for Crazy on the Outside, Two Lovers, W., and more!
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February 24th, 2008
This week's round of new movie release information contains release dates for Old Dogs, Prince of Persia, Alice in Wonderland and more!
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January 10th, 2008
This week's round of new casting information contains updates for Armored, Easy Virtue, Solomon Kane, and more!
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November 18th, 2007
This week's round of new movie release information contains release dates for Eagle Eye, Dragon Ball Z, Angels & Demons and more!
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October 25th, 2007
This week's round of new casting information contains updates for The Burning Plan, Cry of the Owl, Helen, and more!
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August 12th, 2007
This week's round of new movie release information contains release dates for The Bucket List, Be Kind Rewind, Charlie Bartlett and more.
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