March 21st, 2011
It's a deceptively slow week when it comes to DVD and Blu-ray releases. Have I mentioned how much I love the word, "deceptively"? It is worse than meaningless and actually reduces the amount of information given in any sentence it appears in. In this case, the first sentence could mean the week appears to be slow, but it is actually quite busy. Or it could mean the week appears busy, but is quite slow. Unfortunately, it's the latter. There are four first run releases coming out on the home market, which is more than most weeks, but all four missed expectations to one degree or another. Additionally, there's only one new release that I'm seriously considering for Pick of the Week, The Venture Bros.: Season Four on Blu-ray. In fact, there are a couple Blu-ray catalog titles that are more interesting than any of the first run releases. Leading the way there is Stand By Me, which is not only a great movie, but the Blu-ray isn't shovelware and includes Blu-ray exclusive extras like a Picture-in-Picture track. So which release is the Pick of the Week? I can't decide, so let's call it a tie.
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April 27th, 2010
After Avatar dominated last week's list, the selection of releases this week is not any better. There are only two first run releases of note, It's Complicated on DVD and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus on Blu-ray, while there are a few smaller releases that are also worth picking up. To find the Pick of the Week, however, we have to travel back in time as a couple of late releases finally found their way to my desk this week. Those late releases are Defendor (Buy from Amazon: DVD or Buy from Amazon.ca: Blu-ray) and Yesterday Was A Lie (DVD) and they share the Pick of the Week honors.
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February 25th, 2008
The Oscars have all been awarded and No Country for Old Men was the big winner at the Oscars, taking home four major awards.
(It was shut out of the technical nominations.)
The second biggest winner of the night was The Bourne Ultimatum with three awards, all technical.
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February 21st, 2008
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 Lead Role and Best Male Actor in a Lead Role.
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February 18th, 2008
There were plenty of new releases this week and five of them managed to squeeze into the top five on the sales chart.
However, the new number one came as a complete surprise as Snow Buddies sold 1.23 million units during the week for sales of $22.29 million. That's almost as much as the rest of the top five combined.
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February 18th, 2008
There were plenty of new releases to chart this week on the rental chart, but The Game Plan remained in first place for the third week in a row with $7.41 million for the week and $26.08 million after three.
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February 4th, 2008
A big list this week with plenty releases, so many releases that we had to split the DVD Release Report into two parts. And there also includes many that are worth adding to your DVD collection. However, it is soft at the very top and there are none that jump out as obvious DVD Pick of the Week contenders. That will change next week.
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January 22nd, 2008
The Oscar nominations were announced today and there is no shortage of contenders.
In fact, with no real juggernaut to deal with, the competition is more up in the air that most years.
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January 13th, 2008
Bee Movie slipped to sixth place this weekend with $14.34 million on 4820 screens in 49 markets for a total of $131.97 million. This includes a first place opening in South Korea where it earned $1.96 million on 334 screens over the weekend and $2.30 million in total, but this is not a particularly strong start.
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January 6th, 2008
Alien vs. Predator: Requiem opened in sixth place internationally with $16.43 million on 1877 screens in 20 markets. The film opened in second place in Germany with an impressive $4.64 million on 553 screens, while it debuted in fourth place in Australia with $1.86 million on just 182 screens over the weekend and $2.95 million since Boxing Day.
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December 23rd, 2007
The Screen Actors Guild nominations were announced this week, but again there were no clear front runners for the six theatrical categories.
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December 16th, 2007
The Heartbreak Kid slipped a spot to sixth with $5.04 million on 2029 screens in 46 markets for a total of $79.44 million internationally, which is more than twice what it earned domestically. This includes France where it pulled in $1.10 million on 320 screens while lifting its running tally to $3.37 million in that market.
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December 13th, 2007
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced their Golden Globe nominations this week, but there were no truly dominate films out of the 14 theatrical categories.
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December 9th, 2007
Bee Movie returned to the charts in sixth place with $6.71 million on 1288 screens in 11 markets for an early international total of $19.43 million after a month of release. This includes a pair of first place debuts in Spain and Mexico. In the former it earned $2.81 million on 421 screens while in the latter is earned $2.60 million on 389 screens. While Spain is the larger marker, I thought the family friendly nature of Mexico would give it the edge. Even so, there are great openings for the film.
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December 3rd, 2007
Lions for Lambs climbed a spot to sixth place with $4.34 million on 2453 screens in 53 markets for a total of $25.97 million, while only managing $1 million or more in one market this past weekend, ($1.40 million on 390 screens during its sixth place debut in France). It opens in Italy later this month and Japan in the spring of '08, but there's almost no chance the film will show a profit at this point. Normally one movie losing money isn't a big issue because the studio can rely on one or two monster hits to pay for their misses, (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix made enough money to pay for the entire budgets of half-a-dozen misses for Warner Bros. this year, and that's before the home market). However, United Artists is a newly relauched studio and they don't have a war chest built up from past victories. Stumbling out of the gate like this hurts.
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November 25th, 2007
Elizabeth: The Golden Age nearly reached the top five with $5.79 million on 1579 screens in 12 markets for a total of $21.80 million. This includes a first place, $1.89 million opening on 470 screens in Russia, while the film added $933,000 on 394 screens in the U.K. for a total of $8.40 million so far.
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November 18th, 2007
Stardust fell out of the top five, but still added $5.80 million on 2327 screens in 48 markets lifting its running tally to $83.50 million. Its best market remained the U.K. where it climbed a spot to second place with $2.66 million on 459 screens for a total of $23.59 million. The film has no major openings left, but $100 million internationally is still within reach.
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November 11th, 2007
Surf's Up grew by 77% in France adding $3.44 million on 628 screens over the weekend for a total of $7.36 million in total. This growth was due to the Toussaint holiday while it was enough to lift the film's weekend box office to $5.84 million on 1996 screens in 32 markets for a total of $72.34 million. The film has yet to open in Scandinavia as well as Japan and should hit $100 million internationally before it is done, which is significantly more than the $58.87 million it earned domestically, but not enough to show a profit just yet.
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November 4th, 2007
The Orphanage may have fallen out of the top five internationally, but it remained the top draw in Spain with $4.11 million on 373 screens over the weekend for a three-week total of $20.78 million. This is more than Ratatouille has earned in that market after three months of release and equivalent to $200 to $300 million here. It won't make $200 to $300 million here, in fact, it might not make $20 million here. It all depends on how well it does with critics and award committees.
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October 22nd, 2007
It's been more than a month since we've seen the weekend box office numbers top last year's figures. This time around the overall box office was $97 million, which was down 2% from last weekend and 8% from the same weekend last year. So far this fall is behind lasts year's pace by more than 6%, 10% if you are using tickets sold and not dollars. Year to date, on the other hand, is still showing a 6% growth, and up more than $400 million on last year's pace. Even ticket sales are still up a strong 1.4%, so there's no reason to panic just yet, but the recent weakness is still a cause for concern.
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October 15th, 2007
October is turning into a nightmare at the box office as all but one new release failed to reach modest expectations. The overall box office did take in $100 million, which was a health 19% increase from the last week. However, that was still 10% lower than the same weekend last year. 2007 is still up 7% from last year, but the fall season is down 5% and if things don't turn around, and soon, it could cast a gloom on the important holiday box office market.
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October 14th, 2007
Quite a few full sites launched this week, but as is the case most times, there were pretty Spartan at the moment and it will take a few more updates before we can tell if they are award-worthy or not. That said, it was a site for a movie that opens this week, Lars and the Real Girl - Official Site, that won the top prize as it finished adding all the material marked coming soon this week.
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October 11th, 2007
September continues.
At least it feels that way at the box office.
No one film seems destined for box office glory.
For that matter, no film is opening in 2,500 or more theaters, although one film, Michael Clayton is expanding that wide. Without one powerhouse film, there's a wide-open race for first place with three films in the running.
At least that should keep people interested in the numbers.
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October 1st, 2007
October means one thing: Free candy. ... Oh yeah, and the unofficial start of Award Season.
And Halloween brings us a few horror films as well.
Unfortunately, this year October is rather weak, with no film looking like a strong contender for $100 million and most of the films with early Oscar buzz having performed poorly with the critics.
The only good news is last October was also weak at the box office, meaning there's at least a reasonable shot at 2007 maintaining its box office lead over 2006.
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September 20th, 2007
This week's round of new casting information contains updates for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Superhero!, The Women, and more!
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September 16th, 2007
A stronger week for website than we've seen in a few weeks, including the launch of a potential fall blockbuster. However, that site is mostly marked coming soon allowing Elizabeth - The Golden Age - Official Site to take the Weekly Website Award this week.
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September 9th, 2007
Another week without any top-notch websites, at least one that hasn't previously won the award. At least there are a few with possibilities and the fall blockbusters should start coming launching their sites shortly so the pace should pickup soon.
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August 18th, 2007
Busy week with more than 30 sites featured on the list. However, none really stand our as award-worthy; in fact, most only stand because of a lack of style. Hopefully as the fall season progresses and we near the holidays, we will get bigger and better sites launching.
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June 23rd, 2007
This week's round of new movie release information contains release dates for Michael Clayton, The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Love Guru and more.
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