April 10th, 2012
There were not many new releases on the Blu-ray sales chart and many of the top selling DVDs were family films, which tend to struggle on high definition. Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chip-Wrecked did grab first place, but with just 270,000 units / $6.29 million. Its opening week Blu-ray Share was just 23%, which is weak for the format as a whole and only average for the genre.
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April 10th, 2012
Family films led the way on the DVD Sales Chart this week taking the top three spots. This included one and a half new releases. The best selling DVD was Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chip-Wrecked, which sold 893,000 units / $15.56 million during its first full week of release. This is well below the opening week numbers of its predecessors, but the franchise collapsed at the box office, so this result is not surprising.
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March 26th, 2012
It's not a particularly strong week when it comes to the home market. The biggest box office hit coming out this week is Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chip-Wrecked, but that film missed expectations at the box office and was savaged by critics. It should be the best selling DVD and Blu-ray of the week, but that's because it is a slow week overall. As for the best of the best, Mystery Science Theater 3000: XXIII is my choice for Pick of the Week. Others might go with South Park: Season 15 instead, while A Dangerous Method would also be the top choice of many. By a strange coincidence, I'm waiting for the screeners for all four of these films.
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February 23rd, 2012
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. We wrap up our look at the prestigious categories with the most prestigious of them all: Best Picture. This year there were nine nominees, but not all of them really have a shot at winning. (One of the nominations generated more outrage than anything else.) Is there a favorite? And are there any that have a legitimate shot at the upset?
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February 15th, 2012
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. This week we will look at the four acting categories, and up next is Best Supporting Actor. This category is only slightly more competitive than Best Supporting Actress with almost all the evidence pointing to one winner.
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February 5th, 2012
The industry's healthy start to 2012 will continue this weekend thanks to two more good opening weekends. Chronicle is currently favorite to win the weekend, with Fox predicting a $22 million opening. CBS Films is pegging The Woman in Black at $21 million (a record for the fledgling studio). Both figures are predicated on historical models for SuperBowl Sunday, which can be a difficult day to predict, so the final order between the two could yet switch, although Chronicle is heavily favored to win at this point. Overall box office will be up about 35% from last year, although that reflects the very weak start to 2011. This weekend looks as though it will be about average for a SuperBowl weekend overall.
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January 30th, 2012
January completed the sweep this weekend, despite slipping 6% from last weekend to $126 million over the weekend. This was still 16% higher than the same weekend last year, meaning three out of the four weekends in January saw double-digit gains over 2011 and by the end, 2012's lead over 2011 was 12% at $812 million to $726 million. I'm starting to get a little optimistic and hopefully this trend will continue next month.
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January 24th, 2012
Yesterday was one of the biggest days during Awards Season as The Oscar nominations were announced in the morning. It was a two horse race for top spot as far as the big winners are concerned. Hugo earned the most nominations with eleven, while The Artist was right behind with ten. However, one could argue The Artist is the bigger winner, as more of its nominations were in the more prestigious categories.
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January 23rd, 2012
2012 has gone three for three in the year-over-year comparison. This weekend we have a couple films do a little better than expected and a couple films struggle a little bit, but the overall box office was up 1% from last weekend to $134 million. More importantly, the box office was up 30% from last year. Not only did we have better strength on top with Underworld: Awakening earning $25 million, but we also had much stronger depth. This bodes well going into next week and hopefully January will complete the sweep when compared to last year. Year-to-Date, 2012 now has a 15% lead over 2011 at $748 million to $653 million. It is still far too early to declare victory, but every dollar earned now puts us one dollar closer to matching last year's total.
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January 22nd, 2012
A solid $25.4 million projected opening for Underworld: Awakening this weekend, backed by a better-than-expected $19.1 million for Red Tails will help give the industry a healthy start to 2012. Based on studio estimates released on Sunday, business this weekend should be up about 30% from the same weekend last year, and 2012 is currently running about 11% ahead of 2011. Obviously there's a long way to go, but early momentum is always useful.
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January 19th, 2012
It's very early in the year, but so far 2012 is on a winning streak. Will that streak continue this weekend? This weekend we have three wide releases, Underworld: Awakening, Red Tails, and Haywire, plus a wide expansion, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Conversely, last year there was only one wide release, No Strings Attached, plus only one holdover that earned more than $10 million, The Green Hornet. This year we should have five films earning more than $10 million and this depth should help 2012 earn a win in the year-over-year comparison.
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January 18th, 2012
It was a busy week on the per theater chart with five films in the $10,000 club; however, all but one of those films were holdovers. Leading the way was We Need to Talk About Kevin, which returned to theaters after its week-long Oscar qualification run. It earned an average of $21,123 in two theaters. Pina doubled its theater count, but remained strong in second place with an average of $20,740 in six theaters. Even if it doesn't expand significantly, it will reach some major milestones. Despite mixed reviews, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is earning very strong legs. This past weekend it dipped just 8% while earning an average of $15,172 in six theaters. It expands wide on Friday and it should do quite well. The only new release of the week to reach the $10,000 club was Sophomore, which opened with an estimated $13,000 in its lone theater. Finally, we get to A Separation, which earned an average of $11,977 in six theaters. Hopefully it will expand to take advantage of is success thus far.
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January 15th, 2012
With Beauty and the Beast disappointing slightly over the 3-day MLK frame, Contraband will take first place by a fairly comfortable margin, according to studio estimates released on Sunday. The action movie is set to pick up about $24.1 million, per Universal, while Disney pegs Beast's Friday-Sunday total at $18.5 million. Joyful Noise will bring in a solid, if slightly disappointing, $11.3 million for Warner Bros..
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January 10th, 2012
The $10,000 club was again crowded this week and, as expected for this time of year, it was filled almost entirely by holdovers. Iron Lady remained the top film with an average of $35,275 in five theaters and it should start hitting major milestones very soon. Pina's average grew, again, reaching $27,676 in three theaters. Hopefully it will start expanding quickly, before its momentum fades. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close earned an average of $16,521 in six theaters. Its mixed reviews haven't taken too much of a toll, yet. A Separation doubled its theater count, but its per theater average remained relatively steady at $15,440. The overall box office leader, The Devil Inside, was next at $14,763. Finally, Once Upon a Time in Anatolia opened with $10,652 in one theater.
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January 8th, 2012
The Devil Inside came out of nowhere to win this weekend's race at the box office, according to studio estimates released on Sunday. Its $34.5 million debut is well ahead of expectations and will likely place it second or third on the list of all-time January opening weekends when final numbers are released on Monday. (See full list of January record weekends.) This performance is a welcome boost to overall business, which is coming off a disappointing 2011. Total box office for the weekend should be about 30% up from this weekend last year.
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January 4th, 2012
Iron Lady led a group of six films in the $10,000 earning a per theater average of $55,102. This is better than expected and shows the Oscar buzz for Meryl Streep is overcoming the middling overall reviews. Last week's winner, Pina, remained strong with an average of $23,874 in three theaters. I expect it will expand somewhat and earn a small measure of mainstream success. A Separation opened with an average of $19,827 in three theaters and with possible Oscar glory, it continues to do well. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy has already earned a significant measure of mainstream success and with an average of $19,043 in 55 theaters this past weekend, it had its best weekend yet. It did cost $21 million to make, so it will need to continue to do well for quite some time before it makes profitability likely. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close's first full weekend went well earning an average of $18,463 in three theaters. It has a shot at expanding wide in a couple weeks, assuming it holds on relatively well over the next couple weeks. The final film in the $10,000 club was Pariah, which earned an average of $12,145 in four theaters. It earned just over $100,000 from Wednesday through Monday.
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January 1st, 2012
2011 ended, and really that's the only good news we got from the entire month of December. That's not snark either. Of the eleven films opening or expanding wide that month, six will definitely miss expectations by significant margins and with the other five it is too soon to tell, (it depends on how well they hold up during the New Year's Day long weekend). Only Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol can be considered a pleasant surprise, and even then it might not match original expectations. Looking forward, the only really good piece of news for this January is that last January was a pretty bad as well. Only two films, The Green Hornet and No Strings Attached, beat expectations by significant margins, while The Dilemma bombed hard enough to nearly wipe out those gains. This time around, the biggest hit will likely be Beauty and the Beast's 3D re-release, but even then, I doubt it will do as well as The Lion King's 3D re-release. There's a good chance the year will start off on a sour note, just like 2011 ended.
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December 23rd, 2011
There are only seven films on this week's list of limited releases; however, five of them were earning at least some measure of Awards Season buzz. This is hardly unusual for this time of year. What is unusual is that almost none of them are earning overall positive reviews. The one exception is Pina, which has 93% positive reviews, but as a documentary / concert film, it might struggle to find an audience outside of fans of modern dance. On the other hand, while Albert Nobbs' overall reviews are merely mixed, it has a chance to find a sizable audience, thanks in part to its numerous early nominations.
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