April 29th, 2013
New releases did better on Blu-ray than they did on DVD with eight films charting on the March 17th, 2013 edition of the Blu-ray sales chart. They were led by Rise of the Guardians, which sold 584,000 units / $11.77 million. Its opening week Blu-ray share was 42%, which is strong, for a kids movie.
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April 16th, 2013
The winners of our Truly Scary Contest contest were determined and they are...
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April 5th, 2013
Next weekend, there are two wide releases, 42 and Scary Movie 5. The former will likely be the better film and should win in the end, but the latter will likely start faster. Because of this, it is the target film for this week's box office prediction contest. In order to win, one must simply predict the opening weekend box office number for Scary Movie 5.
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 Hitchcock on Blu-ray Combo Pack.
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 Fairfield Road 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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April 2nd, 2013
The winners of our Duke it Out contest were determined and they are...
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April 2nd, 2013
The winners of our Better Late than Never contest were determined and they are...
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March 19th, 2013
It is a very healthy week on the home market, at least at the top, as there are a number of big hits and Awards Season contenders. The biggest of these is The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. The film didn't live up to expectations, but it is still worth picking up, especially if you've made the leap to 3D. There are also a couple of Awards Season contenders coming out this week, but I'm waiting for the screeners for both of them. Les Miserables has generated a lot of praise, but also some harsh criticisms. On the other hand, Zero Dark Thirty was one of the best movies of the year and even sight unseen, the Blu-ray Combo Pack is the Pick of the Week.
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March 13th, 2013
There are not many first run releases coming out on the home market this week, but two of them, Life of Pi and Rise of the Guardians, rose to Pick of the Week status. For that honor, we have to turn to an older release, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, which celebrated its 25th Anniversary by coming out on Blu-ray for the first time. Yes, it is shovelware, but it is still the best movie on this week's list. If you don't have the DVD already and really don't like Pan & Scan, you might want to wait till Disney fixes the mix-up with the DVD portion of the Combo Pack.
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March 11th, 2013
Hitchcock opened in limited release earning an per theater average of nearly $17,000 in 17 theaters. It went on to make more than $6 million in total, including more than $1 million during its biggest weekend. This is an impressive run compared to most limited releases. However, Hitchcock was expected to be a player during Awards Season and many thought it would be able to expand wide, or at least semi-wide. Granted, there were a lot of Oscar hopefuls that opened during the same time period. Did this one just get lost in the crowd? Or was there a reason it missed admittedly high expectations?
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January 10th, 2013
The Oscar nominations were announced this morning, and there's certainly a lot to talk about. There are some nominations that should surprise no one. For instance, Lincoln led the way with twelve nominations, and it has been seen as the major contender for a long time. However, there were also a few surprise nominations and some major snubs. Here are the list of nominations, and some reactions.
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January 3rd, 2013
Zero Dark Thirty shot up to the top of the per theater chart with averages of $83,430 during its opening weekend and $63,283 during its sophomore stint. Expanding truly wide is virtually guaranteed. Amour was well back with an average of $20,005 over the past weekend and $22,755 during its opening weekend. The Impossible rose 27% to $12,172 in 15 theaters. This is a great sign and while its reviews are too low to be a major contender during Awards Season, it should still do well enough to expand significantly, but probably not truly wide. The final film in the $10,000 club was Django Unchained, which opened with an average of $10,008.
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December 18th, 2012
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey easily led the way on the per theater chart. In fact, it was the only film to top $10,000. The film pulled in an average of $20,919, which is great for this time of year. The best new release was Let Fury Have the Hour, which only managed $3,386 in its lone theater.
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December 13th, 2012
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced their nominations and the same list of films that have been mentioned since the beginning of Awards Season were rewarded today. Lincoln led the way with seven nods, while Argo and Django Unchained were close behind with five.
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December 12th, 2012
SAG nominations were announced and there were only a few surprises to deal with. Leading the way for total nominations was The Silver Linings Playbook, Lincoln, and Les Miserables, all of which earned nominations in four of the six categories.
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December 11th, 2012
Hyde Park on the Hudson opened on top of the per theater chart with an average of $20,341 in four theaters. That is good for a limited release, but bad for a potential Awards Season contender, which is how many people saw the film prior to its release. Additionally, with weak reviews, it has little hope at long legs. Burn was much further back at $13,602, also in four theaters. Rust and Bone saw its theater count double to four, but its per theater average actually grew to $13,015. Its word-of-mouth is outstanding. Beware of Mr. Baker remained in the $10,000 club with $10,349 in one theater.
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December 2nd, 2012
The weekend after Thanksgiving is not known for its box office prowess, and this year is proving no different. Most films in the top 10 are down around 50% from last weekend, and the new wide releases are both falling short of their respective distributor's hopes. Killing Them Softly is headed for a $7 million debut, according to Weinstein, which is Brad Pitt's worst wide opening since Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas back in 2003, and worst live action wide release since 1994's The Favor. Meanwhile, LD Distribution is projecting $3.4 million for The Collection in 1,403 theaters, which is less of a surprise, but still a disappointment. With those two misfires, the top of the chart is once more populated by Breaking Dawn, Part 2 and Skyfall, which are essentially neck and neck at this point, with Twilight topping $250 million domestically this weekend and Bond set to reach that landmark in the next few days.
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November 27th, 2012
It was a particularly busy week on top of the per theater chart with seven films topping the $10,000 mark. Leading the way was Hitchcock with an average of $16,924 in 17 theaters. This is good for a limited release, but not great, and given the competition at this time of year, it needed to be great to survive. Anna Karenina expanded from 16 theaters to 66 earning an average of $13,580. Again, this is good, but not great. Rust and Bone was next with an average of $13,577 in two theaters. If it had sold just one more ticket, it would have earned second place instead of third on this list. Lincoln actually saw its per theater average grow reaching $12,724. It has already expanded truly wide and it should expand at least a little bit more. Likewise, Silver Linings Playbook should also expand more, as its per theater average this week was $11,945; however, it likely won't expand wide. The overall box office leader, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2, was next up with an average of $10,723. The Central Park Five topped $10,000 on the per theater chart, barely, with an average of $10,190 in three theaters. Skyfall was the final film in the $10,000 club with an average of $10,069. It is pretty rare for a film to remain above that mark for three weeks in a row.
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November 25th, 2012
As expected, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2 and Skyfall are dominating the Thanksgiving charts, and, with some help from three new releases and two strong holdovers, will produce the most lucrative Thanksgiving holiday in history. All told, we should see something a little over $200 million in revenue for the three-day portion of the weekend, placing it in the top 20 weekends of all time. Breaking Dawn, Part 2 is tracking about in line with Part 1 at this point in its run. In contrast, Skyfall is well ahead of James Bond's previous outing, and has become the first Bond movie to top $200 million domestically (before adjusting for inflation).
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November 23rd, 2012
It's a pretty light week for limited releases. Hitchcock is by far the biggest release, but its reviews are only mixed, so its box office chances are not strong. On the other hand, The Central Park Five is earning reviews that are strong enough that it should thrive, at least in limited release. It is very rare for a documentary to expand wide, even under the best of circumstances.
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November 1st, 2012
October was pretty good with a few films really crushing expectations, which made up for the few duds that opened at the end. 2012 gained about $100 million over 2011 during the month of October. We really needed this success and hopefully November will continue this push forward. However, November is a bit of a weird month. There are five weekends, but only eight true wide releases, half of which open on the Thanksgiving long weekend, leaving the other four weeks with just one true wide release each. There are a couple others opening in the semi-wide level and another opening in limited release with a planned wide release, but even so, it is not a busy month. That said, it is a case of quality over quantity. There are four films that are pretty much guaranteed to reach $100 million, one of which should reach $300 million. By comparison, last November only produced one $100 million film. Granted, that film was The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 1, which made nearly $300 million, which is a huge number no matter how you look at it. But this year, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2 should top that number and with the other $100 million movies pulling in more than $400 million combined, it should be a very profitable month at the box office.
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