December 15th, 2015
Its Tuesday the 15th and you know what that means? It’s just a week away from the Steam Winter Sale!!! ... Also, Star Wars: The Force Awakens opens in just over 48 hours. Today we look at just how big The Force Awakens can be. Can it become the biggest hit of all time? If so, what path would it have to take to get there?
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December 8th, 2015
The Force Awakens opens in theaters in less than two weeks, and the hype is growing. In fact, it now looks like the film could break well over a dozen major records during its box office run, not including some of the more esoteric records, like biggest non-opening Wednesday (currently $29.07 million, and held by Transformers, in case you were wondering.) That’s a lot records to keep track of. So in the lead up to the launch, we will be looking at these possible records divided into three groups. Today, we are going to look at the records we think are the most likely to fall: the ones we think have a 90% chance or better of being broken by The Force Awakens. In fact, in some cases, they have already fallen.
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November 7th, 2013
It's a big week with several first run releases, some big TV on DVD, releases, and more to deal with. The only one that truly rises to the level of Pick of the Week is Mad Men: Season Six, but the screener arrived late and I hate awarding Pick of the Week to a title when that happens. The only other release I really want to see is White House Down, but that's more guilty pleasure than Pick of the Week. I guess it goes to Mad Men: Season Six on DVD or Blu-ray.
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May 31st, 2013
The overall home market again sank for the week of April 14th, 2013 falling to what was arguably the lowest level for the year. Since there was only one new release to reach the top ten, it should come as no surprise that the total sales fell from last week, but it is still troubling. In total, there were 688,000 units sold and $17.95 million in revenue generated. This was 24% fewer units and 37% less revenue when compared to last week. Even more troubling, this was the lowest units sold all year and second lowest by revenue. Fortunately, and more importantly, it was better than the same weekend last year by 26% in terms of units and 34% in terms of revenue. The overall Blu-ray share was mostly flat at 31% in terms of units and 38% in terms of revenue. It will be this way for most of the summer, until the flood of TV on DVD releases start coming out, at which time the Blu-ray share will drop.
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May 31st, 2013
Like the DVD sales chart, there were almost no new releases to find a place on the April 14th, 2013 edition of the Blu-ray sales chart. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey rose to the top of the chart 104,000 units / $2.60 million for the week and 1.93 million units / $45.02 million after four.
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May 31st, 2013
There were only three new releases to reach the top 30 on the April 14th, 2013 edition of the DVD sales chart and none of them reached the top five. This left the top five identical to last week. The Bible: The Epic Miniseries sold 161,000 units and generated $5.29 million in sales for the week, lifting its running tallies to 597,000 units / $19.60 million.
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May 23rd, 2013
There were a couple of new releases to chart on the April 7th, 2013 edition of the Blu-ray sales chart. This includes The Bible: The Epic Miniseries, which earned first place with 172,000 units / $6.31 million. Its opening week Blu-ray share was 28%, which is low for the format as a whole, but better than expected, given its genre and target audience.
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May 23rd, 2013
New releases were nearly shut out of the April 7th, 2013 edition of the DVD sales chart. That said, the one and only new release to chart was The Bible: The Epic Miniseries, which earned first place with 436,000 units / $14.31 million.
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May 19th, 2013
There were quite a few new releases to reach the upper echelon of the March 31st, 2013 edition of the Blu-ray sales chart. Lincoln was the best of these earning first place with 496,000 units / $14.24 million during its first week of release for a Blu-ray share of 38%. This is really good for a drama.
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May 19th, 2013
The week of March 31st, 2013 was a strange week on the home market, as it contained Easter weekend. Easter sales helped a lot of older releases rise on the DVD sales chart. Even so, a new release, Lincoln, led the way with 818,000 units / $15.62 million.
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May 9th, 2013
The overall Blu-ray market was spectacular during the week of March 24, 2013. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey led all new releases. Sales soared compared to last week, rising 59% in terms of units and 60% in terms of revenue reaching totals of 2.87 million units / $68.51 million. This is the best weekend sales for a non-holiday shopping season week. Its growth from last year was even better, up 95% in terms of units and 93% in terms of revenue. The overall Blu-ray share rose to 48% in terms of units and 58% in terms of revenue. This was just a fantastic week for the format.
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May 9th, 2013
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey was one of three new releases to finish in the top three spots on the March 24th, 2013 edition of the Blu-ray sales chart. It sold 1.36 million units and generated $31.34 million for an opening week Blu-ray share of 56%. It wasn't that long ago that reaching the 50% mark would have been record-breaking, but here it was expected.
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May 9th, 2013
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey dominated the new releases and easily won first place on the March 24th edition of the DVD sales chart. The film sold 1.07 million units and generated $13.05 million in opening week sales, putting it in the top ten of the year after just one week of release.
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March 21st, 2013
Oz the Great and Powerful remained in first place with $48.2 million on 10,433 screens in 55 markets for totals of $138.6 million internationally and $282.7 million worldwide. The film took top spot in France with a hair under $5.00 million on 620 screens. During its second weekend in Russia, the film added $4.93 million on 1,137 screens for a total of $21.63 million so far. At this pace, it should have no trouble earning a profit. The only question is whether or not it will get there before it reaches the home market.
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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 15th, 2013
Oz the Great and Powerful began its international run in first place with $69.2 million on 11,250 screens in 46 markets. It crushed the competition is Russia with $14.65 million on 1,137 screens, but this particular market tends to reward fantasy films. It wasn't quite as strong in the U.K., but still earned first place with $5.53 million on 530 screens. It also topped the charts in Mexico ($5.26 million on 207 screens); in Australia ($4.88 million on 268); in Brazil ($4.39 million 732); Italy ($3.76 million 588); Germany ($3.74 million on 548); and in Spain ($2.62 million on 649). On the other hand, it had to settle for second place in Japan with $2.81 million on 584 screens over the weekend for a total opening of $3.50 million. It could do no better than fourth in South Korea with $1.58 million on 425 screens over the weekend for a total opening of $1.73 million. It is too soon to tell where it will end up, but this is a good start.
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March 6th, 2013
Journey To The West: Conquering The Demons earned first place for the third weekend in a row earning $23.37 million in 8 markets for a running tally of $193.09 million. A few years ago, a Chinese film earning nearly $200 million would have been the biggest news of the year, but this is becoming almost common.
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February 28th, 2013
A Journey To The West: Conquering The Demons remained in first place with $54.93 million in 6 markets for a total of $168.02 million after three weeks of release. It is the biggest Chinese film released this year, but it won't be the last to get to the century mark.
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January 30th, 2013
There was a relatively close race on top of the international chart, but Django Unchained came out on top for the second week in a row. This time it earned $43.10 million on 6,421 screens in 64 markets for a total of $111.61 million after just two weeks of release. It is rapidly closing in on Inglourious Basterds as Quentin Tarantino's biggest hit of his career. It is also the most expensive film in his career. The film opened in first place in Australia with $3.95 million on 330 screens over the weekend for a total opening of $5.61 million. It also remained in top spot in Germany with an incredible $8.08 million on 650 screens over the weekend for a two-week total of $21.32 million.
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January 23rd, 2013
Django Unchained began its international run in first place with $49.70 million on 5,863 screens in 54 markets. It opened in first place in a number of major markets, led by Germany, where it made $9.84 million on 482 screens, while it was nearly as potent in France with $7.54 million on 610 screens. It also earned first place in Italy with $4.60 million on 541 screens and in Spain with $3.40 million on 541. It had to settle for second place in the U.K. ($4.45 million on 445 screens); in Russia ($5.52 million on 736); and in Mexico ($999,000 on 451). It only managed third place in Brazil with $1.27 million, but it was only playing on 187 screens. Overall, this debut was 30% better than Inglourious Basterds' debut in the same markets.
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January 16th, 2013
Life of Pi remained in first place on the international chart with $34.95 million on 9,291 screens in 67 markets. Its totals reached $359.11 million internationally and $453.91 million worldwide. The film's biggest market of the weekend was Russia, where it earned $4.45 million on 1,575 screens over the weekend for a total of $25.07 million after two.
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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 10th, 2013
Life of Pi rose to first place with $59.30 million on 10,027 screens in 64 markets for a total of $302.04 million internationally and $393.08 million worldwide. The film reportedly dominated the Russian box office with $14.2 million on 1,600 screens. It had to settle for second place in Australia with $5.18 million on 545 screens over the weekend for a total of $8.36 million. It managed third place in South Korea with $3.06 million on 392 screens over the weekend for a total opening of $5.35 million. This film has yet to open in Japan and a few smaller markets, so it isn't done yet and it should have no trouble getting to $500 million worldwide.
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January 7th, 2013
There was a pleasant surprise during the first weekend of 2013, as Texas Chainsaw 3D opened in first place with more than $20 million. Django Unchained also beat that milestone. The overall box office still fell from last weekend, down 18% to $147 million, but this is to be expected for a post-holiday weekend. It was 5.9% higher than the same weekend last year and 2013 is off to an early lead over 2012 at $253 million to $191 million. Hopefully I don't have to tell you it is way too early to pay serious attention to those numbers, but it is better to win early than fall behind.
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January 4th, 2013
Its the first weekend of 2013 and there is one new wide release and a previous limited release expanding semi-wide. Will either film compete for top spot? Not likely. There are some recent examples of horror films opening well in January, so Texas Chainsaw 3D could be a surprise hit, but there's also a chance it won't reach the top 5. Meanwhile, Promised Land is a message movie, but one that has limited appeal beyond those that agree with the message. This means The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey will remain on top of the box office chart. If it does so, it will mean in the past nine weeks, only three films have earned first place over the weekend. 2012 got off to a strong start and last year the box office was led by The Devil Inside, which made $33.73 million. I don't think any film will make $20 million over the weekend this year, so 2013 could start off on a losing note.
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January 3rd, 2013
We are still stuck with studio estimates, but it is clear The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey repeated on the top of the international box office chart this past weekend. It earned $106.5 million in 62 markets for totals of $464 million internationally and $686 million worldwide. Its biggest opening of the weekend was from Australia where it earned $18.6 million on 560 screens. This is the biggest opening in the franchise. It also remained strong in Germany with $17.17 million on 888 screens over the weekend, which represented an 11% increase and pushed its total to $61.14 million after three weeks of release. It was also able to earn more than $10 million in the U.K. with $11.18 million on 596 screens over the weekend for a total of $58.51 million after three weeks of release. The film has yet to open in a few markets, so getting to $1 billion worldwide is still the main target.
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January 3rd, 2013
All of the final box office numbers we're going to get are in, so let's take a look at the last two weeks at the box office. There were not a lot of changes with the final numbers and no film switched places, so there's not a lot to update. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey remained in top spot in both weeks with Django Unchained in close second this weekend and Jack Reacher a distant second the weekend before. The year ended with $10.76 billion, or about 5.8% higher than last year's total and just a hair above 2009's record total.
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December 31st, 2012
The last news story of the year is the weekend wrap-up, but since many studios are still closed for the holidays, we are still dealing with estimates. It appears that The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey won a close race for top spot just ahead of Django Unchained. Additionally, every film in the top five came within a rounding error of predictions, or was better than expected, and the overall box office was massive compared to last year. We won't have final numbers for the last two weekends till Wednesday or Thursday, so there will be a lot of catching up to do, but it is hard to complain about the results we've seen.
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December 28th, 2012
There are three wide releases this weekend; however, all of them were released on Christmas day, so we have a few box office numbers to look at. Les Miserables was a surprise winner on Christmas day, while both Django Unchained and Parental Guidance also beat expectations, which bodes well for their perform this weekend. Even so, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey will likely remain in top spot as it crosses $200 million domestically. Compared to last year the box office looks pretty good. No film topped $30 million last year, but The Hobbit should get to that mark this year. However, last year seven films topped $10 million, while only six will do so this year. 2013 has a shot at ending on a winning note, but it should be close.
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December 27th, 2012
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey remained on top of the international chart with an estimated $96 million on 18,417 screens in 59 markets for a total of $288.5 million. This includes a first place, $17.8 million opening on 2,115 screens in Russia. It also had an amazing hold in Germany down just 6% to $14.2 million on 1,408 screens over the weekend for a total of $36.7 million after two. The film's best market remained the U.K. where it has made $38.4 million, including $9.8 million on 1,546 screens this past weekend, but that is a pretty steep drop-off.
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December 27th, 2012
This year, Christmas fell on a really awkward day and compounded with the smart decision for some studios to close the entire week, dealing with the weekend box office numbers is a little trickier this year. We are still stuck with a mixture of final numbers and studio estimates, but since we won't get absolute final numbers till likely January 2nd, we should at least talk about the numbers we have. We won't be able to compare the full weekend to last week or last year, because we don't have the full weekend numbers. But since most of the films failed to match expectations, things look grim.
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December 20th, 2012
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey entered the international chart in first place with $138.0 million on 18,165 screens in 56 markets. Leading the way was the U.K. with $18.80 million on 598 screens, while it also cracked $10 million in Germany with $15.13 million on 877 screens over the weekend for a total opening of $17.19 million. It also came very close in France with $9.77 million on 958 screens. The film had similar strong openings in Spain with $7.98 million on 1,052 screens and in South Korea with $7.29 million on 1,028 screes over the weekend, although it had a total opening of $8.50 million.
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December 19th, 2012
For the next week, starting tonight and running till Christmas day, there are eight films opening wide, or at least wide enough to predict they will enter the top ten. Despite that level of competition, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, will very likely remain in top spot. Jack Reacher looks to be the best of the new releases, at least for the weekend. Meanwhile, This is 40 probably won't start as fast, but Judd Apatow's films tend to have really good legs. Monsters, Inc. is debuting in 3D tonight, but is destined to be a midlevel hit and nothing more. The Guilt Trip is also opening tonight, but I'm not sure it has the buzz to even be a midlevel hit. The final new release of the weekend is Cirque du Soleil: Worlds Away, but with an opening theater count of just 800, it will struggle just to reach to the top ten. And because Christmas lands on the Tuesday, and we won't have another weekend prediction column till Friday, we need to talk about the three Christmas day releases, Django Unchained, Les Miserables, and Parental Guidance. Last year, Christmas day landed on the Sunday, which makes the comparisons between weekends nearly impossible. I'm going to assume 2012 is going to come out ahead, mainly because they had nothing to compare to The Hobbit, so as long as this year's new releases are as strong as last years holdovers, victory is a safe bet.
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December 18th, 2012
The winners of our Expect the Unexpected contest were determined and they are...
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December 18th, 2012
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey had a record-breaking start on IMAX earning $15.1 million on 452 screens worldwide, which is the best ever December opening for the format. The worldwide total was split $10.1 million on 326 screens domestically and $5 million on 126 screens internationally.
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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 17th, 2012
In a result that surprised absolutely no one, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey earned first place on top of the chart this weekend. It earned more than the entire box office earned last weekend leading to a 70% increase week-over-week to $136 million. Compared to last year, the box office was 15% higher, as The Hobbit made more than last year's three wide releases opened with combined. Year-to-date, 2012 has earned $10.19 billion, which is 6.1% higher than last year's pace. Additionally, the year is about $100 million away from topping 2011's final tally. It should have no trouble surpassing that total some time over the weekend. On the other hand, it is still far behind the record set by 2009.
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December 13th, 2012
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey opens this weekend and it will clearly be the biggest hit of the month and likely the biggest hit of the winter. There is roughly a 100% chance that The Hobbit will earn first place and nearly all analysts think it will earn more than the entire box office earned last week. It might even earn more than the entire box office made last year. Last year, the box office was led by Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, which made just under $40 million, while second place went to Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chip-Wrecked with just over $23 million. If The Hobbit doesn't make more than those two films made combined, then the box office is in serious trouble.
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December 7th, 2012
There's only one wide release coming out next weekend and it is expected to be huge. In fact, it should be the biggest hit of the winter. Yes, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is opening next weekend and if it doesn't earn first place, then box office analysts will throw in their towel and give up hope, because nothing in the industry will make sense anymore. I would argue there's a better chance of the so-called Mayan doomsday prediction coming true than The Hobbit not opening in first place. Hyperbole aside, The Hobbit is the only choice for the target film in this week's box office prediction contest. In order to win, one must simply predict the opening weekend box office number for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.
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 Homeland: Season One on Blu-ray.
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 American Horror Story: Season One on Blu-ray.
Entries must be received by 10 a.m., Pacific Time on Friday to be eligible, so don't delay!
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December 1st, 2012
November was a strong month and left 2012 with a very easy path to a new all time record. There was only one major miss the entire month, Rise of the Guardians, while The Silver Linings Playbook was pulled from wide release at the last minute, so it is a little hard to judge its box office performance. On the positive side, Skyfall might top original expectations by $100 million. All this December has to do is maintain pace with last December to ensure 2012 sets the new record. I would like to say that will be easy to do, but I really don't know. Last year, there was only one $200 million hit, Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, plus a few others that reached $100 million, so the bar isn't set too high. This year, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is expected to at least come close to $300 million. Some think it will earn more than $400 million. However, it could also be the last film to make $100 million till February. December is normally a very good month to release a film, but the release schedule is so messed up that it makes it very hard to predict what will happen. There appears to be just ten films opening truly wide this month (I'm getting mixed signals on a few of them). That's a really light schedule for a month and a light schedule tends to help maximize the box office potential for individual films. However, eight of these films open wide within a seven-day period. That's insane. There's no way all of those films will find an audience and there's a chance that due to the competition, none of them will. Let's hope the situation isn't as bad as that, but there are some serious reasons to be concerned for most new releases coming out this month.
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August 24th, 2008
This week's round of new movie release information contains release dates for The International, Youth in Revolt, Fame and more!
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July 31st, 2008
This week's round of new casting information contains updates for Finding Amanda, The Hobbit, Inglorious Bastards, and more!
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January 31st, 2008
This week's round of new casting information contains updates for Duplicity, G.I. Joe, Public Enemies, and more!
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December 25th, 2007
This week another number of upcoming movies, new stars and directors have been added to our archive!
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