May 23rd, 2015
There was only one big new release on the DVD sales chart. Taken 3 earned an easy first place with 435,000 units / $6.48 million. This is well below the opening week sales of the first two films in the franchise.
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May 23rd, 2015
New releases were not terrible, which makes this week on the Blu-ray sales chart better than the past couple of weeks. Taken 3 earned first place with 253,000 units / $5.03 million over the week for an opening week Blu-ray share of 37%. Its raw numbers are significantly lower than Taken 2's opening week Blu-ray sales. Additionally, its opening week Blu-ray share was just 37%, which is lower than most action films. Then again, its reviews were awful, so even fans of the franchise might not be interested in spending extra to get the high definition version.
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May 15th, 2015
None of the new releases were able to top the DVD sales chart leaving The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies in first place with 73,000 units / $1.10 million over the week for a total of 1.13 million units / $16.92 million.
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May 15th, 2015
It was a bad week on the home market and none of the new releases sold more than 100,000 units on the Blu-ray sales chart. This includes the new number one release, Batman vs. Robin, which only sold 80,000 units / $1.34 million. This is much better than it performed on DVD and its opening week Blu-ray share was 65%.
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April 27th, 2015
There were no new releases to chart this week. However, there was a new film in top spot, or to be more accurate, a returning film in top spot. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies reclaimed first place with 109,000 units / $1.63 million for the week, giving it totals of 1.06 million units / $15.82 million after three weeks of release.
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April 27th, 2015
There was only one new release to chart this week and it didn't reach the top five. It barely reached the top 20. This means the top of the Blu-ray sales chart is mostly the same as it was last week. Interstellar remained in first place with 120,000 units / $2.46 million for the week and 839,000 units / $16.68 million after two.
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April 20th, 2015
Interstellar was the top new release and the top selling DVD. However, its opening week numbers were decidedly not stellar. The film sold 291,000 units and generated $4.45 million in revenue. This is barely more than The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies managed during its second week of release.
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April 20th, 2015
It was Easter the week the March 31st new releases came out and this had an effect with several, mostly family friendly films earning a boost on the Blu-ray sales chart. Even so, Interstellar opened in first place dominating the rest of the market. The film sold 732,000 units and generated $14.46 million in revenue, for an opening week Blu-ray share of 72%. Granted, this is a film that relies heavily on its special effects to draw in the audience, but that is still a shockingly high percentage.
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April 16th, 2015
The winners of our Long Time Coming contest were determined and the entrants with the closest predictions for The Longest Ride opening weekend were...
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April 13th, 2015
The Blu-ray sales chart nearly bounced back entirely up 51% in terms of units and 75% in terms of revenue when compared to last week. Having a trio of $100 million hits, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, Into the Woods, and Unbroken, enter the home market helps. The Blu-ray sales almost caught up to last year, with 11% fewer units sold, but 5.2% more revenue generated. Blu-rays were just a little stronger this week than DVD were and the overall Blu-ray rose a tiny bit to 45%.
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April 13th, 2015
The DVD sales chart was top heavy with new releases. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies earned first place with 682,000 units / $10.21 million, which is about on par with expectations. The Trilogy box set landed in 11th place with 33,000 units / $1.19 million.
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April 13th, 2015
There were five or six new releases to reach the top twenty on the Blu-ray sales chart. Leading the way was The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies with 832,000 units / $23.28 million, giving it an opening week Blu-ray share of 55%. This is a strong result, but not an unexpected one, as the film hits the right marks for strong sales on Blu-ray. It is a visually impressive film, it is a fantasy adventure film, and it is based on a popular franchise. The Battle of the Five Armies was also part of a franchise box set, which is the tenth best selling release of the week with 37,000 units / $1.87 million for a 53% opening week Blu-ray share. Technically these are two separate releases, but obviously they are connected enough to mention together.
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April 3rd, 2015
Next week there is only one wide release, The Longest Ride, but there's a good chance it will be stuck in second place behind Furious 7. Because there is only one wide release, there is only only one 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 Longest Ride.
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 Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies on
Blu-ray Combo Pack.
Whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend box office (Friday to Sunday),
without going under, will also win a Frankenprize consisting of a previously reviewed DVD or 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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April 1st, 2015
The winners of our Hard Target, Easy Contest contest were determined and the entrants with the closest predictions for Get Hard opening weekend were...
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March 24th, 2015
There are three $100 million theatrical hits arriving on the home market this week, which is amazing. However, that's really all that's coming out this week. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies is the biggest of these three hits, but it wasn't the best. The best is Into the Woods and given the lack of competition, the DVD or Blu-ray is the Pick of the Week.
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February 13th, 2015
Jupiter Ascending earned first place on the international chart with $32.5 million. At first glance, this doesn't seem too bad for an opening weekend on the international chart, except the film was playing in 65 markets, so it doesn't have a lot of room to grow. Its biggest market was Russia, where it earned first place with $4.97 million on 1,900 screens. On the other hand, it only managed fourth place in South Korea with $1.67 million on 561 screens over the weekend for a total opening of $2.03 million.
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February 4th, 2015
Running Man opened in top spot in both China and on the International chart with $37.05 million over the weekend in its native market. Films in China tend to have short legs, most of the time. There's still too much uncertainty to really predict the film's final box office numbers after just this weekend's results. On a side note, it wasn't that long ago that it would be unthinkable for a film opening in just China to finish first on the international chart. Now it is relatively common.
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January 29th, 2015
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies easily earned first place in China and that helped it rocket back to the top of the international chart with $54.3 million over the weekend for totals of $617.0 million internationally and $866.5 million worldwide. The film had a total opening of $50.00 million in China, which was more than the rest of the market combined.
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January 22nd, 2015
Taken 3 rose to first place during its third weekend of release earning $31.4 million in 49 markets for an international total of $99.0 million. Its biggest debut of the weekend was in the Philippines, where it earned first place with $2.5 million on 218 screens. It also earned first place in Russia, but with only $1.80 million on 1,438. Its biggest market was the U.K., where it remained in first place with $5.00 million in 500 theaters for a two-week total on $18.55 million.
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January 17th, 2015
The Oscar nominations were announced early in the morning, when all sensible people were asleep. There were some surprises, as well as some results that would have been surprises had it not been for the previous Awards Season nominations. Seventeen films earned two or more nods, led by Birdman and The Grand Budapest Hotel, both of which picked up nine nominations, while The Imitation Game was right behind with eight.
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January 15th, 2015
Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb rose to first place with $46.2 million in 48 markets for totals of $148.6 million internationally and $248.1 million worldwide. This includes a $26.39 million "opening" in China for an 8-day total of $31.06 million. 8-day opening? It also opened in first place in Russia with $5.55 million on 1,690 screens.
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January 13th, 2015
Taken 3 earned first place at the box office, as expected, but it did so earning close to $40 million, which is much more than expected. Unfortunately, the rest of the box office wasn't nearly as strong as the overall number fell 19% from last week to $126 million. Compared to last year, the box office this year was 10% lower than the same weekend last year. Year-to-date, 2015 is behind 2014's pace by 1.8%. However, while 2014 was the worst year at the box office in nearly two decades, last January was the second-best January ever, so it is still way too early to panic.
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January 11th, 2015
The BAFTA nominations were announced yesterday and unlike most other Awards Season voters, the BAFTA voters gave us some real surprises. For instance, Birdman didn't lead the way. In fact, it was a comedy, The Grand Budapest Hotel, that earned the most nominations at 11. Granted, Birdman and The Theory of Everything were tied for second place with ten each, but it is still strange to see a comedy leading the way.
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January 8th, 2015
It is a strange weekend at the box office with the number of wide releases being outnumbered by the number of wide expansions. Taken 3 is the only wide release and it is widely expected to top the chart by a significant margin. Selma is the best film on this week's list and should do well during its first wide weekend. On the other hand, it appears Inherent Vice is not opening truly wide and that it likely won't reach the top ten. This weekend last year was led by Lone Survivor, which earned $37.85 million during its first week of wide release, while the only new wide release was The Legend of Hercules with $8.87 million. There was also another not-so wide expansion, August: Osage County, which earned seventh place with $7.16 million. Overall, it looks like 2015's batch of new releases are not quite as strong as last year's were, but 2015 did win last weekend, so perhaps the holdovers can help 2015 come out on top of the year-over-year comparison.
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January 7th, 2015
It was a big week for The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, as it crossed the $500 million mark on the international box office. Over the weekend it pulled in $52.5 million in 65 markets for totals of $504.7 million internationally and $725.3 million worldwide. At this pace, the film will reach $800 million worldwide, possibly as early as this time next week. As for last weekend, there were very few new openings, but the film did earn first place in Argentina with $2.1 million on 397 screens. The film opens in China before the end of the month and the studio is obviously hoping for big numbers in that market.
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January 5th, 2015
2015 box office started off on a strong note with The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies leading the way with $21.73 million. More impressive, The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death earned fourth place with $15.03 million, which is significantly more than what most people were predicting. The overall box office was $155 million, which is 2% lower than last weekend. More importantly, it is 10% higher than the same weekend last year. Obviously it is far, far too early to judge 2015, but after what happened last year, I'll take any win and I'll be happy about it.
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January 2nd, 2015
The new year starts with just one new release, The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death. It's a horror film, which is a genre that is becoming common for early year releases. This is probably because these films are relatively cheap to produce, so they don't need a strong box office to break even. For example, this weekend last year, Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones, a horror film that cost $5 million to make, was the only wide release. I don't think Angel of Death will top The Marked Ones, but last weekend was strong in the year-over-year comparison, so perhaps the holdovers can help 2015 start on a winning note.
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January 1st, 2015
For the third week in a row, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies held onto first place with $89.0 million in 62 markets for totals of $405.1 million internationally and $573.6 million worldwide. The film opened in first place in Australia with $10.1 million on 603 screens, while the film was particularly strong in Poland earning $5.3 million on 699. By this time next week, it should be at $500 million internationally and $700 million worldwide, which is enough to break even, but not enough to keep pace with the franchise average.
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December 31st, 2014
American Sniper led the way on the per theater chart with an estimated average of $152,500 in four theaters. This is the second best per theater average of the year, behind just The Grand Budapest Hotel and ahead of The Imitation Game. Second place for the weekend was Selma, which earned an average of $30,076 in 19 theaters during their Oscar-qualifying run. Two Days, One Night was a surprise entry in the $10,000 club earning an average of $24,118 in two theaters. It earned amazing reviews, but it didn't have as much buzz behind it as other film's that opening on Christmas. Into the Woods was the best of the wide releases in the $10,000 club earning an average of $12,726 in 2,440 theaters. Last week's winner, Inherent Vice, was next with an estimated average of $12,500 in 16 theaters. The overall box office leader, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, earned an average of $10,689, while The Imitation Game was right behind with $10,618. The final film in the $10,000 club was Mr. Turner with an average of $10,498 in 24 theaters.
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December 30th, 2014
We are still dealing with studio estimates for the weekend numbers, but we can at least tell you what film won, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, and roughly how much it earned, $41.42 million. The new releases were much closer than expected with Into the Woods and Unbroken both earning just over $30 million over the weekend. Because we don't have enough final numbers, we really can't compare the overall box office to last weekend or last year. So far, the final weekend of 2014 pulled in $200 million and that number should grow a little bit as box office numbers filter in. This is 52% more than last weekend and 2.3% more than the same weekend last year. I'm a little more bullish about January's box office chances after this result.
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December 24th, 2014
The winners of our The Devil Made Me Do It contest were determined and they are...
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December 23rd, 2014
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies remained in first place with $109 million in 59 markets for a two-week total of $269 million internationally and $358 million worldwide. It is still too early to tell where this film will end up, but by this time next week it should be well past $500 million worldwide, which is enough to pay for its production budget. The film debuted in first place in South Korea with $10.3 million. Meanwhile, it was tops in Spain and Italy with $6.5 million and $6.1 million respectively. Despite opening in nearly two dozen new markets, the film's biggest market was a holdover, Germany, where it added $13.3 million over the weekend to its running tally, which now sits at $38.6 million. It was also strong in the U.K. earning $8.5 million over the weekend for a total of $31.8 million after two, while in France the film made $8.2 million over the weekend for $25.5 million, also after two weeks of release.
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December 22nd, 2014
The $10,000 club was crowded this weekend with six films earning per theater averages of more than $10,000. This includes Inherent Vice, which led the way for the second time in a row earning an average of $29,055 in five theaters. This bodes well for its wide expansion in January. Speaking of expanding, The Imitation Game expanded from 25 theaters to 34 theaters earning an average of $25,253 in the process. It has already earned some measure of mainstream success and with room to grow, it will stay in theaters for a while. Mr. Turner was the best of the new limited releases earning an average of $21,728 in five theaters. Song of the Sea was next with $17,967 in one theater. The overall box office champ, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, earned an average of $14,122, which is lower than anticipated, but still pretty good. Finally, P.K. opened with an average of $13,108 in 272 theaters. It is rare that we get to talk about a Bollywood film in the $10,000 club.
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December 22nd, 2014
The Christmas break got off on a soft note with all three new wide releases failing to meet expectations by substantial numbers. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies got off to a good start on Wednesday, but plummeted the next day and couldn't recover. Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb failed to live up to the low end of expectations, while Annie's opening at least came close to predictions. We are still missing some numbers. Overall, the box office rose by more than 60% from last weekend to $135 million and this figure should rise a little as other numbers filter in. However, it likely won't rise by enough to match the $140 million earned the same weekend last year. I really thought 2014 would end its year-over-year slump this weekend, but alas, it was not to be. Year-to-date, 2014 has earned $9.60 billion, which is 4.6% lower than last year's pace.
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December 21st, 2014
After thirteen years (with a lengthy break in the middle), Peter Jackson’s Middle Earth Saga finally comes to an end this weekend with The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. Tolkein/Jackson fans are giving the franchise a rousing farewell, with $50 million expected this weekend and $90 million in total after five days. Comparisons are a little difficult, because the previous Hobbit installments opened on Fridays, but Desolation of Smaug racked up $86 million in its first five days and An Unexpected Journey hit $100 million on its fifth day in release. So this outing seems set to perform similarly overall, with $250 million – $300 million domestically and around $1 billion worldwide. That will solidify the franchise as the fourth-most successful in history, and if it can top $1.079 billion in this outing, it will be the only franchise ever to average more than $1 billion globally per film.
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December 18th, 2014
For most, this weekend represents the beginning of the Christmas break, so it comes as no surprise that there are three potentially big hits coming out this week. I'm a little surprised none of them are getting overwhelmingly positive reviews. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies is earning the best reviews of the week, but its Tomatometer Score is barely above 60%. Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb has been floating around 50% positive all week, while Annie is being destroyed by critics. This weekend last year, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug earned first place for the second weekend in a row. Meanwhile, the new releases were less impressive, as Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues earned second place with $26.23 million and Walking with Dinosaurs landed in the lower half of the top ten. The depth this year won't be as strong, but I still think 2014 will finally end its slump and win in the year-over-year comparison.
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December 17th, 2014
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies started its international run earning first place with $122.2 million on 15,395 screens in 37 markets. Not only did it earn the best opening of The Hobbit Trilogy, but it was often times the biggest opening in Peter Jackson's career, or even occasionally in Warner Bros' history. Its biggest opening came in Germany where it pulled in $20.5 million on 1,442 screens. Next up was the U.K. and France, which had nearly identical openings of $15.2 million on 1,489 screens and $15.1 million on 914 screens respectively. It earned $13.56 million on 2,390 screens in Russia. Brazil and Mexico were neck-and-neck with $6.8 million on 1,037 screens and $6.3 million on 2,775 screens respectively. It earned $2.4 million on 640 screens in Japan, which seems low compared to the other markets, but it is nearly double the debut The Desolation of Smaug earned.
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December 15th, 2014
All-in-all, the box office matched expectations, but sadly, that is not a good thing. Exodus: Gods and Kings opened with $24.12 million, which is anemic for a film that cost $140 million to make. Top Five had a better per theater average, but was playing in less than 1,000 theaters, so it will only become a midlevel hit, at best. Overall, the box office did rise 6.8% from last weekend, but this still only amounted to $83 million. Worse still, this was 43% lower than the same weekend last year. Last year, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug opened with $73.65 million, which is about 2% less than the top ten earned this year. It should come as no surprise that 2014 lost in the year-over-year comparison, while it continues to lose ground in the year-to-date race as well. Currently, 2014 has pulled in a total of $9.41 billion, which is 4.8% or $470 million lower than last year's pace. There's no chance 2014 will catch up at this point. I just hope it doesn't sink any lower.
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December 12th, 2014
Next week, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies opens on Wednesday. Normally this would prevent it from being the target film in our weekly box office prediction contest. However, it will still earn more than the other two wide releases, Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb and Annie, will make combined. As such, The Battle of the Five Armies is the clear choice for for 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 The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies.
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 At the Devil's Door on Blu-ray.
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 Cam2Cam 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 10th, 2014
The Screen Actors Guild nominations were announced Wednesday morning. Are there surprises worth mentioning? Is the Oscar picture beginning to take shape? Like with the Independent Spirit Awards, Birdman led the way this time earning four nominations from six categories, while Boyhood, The Imitation Game, and The Theory of Everything had three nods each.
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December 1st, 2014
November is over and there are not a lot of positive things to say about what happened during the month. There were a couple of films that matched expectations, but there were no breakout hits and a few that missed expectations by wide margins. Granted, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1 will top $300 million with relative ease, but that's still nearly $100 million lower than some people were predicting. The month ends with 2014 about $300 million behind 2013's pace and there's really no chance to catch up in December. That doesn't mean there are no films that will be worth watching in December. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies should at least earn $200 million, while $300 million is not out of the question. Additionally, there are several films that at least have a shot at $100 million at the box office, but not all will get there. At least this December and last December are on par with each other. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug topped $250 million while there were three others that topped $100 million. I think we will get the same result this month. Last year there were a lot more wide releases, but many of them bombed. I think this year the lack of competition will help more films reach their potential.
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