May 24th, 2011
While we have two first run releases coming out this week, the number one seller according to Amazon.com is a specialty release, and the bulk of the interesting titles are Blu-ray catalog releases. Granted, one of the first run releases nearly hit $100 million at the box office, but this is still a really bad sign in terms of overall sales. As far as the best of the best, that's a race between The Kids in the Hall: Complete Series Megaset and Platoon on Blu-ray. I'm going with the former for Pick of the Week, but make sure to check the price, as buying Death Comes to Town and the old Megaset might be cheaper.
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May 19th, 2011
Hotel Rwanda opened in limited release in 2004 and thanks to incredible reviews and talk of possible Oscar glory, it was able to earn $23.5 million, despite never playing in 1000 theaters or cracking the top ten. It also earned 3 Oscar nominations, but came home empty-handed. The film came out on Blu-ray for the first time earlier this year, but only as a Best Buy exclusive, Now out in general release. For those that waited, is the movie worth picking up in High Definition?
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October 2nd, 2005
Red Eye added another $3.7 million on 2,057 screens in 37 markets to its $22 million international total. The film opened in second place in both Spain with $850,000 on 215 screens and in the Netherlands with $250,000 on 59 ($300,000 including previews).
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September 4th, 2005
War of the Worlds opened in its last international market over the weekend making $3.0 million on 583 screens in China. That's about 10% more money that
Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith earned, but
War of the Worlds needed nearly double the number of screens. Overall the film added $4.5 million to its $345 million international total, easily the second best of the year so far.
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August 28th, 2005
The Skeleton Key opened in 10- more markets over the weekend and in now playing on 1400 screens, however, it still hasn't found the success the studio was hoping for. It did open in first place in Germany, but it still had a very soft opening with $1.6 million. It also opened in first place in Russia with $625,000 over the weekend and $780,000 since Thursday, but in Australia and New Zealand it had to settle for a distant second place with $760,000 and $110,000 respectively.
The Skeleton Key also open in Austria with $230,000 for the week, but its placing is unknown at the moment. Add in holdovers in France, ($250,000 for $2.2 million) and the U.K., ($130,000 for $4.5 million) and you have roughly $4 million for the weekend and $16.5 million so far.
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April 30th, 2005
As expected, Meet the Fockers was the top draw at the home market, earning the trifecta in the process.
The film took in $10.46 million in DVD rentals as well as $1.86 million in VHS rentals.
The movie also sold 3 million combined in DVD and VHS units on its opening day alone, one of the better sellers of the year.
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April 24th, 2005
Hitch is just coasting on holdovers now, and will be until it opens in Japan at the beginning of June. This week it added $5.1 million from 3000 screens in 55 markets to its already impressive $170.4 million international total and with soft week to week drop-offs and a good showing in Japan and it will have a $200 million future. This week the film added $643,359 in its fifth weekend in France for a $12,785,670 total in the market, $110,000 in its second weekend in Argentina, (rising to first place in the meantime) as well as other, smaller markets.
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April 23rd, 2005
Ocean Twelve easily took top spot on both the DVD, VHS rental charts as well as the DVD sales charts. On the rental side the
sequel brought in $10.10 million in DVD rentals and $1.25 million in VHS rentals, nearly double its nearest competitor. On the sales side exact numbers are unknown, but it was so popular that the
original rode the wave into the top ten.
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April 17th, 2005
The Pacifier finally debut across Australia after playing in Queensland and Victoria for the past two weeks; the massive expansion allowed the film to climb to first place with $1.125 million on 267 screens. That lifted its total in the market to $3.41 million so far and the film should have strong legs. Add to that its $1.75 million opening in Spain and $590,000 in Belgium and the film managed $4.1 million over the weekend, which doubled its early total to $8.1 million.
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April 11th, 2005
Every week films get a second chance at success from the home market; or, in some cases, a first chance at success. Here is a list of wide releases, limited releases and a few from the growing TV on DVD section including this week's winners, which we'll get to in a moment. But first I have to say this is a really bad week for DVD releases, there's a least 6 that are worth picking up and choosing just one for the pick of the week is nearly impossible. But I did narrow the choices down to two,
Hotel Rwanda -
Buy from Amazon and
Sledge Hammer! - Season Two -
Buy from Amazon... and Harvey Birdman Attorney at Law, Vol. 1 -
Buy from Amazon. The Invader ZIM - House Box Set -
Buy from Amazon looks too cool to pass up as well, but that's it. Ok, renting
DiG! -
Buy from Amazon wouldn't be a mistake either.
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March 27th, 2005
Million Dollar Baby has again slipped off the radar screen, but we do know it hit $52 million internationally, which means it made $9 million during the week. The film didn't earn $1 million in any single market, but is still doing strong in South Korea, ($970,000), Spain, ($840,000), Italy, ($600,000) and Australia, ($350,000.) Best estimate has the film earning just shy of $5 million of that over the weekend and taking sixth place on the international box office charts.
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March 20th, 2005
After gathering in all the data the winner for the race for fifth place is
Million Dollar Baby, I think. It would need to lost more than 40% from last week's total and that's not taking into account its openings in South Korea at $1,515,672 and second place, its $110,000, third place debut in Finland, $86,000 in Russia, $50,000, second place debut in Hong Kong. Unfortunately, exact weekend totals are unknown but it is estimated at $6 million raising its international total to $43 million so far.
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March 13th, 2005
Shark Tale finished its international run with a second place $2.08 million opening in Japan on 485 screens. Its $4,296 per screen average it quite low for the market and generally means the film won't have the usual legs films in Japan have. The film performed much better in Italy where it finished first again with $3.0 million, down just 23% during its sophomore stint. Overall it took in $5.2 million to raise its international total to $181 million, but without any more openings it might struggle to hit $200 million.
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March 8th, 2005
No film was able to reach the $10,000 club on the per theater charts this week, but at least two films were close. Leading the way was the overall box office leader, The Pacifier, which opened with an average of $9,758.
In second place with $9,020 was last week's winner, Downfall.
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March 6th, 2005
The Aviator beat weekend estimates by a substantial margin leading to a $5.9 million box office on 3000 screens in 34 markets. The multi-
Oscar winning movie has hit $86.2 million internationally and will cross $200 million worldwide before too long. The film dropped a spot to fifth place in South Korea with $834,660 for the week and slipped to second in Australia with $798,000. The only market the film opened it was Argentina, where it easily took top spot with $232,000.
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February 23rd, 2005
Only two films were able to crack the $10,000 club this week, at least if you only count the three day weekend.
The charts were led by the German Oscar contender, Downfall, which opened in only one theater and earned $18,195 over the 3-day weekend, and $24,220 if you add in the holiday Monday.
In second place was Bride and Prejudice with a per theater average of $10,047 / $12,015.
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February 20th, 2005
The Annual Writers Guild Awards held their 57th annual awards on Saturday. Among the more than a dozen awards handed out were three for theatrical releases, including the inaugural award for best
documentary, (which had been handed out earlier.)
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February 8th, 2005
This week we again have only one film in the $10,000 club, as Nobody Knows easily topped the per theater charts with a $16,197 average in just two theaters.
That was nearly double the second place film, and last week's winner, Raging Bull.
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February 5th, 2005
The 11th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards are handed out tonight and while there are numerous awards only five are for theatrical releases.
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February 4th, 2005
As usual, there is an eclectic mix of limited releases this week with inspirational sports stories, a musical documentary , a mockumentary, Oscar hopefuls that just missed the cut, and more.
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February 1st, 2005
Oscar Nominations gave a box office boost to many films this past weekend while other films are too far into their runs for it to make a difference, (
The Motorcycle Diaries) or out of theatres completely, (
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.) But of the 35 films that received
Oscar Nominations, 17 saw increases in either their overall box office, per theatre average or both.
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January 28th, 2005
A handful of limited releases on this week's list, including the latest IMAX film.
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January 25th, 2005
The Oscar Nominations were announced this morning and at first glance it appears that most of the nominations went to films with smaller budgets and box office results.
Box office hits were nearly shut out of the major nominations.
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January 21st, 2005
It's another light week for limited releases.
However, several that won Golden Globes this past Sunday will see their theater counts increase.
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January 18th, 2005
Million Dollar Baby climbed back into first place on the per theater charts with an average of $14,868 in 122 theaters. The only other film to beat the $10,000 mark was Short Cut to Nirvana: Kumbh Mela with $12,127 in its lone theater.
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January 11th, 2005
Four of last week's five films in the $10,000 club managed to repeat that feat this week with In Good Company continuing its reign on the charts. The film, which opens wide this week, dropped a mere 5% at the box office earning an average of $48,050 in three theatres. Well back at $17,619 was Million Dollar Baby, which did an amazing job holding onto its per theatre average despite increasing its theatre count from just 9 to 109. On the other hand, The Merchant of Venice dropped almost 30% to $12,237 even though its theatre count was unchanged. Another film holding up well despite massive gains in its theatre count was Hotel Rwanda with $11,155 on average in 105 theatres. Rounding out the $10,000 club was the only new wide release this weekend, White Noise with $10,665.
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January 7th, 2005
Just a pair of new openings on the limited release front, but there are also a few more films expanding wider tonight as well.
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January 4th, 2005
As you can probably guess from the grammatically incorrect headline,
In Good Company took top spot on the Per Theatre Charts with an amazing $50,583 average in three theatres over the weekend and a total of $225,000 since the film opened on Wednesday. Coming in second is the oldest film in the $10,000 club,
Million Dollar Baby, which saw its per theatre average jump to $30,164 in nine theatres and has already topped $1 million during its limited run.
Hotel Rwanda also saw its per theatre average climb and earned $20,340 in 7 theatres and needs to expand quickly to take advantage of its strong start. Oscar hopeful,
The Merchant of Venice, started well with nearly $70,000 over the weekend and over $100,000 since its Wednesday opening, which works out to a $17,467 average in 4 theatres. Rounding out the $10,000 club was the overall box office leader,
Meet the Fockers with an average of $11,845.
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December 28th, 2004
While it didn't actually earn $1 million this weekend, Million Dollar Baby did top the per theatre charts with an average of $21,066, while fellow Oscar hopeful, Hotel Rwanda, came in second place with a respectable $14,299 average in 7 theatres. Rounding out the $10,000 club was overall box office champion, Meet the Fockers with $13,110.
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December 24th, 2004
A handful of films open in limited release this week looking for Oscar glory. Some opened on Wednesday, some tonight, some tomorrow and there are even more opening next Wednesday, but we'll get to those later.
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December 23rd, 2004
During the past week promotional websites for several movies were launched and some older ones added additional content. Here the list of this week's releases, a couple of new sites and few updates, including this week's winner
Hotel Rwanda -
Official Site. If you know of any new movie websites not on this list feel free to
e-mail me with the details.
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December 14th, 2004
Golden Globe Nominations were announced on Monday and as with the
IFP Independent Spirit Awards,
Sideways lead the pack with 7 nominations. This does not mean it is the favorite in any particular category, but it does help its chances of taking home some hardware on January 16th.
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