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.
More...
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.
More...
April 8th, 2013
It's another bad week on the home market. According to Amazon.com, the biggest release of the week is the fifth season of Merlin, which is a British TV show. Gabriel Iglesias' latest Stand-Up Concert DVD is right behind. The rest of the top five is filled with a canceled cable show and a poorly reviewed limited release. The best release of the week is Naked Lunch Criterion Collection Blu-ray, which is great, but not quite Pick of the Week material. (It is just too bizarre for most people.) Fortunately, Lincoln on Four-Disc Blu-ray Combo Pack finally arrived and I was able to review it. Despite it not coming out this week, or this month, it is still the Pick of the Week material. It towers that high above this week's releases. I do hope more people check out Sexy Evil Genius on DVD than its sales ranking indicates.
More...
January 29th, 2013
John Dies at the End didn't crash and burn at the box office. I'm genuinely surprised. The film's reviews were mixed, and generally speaking, even great reviews are no guarantee for a limited release. Also, it opened on Video on Demand before coming out in theaters, which is usually a death sentence for a film's box office chances. However, John Dies at the End earned first place on the per theater chart with $12,467 in its lone theater. The only other film to top $10,000 on the per theater chart was Happy People: A Year in the Taiga with $10,481, also in one theater.
More...
January 15th, 2013
Quartet opened on top of the per theater chart with an average of $23,561 in two theaters. This is very impressive, especially for this time of year. Amour expanded from 3 to 15 theaters, but you couldn't tell from its per theater average, as it held very well down just 14% to $17,138.
More...
January 8th, 2013
Zero Dark Thirty remained on the top of the per theater chart with an average of $44,933 in 60 theaters. To emphasize, the film saw its theater count leap from 5 to 60, but its per theater average only dropped 29% from $63,283 to $44,933. That's a lower drop-off than the average film in the top ten. At this point, expanding wide is a given, while the film has a solid shot at $100 million. 56 Up opened very strong with $22,088 in one theater. This should help it expand, but it is a documentary, so it is not going to expand wide. Amour remained in the $10,000 club with an average of $19,944. It is still playing in 3 theaters, but it should have room to expand significantly.
More...
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.
More...
December 16th, 2012
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is one of the most-keenly anticipated films of 2012, and its opening weekend hasn't disappointed. Warner Bros. is projecting an $84.775 millioon opening weekend, which is comfortably the biggest December weekend of all time. The film also, unsurprisingly, takes the record for biggest day in December. Tempering the celebrations a little is the fact that it will most likely be only the 37th-biggest opening weekend. However, a mid-December opening gives the film a chance to play through the long Holiday weekends to come. Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings franchise films have enjoyed multipliers of between 5 and 6 on their opening weekend, which makes The Hobbit a very good bet for a final tally of $350 million, and $400 million can't be ruled out at this stage.
- Biggest Weekends in December
- Biggest Days in December
- Biggest Opening Weekends at the Box Office
More...
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.
More...
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.
More...
December 9th, 2012
Skyfall returns to the top of the chart this weekend as another new release fails to catch on with audiences and films playing for a 3rd, 4th or 5th weekend battle for top billing. The new release that has missed out this time around is Playing for Keeps, which will land in 6th place with around $6 million. Above it, Rise of the Guardians, Lincoln and Life of Pi are all holding up well on a week-to-week basis (down 21%, 32% and 32% respectively), but Skyfall will win the weekend thanks to its existing momentum. Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2 continues to tumble -- it will be down 47% this weekend -- but it will still come in third with just over $9 million.
More...
December 7th, 2012
It is a really, really busy week for limited releases. However, of the more than a dozen films on this week's list, only one of them is earning overwhelmingly positive reviews, Wagner and Me. That film is a documentary, so even if it does perform well during its opening weekend, it likely won't find any mainstream success. All of the rest are either earning too few reviews to have a Tomatometer Score, or have overall negative reviews. Combined with the previously released Awards Season hopefuls, and there's too much competition for such weak films.
More...
