January 24th, 2012
Yesterday was one of the biggest days during Awards Season as The Oscar nominations were announced in the morning. It was a two horse race for top spot as far as the big winners are concerned. Hugo earned the most nominations with eleven, while The Artist was right behind with ten. However, one could argue The Artist is the bigger winner, as more of its nominations were in the more prestigious categories.
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October 22nd, 2011
Recently Jane Eyre was released in theaters and was a surprise hit, earning more than $10 million in limited release. Previously to that, the most recent adaptation of the Charlotte Brontë novel was released in 1996. That version of Jane Eyre starred Charlotte Gainsbourg and was also a sizable hit in limited release. Is the latest DVD release for the film worth grabbing?
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September 1st, 2011
Despite only managing fourth place on the DVD sales chart this week, Priest opened on top of the Blu-ray sales chart with 187,000 units / $4.24 million. Its opening Blu-ray ratio was 49% and this is great news for upcoming summer blockbusters, as it suggests they could break 50%.
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August 30th, 2011
There were six new releases to chart this week, but none were able to push Rio out of top spot. The film sold an additional 361,000 units lifting its running tally to 2.58 million units / $38.67 million after three weeks of release.
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August 16th, 2011
It's a deceptively busy week, as there are several significant releases hitting the home market on Tuesday. However, most of these are wide releases that flopped, to one degree or another. In fact, one of the best selling releases of the week is Jane Eyre, an early success story in limited release. When a limited release could conceivably lead the way in sales... well, that's a sure sign of weakness in the overall market. As for the best release of the week, that would have to go to The Big Lebowski Limited Edition Blu-ray Digibook. The latest season of Dexter would come close, but while the show is great, the releases are not Pick of the Week material.
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May 20th, 2011
This week's list of limited releases is not very strong with only one film with a better than 50% chance of making much noise. That film, Midnight in Paris, is the latest from Woody Allen and is earning the auteur's best reviews in more than a decade and a half. Perhaps it will be able to join Jane Eyre and Win Win at more than $10 million. (The latter hasn't made it there yet, but it should do so relatively soon.) Speaking of movies with $10-million ambitions, The Beaver was supposed to expand wide this weekend, but after struggling in limited release, that's not happening. It will be playing in more than 160 theaters, on the other hand, which is higher than most limited releases ever manage.
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May 17th, 2011
L'Amour Fou was the only film to top the $10,000 mark on the per theater chart, earning first place with an average of $18,625 in two theaters. The number two film on the overall box office chart, Bridesmaids, did at least come relatively close with an average of $8,995.
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April 12th, 2011
Red State continued its special engagement run earning $82,395 in one theater over the weekend. It has already earned $851,832 and will likely hit a major milestone, or two, before it has its official theatrical release. Blank City opened with $13,989 over the weekend and $21,412 since Wednesday, also in one theater. The Four Times was very, very close behind with $13,678 during its second weekend of release. Independent Spirit Award winner, Meek's Cutoff, was just able to grab a spot in the $10,000 club with an average of $10,021 in two theaters.
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April 10th, 2011
It's looking like another disappointing weekend at the box office, with Arthur performing well below expectations with a weak $12.6 million opening to leave Hop as the clear winner for a second consecutive weekend. The bunny movie posted an estimated $21.7 million, down 42% from its opening, which isn't bad, and it will be helped by Easter, one suspects. There were also some signs of life from two other openers: Hanna and Soul Surfer.
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April 5th, 2011
The Four Times led a group of three films that topped the $10,000 mark on the per theater chart this week with $16,192 in its lone theater. My Perestroika was next with $13,498, also in one theater. Meanwhile, the overall box office leader, Hop, was the final member of the $10,000 club with an average of $10,490.
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April 3rd, 2011
Universal have a shot at posting the biggest opening of 2011, thanks to a stronger than expected opening for Hop, which is currently estimated to open with $38.118 million. If that number holds up, it would just beat the $38.079 million opening enjoyed by Rango at the beginning of March. Encouraging as that performance is, it also highlights the overall weakness of the market in 2011, as four movies had opened over $40 million by this time last year, and Clash of the Titans debuted with $61 million the first weekend of April, making for another tough year-to-year comparison. The weekend as a whole will likely be down around 27% from last year, continuing the industry's losing streak into the second quarter.
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March 30th, 2011
Seven films topped the $10,000 mark on the per theater chart this week, but leading the way were last week's top two films: Bill Cunningham New York and Win Win. The former earned $21,786 in 3 theaters while the latter was right behind with $20,192 in 23. My Perestroika earned $17,680 in its lone theater over the weekend and $25,084 since its Wednesday opening. Mia and the Migoo and Miral were neck-and-neck at $16,975 and $16,561. They also share something else, bad reviews, so their futures are in doubt. Trophy Wife earned an average of $12,288 in seven theaters. Finally, Jane Eyre made nearly $1 million over the weekend in 90 theaters for an average of $10,778.
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March 27th, 2011
The last weekend in March have brought us another pair of movies opening in the high teens to low twenties. This time around Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules was the low-twenties movie, picking up a very respectable $24.4 million on debut, which is a shade ahead of the $22 million earned by the first film in the franchise this time last year. Sucker Punch produced a slightly disappointing $19 million opening weekend, which is a drop in the bucket compared to its $75 million budget. It'll need good international numbers and a strong home market performance to recoup costs.
Overall box office will be down about 7% from last year, continuing 2011's losing streak, although that makes this one of the better weekends of the year so far.
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March 22nd, 2011
There were a quartet of strong performers on the per theater chart this past weekend with Bill Cunningham New York coming out on top with $33,677 in its lone theater. However, while Win Win came in second, it was close behind with $30,072 while it was playing in five theaters, instead of just one, so you could argue it had the better start. Jane Eyre remained potent with an average of $17,939, while its theater count grew from 4 to 26. It will start hitting major milestones very soon. Nostalgia for the Light was the final $10,000 film with $10,681 in one theater.
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March 20th, 2011
The North American box office showed further glimmers of hope this weekend, with no less than five movies vying for top spot on the chart, and Limitless handily beating expectations to finish first. Its $19 million debut is the best so far for Relativity Media's fledgling distribution organization. Overall, however, box office will be down around 10% from last year, continuing a losing streak that will almost certainly extend to cover the entire first quarter.
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March 15th, 2011
It was an amazing week on the per theater chart, even if you ignore Red State's special showings. The latest Kevin Smith offering added more than $100,000 over the weekend, at two special showings, for an average of $51,283. At this pace, it's going to start hitting major milestones before its theatrical debut this fall. Meanwhile, Jane Eyre had the best per theater average for a regular release this year at $45,721 in four theaters. The good news doesn't end there as Kill The Irishman opened with an average of $29,086 in five theaters, which also suggests the ability to expand significantly. Certified Copy earned close to $80,000 in five theaters for an average of $15,587. That would have been enough to lead the way many weekends so far this year. 3 Backyards opened with $11,000 in one theater, while the overall number one film, Battle: Los Angeles opened with an average of $10,411 in more than 3400 theaters.
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March 13th, 2011
Battle: Los Angeles posted an estimated opening of $36 million to win the weekend, and give the market another boost after Rango's solid debut last week.
With Rango itself dropping only 40% to a shade over $23 million the total weekend box office should be about 12% below last year, which is actually an improvement over recent weeks, although it continues a months-long slump.
And the weekend brought some very bad news for Disney, whose Mars Needs Moms had a catastrophic $6.8 million opening weekend, on a budget reported at $150 million.
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March 11th, 2011
Quite a busy week for limited releases with a number of films opening, including several that are earning excellent reviews. A few of these, like Jane Eyre and Certified Copy, might even do well enough to find some measure of mainstream success.
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