August 26th, 2008
TV on DVD is starting to dominate the weekly DVD releases, including the top tier releases. In fact, four of the top five picks for the week are TV on DVD. However, while Heroes - Blu-ray - Season One & Season Two, NCIS - The Fifth Season, and The Shield - The Complete Season Six are all easily contenders for the crown, Nightmare Before Christmas - Collector's Edition on DVD or Blu-ray is the DVD Pick of the Week. One last note, it's been another big week for total releases, and the list had to be split into two. You can part Part II here.
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December 22nd, 2006
The Devil Wears Prada was the best of a
new bunch winning out in a very, very close race with
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest at $10.74 million to $10.67 million.
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December 16th, 2006
There were a boatload of
new releases to chart this week led by
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest with $12.93 million, which was just a hair lower than
Superman Returns's open week rentals from a week ago. This week that film placed second with a still impressive $10.71 million.
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December 5th, 2006
The first week of the month is often the busiest, and that's the case here.
However, while there are a lot of big releases, there's not much in the way of quality to be found.
The best of the recent releases is Pirates of the Caribbean - Dead Man's Chest, but that was weak compared to the original (although a fun ride nonetheless).
In order to find the DVD Pick of the week one must travel deeper... into the list of box sets (The Premiere Frank Capra Collection - Buy from Amazon), special editions (Black Christmas - Special Edition - Buy from Amazon), and TV on DVD (Dungeons & Dragons - The Complete Series - Buy from Amazon).
Of those three, I'm giving the honor to The Premiere Frank Capra Collection - Buy from Amazon, but all three could end up in my DVD collection before long.
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December 4th, 2006
The widest release of the week is Unaccompanied Minors, and it is not only the target movie, but featured in the prizes. In order to win, one must simply predict the opening weekend box office of Unaccompanied Minors. Whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend (Friday to Sunday), without going over, will win an Unaccompanied Minors prize pack consisting of a poster, T-shirt, beanie (or as there are known up here in Canada, a Tuque), and more.
Meanwhile, the person who comes the closest to the film's opening 3-day weekend (Friday to Sunday), without going under, will win a copy of Miami Vice 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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November 26th, 2006
Late numbers for the international weekend meant there was a shakeup in the top five with
Saw III trading places with
The Devil Wears Prada.
Saw III took fourth with $6.54 million on 1912 screens in 20 markets for a total of $37.18 million. Meanwhile,
The Devil Wears Prada fell to sixth with $5.87 million on 2452 screens in 23 markets for a total of $172.54 million. It was also the first time in nearly two months that the film didn't place in the top five on the international box office.
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October 22nd, 2006
The
German soccer film, Deutschland. Ein Sommermarchen, remained in first place in Germany and sixth overall this weekend. It managed this feat by falling just 25% to $5.41 million on 671 screens for a two-week total of $14.67 million.
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October 15th, 2006
The
German Film, Deutschland. Ein Sommermarchen, which could translate into English as Germany, A Summer March, but I wouldn't bet money on it. ... Moving on, The film took top spot in its native market with $7.19 million on 584 screens and that was enough for sixth place overall.
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October 8th, 2006
Indigenes, a.k.a. Days of Glory, opened in first place in its native
France with $5.53 million on 460 screens while it managed ninth in Switzerland with $76,000 despite opening on only 8 screens. The film opened on Wednesday in Belgium before expanding to other European market in the coming weeks.
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October 1st, 2006
Ye Yan, a.k.a., The Banquet opened in third place in South Korea with $1.04 million on 183 screens over the weekend and $1.24 million in total. That helped the
Chinese film place sixth overall with $5.52 million on 734 screens in 6 markets lifting its international total to $15.94 million, which is just above its production budget.
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September 24th, 2006
Little Man shot up the charts into sixth place with $5.97 million on 1597 screens in 23 markets for a total of $22.63 million internationally. The film had million dollar debuts in both Spain, ($2.06 million on 250 screens), and Mexico, ($1.04 million on 352), while came reasonably close in Russia, ($960,000 on 217 screens, including midweek numbers). In all three markets, the film placed second on the charts. More amazingly is the film's performance in the U.K. as it dipped just 17% to $1.05 million on 315 screens over the weekend and a three-week total of $5.75 million.
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September 13th, 2006
For the first time in 10 weeks we have a new winner atop the international box office with Cars finally overtaking Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest to win the prize.
The Pixar powerhouse spent its first weekend on top of the international charts with $8.00 million on 3,704 screens in 31 markets for a total of $184.24 million.
Its biggest market was Germany where it topped the charts with $3.05 million on 814 screens; this was more than three times what its nearest competitor earned, but less than a quarter of what Finding Nemo opened with back in 2003.
The film only has two other openings of note, Greece and Turkey, and they both happen this weekend.
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September 6th, 2006
Last weekend I assumed
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest's time on top of the international charts was over. It had no new openings, the competition was getting tighter and it just seemed like its time was done. However, when the numbers came in the film easily won the weekend race as it was the only film able to top $10 million over the weekend. The
Pirate pic pulled in $11.99 million on 5378 screens in 43 markets for an international total of $581.55 million while its worldwide was $994.43 million as of Sunday. The film should become only the third film to reach $1 billion
worldwide and could do so as early as Thursday. After that there are a few milestones the film will be aiming for like $600 million internationally, which it should have no trouble doing especially with the film opening in Italy on the 15th.
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August 30th, 2006
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest earned yet another record this weekend by topping the international charts for the eighth straight weekend surpassing the old record of seven set by
Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl. This weekend the swashbuckler took in $18.61 million on 6579 screens in 49 markets lifting its international total to $556.07 million and its worldwide haul to $963.61 million. Looking at the all-time charts, the film is now eighth place and should top
Jurassic Park by this time next week while worldwide it is in fourth place
all-time and should have no trouble tracking down
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone during the weekend. This weekend the film managed to set a record in Greece opening with $2.6 million while it took in $100,000 in Lebanon for the highest opening of the year in that market. Next week the film will likely fall out of top spot but should continue to perform well as it wraps up its International run in Italy on the 15th of September.
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August 23rd, 2006
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest is starting to shed screens and that was part of the reason it fell 43% this weekend, however, it still earned more than the next two films combined while crossing the $500 million milestone. Over the weekend it added $24.82 million on 7014 screens in 51 markets to its international total of $521.46 million while its worldwide total hit $922.72 million. This is the seventh week in a row that the film has topped the international charts tying the previous record set by
Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl back in 2003. On the all-time international charts, the film is now in 12th place all-time, just a few million behind
Finding Nemo and is now fifth place
Worldwide. Where does it go from here? It has yet to open in Italy and by the time it does it could reach $1 billion in total ticket sales, but odds are
Return of the King's second place is safe.
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August 9th, 2006
For the fifth week in a row,
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest dominated the international box office earning nearly five times what its nearest competition took in. Over the weekend it brought in $57.32 million on 8208 screens in 50 markets for a total of $392.22 million internationally and $771.92 million worldwide, (at the end of the weekend). A large chunk of this weekend's haul come from new openings, including a phenomenal $17.8 million on 700 screens in France. Other debuts include Hong Kong, ($1.6 million on 35 screens), and South Africa, ($670,000). The film is already the highest grossing movie of the year worldwide, and with strong holds and openings in Spain and Italy still to go, it could top
The Da Vinci Code's international total as well, a total that currently sits at $530.38 million.
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August 7th, 2006
It's August, but the weekend box office didn't miss a beat.
In fact the overall box office climbed 6.3% to $140 million. That was up 21.6% from the same weekend last year, lifting 2006's lead over 2005 to 6%.
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August 6th, 2006
Over the Hedge may have slipped out of the top five landing in sixth place this week, but it is still bringing in plenty at the box office. After earning $7.12 million on 3877 screens in 33 markets the film now has $121.76 million internationally and is closing in on its domestic total with several more markets left to open in. Its biggest market was again Germany with $1.49 million on 743 screens over the weekend for a four-week total of $14.26 million. Should it perform well in Japan and Italy, it will have no trouble reaching $300 million worldwide. And while that is low compared to the historical averages for
digitally animated films, but is still a great result.
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August 3rd, 2006
It's the first weekend in August and studios are hoping the dog days of summer can be pushed back at least one more week.
This shouldn't be a problem as the odds-on favorite to win the weekend race is tracking better and better by the day, while we also have one of the best reviewed wide releases of the year hitting theatres tomorrow.
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July 31st, 2006
First of all, I don't think there's enough geography humor in entertainment reporting, so I'm glad to help correct that with my headline.
As for the box office, there were a few surprises this week, split evenly between the good and the bad.
This did help push the overall box office down to $131 million over the weekend and that's down 13.2% from last weekend.
But more importantly that was still 6.1% higher than the same weekend last year.
Year-to-date 2006 has extended its lead to 5%, well above ticket price inflation meaning for the first time since 2002 we could see growth in that area.
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July 28th, 2006
Another big week for movie sites with several excellent entries. In this crowded field there were a lot of sites that showed promise and could be just one big update away from winning the award. But this week the best of the best was
World Trade Center -
Official Site. Let's hope that the movie can live up to the site.
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July 27th, 2006
We should have a new film atop the box office charts this week with Miami Vice the odds-on favorite to finish first.
However, there are some questions regarding how well it, and the other two wide releases, will do.
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July 24th, 2006
This is the last real weekend of summer and it features the last potential monster hit, Miami Vice.
To celebrate, our latest box office prediction contest will feature fabulous prizes from three movies opening this weekend, Miami Vice, The Ant Bully, and Little Miss Sunshine. To win, one must simply predict Miami Vice's opening 3-day weekend (Friday to Sunday).
Whoever comes closest, without going over, will win the Miami Vice prize pack, While the person who comes closest, without going under, will win the The Ant Bully prize pack. In addition, one lucky entrant chosen arbitrarily will win the Little Miss Sunshine prize pack. Entries must be received by 10 a.m., Pacific Time on Friday to be eligible, so don't delay!
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July 14th, 2006
It's a good week for website with what could be the last big hit of the year launching its flash site. That movie,
Miami Vice, and its
Official Site, is the winner of the Weekly Website Award.
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July 1st, 2006
Neither of June's potential monster hits lived up to expectations, and that's a trend that everyone hopes doesn't continue into July. There is only one real monster hit in the making this month, and it opens right away. But while the rest of the month is decidedly weaker, there are still several other movies that should earn more than $100 million.
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June 2nd, 2006
There were a few major updates for a few major movie sites this week, and it was one such site that walked away with the Weekly Website Award -
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest -
Official Site.
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May 26th, 2006
Not much this week in terms of new sites or updates and all the ones that are award-worthy have already won the weekly website award. The best of the rest is
The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift -
Official Site, but it certainly doesn't deserve to win the awards.
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May 12th, 2006
There's a better than average selection on this week's list, but for the vast majority of the sites, there are only minor changes. The best of the bunch is
Click -
Official Site but there are a several other sites on this week's list that are just a update or two away from being an award winning site.
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February 9th, 2006
During the past week promotional websites for several movies were launched and some older ones added additional content. It was the busiest week in more than a month, but there weren't many big launches or massive updates, so it is the slow-growing
V For Vendetta -
Official Site that earns the Weekly Website Award.
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February 2nd, 2006
During the past week promotional websites for several movies were launched and some older ones added additional content. It was another slow week with nothing really grabbing my attention and nothing award-winning, (although there are a couple of sites that show promise). Hopefully some of the summer blockbusters will start launching flash sites so this slump can end.
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December 15th, 2005
During the past week promotional websites for several movies were launched and some older ones added additional content. We've hit another slow patch for movie websites, which is not unexpected since the most of the new site on this list are for films that open months from now so there's hardly any content, or open during the dead zone that is January. I would say the best of the rest would be
King Kong -
Official Site, but it is not strong enough to win the Weekly Website Award.
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October 12th, 2004
A number of upcoming movies have been added to the site. Most noticeable of these new movies are a spin-off to the X-Men movies:
Wolverine, Michael Mann directing a
Miami Vice movie based on his own eighties television series and a sequel to last year's surprise hit The Italian Job,
Italian Job 2.
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