December 15th, 2011
The Smurfs led a group of five new releases on the Blu-ray sales chart earning first place in the process. It sold 355,000 units while generating $8.88 million during its first week on the home market, which represents 42% of all units sold. That's a very strong opening week Blu-ray ratio for a live action kids movie.
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December 13th, 2011
We are in the final stretch for the Christmas shopping season, but there are still few more summer blockbusters coming out from now till Christmas week. This time around, there were half a dozen new releases on this week's DVD sales chart, led by The Smurfs with 491,000 units / $8.34 million. For a kids' film that sold more than $140 million in tickets, this is slow start.
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November 29th, 2011
It's another relatively slow week on the home market. The two biggest release of the week don't come out till Friday, while there are few other releases to pick up the slack. As for the search for best and not necessarily the biggest, there are a few contenders. Cave of Forgotten Dreams earned Oscar-worthy reviews and the 3D Blu-ray Combo Pack is a clear contender for Pick of the Week. But in the end I went with Tucker and Dale vs. Evil on DVD or Blu-ray.
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November 27th, 2011
Our Idiot Brother was released in theaters late in the summer and it was never going to be a massive hit at the box office; in fact, it was thought that it might only get a limited release. When it did open, it opened wide, but struggled earning a per theater average of less than $3000 and finishing with just shy of $25 million. On the other hand, it didn't bomb either, because the film cost a mere $5 million to make, while the Weinsteins only paid $6 million for distribution rights. Depending on how much they spent on P&A, the film could break even during its early push onto the home market. Does it deserve to find more success on DVD and Blu-ray?
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September 7th, 2011
We had a pleasant surprise over Labor Day long weekend as the holdover held on a lot better than expected, while the new releases were on par with expectations, at least on average. (One struggled, one came within a rounding error of the weekend prediction, and one crushed expectations.) This led to a total box office haul of $107 million from Friday through Sunday and $137 million if you include Monday. By comparison, last year the total box office was $106 million / $133 million. It was a close win, but a win's a win. Overall 2011 is behind 2010 by 4% at $7.46 billion to $7.78 billion. There's a slim chance 2011 will close the gap and come out on top in the end, but in order to do that, it will need to earn bigger victories than it did this weekend.
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August 29th, 2011
Hurricane Irene battered the east coast, which may have had a bigger impact at the box office than some were expecting, but at least it wasn't worst case scenario levels. The overall box office plummeted 25% to just $93 million. That wasn't the worst weekend of the year, but it came uncomfortably close. Compared to last year, the box office was down down 19%, meaning the year-to-date decline worsened. With 2011 down by 4.3% at $7.28 billion to $7.60 billion, the year is running out of time to make up the difference. If we go into the holiday season down by $320 million, it might be impossible to make up the ground, no matter how strong the Christmas releases are.
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August 25th, 2011
Three wide releases this week, Colombiana, Don't Be Afraid of the Dark and My Idiot Brother, but it is likely that none will pose much of a threat to The Help, which is likely to repeat at the top of the box office. There could be an interesting race for second place, as there's no clear consensus on which new release is the strongest or the weakest. Unfortunately, this is because all three are equally weak. Worse still, this weekend last year saw two films earn more than $20 million, which is a mark no film this weekend will match. On the other hand, those were the only two films to crack $10 million, while there could be four, or perhaps even five films do the same this weekend. Perhaps depth will help 2011 come out with a win, but I wouldn't be willing to bet money on that.
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August 1st, 2011
It's that time of year again, the time where we try to guess when Summer ends. According to the real world, Summer ends on the 22nd of September, but in the movie business, summer ends suddenly one weekend in August, and it's never really predictable which weekend that will be. There is some reason to be optimistic, as July ended on a relatively strong note. Both films that were predicted to be monster hits, Transformers: Dark of the Moon and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2, were monster hits. And for every potential $100 million hit that missed expectations, there was another film that topped them. If this momentum can carry forward, then perhaps summer can be extended for for one or two more weeks. August of 2010 was a good end to the Summer with two $100 million movies and a few mid-level hits. I'm not sure if 2011 will be able to replicate that performance, but Summer could end on a high note.
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