June 23rd, 2008
There was a sharp drop-off in the number of releases this week, but while the numbers were down overall, there were several releases that I can enthusiastically recommend: Charlie Bartlett - Buy from Amazon, Definitely, Maybe - Buy from Amazon, Futurama - The Beast with a Billion Backs - Buy from Amazon, The Hammer - Buy from Amazon, and In Bruges - Buy from Amazon. However, while all those movies, and a few others, are worth picking up, the best of the best is Persepolis and either the DVD or the Blu-ray is worthy of the DVD Pick of the Week.
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March 25th, 2008
There was not one, not two, not three, but six films that landed in the $10,000 club on the per theater chart over the weekend (not counting the three IMAX films that did the same). Topping the charts was the re-release of Contempt, again, which earned $13,946 in one theater, which was down less than 6% from last weekend. Planet B-Boy opened in second place with $13,889, missing first place on the per theater chart by a microscopic $57. Boarding Gate had a bit of separation between the rest of the films earning $11,440 in its one theater. On the other hand, Under the Same Moon, Love Songs, and Meet the Browns were all within a few hundred dollars of each other with per theater averages of $10,414, $10,244, and $10,011.
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February 26th, 2008
The Duchess of Langeais was the number one film on the per theater chart this week, earning an average of $11,126 in two theaters while Oscar-winner The Counterfeiters earned an average of $10,939 in 8 theaters.
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February 13th, 2008
With our annual
Oscar Prediction contest underway, now is the best time to look at the
nominees and try and figure out who the favorites are and which films should just feel honored to be nominated. Today we look at Best Animated Feature Film and Best Feature Length Documentary.
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February 12th, 2008
Three films earned per theater averages better than $10,000 this weekend. Two of those were the same 3D concert releases that topped the charts last week. However, the number one film this week was In Bruges with a very healthy average of $16,330 in 28 theaters. Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour did suffer a sophomore slump, but earned an average of $14,987, which is more than enough to keep theater owners happy. Finally, U2 3D was up more than 3% to $12,094, which bodes very well for the film's upcoming expansion.
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January 29th, 2008
4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days may have been snubbed by Oscar, but moviegoers felt differently as it earned more than $50,000 in 2 theaters for an average of $25,856 over the weekend. U2 3D earned a million dollars during its opening, more or less. Less over the weekend, but more since Wednesday. This helped it into second place on the per theater chart with an average of $15,808 in 61 theaters. The final film to top $10,000 was L'Annee Derniere a Marienbad in its second weekend of re-release earning $13,719 in one theater.
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January 22nd, 2008
The Oscar nominations were announced today and there is no shortage of contenders.
In fact, with no real juggernaut to deal with, the competition is more up in the air that most years.
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January 15th, 2008
There Will Be Blood again won the race to top the per theater average chart with an average of $14,421, despite expanding from 51 to 129 theaters. The only other release to top $10,000 was Persepolis, which saw its average decline a mere 5.5% to $10,374 despite more than doubling its theater count.
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January 8th, 2008
There Will Be Blood expanded into 50 or so theaters over the weekend but was still able to come out on top of the per theater charts with an average of $25,905. Second place went to The Bucket List, which was down less than 3% to $20,424 and is poised to do very well in its wide expansion this weekend. Persepolis was the only other film to top $10,000 as it earned an average of $10,981 in 7 theaters.
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January 3rd, 2008
There Will Be Blood scored the best opening in limited release this year with an amazing $190,000 in 2 theaters for an average of $95,370, and that's for a Wednesday release. The Bucket List opened with an average of $20,990 in 16 theaters. Two imports earned nearly identical averages with Persepolis topping The Orphanage $12,689 to $12,280. While There Will Be Blood earned the best per theater average of the year, I was more impressed with Juno and Atonement, both of which topped $10,000 despite being in theaters for weeks now and undergoing massive expansions during that time. Juno earned over $10 million in less than 1000 theaters for an average of $10,436 while Atonement earned an average of $10,074 in just over 300 theaters thanks to a holiday boost.
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January 1st, 2008
It's the beginning of a new month, and a new year. This new beginning brings with it a sense of hope and exhilaration for many people, but this does not extend into the movie world. January is dominated by films from last year. Not only are holdovers going to overwhelm new releases at the box office for the next couple weeks, but with the award season heating up, most buzz is about who will win what. In fact, only Cloverfield seems to be able to rise above the award season buzz, but this is not a sure sign that the film will survive at the box office.
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December 29th, 2007
It was a mixed week for websites this time around. Not as many new releases didn't have a website, and most were a cut above average quality. However, none jumped out as award worthy. Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem - Official Site has the best game, but The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep - Official Site has the best overall features. But like I said, neither wins the Weekly Website Award.
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December 28th, 2007
With the deadline for Oscar eligibility nearly here, we have several films that are contenders for Oscar glory. Those that can earn enough buzz will have a better shot at escaping their limited release and expanding wide. Or in the case of The Bucket List, even poor reviews won't prevent that now.
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December 13th, 2007
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced their Golden Globe nominations this week, but there were no truly dominate films out of the 14 theatrical categories.
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December 1st, 2007
It's been a while since we went into the final month of the year on such a down note.
Since mid-September the box office has been down on a year-to-year comparison every weekend but two.
There is some good news, including a competitive Oscar race and a strong group of films aiming for box office glory.
While there are no films that appear to be heading for the monster hits territory, there are also no films that look like outright bombs.
(Although a couple would be there if it weren't for the holidays.)
Every week at least one Oscar contender and one box office giant are being released.
This means that every weekend there is at least one film that should hit $100 million, or more.
If five or more can reach that milestone, 2007 will set the record for most $100 million films in a year.
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November 29th, 2007
It's the official start of award season as the Independent Spirit Award nominations were announced. Several films received nods, but I'm Not There and Juno were the big hits.
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October 21st, 2007
This week's round of new movie release information contains release dates for Harold and Kumar 2, Son of Rambow, Wolverine and more!
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September 22nd, 2007
Not a long list this week, but at least we had a clear winner for the Weekly Website Award, Resident Evil: Extinction - Official Site. IN the coming weeks we should see some big sites launch as award season starts to heat up.
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August 21st, 2007
Starting today we will provide a list of announced movies, new stars and directors on our website each Tuesday.
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August 12th, 2007
Another good week for movie sites with a few sites that either won in the past or could win in the future. This includes this weeks winner, The Brothers Solomon - Official Site.
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July 15th, 2007
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End remained in sixth place with $8.94 million on 5442 screens in 101 markets for a total of $624.93 million. Internationally the film is in fifth place all-time and should top Dead Man's Chest shortly. Worldwide, it is also in fifth place but Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone's $974.56 million seems safe. As for At World's End's individual markets, the U.K. is still ahead of Japan $80.06 million to $77.58 million. However, Japan is catching up $2.28 million on 674 screens compared to just $738,000 on 357 in the U.K. At this pace Japan will need just two weeks to become the film's biggest draw.
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July 8th, 2007
Some very interesting news on the international front this weekend regarding Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. First of all, it fell out of the top five; however, it was still able to pull in more than $10 million over the weekend. Not too long ago it was a chore to find a dozen films that cracked $1 million, while this past weekend we had 6 that earned $10 million or more. Over the weekend the film added $14.02 million on 5775 screens in 104 markets for a total of $608.89 million internationally. It is the sixth film to cross $600 million internationally and is now in fifth place on that chart. Worldwide the film has $906.89 million making it the ninth highest grosser of all time. The U.K. is still the film's best market at $78.51 million compared to second pace Japan where it has made $74.02 million. However, that gap continues to narrow with the film making $3.23 million on 691 screens in the latter and $1.37 million on 401 screens in the former.
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