November 4th, 2007
The Transformers was able to remain in top spot on the sales chart but it is hard to call this a victory as it fell more than 70% to 1.64 million units sold. However, This was a better hold than 300 managed during its second week of release and the film has an edge in sales after two weeks in both total units sold, (7.14 million vs. 6.60 million), and dollars, ($164.15 million vs. $149.64 million), including last week's adjusted numbers. This gives The Transformers a clear path to becoming the top selling DVD of the year, at least so far.
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October 23rd, 2007
Wow. What a week for DVD releases. There are roughly 50 releases on this week's list but strangely not many that were in contention for the DVD Pick of the Week. In a few cases the price-tag was just too high, or the extras were a little light. In the end I went with Fido - Buy from Amazon. Some might think this is my pro-Canada bias showing through... and I really can't argue with that. Still, it is a fun movie and deserves to be seen by more people.
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March 18th, 2007
There was quite an international flavor on the charts this past weekend with five local hits charting, and one more just missing that mark. The best of these was Lubov Morkov, which opened in sixth place with $5.38 million on 492 screens in 4 markets over the weekend and $6.28 million in total. Of this amount, $4.90 million on 427 screens was earned over the weekend in Russia while it managed $5.80 million including midweek numbers.
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February 18th, 2007
Charlotte's Web's return to the international charts was a successful one as it just missed the top five with $6.37 million on 2192 screens in 40 markets. However, its international tally of $32.57 is still a terrible result given the film's production budget, which has been estimated to be north of $100 million. The film has one strong opening this weekend as it earned second place in the U.K. with $3.69 million on 489 screens. On the other hand, the film flopped in France missing the top ten with $762,000 on 347 screens and that was for the full week. It did little better in South Korea with $872,000 on 150 screens over the weekend and $969,000 in total while scoring $218,000 on 54 screens over the weekend in Belgium and $271,000 in total.
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February 11th, 2007
Babel just missed the top five this past weekend and showed that
Oscar nods still meant something at the box office, at least internationally. The film added $5.16 million on 1467 screens for a total of $61.31 million so far. It was aided by a first place, $1.23 million opening on 256 screens in Russia, but that is one of the film's last significant openings.
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February 10th, 2007
Open Season led a large group of
new releases this week, at least on the sales chart. On the rental chart it had to settle for a close second behind
The Marine $6.32 million to $6.00 million.
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February 3rd, 2007
It was good news / bad news for
Saw III. Good news: Not only was it the best
new release it also top the overall rental charts with $7.62 million. Bad news: That was down significantly from
Saw II's debut
last year.
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January 23rd, 2007
Business is starting to pick up again for DVD releases. It's still not up to the level of the pre-Christmas boom, or even the yearly average, but at least it's not a desolate wasteland either. There were a couple releases that were contenders for DVD Pick of the Week, but in the end I went with This Film is Not Yet Rated - Buy from Amazon, but since I work in the industry, at least tangentially, my enjoyment of the movie may have been increased somewhat.
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December 23rd, 2006
Curse of the Golden Flower started its international run in its native
China with a record breaking $12.27 million on 826 screens. That was almost enough to reach the top five falling just short to
Arthur & the Invisibles and its $12.47 million.
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December 17th, 2006
Open Season solidified its chances to reach $100 million with a first place debut in Italy. Over the weekend the film just managed to beat
Happy Feet $1.68 million to $1.66 million over the weekend, (with midweek numbers
Open Season earned $1.82 million on 430 screens). The film was not as successful in Japan with just $968,000 on 441 screens; with such a small per theatre average, it will likely disappear quickly from charts. Overall it earned $4.97 million on 3451 screens in 51 markets for a total of $87.16 million; and even with no major markets left to open in, it does have a great shot at $100 million before its run is over.
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December 11th, 2006
Saw III slipped another spot to sixth with $4.46 million on 1518 screens in 29 markets for an international total of $54.27 million. Its best opening of the weekend came in South Korea where it placed third with $1.08 million on 144 screens, which is the last major opening for the film this year.
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November 29th, 2006
Casino Royale's dominance of the worldwide box office continued as it opened in 18 new markets scoring first place in every one of them. In fact, it was number one in 40 of the 50 markets it is currently playing in. Overall the film earned $64.94 million on 6460 screens in 50 markets for a two-week total of $129.06 million. The biggest opening of the weekend was in Germany where it crushed the competition with $12.84 million on 839 screens, more than 10 times its
nearest competition. France was also a major contributor to its weekend success with $8.4 million on 823 screens while it captured $3.90 million on 500 screens in Spain, and a combined $8.02 million on 392 screens in the four Scandinavian markets. Not surprisingly, holdovers were led by the U.K. where it dipped just 25% to $16.51 million on 506 screens for a total of $53.96 million, which is nearly what
Die Another Day earned in total in that market. Next up for the film is Japan this weekend, Australia the weekend after and South Korea the weekend after that. As for the film's long term potential, it is likely to crack the $500 million milestone worldwide with $600 million being a tough but achievable goal.
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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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November 15th, 2006
Borat was again the top box office draw on the international scene taking in $15.37 million on 1147 screens in 20 markets for a total of $43.16 million after two weeks of release. The film opened in three markets, but they were of the smaller variety earning $287,000 on 17 screens in Greece, $51,000 on 10 in Bulgaria and $29,000 on 4 in Serbia. The vast majority of the film's weekend total came from the U.K. where it repeated in first place with $8.62 million on 430 screens for a two-week total of $27.13 million. Meanwhile in Germany the film grew by 2%, but was still stuck in second place with $2.76 million on 310 screens for a total of $6.35 million in that market. This week the film opens in France, Spain, and other smaller markets, but it will have a lot of competition from
Bond and it will take a minor miracle for the film to not be knocked out of top spot.
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November 14th, 2006
There were four new releases opening in varying degrees of wideness this past weekend, but none of them could live up to lowered expectations.
This left the overall box office at $127 million, which was down about 2% from last weekend while up less than 1% from the same weekend last year.
That's not a large enough increase to keep up with ticket price inflation, but any good news is still welcome at this point.
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November 8th, 2006
Borat beat the competition with relative ease this week earning $18.64 million on 995 screens in 17 markets. In fact, the $11.87 million the film made on 428 screens in
Sacha Baron Cohen's native
United Kingdom was more than the
second place film earned in total. The film's second biggest opening was in Germany where the film had to settle for second place with a still fantastic $2.67 million on 234 screens. The film also had first place openings in smaller markets like Holland, ($731,000 on 64 screens); Sweden, ($717,000 on 39); and Denmark, ($366,000 on 36).
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November 7th, 2006
To call this weekend unpredictable is an understatement as there was a surprise number one film and records fell.
But despite this, the overall market was only mixed. Sure, week-to-week the box office was up roughly 24% from last weekend, but Halloween tends to depress the box office, even when it doesn't hit on the weekend. Compared to the same weekend last year, the $130 million total box office was 4% lower.
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November 2nd, 2006
It's the first week of the winter / holiday season and this weekend alone we have two films coming out that are aimed at the family market.
While the time of the year is great for these films, the direct competition will keep both from becoming more than mid-level hits.
On the other hand, neither look likely to bomb either.
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November 2nd, 2006
Not too
long ago I said that
The Devil Wears Prada had no chance to match its domestic total on the international scene. Well, I was wrong. This week the film added $17.62 million on 4352 screens in 47 markets to its international total, a total that now stands at $130.38 million. This week the film opened in first place, in a very, very close battle in South Korea with $2.9 million on 241 screens while it was the clear winner in Belgium earning $640,000 on 60 screens over the weekend and $869,000 in total. As for holdovers the film remained in second place in Germany with $2.89 million on 605 screens over the weekend and $13.69 million after three. The film has yet to open in Japan, China, and the Middle East and should have no problem hitting $150 million internationally before long.
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October 31st, 2006
It was a busy week on the per theater charts with five films topping $10,000 and another coming awfully close.
Leading the way was Oscar bait, Babel with nearly $400,000 in 7 theaters for an average of $55,622, which was four times the next highest earner.
That film, The Queen, earned nearly $2 million in 152 for an average of $12,560 during its fifth week of release.
Shut Up and Sing was in a virtual tie for second place with an average of $12,526 in its four theaters, while The Nightmare Before Christmas 3D wasn't that far behind with $11,409.
The final film to top $10,000 was the overall box office leader, Saw III, which managed an average of $10,613 in its 3,167 theaters.
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October 31st, 2006
The final weekend before Halloween was as predictable as they come with every film in the top five finishing within a rounding error of expectations.
Even the weekly and year to date comparisons were dull -- down 2% week-to-week but up 2% from the same weekend last year -- hardly noteworthy changes.
But I guess no surprises are better than bad surprises.
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October 28th, 2006
There was a good selection of sites this week in terms of updates, but unlike last week there were fewer contenders for the Weekly Website Award. That's not to say
Let's Go to Prison -
Official Site didn't deserve to win, it just had a lot less competition than it would have had if it launched last week.
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October 27th, 2006
There's only one true wide release of the week, Saw III.
But it has a small chance of earning more this weekend than all four wide releases earned last weekend.
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October 23rd, 2006
Saw III is the clear favorite to win the Halloween Weekend, but more importantly, it is this week's featured film in our ongoing box office prediction contest. To win one must simply predict the opening weekend box office of
Saw III. Whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend (Friday to Sunday),
without going over will win
Save the Last Dance 2. While the person who comes the closest to the film's opening 3-day weekend (Friday to Sunday,
without going under, will win
Blackwater Valley Exorcism. Entries must be received by 10 a.m., Pacific Time on Friday to be eligible, so don't delay!
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October 14th, 2006
With more and more Oscar contenders getting ready to start their theatrical runs, it is fitting that a satire of such films,
For Your Consideration -
Official Site, takes home the Weekly Website Award.
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October 1st, 2006
It's October, that means there's more hits, more Oscar hopefuls, and more horror films being released. But more importantly, it means September is over. September seemed weaker than normal in terms of top box office draws, but even though October is bound to produce more hits, the box office potential still seems soft. I only see one $100 million movie, but a least a few more might come within striking distance.
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September 23rd, 2006
Slow week with just over half a dozen sites on the list. Of them,
Renaissance -
Official Site is clearly the best with a few others showing promise.
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September 16th, 2006
High quantity on sites this week, but many of them were for new releases, most of which haven't had any updates in a while. Those that did have updates were generally quite small, but one site stood above them all,
Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny -
Official Site, which is easily the winner of the Weekly Website Award.
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August 26th, 2006
It's another busy week with nearly three dozen films being represented here. Taking top prize is
Invincible -
Official Site, although there were a few others that could take that claim before all is said and done.
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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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June 30th, 2006
It seems a lot of people are starting their holidays early, but not this column as it's the busiest it's been in more than a month. Including in this list are a few newly released teaser trailers and a handful of flash sites, most of which are worth checking out. But the best of the best is the
Running With Scissors -
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 5th, 2006
It was not a great week when it comes to new websites with most of the really interesting updates coming in the form of new trailers. However, it was one of those sites,
Casino Royale -
Official Site, that was awarded the Weekly Website Award. I just hope when the site goes live in two weeks by Fanboy enthusiasm is rewarded.
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