May 11th, 2008
The release of Iron Man hit The Forbidden Kingdom knocking it into second place with $9.63 million on 2062 screens in 11 markets for a total of $40.51 million. The film had no major openings, but it did make $1.10 million on 398 screens over the weekend in South Korea for a total of $5.63 million.
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February 24th, 2008
Rambo climbed five spots just missing the top five with $6.96 million on 1989 screens in 25 markets for a total of $25.63 million. The film opened in second place in Germany with $2.78 million 405 screens while it managed third in Mexico with $704,000 on 300. Next up is the U.K., Australia, and Italy, where it opens this weekend, while it enters South Korea next weekend.
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February 18th, 2008
There were plenty of new releases to chart this week on the rental chart, but The Game Plan remained in first place for the third week in a row with $7.41 million for the week and $26.08 million after three.
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February 17th, 2008
Thanks to an opening in the U.K., Juno shoot up the charts nearly reaching the top five with $8.28 million on 1111 screens in 15 markets for a still early total $17.15 million. In the U.K. the film placed second with $3.91 million on 363 screens, but had the best per screen average in the top 10 there. It also opened in France scoring sixth place with $1.22 million on 149 screens, which gave it the second best per screen average in the top ten there. Meanwhile in Spain the film grew by 5% to $1.03 million on 170 screens over the weekend and a total of $2.34 million after two.
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February 11th, 2008
There were no shortage of new releases last week, but The Game Plan remained on top of the DVD sales chart with 416,000 units sold for a two-week total of 1.58 million.
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February 11th, 2008
The Game Plan repeated as champion on the rental charts this week with $8.45 million for the week and $18.67 million in total.
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February 4th, 2008
The Game Plan led all new releases and all holdovers to top this week's sales chart with 1.16 million units sold for opening week revenue just a hair shy of $20.00 million.
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February 4th, 2008
Like it did on the sales chart, the new release, The Game Plan, was able to lead all rentals with an opening of $10.22 million.
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January 22nd, 2008
More than 40 releases made it on to this week's list, however, after reviewing the whole selection, there's a real weakness at the top. There are plenty worth renting a more than a few worth picking up, but none that leap out and demand to be chosen the DVD Pick of the Week. Hopefully that will change next week.
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December 16th, 2007
The Heartbreak Kid slipped a spot to sixth with $5.04 million on 2029 screens in 46 markets for a total of $79.44 million internationally, which is more than twice what it earned domestically. This includes France where it pulled in $1.10 million on 320 screens while lifting its running tally to $3.37 million in that market.
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December 9th, 2007
Bee Movie returned to the charts in sixth place with $6.71 million on 1288 screens in 11 markets for an early international total of $19.43 million after a month of release. This includes a pair of first place debuts in Spain and Mexico. In the former it earned $2.81 million on 421 screens while in the latter is earned $2.60 million on 389 screens. While Spain is the larger marker, I thought the family friendly nature of Mexico would give it the edge. Even so, there are great openings for the film.
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November 28th, 2007
Beowulf opened in 23 more markets this past weekend, finishing in first place in 20 of them. This helped the film repeat as champion on the international box office with $25.40 million on 5433 screens in 44 markets for a total of $48.53 million. This includes number one debuts in Russia, ($4.13 million on 502 screens), and Mexico, ($1.93 million on 512 screens). However, it had to settle for second place in Spain, ($3.12 million on 450 screens), and fourth in France, ($1.88 million on 481). As for holdovers, no major openings let the film remain in second place in the U.K. with $3.03 million on 487 screens over the weekend and $9.35 million in total. On the other hand, it fell from first to fourth in South Korea with $1.36 million on 304 screens over the weekend and $6.13 million in total. The film is rapidly running out of major markets to open in, and it has made roughly half of the film's total costs worldwide so far. I think if the film fails to recoup its costs, it will be the fault of the technology, as it hasn't advanced enough to completely replace live actors without falling into the uncanny valley.
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November 25th, 2007
Elizabeth: The Golden Age nearly reached the top five with $5.79 million on 1579 screens in 12 markets for a total of $21.80 million. This includes a first place, $1.89 million opening on 470 screens in Russia, while the film added $933,000 on 394 screens in the U.K. for a total of $8.40 million so far.
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November 18th, 2007
Stardust fell out of the top five, but still added $5.80 million on 2327 screens in 48 markets lifting its running tally to $83.50 million. Its best market remained the U.K. where it climbed a spot to second place with $2.66 million on 459 screens for a total of $23.59 million. The film has no major openings left, but $100 million internationally is still within reach.
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November 12th, 2007
There was little to cheer over the weekend, as all four of the new releases missed expectations, some by substantial margins.
This left the overall box office struggling with $113 million over the weekend, down 16% from last weekend and 11% from the same weekend last year.
This means the streak of year-to-year growth ends at one.
On the other hand, had the four wide releases mere met expectations, the overall box office would have been within a rounding error of last year.
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November 8th, 2007
With the streak of year-to-year declines finally over, the winter holiday season is looking to start earning back some of the loses from October. The good news is, this weekend there are three films that should top $20 million at the box office compared to just one that did last year. Bad news, that one film was Borat, which earned more than $28 million and there's a chance no film will replicate that performance this time around.
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November 7th, 2007
For the fifth week in a row, Ratatouille led the way on the international charts as it pulled in $15.65 million on 3732 screens in 30 markets for a total of $375.08 million. The film is still number one in the U.K. with $3.22 million on 498 screens and in Italy with $3.15 million on 536 screens. However, its best market of the weekend was Germany where it added $3.84 million on 835 screens scoring second place in the process. The film now has $42.19 million in Germany, $40.89 million in the U.K., and $20.37 million in Italy, which is impressive but well back of France where the animated feature has earned $66.05 million after three months of release. Even with no further markets to open in, Ratatouille will have no problem becoming just the third Pixar film to earn $600 million worldwide and the sixth such hit this year.
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November 5th, 2007
November got the box office back on track as a record-breaking opening for Denzel Washington and Russel Crowe, (and for that matter, Jerry Seinfeld), helped the overall box office earn $134 million over the weekend. That's 33% higher than the last weekend, but more importantly, it was 4% more than the same weekend last year. That growth doesn't even keep up with the growth in ticket prices, (although it is extremely close), however, it does stop the six-week slid we've been experiencing and hopefully this will mean bigger business over the holidays.
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November 1st, 2007
Thankfully October is done, but it did a lot of damage in four weeks.
However, the damage has been done and the fall box office is down just under 1% from last year while ticket sales are down more than 5%.
However, this weekend we have two potential $100 million movies and both should be significantly stronger than last year's surprise champ, Borat.
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October 31st, 2007
Ratatouille's feeding frenzy continues with another first place finish this time the film earned $22.61 million on 4271 screens in 29 markets for a total of $348.16 million. Even though the film had no new openings this week, and won't for the rest of its run, it still managed first place in a handful of markets. The best of these was the U.K. where it earned $7.40 million on 525 screens over the weekend for a total of $35.73 million, which is already more than Cars earned in that market in total. Meanwhile in Italy it remained in first place despite having to deal with five wide releases while adding $4.56 million on 624 screens for a two-week total of $14.07 million. On the other hand, a local hit pushed the film into second place in Germany, but it still earned $3.91 million on 845 screens over the weekend for a total of $35.15 million. It looks more and more likely that the film will reach $400 million internationally and $600 million worldwide. Only Finding Nemo earned more internationally for Pixar and only The Incredibles and Finding Nemo earned more worldwide.
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October 30th, 2007
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead opened in first place on the per theater chart with an impressive average of $36,919 in two theaters. Pete Seeger: Power in Song and Wristcutters: A Love Story were well back but still strong with averages of $11,945 and $10,506 respectively. While those were the only three films to creak $10,000 on the per theater chart, two others came very, very close: Saw IV at $9,977 and Blade Runner at $9,915.
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October 29th, 2007
We finally had a massive box office hit at the box office this week as Saw IV lived up to expectations. This helped the overall box office grow to $102 million, which is 6% more than last weekend. However, it was weaker than the same weekend last year by 3%, which stretches the losing streak to 6 weeks.
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October 27th, 2007
Only two wide releases this week, and while there were many more limited releases, there weren't many sites that stood out and demanded to be given the Weekly Website Award. In fact, there were more movies released this week without site than were released with sites that were merely above average. The best of this humble group was Dan in Real Life - Official Site, and it's the winner of the Weekly Website Award.
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October 25th, 2007
It's the last chance for October to make a splash at the box office.
On the one hand, Saw IV is opening, and it should be the biggest hit of the Fall so far.
On the other hand, it is tracking more weakly than Saw III, which opened this weekend last year.
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October 19th, 2007
The first massive movie of the month, and it opens during the final weekend of the month. That film is Saw IV and it is the target film for our latest box office prediction contest.
To win one must simply predict the box office opening for Saw IV.
Whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend box office (Friday to Sunday), without going over, will win a copy of the soundtrack for The Heartbreak Kid.
Meanwhile, whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend box office (Friday to Sunday), without going under, will win a copy of MacBeth on DVD.
Finally, whichever of those two winners comes the absolute closest will win a Cherry action figure from Grindhouse.
Entries must be received by 10 a.m., Pacific Time on Friday to be eligible, so don't delay!
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October 6th, 2007
We are starting to get full websites for some of the massive holiday season releases, which should mean there will be at least one award worthy website on each week's list. As for this week, there were a few that have potential assuming the sections marked coming soon live up to the rest of the site. But just one site, The Seeker: The Dark is Rising - Official Site, that was worthy of the Weekly Website Award.
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October 1st, 2007
October means one thing: Free candy. ... Oh yeah, and the unofficial start of Award Season.
And Halloween brings us a few horror films as well.
Unfortunately, this year October is rather weak, with no film looking like a strong contender for $100 million and most of the films with early Oscar buzz having performed poorly with the critics.
The only good news is last October was also weak at the box office, meaning there's at least a reasonable shot at 2007 maintaining its box office lead over 2006.
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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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September 16th, 2007
A stronger week for website than we've seen in a few weeks, including the launch of a potential fall blockbuster. However, that site is mostly marked coming soon allowing Elizabeth - The Golden Age - Official Site to take the Weekly Website Award this week.
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September 1st, 2007
As we enter the slowest month of the year, the number and quality of website updates has slowed to a crawl as well. I suspect that within a few weeks we will start getting website launches for films opening during the holidays, and that will again give us plenty of award-worthy sites.
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August 23rd, 2007
This week's round of new cast information contains updates for Day Zero, The Fighter, He's Just Not That Into You and more!
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November 12th, 2006
This week's round of new movie release information contains release dates for Halloween, Saw 4, The Incredible Hulk and more.
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