July 4th, 2012
After a run of several good weeks, it is a complete disaster on the home market this week. The best selling first run release will be... nothing. This is because there is no first run release coming out this week. According to Amazon.com, the best selling new release of the week is Midsomer Murders: Set 20, while the top ten is dominated by limited releases and Blu-ray catalogue titles. This makes choosing a Pick of the Week difficult, because there are so few prime releases. Rocko's Modern Life: Season Three is on the short list for contenders, as is The Hunter on Blu-ray. But in the end, I went with God Bless America on either DVD or Blu-ray. It's a great movie and there's a surprising number of extras on the DVD.
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July 2nd, 2012
Step-Up came out in 2006. The film cost just $12 million to make and expectations were rather low; however, it turned out to be a serious hit at the box office earning enough during its opening weekend to cover the production budget. It was profitable enough to be turned into a franchise, with the latest installment opening later this month. Now that it is coming out on Blu-ray, is it worth upgrading for fans? And if you missed it the first time around, is it worth picking up?
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February 4th, 2007
For the second weekend in a row
Apocalypto earned sixth place on the international charts, this time pulling in 7.03 million on 2308 screens for a total of $47.42 million. Its best market of the weekend was Mexico where it had an easy first place finish with $2.43 million on 502 screens over the weekend and $2.66 million including previews. It was also strong during its second weekend in Spain as it was down 40% to $1.17 million on 284 screens for a total of $3.64 million.
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January 7th, 2007
None of half-a-dozen
new releases were able to make a big splash on rental charts, but that doesn't mean there wasn't anything interesting to report. Every film in the top five was within $540,000 on each other with
The Devil Wears Prada claiming top spot with $6.87 million.
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December 30th, 2006
There were nearly a dozen
new releases to chart this week, but it was a holdover that took top spot in an extremely close race.
The Devil Wears Prada beat out
Little Miss Sunshine at $8.88 million to $8.80 million.
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December 19th, 2006
This is the last week before Christmas and there are a lot of DVDs on this week's list that would make perfect last minute Christmas gifts. There are also a lot of DVDs that feel like they are being dumped on the home market in the hopes that they will be scooped up by ever desperate shoppers. Of the contenders, Jackie Chan's Police Story - Special Collector's Edition and The Simpsons - The Complete Ninth Season - Collectable Lisa Head Packaging came close to taking home the honor. But in the end I went with When the Levees Broke.
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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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December 3rd, 2006
Open Season only has a few more markets to open in and is starting to shed screens and markets; however, it sill managed sixth place with $4.08 million on 3489 screens in 49 markets for a two-month total of $76.58 million. This week the film opened in first place in both South Africa with $257,000 on 77 screens and in the Czech Republic with $79,000 on 23 screens.
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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 19th, 2006
Desu Noto 2, a.k.a., Death Note 2: The Last Name held on strong adding $5.12 million on 397 screens in 2 markets for a two week total of $20.85 million. In
Japan the film remained in top spot with $4.66 million on 346 screens for a two week total of $19.34 million.
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November 12th, 2006
Desu Noto 2, a.k.a., Death Note 2: The Last Name opened in two market last weekend taking in a total of $7.29 million on 393 screens including finishing first in
Japan with $6.50 million on 342 screen over the weekend and $10.33 million in total. In the mean time, the film opened in second place in South Korea with a respectable total of $1.37 million, which includes more than just the weekend, obviously.
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November 5th, 2006
Barnyard: The Original Party Animals saw impressive growth this week up 52% to $4.26 million on 2035 screens in 20 markets for an international total of $16.58 million. The film opened in a handful of markets including placing first in Mexico with $927,000 on 310 screens, but that's a little low for this type of film in that market. Also, it missed the top five in Spain opening in sixth place with $651,000 on 220 screens. The film's biggest market of the weekend was the U.K. where it was down just 27% to $1.41 million on 446 screens over the weekend for a total of $5.66 million after two.
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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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September 3rd, 2006
A first place opening in the U.K. helped You, Me & Dupree shoot up the charts nearly reaching the top five. While it did have to settle for sixth place, its $4.32 million on 914 screens in 8 markets was enough to push its still early international total to $13.01 million. Over in the U.K., the film picked up $3.10 million on 409 screens and that was more than double its nearest competitor. The film opened in Iceland over the weekend earning second place to Garfield's A Tail of Two Kitties with $42,000 in three theatres.
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August 22nd, 2006
The weekend box office was surprisingly subdued given the amount of hype the number one film was generating. Overall the box office made $110 million, which was down 14.9% from last week and 3.5% from last year. The week-to-week decline is to be expected at this time of year, but the year-to-year drop-off is more troubling. Even so, 2006 is still maintaining a 6% lead over last year's pace and that's well above ticket price inflation.
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August 14th, 2006
It is another insanely busy week with 1,250 DVDs coming out, at least according to Amazon.
However, like last week, the majority of those are episodes of Charlie Rose.
(I really wish the studio released them as full season sets and not flood the market with individual titles that most people will skip over without a second thought.)
Three releases immediately jump out as the best of the best, Apocalypse Now - The Complete Dossier, Masters of Horror - Dario Argento - Jenifer, and The Simpsons - The Complete Eighth Season - Collectable Maggie Head Edition.
I could have spent hours trying to determine which of those was the best, but instead I will just award all three the title of DVD Pick of the Week.
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August 11th, 2006
The torrid pace of website updates continues with more than 30 films on this week's list. There were a few sites that really caught my eye, but it was
Trust the Man -
Official Site and its interactive map of New York City and its more than 2 dozen clips that won the Weekly Website Award.
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August 10th, 2006
After winning last weekend with ease, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby has four new films looking to knock it off the podium.
However, that seems very unlikely at this point.
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August 1st, 2006
July finally brought us the year's first truly monster his with
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, but outside that film, most of the month disappointed. With August being a bit of a dumping ground for films that didn't work out, the weakness in the box office should continue. Add in a few surprise hits last year and 2006 may have trouble keeping up with last years pace.
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