July 30th, 2009
Firstly, that pun in the headline is so bad I caused my physical pain when I wrote it. But as it implies, none of the new releases were able to topple Knowing leaving the DVD in top spot on the rental chart.
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July 23rd, 2009
Sales picked up this week with the release of Knowing and a few other new releases that topped the sales chart this week. Knowing led the way with respectable sales of 773,000 units and $12.51 million in consumer spending at retail.
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July 23rd, 2009
The same three new releases that topped the sales chart this week also topped the rental charts, and they finished in the same order. Knowing opened in first place with more than Push and The Unborn made combined.
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July 6th, 2009
This is a slow week.
Even compared to the recent slow weeks we've encountered, this is a slow week.
There are a few first run releases on this week's list, but the best of them earned weak reviews and was only a mid-level hit at the box office.
The best release overall is Mystery Science Theater 3000 - Volume 15, but it is a bit of a niche market release, and I'm hesitant to award it the DVD Pick of the Week.
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April 5th, 2009
Duplicity doubled its international haul over the weekend landing in sixth place with $6.47 million on 1811 screens in 20 markets for a total of $12.21 million. The film opened in fourth place in France with $2.01 million on 380 screens, while it managed fourth in Russia as well, but with a much weaker $873,000 on 265 screens. It did hold on better than most in the U.K. down just 31% to $775,000 on 355 screens over the weekend for a total of $2.68 million after two.
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March 29th, 2009
Watchmen fell out of the top five with $6.35 million on 4965 screens in 53 markets for a total of $60.63 million. Unless it is a big hit in Japan over the weekend, $100 million internationally is likely out of the question, as is $200 million worldwide. Depending on how much it costs to advertise, it could still make enough to show a profit, but it could take quite a bit longer than the studio would have liked.
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March 22nd, 2009
Confessions Of A Shopaholic nearly doubled its weekend haul as it pulled in $6.78 million on 2023 screens in 26 markets for a total of $31.91 million after a month of release. The film opened in first place in Australia, no surprise there, as that's the home of Isla Fisher, with $1.89 million on 309 screens. It earned a nearly identical result of $1.84 million on 426 screens in Germany, but that was only enough for third place in that market. Next up for the film is South Korea and Spain at the end of this month, while it doesn't end its run till the end of May when it opens in Japan and France.
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March 15th, 2009
The Reader nearly reached the top five with $5.14 million on 1169 screens in 17 markets for a total of $28.35 million. The film opened in a number of smaller markets, including Belgium where it placed fifth with $174,000 on 24 screens over the weekend and $225,000 in total. However, most of its money came from holdovers, like Germany, where the film added $2.89 million on 456 screens over the weekend for a total of $7.44 million after two.
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March 8th, 2009
Pink Panther 2 may have climbed a spot to sixth place, but it is hard to be happy with its run so far. The film opened in second place in both Spain and Mexico with $1.95 million on 360 screens and $750,000 on 375 screens respectively, which is better than the film has managed in most major markets. However, overall it only managed $6.33 million on 3186 screens in 53 markets for a total of $22.26 million so far. It does open in Italy this weekend, and still has Germany, Japan, and a few other markets to go, but I can't see it turning its fortunes around at this point.
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January 25th, 2009
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa fell from second to sixth with $9.07 million on 5601 screens in 48 markets for a total of $380.42 million. No openings hurt the film this past weekend, and its only $1 million markets this past weekend were South Korea at $1.20 million on 432 screens and Poland at $1.09 million on 130. The film has made $3.76 million after two weeks in the former and $7.72 million after three weeks in the latter.
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January 20th, 2009
One film on Thursday's prediction column missed expectations; just one. This explains while, despite the fact that the number one film this year was well behind the number one film last year, the overall box office saw amazing growth to $193 million over three days, and $231 million over four. This was ahead of last year's Martin Luther King Jr. day long weekend by 25% and 24% respectively. Year-to-date, 2009 had brought in $668 million, which represents a 24% increase over last year's pace of $539 million.
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January 12th, 2009
Just like this weekend last year, the number one film was a limited release expanding wide. However, while that movie, and indeed practically every new release was a pleasant surprise, the holdovers fell faster than expected to leave the box office down 4.4% from last week at $146 million. That is still a whopping 13% more than the same weekend last year, and that gives 2009 an early 25% lead over 2008. The key word is "early." It is far too soon to tell if 2009 is going to finish ahead of 2008, while any expectations that it can maintain this pace are completely unreasonable.
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January 11th, 2009
Gran Torino made an impressive start in wide release over the weekend, picking up $29 million, according to studio estimates released on Sunday.
That will give Clint Eastwood his biggest weekend in terms of absolute dollars as either an actor or director.
Arguably, this is a record that goes back to 1995's Casper, which opened with $22.1 million, but if we ignore Eastwood's cameo in that movie then Space Cowboys' $18.1 million opening in 2000 takes the prize.
However, adjusted for inflation, Eastwood's biggest weekend may remain Every Which Way But Loose, which opened with $10.3 million over a five day weekend in 1978.
That's equivalent to $41.8 million in 2009 dollars, but the numbers reported at the time include Wednesday and Thursday numbers. (We'll be checking our archives this week to see if we can find more information on Every Which Way...'s opening.
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January 10th, 2009
Not much in terms of websites this week, in fact, half of the new releases do not even have websites, or their website is not working. The best of what's left was Bride Wars's Official Site, which is good, but not great, and not award worthy.
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January 8th, 2009
2009 hopes to build on last week's success and has three new releases and a wide expansion with which to do so. Bride Wars seems to be the odds on favorite to win, but don't count out Gran Torino. Also, both films have a shot at topping last year's number one film, The Bucket List.
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January 1st, 2009
Happy New Year!
If it's January 1, it must be time to take a look at this month's releases, and analyze how 2009 at the box office will compare to 2008.
2009 is looking to get off to a fast start, but I'm not sure that's going to happen. For one thing, 2008 stumbled down the stretch, which means the box office is relatively soft at the moment. Also, 2008 got off to a great start, which means it will be harder for 2009 to keep pace early on. (On a side note, if the box office is sluggish as expected, it could set the tone for the box office coverage and bad news tends to beget more bad news.) While there are a few films that are aiming for $50 million or more, none have the advance buzz that Cloverfield had, and it is unlikely that any will match its box office.
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October 2nd, 2008
This week's round of new casting information contains updates for Paper Man, Sherlock Holmes, Kung Fu Panda 2, and more!
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September 30th, 2008
This week another number of upcoming movies, new stars and directors have been added to our archive!
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September 14th, 2008
This week's round of new movie release information contains release dates for The Box, Hangover, The Fast and the Furious 4 and more!
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