January 4th, 2011
There were plenty of new releases on the sales chart this week, but none came close to unseating Despicable Me. The film repeated on top with 1.38 million units for the week and 5.13 million units after two. It has already brought in $86.13 million in revenue, while it will have little trouble hitting $100 million shortly.
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December 21st, 2010
It's the last chance for Christmas gifts, although if you have to order online, you better choose the overnight option. Or do what I do, tell them you pre-ordered it and it will arrive a little late. One of the gifts I'm giving this year is being sent from Japan via boat. It might not get here till February, but the person I'm giving it to knows and they're cool with that. Anyhoo, if you are looking for good gifts, Easy A on Blu-ray is the best reviewed wide release of the week, while geeks would be happy with Family Guy: Laugh It Up, Fuzzball on Blu-ray for Futurama: Volume Five on Blu-ray. However, this week the Ultimate Geek Gift and Pick of the Week is The Guild: Season Four.
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December 14th, 2010
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced their nominations early this morning, and there are some interesting surprises included in the mix. Leading the way was The King's Speech, which has long been seen as one of the major players this Awards Season. Meanwhile, The Fighter and The Social Network were right behind with six each. There were many, many other films nomination, including more than a few shocks. ... Mostly in one category.
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October 27th, 2010
Mirroring its domestic debut, Paranormal Activity 2 opened in first place internationally with $22.32 million on 2752 screens in 21 markets. The film opened in first place in the U.K. with $5.92 million on 389 screens, while it also topped the charts in Australia with $2.68 million on 185 screens and in Mexico with $1.86 million in 452. On the other hand, it had to settle for second place in South Korea with $1.05 million on 218 screens over the weekend and $1.18 million in total. While in Italy it could do no better than fourth place with $1.55 million on 250.
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October 20th, 2010
Despicable Me completed its climb to the top of the international chart with $27.03 million on 4751 screens in 40 markets for totals of $170.27 million internationally and $417.32 million worldwide. This week's openings include the U.K., where it topped the chart with $5.81 million on 522 screens, which is a good result, but not a great result. It placed second in Italy with less money at $4.86 million on 544 screens, but ironically, this is a better result due to the relative size of the two markets and it only placed second due to a massive local hit. Meanwhile, the film was down just 23% in France adding $3.57 million on 657 screens for a two-week total of $8.82 million. It was down 35% in Spain, but remained in first place with $2.25 million on 542 screens over the weekend and $8.27 million in total. The film is running out of places to open in, but by this time next week it should have $200 million internationally, while $500 million worldwide is still the main goal.
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October 13th, 2010
Eat Pray Love rose to top spot on the international chart with $18.47 million on 4289 screens in 55 markets for a total of $64.81 million internationally. By this time next week, the film should have more revenue internationally than it had domestically, and it was a solid midlevel hit here. The film opened in first place in Australia with $3.42 million on 328 screens over the weekend and $3.63 million in total. On the other hand, it had to settle for fourth place in Russia with $1.74 million on 223 screens.
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October 6th, 2010
Resident Evil: Afterlife was in a close race for top spot on the international chart, but lost out to Detective Dee: Mystery Of The Phantom Flame, a Chinese film. That film opened with $16.42 million on 650 screens in 4 markets over the weekend for a total opening on $17.63 million. Most of this likely came from its native market, unfortunately, China is not a market that releases box office number in anything close to a timely fashion, so exact numbers there will likely remain a mystery for a while.
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October 4th, 2010
October started in such a way that it feels like September was extended a weekend. The top film wasn't bad, but the other two wide releases bombed. Overall the box office brought in $95 million, which was down 6% from last week and 11% from the same weekend last year. 2010 is still ahead of 2009 by 4% at $8.19 billion to $7.90 billion, but if it were to lose 11% each weekend, that lead would evaporate by the end of the year.
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September 30th, 2010
It's the beginning of October, so it should come as no surprise there are a couple of horror films are coming out. More surprisingly, a couple of films released this week are also earning Oscar- or near Oscar-worthy reviews.
(There's only three films, so there's some crossover.)
Direct competition between the films could hurt, but hopefully not so much that 2010 falls behind last year's pace.
It's not like last year was explosive at the box office, as Zombieland just missed $25 million at the box office, and it was the clear winner.
Will any of the wide releases top that figure? And will the overall box office help 2010 maintain its lead over 2009?
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September 29th, 2010
Another week, another milestone for Resident Evil: Afterlife, this time crossing $200 million worldwide, which makes it the first in the franchise to do so. Over the weekend it led the international box office with $25.20 million on 6519 screens in 55 markets for a total of $154.71 million internationally and $206.78 million worldwide. It managed top spot during its debut in France with $2.96 million on 408 screens, but that's below average for its run so far. Meanwhile, it added $2.87 million on 633 screens in Japan for a total of $38.51 million after three weeks of release there. That's almost as much as Inception has made in that market, and its been there for ten weeks.
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September 27th, 2010
While none of the three new releases were able to live up to expectations, the holdovers did more than just hold their own, which helped the overall box office pull in $101 million over the weekend. This was nearly identical to last week, while it was higher than the same weekend last year by 4.5% and that helped 2010 maintain its lead over 2009. Currently 2010 is ahead of 2009 by a nearly 4% margin at $8.07 billion to $7.76 billion. Losing a $300 million lead in just three months would be impressive in its ineptitude, but we can't be too quick to claim victory. After all, Avatar made almost as much during the last two weeks of 2009 and there's nothing opening for the rest of 2010 that can compensate for that much at the box office.
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September 26th, 2010
Twenty-three years after the opening of the original, Wall Street 2 marked the successful return of Gordon Gecko this weekend with a good (though hardly blockbusting) $19 million opening.
Intervening years of inflation and radical changes in theatrical distribution make a comparison between the openings of the two movies virtually meaningless, but it is noteworthy that the first Wall Street was more a of cultural icon than a box office hit.
It earned $43,848,100 - very respectable for the time, but less than, for example, Outrageous Fortune, Dragnet or La Bamba, which were all also released in 1987.
Wall Street 2 looks headed for similar respectability.
Whether it'll catch the national mood in the same way is more doubtful.
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September 23rd, 2010
It's the final weekend of September and there are three and a half new releases this week looking to cash in. We could have a race for the top, as two films, Legend of the Guardians and Wall Street 2 are both vying for top spot. It might be close enough that one could win Friday night at the box office, while the other wins the weekend as a whole. Or perhaps one will win opening weekend, while the other will finish its box office run with more. Either way, combined they should help 2010 keep pace with last year, which didn't exactly have a strong crop of new releases.
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September 1st, 2010
Summer has ended and while there were some bigger than expected hits in August, this trend is unlikely to continue in September. There are four weekends this September and nearly a dozen films opening wide, plus a few more that may or may not open wide. Of all of those films, maybe three of four will be midlevel hits, while only one film, Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole 3D, has a real shot at reaching the $100 million milestone. This is compared to last year when we had two $100 million hits, although one of those was Paranormal Activity, which didn't expand truly wide till Halloween. Hopefully 2010 can gain ground on 2009 overall, even if it doesn't have as many $100 million hits.
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