March 19th, 2006
A number one opening in France, as well as a slew of smaller debuts, pushed
Underworld: Evolution into sixth place on the international charts with $4.98 million on 1473 screens in 20 markets for a running tally of $36.12 million after nearly two months in release. In France the film earned $1.84 million on 346 screens while it managed the same feat in a trio of Asian markets: Taiwan with $600,000 on 75 screens, Malaysia with $310,000 on 45, and Hong Kong with $290,000 on 25. Interestingly, the
original was banned in Malaysia.
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March 12th, 2006
A fourth place, $1.63 million debut on 250 screens in France helped
Memoirs Of A Geisha leap up the charts this weekend. Overall the film finished in sixth place on the international charts with $3.98 million on 1723 screens in 47 markets for an international total of $88.34 million. The film placed higher during its opening in Finland with $79,000 on 12 screen over the weekend and $95,000 in total while it had to settle for ninth place in Belgium with $200,000 on 29 screens.
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March 5th, 2006
The
Oscars were handed out tonight and while there were a handful of multiple winners, no single movie stood out.
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February 21st, 2006
With the
Oscars just a few weeks away and our
contest well under way, there's no better time to take a closer look at some of the nominees. Today we'll look at the Best Animated Feature.
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February 18th, 2006
There were six new releases charting this weekend with
Just Like Heaven leading the way on the rental charts with $7.40 million in combined rentals.
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February 7th, 2006
The second part of this week's list is not as long as the first, but the quality is a bit higher with two releases I'd rate as must haves,
Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit -
Buy from Amazon and
Waiting... -
Unrated Edition. I'm giving the coveted DVD Pick of the Week to the latter release because it has the best DVD package coming out this week while the former is a little light on special features. However, if you are not a fan of gross-out humor, go with the former instead.
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February 6th, 2006
It's a massively busy week in the world of DVD releases, so much so that I'm dividing the column up into two parts with the second part being published tomorrow. I'm trying to organize it alphabetically, (although I'll probably miss a few today and add them tomorrow), but this presents a small problem as none of today's list are really DVD Pick of the Week material. As for tomorrow's list, both
Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit -
Buy from Amazon and
Waiting... -
Unrated Edition are contenders for DVD Pick of the Week. You'll have to stay tuned to see which one wins. (Hint: probably both.)
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January 31st, 2006
Brokeback Mountain again led the list of nominees as with 8 Oscar nods. There were three films with six nominations a piece,
Crash,
Good Night and Good Luck, and
Memoirs of a Geisha, (although for that last one, they were all the less prestigious technical awards.
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January 29th, 2006
Producers Guild of America handed out its awards last weekend with
Brokeback Mountain taking Best Theatrical Motion Picture while Animation Motion Picture went to
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. Neither result could be described as a shock.
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January 6th, 2006
It's guild day today as the
Producers Guild of America nominations were announced this week.
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December 18th, 2005
Just Like Heaven dipped at the box office falling out of the top five with $4.53 million on 1609 screens in 30 markets over the weekend for an early total of $18.04 million internationally. Its best opening was in Belgium where it debuted in second place with $252,000 on 40 screens over the weekend and $290,000 in total. It also had debuts in Holland with $139,000 on 57 screens over the weekend and $167,000 overall, and in Greece with $116,000 on 24 and Norway with $113,000 on 26. Holdovers include Germany where the film dropped 24% to $890,000 on 273 screens for a total of $2.41 million so far, while in Spain the film fell 39% to 718,000 on 200 screens for a two-week total of $3.09 million.
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December 11th, 2005
Flightplan fell out of the top five with $5.13 million on 2,430 screens in 38 markets for a total of $94.65 million on the international scene.
It did fall from second to sixth on this week's charts, but it should still reach $100 million by this time next week. Its best market of the weekend was the U.K. where it remained in second place with $2.14 million on 416 screens for a two-week total of $6.59 million.
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December 4th, 2005
Here's this week's round-up of international box office numbers.
In Her Shoes fell out of the top five this week with $3.95 million on 2,050 screens in 23 markets for a $30.60 million international box office.
The film held up amazingly well in Spain, dropping just 8% to $810,000 on 290 screens, but it wasn't as fortunate in France where it lost more than half its opening, earning $400,000 on 293 screens, falling out of the top ten in the process.
It suffered a similar fate during its third weekend in the U.K. where it was down 55% to $736,000 on 268 screens, but the film already has $7.06 million there, which is better than its domestic run if you take into account the relative sizes of the two markets.
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November 27th, 2005
The Legend of Zorro fell from second to sixth this week and because of that its quest from $100 million internationally took a serious hit. Over the weekend the film pulled in $4.20 million on 4062 screens in 62 markets for a running tally of $80.73 million. In France the film fell 57% to $1.01 million over the weekend and $14.80 million during its four-week run while it had a similar drop-off in Spain where it was down 56% to $475,000 over the weekend and $9.10 million in total. The box office was less kind in Russia, (down 68% to $136,000); Germany, (down 70% to $232,000) and the U.K., (down 83% to $120,000).
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November 16th, 2005
It was a first place finish for
Flightplan this weekend with $15.2 million on 3,484 screens in 39 markets for a running tally of $60.2 million on the international scene. The film had several first place finishes including $2.8 million on 303 screens in Spain, $1.6 million on 313 screens in Australia, $570,000 on 85 screens in the Netherlands. It also performed well in France with $2.3 million on 500 screens finishing in third place, South Korea with $2.1 million on 120 screens in South Korea, and in Russia with $750,000 on 160 screens. Holdovers include a $1.3 million, first place finish on 303 screens in its second weekend in Italy and $1.3 million on 660 screens during its fourth weekend in Germany for a total of $12.4 million total in the market.
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November 9th, 2005
The Legend of Zorro saw serious declines in many major markets, but was still able to take top spot on the international charts with $17.5 million on 6,150 screens in 60 markets for an international total of $60 million so far. In France, the film fell by 57% to $2.46, and in Spain it fell by 46% to $1.71 million, but remained first in both markets.
Meanwhile, it was down 64% in the UK to $1.18 million.
It did show surprising legs in Germany, where it was down just 25% to $1.33 million, in Holland down 27% to $270,000, and in Turkey where it was down just 8% to $275,000. However, in that last market, it was one of only two films in the top ten to suffer week-to-week declines.
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November 2nd, 2005
The Legend of Zorro started its international run with a nearly worldwide day-and-date release, coinciding with its US domestic launch.
This allowed the film to take top spot easily on the international charts with $27 million.
However, it was playing on 6,140 screens in 50 markets, giving in a rather lame per screen average.
The film finished first in many markets, including France with $5.8 million on 690 screens, Spain with $2.8 million on 550 screens, Mexico with $1.4 million on 500, China with $1.38 million on 250, Brazil with $1 million on 319, and Russia with $1 million on 301.
But it also struggled in many of the major markets, finishing second in Germany with $1.65 million on 674 screens, third place in the U.K. with $2.8 million on 485 and, and fourth in Italy and South Korea with $1.25 million on 500 and $1.06 million on 160 screens respectively.
Even with the better legs most films have on the international scene and a few more markets left to open, The Legend of Zorro will struggle to reach $100 million internationally, which is well below the original.
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October 31st, 2005
October was a bad month at the box office, but at least it ended on a strong note.
Not only did the overall box office climb above the $100 million mark, but there was also substantial growth from last weekend at 14.5%, and even some growth from last year at 1.8%.
Granted, that's below the ticket price inflation, so actual admissions were still down.
And yes, Halloween did fall on a Sunday last year and that did depress the box office so the comparison isn't really fair.
And, fine, 2005 is still 7% behind last year's pace.
But in a year that brought us the longest evere year-to-year slump, we have to cherish all the good news we can find.
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October 26th, 2005
For the third weekend in a row Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit led the race on the international charts.
This time it added $15.75 million on 3,782 screens in 32 markets to its total of $63.7 million so far.
Slightly more than half of the film's weekend haul came from the U.K. where it added $8.3 million over the weekend, down 26.5% from its opening.
It now has $29.4 million in that market, which is nearly half of its international total.
Holdovers in other major markets were equally impressive as the film dropped just 19% in Germany to $1.86 million and 24% in France to $2.22 million.
On the other hand, the film doubled its opening weekend haul in the Netherlands, taking in $440,000 over the weekend and $960,000 during its run.
There was not much on the new openings front, but the film did take first place in Belgium with $427,000 on 86 screens, but that was since Wednesday.
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October 24th, 2005
The box office wasn't knee deep in doom, it was more like ankle deep in Doom. With almost every film missing expectations, there was another steep decline at the box office this weekend, at least on the year-to-year comparison. Week-to-week the box office was up just 0.7%, but it was down 16.5% from last year.
Year-to-date, 2005 has now brought $6.957 billion, which is about 8% lower than this time last year.
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October 21st, 2005
Another week, another four movies opening wide.
But only one of those films is earning positive reviews.
And with the overall weakness in the market, the four films combined openings could be less than last year's number one film.
But hopefully the box office numbers will be strong enough to avoid that fate.
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October 19th, 2005
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit crushed the competition on the international charts this weekend earning a stunning $26.4 million in just eight markets for an early international total of $40.3 million.
Unsurprisingly, the film's best market was the U.K., which is the home of Nick Park and Aardman Animations.
There, the film pulled in an amazing $11.3 million on 502 screens over the weekend ($16.2 million previews), and beat the nearest competition by a factor of nine.
The film also opened in first place in France with $2.88 million on 538 screens, Germany with $2.28 million on 680 screens, and in Austria with $225,000 on 94 screens.
As for holdovers, the film fell just 23% to $1 million in Mexico for a $2.65 million total there, and 17% in Spain with $830,000 for the weekend and $2.5 million in total.
It wasn't so fortunate in Australia and New Zealand, falling 54% and 78% respectively, but it was a post-holiday weekend there and large drop-off for a film of this type is expected.
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October 17th, 2005
How bad was the weekend box office?
Here's a clue... the number one film would have placed fifth during the same weekend last year.
It goes without saying that there was a significant drop-off at the box office this weekend, down 16.2% from last weekend, but more importantly down 9.6% from last year.
The Fall movie session has now brought in a total of $705.8 million, up by just 3.1% from last year, while the year-to-date total has hit $6.733 billion, down 6.5% from the 2004.
I don't see it getting much better next weekend either.
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October 14th, 2005
A trio of wide releases hit the theatres today, but none of them seem to have what it takes to become a breakout hit. With very few strong contenders at the box office this weekend, however, all three should still make it into the top five.
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October 12th, 2005
The stop motion animated film Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit not only won the domestic box office race, but it won the international one as well.
Overall it earned $9.23 million on 1,895 screens in 13 markets for a $11.4 million running tally.
Most of that came from the U.K., where the film earned $5 million from 487 previews.
It opened in second place in Mexico with $1.25 million on 353 screens, third place in Spain with $1.01 million on 225 screens and in Brazil it made $361,000 (placing unknown). Holdovers include $740,000 in Australia and $176,000 in New Zealand.
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October 10th, 2005
It was a bad weekend at the box office. Granted, the box office hit $104 million over the weekend, up 17.6% from last weekend, but it was down 2.9% from last year, making this a weak start to October. The fall box office is still ahead of last years pace by 4.9% at $581.8 million, but year-to-date, 2005 is off by 6.5% at $6.608 billion.
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October 7th, 2005
Five new films are opening in varying degrees of wideness from 3,645 theatres for Wallace and Gromit to 969 for The Gospel. All while all five could have an impact at the box office, the real question is whether the overall market can rebound from last weekend's setback.
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October 6th, 2005
During the past week promotional websites for several movies were launched and some older ones added additional content. Here the list of this week's releases, a couple of new sites and few updates, including this week's winner,
Waiting... -
Official Site.
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October 2nd, 2005
Red Eye added another $3.7 million on 2,057 screens in 37 markets to its $22 million international total. The film opened in second place in both Spain with $850,000 on 215 screens and in the Netherlands with $250,000 on 59 ($300,000 including previews).
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October 1st, 2005
October is a transition month. No holidays to boost the box office, but at least Halloween will help the few Horror films playing during the month. There are no sure-fire winners this month, nor does there appear to be any major flops. The competition will again hurt box office potentials as there are on average four wide releases each weekend, and that is way too many. Also worth noting, with award season heating up, there are more and more limited releases that could make noise at the box office (Good Night and Good Luck, for example).
Discuss the upcoming movies on our forums.
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September 29th, 2005
During the past week promotional websites for several movies were launched and some older ones added additional content. Here the list of this week's releases, a couple of new sites and few updates, including this week's winner,
The Greatest Game Ever Played -
Official Site.
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September 25th, 2005
Marrying the Mafia 2 again led its native market of
South Korean with $4.81 million over the weekend and $12.78 million during its two-week run. And like
last week, this was enough for the film to secure a place in the top five overall just beating out
Pride and Prejudice.
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September 15th, 2005
During the past week promotional websites for several movies were launched and some older ones added additional content. Here the list of this week's releases, a couple of new sites and few updates, including this week's winner,
Cry Wolf -
Official Site.
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June 16th, 2005
During the past week promotional websites for several movies were launched and some older ones added additional content. Here the list of this week's releases, a couple of new sites and few updates, including this week's winner,
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory -
Official Site.
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February 17th, 2005
During the past week promotional websites for several movies were launched and some older ones added additional content. Here the list of this week's releases, a couple of new sites and a few updates, including this week's winner, Sin City - Official Site. If you know of any new movie websites not on this list feel free to e-mail me with the details.
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