November 19th, 2005
It was a busy week on the home market with three new releases in the top five including
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which came in first. The
re-
adaptation took top spot with a combined total of $8.39 million in rentals; however, there was no breakdown on how much of that was due to people rentign the
Deluxe Edition and how much went to
Single Disc Edition.
More...
November 12th, 2005
Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith was able to take first place on the rental charts this weekend, but its $7.64 million in DVD rentals was rather anemic. However, this is all part of the
Fanboy Effect, those that were interested in seeing the movie bought it instead of renting, which kept the rental figures low but boosted the sales figures. Combined sales for the DVD and game were $210 million worldwide in its first week of release, but there were no breakdowns given either by market or the split between DVD and Game sales.
More...
November 5th, 2005
Despite suffering a 34%, second week drop-off,
Batman Begins was still able to retain its hold on the home market crown, which is just further proof of the weakness in the rental market. This week the film added $7.85 million to its $19.88 million, two-week total.
More...
October 24th, 2005
Every week films get a second chance at success from the home market; or, in some cases, a first chance at success. Here are the new and classice movies, and a few from the TV on DVD section.
This week the selection is quite strong with several first run releases, but again the best of the best come from the TV on DVD category.
Looney Tunes - Golden Collection - Volume Three is easily the best release of the week and should be in everyone's collection.
Kids in the Hall - Complete Season 3 is also a must have, while another Canadian show, Puppets Who Kill - Complete 2nd Season, gets an honorable mention.
More...
October 23rd, 2005
The Brothers Grimm dropped just 35% during its second weekend in France adding $2.1 million to its $5.7 million total there. In Germany, the film performed a nearly the same level falling 36% to $950,000 over the weekend and $2.9 million during its run. Overall the film made $4 million for a $27.8 million runny tally and that places it fourth on this week's charts. While the film struggled domestically, it is doing quite a bit better on the international scene, and could show a profit sometime during its home market run.
More...
October 16th, 2005
Company 9 remained in first place in Russia, its home market, down just 13% to $4.3 million for a running total of $14.3 million, which is well ahead of Revenge of the Sith's final box office in the market (which was just shy of $10 million).
More...
October 5th, 2005
Too much chocolate is bad for your health, but try telling that to the international box office.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory has topped the international box office for the fourth weekend in a row and the sixth during its run this weekend adding $10.2 million on 3,200 screens in 52 markets. Its best market of the weekend was again Japan where it finished first, again, with $3.1 million for the weekend on 360 screens and $28.7 million during its run. It was also first in Italy with $2.4 million on 282 screens for a $6.5 million running tally and in Norway with $740,000 on 92 screens, and in New Zealand with $314,000 on 80. With no more major markets, and precious little midlevel ones as well, the film is just wrapping up its international run, a run that has earned the film $219 million so far.
More...
September 28th, 2005
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory finished first on the international charts for the third weekend in a row and the fifth time in its international run, reaching a major milestone along the way.
Over the weekend the film added $13.7 million on almost 4,000 screens in 55 markets for an international box office of $201.1 million.
Highlights include amazing holdovers in Japan where it was down just 12% to $4.1 million over the weekend and $22 million in total and in South Korea where the film was down a phenomenal 6% to $1.5 million for a $5 million total.
New openings include first place debuts in both Italy at $2.8 million on 402 screens and $333,000 on 64 screens in Denmark, which represents its last two major or midlevel markets.
More...
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.
More...
September 14th, 2005
After almost a month in second place, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was able to recapture first thanks primarily to a strong start in Japan and a relatively strong holdover in Australia.
In Japan, the film opened in first place with $4.3 million on 338 screens, well ahead of the competition.
In Australia, the film remained in second place with $3.2 million on 463 screens, down 41% from last weekend and almost five times the second placed film.
It also opened in New Zealand, easily taking first place with $875,000 on 80 screens and remains a major player in the U.K. with $975,000 on 422 screens during its seventh weekend of release in that market.
Overall Charlie and the Chocolate Factory earned $11.3 million on 4,100 screens in 49 markets this weekend for a $155.7 million running tally.
Assuming the studio's share of the domestic box office was 66% and 50% of the international, which are fair assumptions, then the movie is just now starting to show a profit.
However, this is better than many films, which have to wait until the home market before the studio recoups their costs, or in fact fail to recoup their costs.
More...
September 7th, 2005
Amazing openings in Italy and Scandinavia helped
Madagascar jump back into the lead on the international charts with $11.6 million in 47 markets, which pushed its box office total to $291.5 million. Its biggest market was Italy, where the film benefited from the end of the slow summer session; with most theatres open again the film was able to grab $5.91 million over the weekend and $7.29 million if you include previews. Other first place openings included $1.45 million on 112 screens in Norway, $645,000 on 114 screens in Sweden, $600,000 on 82 screens in Denmark and $340,000 on 52 screens in Finland. The film has just a couple more markets left to open in, Thailand and the end of this month and Greece at the end of next month, but by then the film will have topped $300 million internationally and $500 million worldwide.
More...
August 31st, 2005
With the summer box office session coming to a close, the overall international returns slowed. However, The Island was still able to come out on top of the sluggish box office with $9.7 million at more than 4,800 screens in 48 markets for a total of $101.6 million so far. The film had a trio of openings this weekend, the best in terms of raw dollars was in Italy where the film managed $1.144 million on 322 screens, less than $2000 out of first place. It didn't have to settle for second place in Greece with $625,000 on 73 screens or in Sweden with $295,000 on 88. Holdovers continue to be the bane of this film as it fell by 40% during its second weekend in France.
Even so, that was the best single market for the film at $2.1 million on 640 screens.
More...
August 28th, 2005
The Skeleton Key opened in 10- more markets over the weekend and in now playing on 1400 screens, however, it still hasn't found the success the studio was hoping for. It did open in first place in Germany, but it still had a very soft opening with $1.6 million. It also opened in first place in Russia with $625,000 over the weekend and $780,000 since Thursday, but in Australia and New Zealand it had to settle for a distant second place with $760,000 and $110,000 respectively.
The Skeleton Key also open in Austria with $230,000 for the week, but its placing is unknown at the moment. Add in holdovers in France, ($250,000 for $2.2 million) and the U.K., ($130,000 for $4.5 million) and you have roughly $4 million for the weekend and $16.5 million so far.
More...
August 21st, 2005
Mr. and Mrs. Smith opened in first place in both the Czech Republic with $180,000 on 20 screens and in Slovakia with $50,000 on 8 screens. The film also remained in first place in France with $2.675 million, Belgium with $635,000, The Netherlands with $490,000 and Poland with $266,000. Strangest of all, the film stayed in second place for the fourth weekend in a row in Germany adding $2.12 million to its $20.6 million running tally in the market. Overall the film has made $143 million in markets where
Fox is handling the distribution and may have hit $200 million overall, but there's no conformation on that yet.
More...
August 14th, 2005
Mr. and Mrs. Smith opened in Belgium with $1.7 million on 80 screens, easily enough for first place and had a similar result with $480,000 in Poland. It also remained in first place in France with $2.88 million, (despite falling 54% there) and in the Netherlands with $740,000. In Germany the film remained in second place for the third straight week with $3.06 million for a $17.06 million running tally. The film now have $140 million in territories where
Fox is handling the distribution and $192 million overall.
More...
August 7th, 2005
The Island managed a couple of first place finished over the weekend, but the results were still less than impressive. In Australia the film opened with $1.404 million for a close victory while in Hong Kong it earned a disappointing $490,000 over the weekend and $520,000 including previews. It's best market continued to be South Korea with $3.167 million, down 38% from last weekend dropping to second place along the way. On the other hand, no wide openings and a mere 23% drop-off allowed the film to rise to first in New Zealand. Overall the film added $7.64 million to its $24.1 million running tally on the international scene and will opens in several markets this weekend including the U.K., Germany and Spain.
More...
July 31st, 2005
Early numbers had
Mr. and Mrs. Smith taking fifth place on the overall international box office charts, but better than expected results has
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory overtaking them $6.7 million to $5.4 million. It's biggest single market continues to be France where the film dipped just 6% during its second weekend there earning $3,533,857 for a $9,034,141 running tally. But it was even more impressive in Belgium where the film shot up by 68% to $400,000 for the weekend and $785,000 in total. The film also opened in first place in three markets, Brazil with $1.1 million on 200 screens, Holland with $625,000 on 124 screens, and South Africa with $275,000 on 41 screens.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory has $13.3 million so far and opens in a couple of important markets this weekend, (The U.K. and Mexico.)
More...
July 24th, 2005
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory opened in three French speaking markets over the weekend and while it didn't finish first, it still had a great start.
In France the film earned $3,741,793 in 670 theaters for the best per theater average in the top ten.
The result was similar in Belgium ($250,000) and Switzerland ($190,000), giving the film $4.2 million for the weekend.
More...
July 17th, 2005
Mr. and Mrs. Smith continues its excellent run in Asia with a $2.2 million opening in 450 theatres in China. The film also added $1.8 million in South Korea for an $18 million running total in that market, (although it was pushed out of the top spot in that market. Overall the film made $4 million pushing its total to $117 million internationally and $275 million worldwide.
More...
July 5th, 2005
It was a very predictable weekend at the box office as four of the top five films finished within $1 million or so within expectations, at least over the first 3 days.
Monday was another story as several films missed predictions.
And as expected, the overall box office was down again on a year-to-year comparison -- and that's now for 19 weeks in a row.
But first some good news, the 3-day portion of the weekend saw an 11.1% increase from last weekend, which is not all that great taking into account the holiday on Monday.
On a yearly comparison the 3-day weekend was down 14.6% while the 4-day weekend was down an incredible 23%.
Year-to-date 2005 has now brought in $4.313 billion, 8.4% behind 2004, while the summer is down 11.7% at $1.813 billion so far.
More...
July 4th, 2005
As with all long weekends, July Fourth will cause a one day delay in both Weekend Wrap-up and the Per Theatre Charts. They will be published on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively. In the meantime, here are the studio estimates for the Top Ten, both over the 3-day weekend and the 4-day weekend.
More...
July 1st, 2005
The Independence Day long weekend is one of the most important weekends on the calendar.
However, there will likely be little celebrating once the numbers start coming in.
Simply put, the target needed to break The Slump is too high and there's almost no chance of breaking it this weekend.
More...
June 27th, 2005
The slump continued this weekend, marking the 18th weekend in a row that the overall box office was lower than the same weekend last year.
That's the longest such slump since detailed box office data was kept (1982).
To add insult to injury, it wasn't even close; the yearly comparison showed a 14.5% drop-off from the last year.
This weekend the box office really should have stopped the streak, and now it looks like it could continue until August, and possibly longer.
More...
June 24th, 2005
Three new films aim to break the box office out of its 17-week slump this weekend.
It's been more than four months since the box office gained any ground on 2004, and the chances of breaking the slump this weekend are not that bad.
This time last year wasn't a particularly strong weekend, but none of this year's three opening films are all that strong either.
In fact, it is unlikely that Batman Begins will be dethroned over the next three days.
More...
June 23rd, 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,
Chicken Little -
Official Site.
More...
June 20th, 2005
Every week films get a second chance at success from the home market; or, in some cases, a first chance at success. Here is a list of wide releases, limited releases, classics and a few from the growing TV on DVD section. It's another bad week for first-run releases; this is hardly surprising when you consider the low quality of wide releases earlier in the year. But unlike
last week there's little in the way of older releases, special editions and TV on DVD to pick up the slack. Just one release stood out as a must have, the fantastic Degrassi The Next Generation - Season 2 -
Buy from Amazon making this the third week in a row I've picked a release from this long running series as my DVD pick of the week. That's a record that probably won't be broken for a long, long time.
More...
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.
More...
June 2nd, 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 Perfect Man - Official Site.
More...
June 1st, 2005
June's a great month for movies, even though it doesn't have a major long weekend like May (Memorial Day), or July (Independence Day).
There are a couple of films that have real potential to become monster hits, plus lots of $100 million contenders.
More...
April 28th, 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,
Unleashed -
Official Site.
More...
March 24th, 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 Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy -
Official Site.
More...
December 2nd, 2004
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
Ocean's Twelve -
Official Site. If you know of any new movie websites not on this list feel free to
e-mail me with the details.
More...
November 24th, 2004
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
Christmas with the Kranks -
Official Site. If you know of any new movie websites not on this list feel free to
e-mail me with the details.
More...
January 30th, 2004
This week's new batch of movie release dates sees the studios start to position themselves for blockbuster performances in Summer 2005, and do some shuffling around of less ambitious releases in 2004.
Among movies with new or moved dates: a remake of The Longest Yard,
a revival of The Pink Panther, an adaptation of TV's Bewitched, Tarantino's Kill Bill: Volume 2 and many more.
More...
