November 21st, 2005
As Christmas approaches, each week more and more DVDs are being released that theoretically would make perfect gifts.
But for the DVD Pick of the Week I went with the perfect Re-Gift, Seinfeld - Re-Gift Set.
There are a couple others I would recommend (like the King Kong - Collector's Edition), but overall it feels like a really slow week.
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April 5th, 2004
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 and a few from the growing TV on DVD section. An eclectic mix with an even mix of recent releases, older movies and TV series and the best pick being the complete
Freaks and Geeks collection.
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March 15th, 2004
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 and a few from the growing TV on DVD section. It was another slow week as not one new release made it on
Amazon's Top Ten Sales Chart. There are a couple of good DVDs, but they are special editions of older DVDs. That kept my 'To buy list' to just two:
The Commitments and
Married... with Children - Second Season - (
Buy from Amazon.)
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January 26th, 2004
There seems to be a pattern developing for 2004. The number one movie surprises, but the overall box office is lower than expected. This week was no different. The total box office was down from last weekend's 3-day total, which is not surprising as last weekend was a long weekend. But it dropped by a massive 24.7%. The performance compared to last year that is more troubling. Before the weekend 2004 was 7% behind 2003 and at first glance this weekend was almost flat compared to last year, down less than $200,000 or just 0.002%. But this weekend last year was Superbowl weekend, so the performance is really more equivalent to a 10% drop.
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January 23rd, 2004
Two movies staring
That '70s Show alumnus open this weekend, and while neither of them will be recognized with any major awards, they probably won't light up the box office either. In fact, next weekend isn't looking that spectacular either. The box office should pick up again in February.
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January 21st, 2004
The Martin Luther King Jr. holiday is usually celebrated by the movie industry by dumping movies that the studios have little faith in, in hopes that the holiday crowds will give it an undeserved boost. This year two of the three new releases beat expectations (at least for the 3-day weekend) and the one that didn't had the best reviews for the week. (I really must stop basing my prediction on quality.) The 3-day total box office was 7% above last weekend, but down 8% from last year. The 4-day yearly decline was about the same.
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January 16th, 2004
With three new movies opening wide this weekend, we should finally have a new number one at the box office. But don't expect it to be number one in the minds of the critics. With Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday we should see a sizeable increase at the box office.
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January 12th, 2004
None of the wide releases were able to mount much of an attack on last weekend's top five. And with the exception of a limited release going wide there was little change. The lack of a dominate opener helped push the total box office lower by more than 25% from last week and 6% from last year. So much for last weekend's strong start to 2004.
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January 9th, 2004
January is usually the time when studios dump movies that looked like a good idea on paper, but didn't pan out. This year looks like no exception as the two new movies are getting destroyed by the critics. In fact, the only film that looks capable of challenging
Lord of the Rings: Return of the King for the lead is the wide expansion of
Big Fish.
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January 5th, 2004
2004 started off with a bang as all movies in the top five beat expectations, although mostly by just a million or two. Lord of the Rings: Return of the King continues to lead and may yet have one more win up its sleeve for next week. This allowed 2004 to get an early jump improving upon last year's pace by more than 9%. There was a considerable drop from last week, but this was not surprising given the return to work / school on Monday. A drop of just 24% was the best week to week drop-off to start the year since 2000 when the box office dropped a mere 14%.
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January 2nd, 2004
This week there are no new wide openings, so the top five should look a lot like last weekend. This includes another winning weekend for
Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. The lack of new releases is not uncommon for this time of the year, nor is the number of potential $100 million movies. Of the top five, one has already crossed $100 million and three more could follow.
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December 29th, 2003
No one was surprised that Lord of the Ring: Return of the King remained on top for the second weekend in a row, but most of the new entries did surprise at the box office. It is also not surprising that the box office shot up from last week by over 30%, but the yearly increase was a much more modest 4%. That is less than the average increase in ticket prices.
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December 24th, 2003
There's really no doubt Lord of the Rings: Return of the King will remain number one over Christmas / the weekend. The only real question is how much of last weekend's record breaking performance will it maintain and how well will the other movies fare.
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December 24th, 2003
During the past week promotional websites for several movies were launched and some older ones added additional content. Here is an abridged list of highlights, (including the winner for the week, Peter Pan - Official Site) plus one last look at websites for films opening this week. This week's list is abridged due to the holidays. Next week's will probably be the same, but it will return to normal in the New Year. 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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December 19th, 2003
While there are two major and a few smaller releases, only one movie is getting talked about this weekend.
Lord of the Rings: Return of the King will crush all competition, but there still is some question if records can be broken and how well the other competition will fare.
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December 18th, 2003
During the past week promotional websites for several movies were launched and some older ones added additional content. Here is a list of highlights, (including this week's winner
Lord of the Rings: Return of the King -
Official Site plus one last look at websites for films opening this week. 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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November 28th, 2003
This Thanksgiving is turning out to be rather disappointing. Early estimates are about on par with last year when all five wide releases failed to make a major impact at the box office. This year will be a little better, but only because of inflation.
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November 20th, 2003
August 28th, 2003
August 7th, 2003
