May 26th, 2009
It's a slow week, not that you can tell from the number of spotlight reviews. Over the past week, I received close to a dozen DVDs that were late. Fortunately, I was able to get to all of them, at least I until this afternoon when a couple more arrived late. (It never ends.) As for the DVD / Blu-rays coming out this week, there's not much of a selection. The best is Jeeves & Wooster - The Complete Series, but the lack of extras prevents it from being awarded the DVD Pick of the Week. On the other hand, the best on this week's list is Star Trek - Original Motion Picture Collection, which actually came out a couple of weeks ago. Even so, it is deserving of the DVD Pick of the Week. A slow week plus a lot of late reviews still results in a list so long it had to be spit into two. The second part can be found here.
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December 2nd, 2008
It's the slowest week in more than a month, which is not surprising since it is the Tuesday after Black Friday. That doesn't mean there are no top-notch releases this week, or major sellers. In fact, there are three $100 million hits from last summer coming out this week. However, to find the DVD Pick of the Week we have to go a bit further back, all the way back to 1942 and Casablanca - The Ultimate Collector's Edition on Blu-ray.
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April 7th, 2007
New releases were a source of happiness on the home market as they first one - two this week. Leading the way was Pursuit of Happyness with an impressive $9.95 million while fellow happy release, Happy Feet, placed second with $8.26 million.
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March 26th, 2007
Yikes! It's a busy week for DVD releases with closing in on 50 DVDs on this week's list. Not only are there are a lot of films worth checking out, there's a very close race for the DVD Pick of the Week. It came down to Children of Men - Buy from Amazon and The Shield - The Complete Fifth Season - Buy from Amazon. It's practically a coin flip here, but I'm giving the DVD Pick of the Week to Children of Men - Buy from Amazon, after all, I couldn't let the film get passed over for yet another award. That would be just too cruel.
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January 23rd, 2007
The
Oscar nominations were handed out today and for the most part they've followed the script written by previous awards committees fairly closely.
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January 17th, 2007
Martin Luther King Jr. long weekend saw a new film take top spot while several films in the top five outperformed expectations.
However, overall the box office was 3% lower from last weekend at $128 million and just 2% higher than the same weekend last year.
That's likely not enough to keep up with ticket price inflation.
Obviously it is too early to panic, or even make predictions, but this is not the start the industry was hoping for.
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January 9th, 2007
There were a couple of pleasant surprises this week, including a generally stronger than expected performance by the holdovers. Better than expected still resulted in an 18% drop-off from last weekend to $133 million, but that's 3.5% better than 2006's start.
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January 7th, 2007
Since New Years Eve fell on a Sunday this year, there was precious little in terms of international box office numbers released this week. We have some studio estimates, some box office information for major markets, and some updated totals. But for the most, there's little to share.
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January 5th, 2007
The first weekend of the year is not known for producing many hits. In fact, perhaps only the first weekend after Labor Day is worse.
This year is no exception: the three wide releases are not earning strong reviews, only one new film is able to crack 2,000 theaters, and none of them have a real shot at first place.
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January 4th, 2007
The last weekend of the year normally brings with it several Oscar contenders, and this year it was no different. With the sheer number of high profile Oscar hopefuls, there's no surprise that so many were able to top $10,000 on the per theater.
Leading the way was Pan's Labyrinth with more than $500,000 in just 17 theaters for an average of $33,449.
Children of Men was just behind with an average of $31,313 during its first full weekend of release.
Notes on a Scandal was well back but still performed very well with more than $400,000 in 22 theaters for an average of $18,840.
Letters from Iwo Jima slipped a mere 1.31% to $17,586 and is shaping up to be a bigger hit than its companion film, Flags of Our Fathers.
Dreamgirls expanded into a semi-wide release and earned more than $14 million in 852 theaters for an average of $16,549; this is better than Chicago ever did, but that film showed better legs.
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer did well with an average of $12,360; it expands into more than 250 theaters this Friday, but that could be as far as it goes if it shows any sign of weakness at the box office.
The final film to top $10,000 was Venus, which dipped less than 4% to $11,443.
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January 2nd, 2007
It is the beginning of a new year. A time to start fresh. So why do most of the new releases smell so stale? It's the January dumping ground, home to films that looked promising on paper but just didn't pan out.
That doesn't mean there are no films that could be worth checking out.
Out of the twelve new films opening wide this month (that's opening, not expanding), Smokin' Aces looks great and so does ... no, that's about it.
Almost all of the new releases are likely to struggle at the box office and with critics alike.
And to make matters worse, six of these new releases are going wide on the same weekend.
This is complete madness and guarantees that at least two films that would otherwise succeed are going to fail.
On the other hand, there are nearly a dozen films that have previously opened and are expanding wide (Children of Men and Pan's Labyrinth, for example), or are being re-released to grab some last minute Oscar buzz,
(The Queen and The Last King of Scotland, among others).
This makes for an incredibly busy month, but not one that will likely produce many hits.
Two additional notes...
Firstly, Letters from Iwo Jima is expanding throughout the month but likely won't go wide until February.
Secondly, The Dead Girl has a planned expansion on the 19th, but after struggling in limited release since opening last weekend, this seems unlikely.
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December 21st, 2006
We are again flooded with limited releases this week, most of which were obviously made with Oscar glory in mind. That said, only a few will earn any nominations and none here are likely to be the big winner on Oscar night, but there are still more than a enough to satisfy even the most dedicated cinemaphile.
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December 18th, 2006
Our last box office prediction contest of the year has prize packs from The Good German and Children of Men and all you have to do win is predict the opening weekend of Night at the Museum. Whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend (Friday to Sunday), without going over, will win The Good German prize pack consisting of a poster and a T-shirt. While the person who comes the closest to the film's opening 3-day weekend (Friday to Sunday), without going under, will win Children of Men prize pack (also a poster and apparel).
Entries must be received by 10 a.m., Pacific Time on Friday to be eligible, so don't delay!
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December 17th, 2006
Open Season solidified its chances to reach $100 million with a first place debut in Italy. Over the weekend the film just managed to beat
Happy Feet $1.68 million to $1.66 million over the weekend, (with midweek numbers
Open Season earned $1.82 million on 430 screens). The film was not as successful in Japan with just $968,000 on 441 screens; with such a small per theatre average, it will likely disappear quickly from charts. Overall it earned $4.97 million on 3451 screens in 51 markets for a total of $87.16 million; and even with no major markets left to open in, it does have a great shot at $100 million before its run is over.
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December 11th, 2006
Saw III slipped another spot to sixth with $4.46 million on 1518 screens in 29 markets for an international total of $54.27 million. Its best opening of the weekend came in South Korea where it placed third with $1.08 million on 144 screens, which is the last major opening for the film this year.
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December 3rd, 2006
Open Season only has a few more markets to open in and is starting to shed screens and markets; however, it sill managed sixth place with $4.08 million on 3489 screens in 49 markets for a two-month total of $76.58 million. This week the film opened in first place in both South Africa with $257,000 on 77 screens and in the Czech Republic with $79,000 on 23 screens.
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November 26th, 2006
Late numbers for the international weekend meant there was a shakeup in the top five with
Saw III trading places with
The Devil Wears Prada.
Saw III took fourth with $6.54 million on 1912 screens in 20 markets for a total of $37.18 million. Meanwhile,
The Devil Wears Prada fell to sixth with $5.87 million on 2452 screens in 23 markets for a total of $172.54 million. It was also the first time in nearly two months that the film didn't place in the top five on the international box office.
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November 19th, 2006
Desu Noto 2, a.k.a., Death Note 2: The Last Name held on strong adding $5.12 million on 397 screens in 2 markets for a two week total of $20.85 million. In
Japan the film remained in top spot with $4.66 million on 346 screens for a two week total of $19.34 million.
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November 18th, 2006
A lot of trailers on this week's list of websites. Not only were there a lot of site with just trailers, there were a few trailers without sites. On the other hand, there were also a few contenders for the Weekly Website Award. In the end it was
The Children of Men -
Official Site that took home that prestigious award.
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November 12th, 2006
Desu Noto 2, a.k.a., Death Note 2: The Last Name opened in two market last weekend taking in a total of $7.29 million on 393 screens including finishing first in
Japan with $6.50 million on 342 screen over the weekend and $10.33 million in total. In the mean time, the film opened in second place in South Korea with a respectable total of $1.37 million, which includes more than just the weekend, obviously.
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November 5th, 2006
Barnyard: The Original Party Animals saw impressive growth this week up 52% to $4.26 million on 2035 screens in 20 markets for an international total of $16.58 million. The film opened in a handful of markets including placing first in Mexico with $927,000 on 310 screens, but that's a little low for this type of film in that market. Also, it missed the top five in Spain opening in sixth place with $651,000 on 220 screens. The film's biggest market of the weekend was the U.K. where it was down just 27% to $1.41 million on 446 screens over the weekend for a total of $5.66 million after two.
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October 30th, 2006
Not much in terms of international details this week and what little details there are, are based on studio estimates.
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October 8th, 2006
Indigenes, a.k.a. Days of Glory, opened in first place in its native
France with $5.53 million on 460 screens while it managed ninth in Switzerland with $76,000 despite opening on only 8 screens. The film opened on Wednesday in Belgium before expanding to other European market in the coming weeks.
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October 1st, 2006
Ye Yan, a.k.a., The Banquet opened in third place in South Korea with $1.04 million on 183 screens over the weekend and $1.24 million in total. That helped the
Chinese film place sixth overall with $5.52 million on 734 screens in 6 markets lifting its international total to $15.94 million, which is just above its production budget.
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September 23rd, 2006
Slow week with just over half a dozen sites on the list. Of them,
Renaissance -
Official Site is clearly the best with a few others showing promise.
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August 27th, 2006
This week's round of new movie release information contains the new and changed release dates that have been announced for the past two weeks.
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July 21st, 2006
Another busy week, but unlike last week there was no massive blockbuster launching its flash site. Two sites stood out this week, (not counting past winners), and they are wildly different both in terms of style and in terms of the movie they are selling:
Accepted -
Official Site and
World Trade Center -
Official Site. The former is goofy and seriously immature, while the latter is one of the most emotional sites I've ever seen. In was nearly a coin flip, but in the end I went with
Accepted -
Official Site, but I would be willing to bet the other site will win before the movie comes out.
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