June 16th, 2007
Even though new releases were able to take the top two spots on the rental and sales charts this week, it won't be remember fondly for their strength. In fact, Notbit's winning tally of $4.65 million was the lowest weekly total for any number one rental this year and wouldn't have been enough to reach the top five half the time.
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June 4th, 2007
It's the first week of the month, which is oftentimes the busiest time for DVD releases.
However, while there are plenty of releases this week, there are not that many that are top quality (and no spotlight reviews).
The DVD Pick of the Week is Seinfeld - Season 8, but there's little surprise there.
I would also recommend picking up The Dead Zone - The Complete Fifth Season and The Sergio Leone Anthology.
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November 25th, 2006
The Da Vinci Code led a large group of new releases, taking top spot on the charts with $11.05 million in rentals while it also topped the sales chart with ease.
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November 14th, 2006
With Thanksgivings just around the corner, there are a lot of releases coming out this week.
You see, every time this year there's a media report that the day after Thanksgiving is the biggest shopping day of the year.
However, this is not true.
Christmas Eve is actually the biggest shopping day of the year (talk about last minute gifts).
Even so, Thanksgiving is still a massively important time of the year and there's no surprise that studios are trying to get out as many gift ideas as possible just in time for the holiday rush.
With that in mind, there are several full series sets coming out this week, including DVD Pick of the Week contender Get Smart - The Complete Series - Buy Direct.
However, when it comes to the winner, there's really only one choice and that is Looney Tunes - Golden Collection - Volume Four - Buy from Amazon.
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December 23rd, 2005
The 40-Year Old Virgin not only did it lead the way on the rental chart bringing in $10.18 million in combined rentals, ($9.82 million from DVDs and $370,000 from VHS), but it also led the way in sales with 3.7 million units sold. Sales totaled $65 million in its opening week. To put this in perspective, the home market release made more than $75 million during its opening week, which is more than the film earned during its first three weeks of theatrical release.
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December 17th, 2005
Fantastic Four was the movie that stopped the massive box office slump this summer, and it is continuing that strong performance on the home market. It topped the home market with a combined total of $11.26 million, $10.47 million from DVDs and $800,000 from VHS.
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December 5th, 2005
The rush for last minute gift ideas continues with plenty of DVD releases this week. The best movie coming out this week is Cinderella Man - Collector's Edition, but the DVD Pick of the week goes to Star Wars - Clone Wars - Volume 2.
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October 30th, 2005
Oliver Twist opened in two major markets over the weekend, placing second in both France with $2.4 million on 547 screens and Italy with $1.3 million on 301 screens.
Other markets include $360,000 in the U.K. for a $3.6 million total there and $140,000 in Poland for $1.1 million. Add it up and you have $4.2 million for the weekend and $9.6 million in total.
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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.
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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).
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October 9th, 2005
Company 9 opened in its native market of Russia with a stunning $5.0 million over the weekend and $6.25 million including the midweek numbers, which is better than Revenge of the Sith's opening in that market.
This also means there were two films that did so well in their local markets that they managed to place in the top five overall.
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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.
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September 21st, 2005
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was able to remain in top spot on the international charts with $11.5 million on 4,113 screens in 53 markets for a running tally of $175 million internationally. Highlights this weekend include a trio of first place premieres in South Korea with $1.57 million on 106 screens, in Norway with $1.15 million on 97, and in Sweden with $534,000 on 125. Still, its best market in terms of raw dollars remains Japan where the film repeated at number one with $3.17 million on 359 screens, which was down 25% from last weekend, about average for the market.
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September 18th, 2005
Marrying the Mafia 2 is the latest local film to lead the South Korean box office as it opened with $5.555 million on 449 screens, $7.515 million including Thursday.
Not only was that easily enough for first place in its home market, but also put the film in third place on the overall international box office charts.
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September 11th, 2005
The 40-Year Old Virgin topped the U.K. marked with an impressive $3.26 million on 394 screens in the U.K., but this is probably not indicative of its potential in other international markets. The film should do well in the U.K., Australia, and New Zealand, but will likely struggle in non-English speaking markets. (Germany may be an exception.)
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September 4th, 2005
War of the Worlds opened in its last international market over the weekend making $3.0 million on 583 screens in China. That's about 10% more money that
Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith earned, but
War of the Worlds needed nearly double the number of screens. Overall the film added $4.5 million to its $345 million international total, easily the second best of the year so far.
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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.
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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.
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August 10th, 2005
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory had a reasonable drop-off during its second weekend in the U.K., which helped it maintain its first place position on the international charts with $14.36 million on more than 2,500 screens in 23 markets. In the U.K. the film fell 42% to $7.91 million for the weekend and a $34.6 million running tally, which is about 10% more than
War of the Worlds's take during the same time period. There were no major opens this weekend, but it did score first place finishes in a handful of midlevel markets, Taiwan with $720,200 on 63 screens, Philippines with $330,000 on 30, and Argentina with $209,400 on 47. It is still very early in the film's run, but it has so far amassed $67.2 million internationally and $236 million worldwide and is quickly climbing the yearly charts.
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August 3rd, 2005
Thanks almost entirely to a massive opening in the U.K.,
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was able to top the international box office charts with $19.8 million on 2300 screens in 15 markets over the weekend. It's biggest draw was in the U.K. at $14.1 million on 531 screens, which was more than the total made by the
second place movie. That is on par with
War of the Worlds's opened a couple of weeks ago and should lead to a $40 million to $45 million total in that market alone. And that should come as a bit of a relief to the
studio since the film was monstrously expensive to make and it will need a strong showing internationally to make a profit. Other openings this weekend include a first place, $1.43 million debut in just 47 theatres in Mexico, which was more than double its
nearest competitor. Holdovers continued to help
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory's international campaign adding $2.37 million during its third weekend in France to its $12.8 million running tally there. Overall the film now has $36.3 million internationally and could finish its run north of $300 million.
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July 27th, 2005
It was a close race for top spot on the international charts this weekend but
Madagascar just managed to pull ahead when the final figures were announced. The film added $24.6 million this weekend to its $190 million international total, including an incredible performances in both Germany and South Korea. The film was down just 14% during its second weekend adding $7.5 million to its $20.5 million running tally, if the film continues to show strong legs is could beat
Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith in the market. In south Korea the film rose by 14% to $2.65 million for the week and $5.41 million during its tun. Things weren't quite as rosy in the U.K. where the film dropped by 40% to $5.7 million for a total of $19.7 million so far. The film remained in first place in both Hong Kong, ($574,000) and Taiwan, ($375,000) while its only opening was in Venezuela where the film earned $360,000.
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July 25th, 2005
I guess analysts got caught up in the recent bit of good news at the box office because nobody was able to predict this weekend's disaster.
Only one film in the top five was able to beat expectations by any real margin and every new film came up short.
Speaking of coming up short, the overall box office fell by 16% from last weekend and 8.8% from last year.
However, strong weekday numbers helped on the year-to-date comparison with 2005 at $4.983 billion, down 7.7% from 2004 while the summer season is 9.6% below last year's pace.
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July 22nd, 2005
It looks like there will be a hard fought contest at the box office this weekend, but Charlie and the Chocolate Factory has a good shot at remaining number one.
That's not to say there's no competition.
In fact, there are two films opening at saturation levels, two more opening semi-wide and a limited release expanding enough that it should reach the top ten.
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July 20th, 2005
Unlike so many day-and-date worldwide openings, Madagascar went the few markets at a time route, but still managed to reach the top of the international charts this weekend with $31 million on 5,100 screens. Most of that came from openings in both the U.K. ($9.7 million on 505 screens) and Germany ($8.5 million on 800).
The film also opened in South Korea, but failed to topple War of the Worlds, finishing second with $2.375 million in 301 theaters over the weekend and $2.69 million overall.
The film led in a couple of other Asian markets, taking in $1.35 million on 80 screens in Taiwan and in Hong Kong it brought in $1.2 million on 50 screens since its release on Thursday.
Overall the film now has brought in $143 million internationally and $327 million worldwide.
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July 18th, 2005
The weekend box office was even busier than expected, despite the incredible competition on Saturday from the release of the latest Harry Potter novel.
Every film in the top ten topped Sunday estimates and landed within a couple million of predictions, leading to a 10.5% increase from last week, and more importantly, a 7.1% increase from last year.
Year-to-date things are not as rosy: 2005 is still down 8.1% from last year with $4.751 billion, while the summer is down by 10.5% at $2.25 billion.
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July 15th, 2005
Now that The Slump is over, the movie industry is looking to
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to make sure the box office doesn't start a new slump.
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July 13th, 2005
War of the Worlds again finished on top of the international charts this weekend, but fell further than one would expect in many markets, mostly major markets. In the U.K. it dropped 51% to $7.49 million, down 49% in Spain to $2.9 million, down 47% in Australia to $2.68 million, 46% in Italy to $2.3 million, and down 44% in Germany to $3.7 million. The film also fell 37% in Japan to $5.2 million, which is very high for the market even taking into account the
new competition.
War of the Worlds also had a few new releases this weekend and overall they were very impressive, especially in South Korea where the film made $8.5 million in 300 theatres since its release on Thursday; compare that to the $3.8 million
Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith opened with. On the other hand,
War of the Worlds only brought in $11 million in 848 theatres in France, less than half the $22.3 million
Sith made and the same was true in Sweden, ($2.7 million on 130 screens vs. $1.1 million on 88.) The film also opened in Belgium with $1.5 million in 85 theatres and Portugal earning $750,000 in 70, both on par with the summer's other blockbuster. Overall
War of the Worlds added $60.5 million in 6,300 theatres pushing its international total to $201 million.
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July 12th, 2005
For the third weekend in a row March of the Penguins was the top draw on the Per Theater Charts with over $1 million on just 64 screens for an average of $15,927.
Its per theater average fell a mere 23% on the post-holiday weekend despite more than tripling its theater count, which bodes very well for the film's long term success.
Coming in a very close second was the overall box office champ, Fantastic Four with $15,564.
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July 11th, 2005
The Slump is dead.
After 19 weeks, it has finally ended.
It has been more than four months since the last time 2005 topped 2004 in the yearly comparison, but that's just what happened this weekend.
Before we start celebrating too much, note that the margin of victory was tiny at just over $500,000.
But at this point a victory is a victory and the movie industry will take them anyway they can get them.
On a week-to-week basis we actually saw pretty good growth, rising by 5.2%, which is strange for a post-holiday weekend.
Year-to-date, 2005 is still off by 8% $4.523 billion to $4.934 billion while the summer is down 11% $2.023 billion vs. $2.281 billion.
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July 8th, 2005
The Fantastic Four battle Dr. Doom and
invading aliens this weekend. But the real competition comes from
last year when
Spider-Man 2 took home $45 million during its second weekend of release. And while no film will top that figure, the combination of strong starts and healthy holdovers could stop The Slump, but I wouldn't bet on it.
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July 7th, 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,
Murderball -
Official Site.
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July 1st, 2005
July Starts with a bang, thanks to the long Independence Day weekend, but the rest of the month is solid, with a potential $100 million movie being released practically every weekend.
It is also the first full month where school children are free meaning weekday numbers are almost as important as weekend grosses.
On the other hand, the month isn't as strong as last year and there's a good chance the record breaking slump the box office is in will continue throughout the month.
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June 30th, 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,
Pretty Persuasion -
Official Site.
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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.
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June 9th, 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,
Stealth -
Official Site.
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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.
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May 26th, 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,
Cinderella Man -
Official Site.
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May 12th, 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,
Layer Cake -
Official Site.
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April 14th, 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 Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants - Official Site.
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March 31st, 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 Longest Yard - Official Site.
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February 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,
Dust to Glory -
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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February 8th, 2005
The Summer Season Shuffle continues today with the news that Fantastic Four will be pushed back a week to July 8, avoiding a July 4 showdown with Dreamwork's War of the Worlds.
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January 20th, 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,
Fantastic Four -
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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