November 20th, 2005
The Corpse Bride missed the top five by the narrowest of narrow margins losing out to
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit $5.50 million to $5.45 million. The film earned its $5.45 million on 2586 screens in 28 markets pushing its total to $53.4 million total at the international box office. In South Korea the film fell 43% to $753,000 on 114 screens, which is better than average for the market. And the film is also doing well in Italy adding $764,000 on 268 screens to its $2.67 million running tally there, $700,000 in France for a $8 million box office, and $462,000 in Japan for a $7.0 million box office.
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November 13th, 2005
Chicken Little started its international run with day-and-date debuts in 9 markets earning $5.54 million on 900 screens, just missing the top five in the process. Its best market was kid-friendly Mexico with $3.1 million on 600 screens, which is about on par with its opening domestically. On the other hand, the film broke records in Malaysia with $477,000 on 40 screens. Other results include a first place debuts in Russia with $1.1 million on 197 screens and in Taiwan with $463,000 on 18 screens, (including previews).
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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.
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November 6th, 2005
With
The Legend of Zorro earning a nearly worldwide release this past weekend, and the imminent release of another
juggernaut, there was little room for other releases this weekend on the international scene.
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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.
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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.
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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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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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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 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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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.
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August 24th, 2005
The Island again topped the international charts with a rather tepid $12.4 million on nearly 5000 screens in 44 markets over the weekend. With this week's haul the
Sci-Fi flick has reached $84.8 million internationally, which is nearly $50 million more than it earned domestically, allowing it to top $100 million worldwide. This weekend the film opened in a couple of French speaking markets in Europe earning the number one spot in France with $3.4 million on 640 screens and $694,000 on 64 screens in Belgium. Holdovers were generally weak including a 45% tumble in both the U.K. to $1.37 million on 412 screens and Germany to $859,500 on 725. On the other hand, the film is still performing well in South Korea adding another $511,000 to its $20.47 million total in that single market, which would be like earning more than $300 million domestically given the relative size of the two markets.
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August 17th, 2005
There are a lot of people at
Dreamworks breathing a sigh of relief over this weeks international box office numbers.
The Island, which was a huge bomb domestically, lead the international box office race with $13.9 million on 4200 screens in 33 markets. That's not a great result, but will probably save someone his or her job. Among its dozen or so debuts were second place finishes in the U.K. with $2.6 million on 413 screens, as well as a first place finish in Mexico with $1.91 million on 500 screens. Other openings include $1.2 million on 241 screens in Russia, $434,500 on 86 screens in the Netherlands, and $198,000 on 50 screens in Argentina. While holdovers were less impressive down 40% in Germany to $1.66 million, 55% in Spain to $1.13 million, and 55% in Australia to $435,000. Overall
The Island has brought in $63 million internationally, almost a third of which came from South Korea at $19 million, including another $1 million this weekend.
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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 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.
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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.)
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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.
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July 10th, 2005
With the last of this summer's worldwide releases opening last weekend, the international details are once again dominated by smaller films. And to compound matters, most of those are only making noise in one of two markets. However, over the next few weeks there are plenty of big films opening in big markets and the International Details column should start showing signs of life soon.
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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.
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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.
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July 3rd, 2005
Summer blockbusters continue to squeeze out the competition, so much so that the only real news is about such blockbusters. For instance,
War of the Worlds managed $13.35 million during its first day of release on the international scene, which is good, but below expectations. On the other hand,
Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith broke another record earning $4.96 million during its preview in Japan.
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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.
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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.
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June 22nd, 2005
The latest in a series of Disney remakes starring Lindsay Lohan hits theaters tonight, but will Herbie: Fully Loaded be able to reach a new generation?
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June 17th, 2005
It looks like the near universal enthusiasm for this weekend's box office needs to be toned down a bit after Wednesday's disappointing opening by Batman Begins. Even so, the weekend should still be strong enough to break the slump the year-to-year comparisons are struggling with.
Which means for the first time in nearly four months 2005 will gain ground on 2004.
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June 15th, 2005
It's been eight years since the monstrosity that was Batman & Robin killed the successful movie franchise. And now with Batman Begins the studio hopes that the franchise will be born again.
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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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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.
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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 5th, 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. Slow week with most of the sites being merely average or too early in their development to tell if the film is an award winning site or not. So in the end I decided not to hand out the award to any site. Hopefully next week things will pick up.
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March 10th, 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,
Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous -
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 10th, 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 Jacket -
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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May 31st, 2004
Every week films get a second chance at success from the home market; or, in some cases, a first chance at success. This was a hugely busy week for DVD releases. Taking a look at the list of releases we find almost 700 DVDs, unfortunately, it's mostly a case of quantity not quality. There are a LOT of re-releases coming out this week, many related to upcoming films. However, there is not one release that shouts Pick of the Week, so I didn't choose one. But there are so many DVD being released that there should be at least one to fit everyone's tastes.
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May 3rd, 2004
Every week films get a second chance at success from the home market; or, in some cases, a first chance at success. There was again an excellent mix of wide releases, limited releases, older films and TV on DVD. And because of the wide section, there should be something for everyone, and for me it's
Gilmore Girls - Season 1 - (
Buy from Amazon), which is my DVD pick of the week.
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