January 20th, 2007
There were plenty of
new releases this week, but all but two missed the top 10. However, those two DVDs finished one-two on the charts.
Crank topped
The Illusionist $6.09 million to $5.59 million.
More...
January 13th, 2007
A slow week for
new releases helped
Little Miss Sunshine climb from third to first on the rental charts. Over the week the film earned $5.46 million for a three-week total of $20.95 million.
More...
January 7th, 2007
None of half-a-dozen
new releases were able to make a big splash on rental charts, but that doesn't mean there wasn't anything interesting to report. Every film in the top five was within $540,000 on each other with
The Devil Wears Prada claiming top spot with $6.87 million.
More...
December 27th, 2006
It's Boxing Day up here in Canada, and for those Americans who don't know what that is ... I can't help you. I have no idea what Boxing Day is, other than the start of post-Christmas sales. While there are a lot of people shopping this week, there is still a huge downturn in the DVD market and little of what I would consider must have DVDs. The best of a weak bunch is
The Descent - Original Unrated Cut -
Buy from Amazon, but while I recommend picking it up, it doesn't reach the level of a DVD Pick of the Week. On the other hand, we do have a
Canadian DVD Puck of the Week, Eh! -
Bon Cop, Bad Cop -
Buy from Amazon.ca.
More...
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.
More...
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.
More...
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.
More...
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.
More...
October 15th, 2006
The
German Film, Deutschland. Ein Sommermarchen, which could translate into English as Germany, A Summer March, but I wouldn't bet money on it. ... Moving on, The film took top spot in its native market with $7.19 million on 584 screens and that was enough for sixth place overall.
More...
October 3rd, 2006
The weekend box office was a little softer that expected, but not so much so that one needs to worry about a continuing slump.
In fact, the overall box office hit $100 million over the weekend and that was slightly higher than last weekend (by slightly, I mean less than 1%).
However, that was up a huge 12.1% from the same weekend last year and that is the much more significant number.
More...
September 29th, 2006
This week we have three films opening wide. Not only are they opening wide, but they are all opening at saturation levels (3000 or more theatres).
Fortunately, the three films share little in the way of target demographics, but even so, at least one of them is going to be squeezed out by the competition.
More...
September 26th, 2006
The weekend numbers were mixed, with more films beating expectations than not, but overall business still weak.
Granted, the total box office hit $98 million over the weekend and that was up a huge 25.9% over last weekend, but more importantly this was still 2.1% lower than the same weekend last year.
Hopefully this coming weekend will perform better, helping 2006 end its mini-slump against 2005.
More...
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.
More...
September 21st, 2006
The September dumping ground continues this weekend with only one real wide release with the other three new films opening in 1,500 to 2,100 theatres.
On the other hand, the one film that is opening wide has a shot at becoming the biggest film of the month.
More...
September 18th, 2006
The latest box office prediction contest asks to predict the opening weekend for
Jackass: Number Two, which is opening in an estimated 3000 theatres this weekend. Whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend (Friday to Sunday),
without going over will win
Grease -
Rockin' Rydell Edition. While the person who comes the closest to the film's opening 3-day weekend (Friday to Sunday,
without going under, will win
Stick It on
DVD. Entries must be received by 10 a.m., Pacific Time on Friday to be eligible, so don't delay! (On a side note, if the title of this contest gives
Johnny Knoxville and the rest of his gang an idea for a stunt for Jackass Three, I apologize in advance to whoever is injured trying to perfrom complex gymnastics covered in industrial lubricant.)
More...
September 2nd, 2006
Another busy week with plenty of top-notch films to chose from In the end, however, it was a two-way race between
The Black Dahlia -
Official Site and
Stranger than Fiction -
Official Site with the former site winning out by a narrow margin.
More...
September 1st, 2006
I've said it before and I'll say it again, September is the worst month of the year for movies.
Not only are there usually very few hits released at this time of year, but the average is dragged way down by the large number of movies simply dumped on the market.
This year the September dumping ground doesn't look quite as bad as years past.
In fact, several low-level hits and maybe even an Oscar contender are opening wide.
However, those few bright spots will be buried due to the sheer number of releases -- an average of 3 and a half films are opening wide each week.
More...
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.
More...
June 23rd, 2006
Just an average week with
You, Me and Dupree -
Official Site taking the prize for the best of the week.
More...
May 26th, 2006
Not much this week in terms of new sites or updates and all the ones that are award-worthy have already won the weekly website award. The best of the rest is
The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift -
Official Site, but it certainly doesn't deserve to win the awards.
More...
April 28th, 2006
The first of the new Friday edition Weekly Website Review column is here, but not without a hitch. We had a bit of a power outage early in the day so I did what any modern man would do when faced with the prospects of going without the Internet for an undetermined amount of time, I took a nap. Fortunately, I was mostly done before the power went out so there was no real affect on this week's list, but I am starting to this that this column is cursed. As for the list, its pretty average with the best of the bunch being
A Scanner Darkly -
Official Site.
More...