May 19th, 2013
There were quite a few new releases to reach the upper echelon of the March 31st, 2013 edition of the Blu-ray sales chart. Lincoln was the best of these earning first place with 496,000 units / $14.24 million during its first week of release for a Blu-ray share of 38%. This is really good for a drama.
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May 19th, 2013
The week of March 31st, 2013 was a strange week on the home market, as it contained Easter weekend. Easter sales helped a lot of older releases rise on the DVD sales chart. Even so, a new release, Lincoln, led the way with 818,000 units / $15.62 million.
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March 27th, 2013
It is a shallow week on the home market. Lincoln is coming out and should dominate the sales chart, but after that, there's almost nothing to talk about. Given its reviews and its Awards Season success, it is the easy choice for Pick of the Week, right? Not so fast. I'm still waiting for the screener. Speaking of late reviews, Skyfall finally showed up and despite not coming out this week, or this month, I'm giving the Blu-ray Combo Pack Pick of the Week honors.
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December 10th, 2012
Skyfall returned to the top of the box office chart, which is fitting, because it was the last film released that truly beat expectations at the box office. The only wide release this week, Playing For Keeps, barely remained above the Mendoza Line and failed to reach the top five. The overall box office fell 30% to just $80 million. Ugh. There are a couple of pieces of good news we should focus on. Firstly, $80 million is still 7% higher than this weekend last year. Secondly, it was enough to push 2012 over the $10 billion market. At the moment, the total box office for 2012 is $10.02 billion, which is 6% higher than 2011 had managed at the same point in the year. By this time next week, 2012 might be ahead of 2011's final figure of $10.28 billion.
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December 7th, 2012
The winners of our Heart Attack contest were determined and they are...
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December 3rd, 2012
It was a close race for top spot as The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2 just held off Skyfall by less than $1 million. Unfortunately, the best new release, Killing Them Softly, failed to match low expectations, while The Collection barely managed a spot in the top ten. The overall box office fell 45% to $114 million. However, as sharp as that decline was, it was still 41% higher than the same weekend last year and December begins with 2012 ahead of 2011 by 5.9% at $9.91 billion to $9.36 billion.
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December 2nd, 2012
The weekend after Thanksgiving is not known for its box office prowess, and this year is proving no different. Most films in the top 10 are down around 50% from last weekend, and the new wide releases are both falling short of their respective distributor's hopes. Killing Them Softly is headed for a $7 million debut, according to Weinstein, which is Brad Pitt's worst wide opening since Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas back in 2003, and worst live action wide release since 1994's The Favor. Meanwhile, LD Distribution is projecting $3.4 million for The Collection in 1,403 theaters, which is less of a surprise, but still a disappointment. With those two misfires, the top of the chart is once more populated by Breaking Dawn, Part 2 and Skyfall, which are essentially neck and neck at this point, with Twilight topping $250 million domestically this weekend and Bond set to reach that landmark in the next few days.
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November 30th, 2012
Like last weekend, holdovers will again dominate the new releases this weekend. However, one could argue the headline is inaccurate, as Killing Them Softly is really the only new film opening truly wide, so it should be "release", singular. The Collection is opening in more theaters than originally anticipated, perhaps enough to grab a spot in the top ten, but it is not opening truly wide. That said, there are some who think The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2 will relinquish top spot at the box office with some thinking Skyfall will regain the title, while others think Lincoln will climb to first place. This weekend last year was a total disaster with the best new release playing in just 10 theaters. This year we should be a little stronger at the top and with a lot more depth.
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November 23rd, 2012
Next weekend after Thanksgiving long weekend is usually a slow on, and this week it is no different, as the only wide release is Killing Them Softly. This film has almost no chance to top The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2 at the box office; in fact, it might not reach the top five. Regardless, it is the target film in this week's box office prediction contest. In order to win, one must simply predict the opening weekend box office number for Killing Them Softly.
Whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend box office (Friday to Sunday), without going over, will win a signed copy of Tiffany Alvord's EP "My Heart Is" on CD.
Meanwhile, whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend box office (Friday to Sunday), without going under, will also win a signed copy of Tiffany Alvord's EP "My Heart Is" on CD.
Entries must be received by 10 a.m., Pacific Time on Friday to be eligible, so don't delay!
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November 1st, 2012
October was pretty good with a few films really crushing expectations, which made up for the few duds that opened at the end. 2012 gained about $100 million over 2011 during the month of October. We really needed this success and hopefully November will continue this push forward. However, November is a bit of a weird month. There are five weekends, but only eight true wide releases, half of which open on the Thanksgiving long weekend, leaving the other four weeks with just one true wide release each. There are a couple others opening in the semi-wide level and another opening in limited release with a planned wide release, but even so, it is not a busy month. That said, it is a case of quality over quantity. There are four films that are pretty much guaranteed to reach $100 million, one of which should reach $300 million. By comparison, last November only produced one $100 million film. Granted, that film was The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 1, which made nearly $300 million, which is a huge number no matter how you look at it. But this year, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2 should top that number and with the other $100 million movies pulling in more than $400 million combined, it should be a very profitable month at the box office.
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