February 1st, 2011
There's still a lull when it comes to first-run releases on the home market with no major, or even midlevel hits coming out this week. In fact, the best-selling release according to Amazon.com is Alice in Wonderland on Blu-ray / DVD Combo Pack, which is a contender for Pick of the Week. The other major contender is Let Me In on Blu-ray, which failed to find an audience despite impressing critics almost as much as the original did. I'm going to give the honor to Let Me In, but both are worthy contenders.
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August 7th, 2006
According Amazon, there are nearly 900 DVDs being released this week, half of which are episodes of Charlie Rose. Even if we ignored those releases, it was still a busy week, especially at the high end with several contenders for DVD Pick of the Week. In the end I could narrow it down to three selection,
Brick -
Buy from Amazon,
CSA: The Confederate States of America -
Buy from Amazon and
Inside Man -
Buy from Amazon. But I couldn't decide between those so all three earn the title: DVD Pick of the Week.
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April 17th, 2005
The Pacifier finally debut across Australia after playing in Queensland and Victoria for the past two weeks; the massive expansion allowed the film to climb to first place with $1.125 million on 267 screens. That lifted its total in the market to $3.41 million so far and the film should have strong legs. Add to that its $1.75 million opening in Spain and $590,000 in Belgium and the film managed $4.1 million over the weekend, which doubled its early total to $8.1 million.
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April 3rd, 2005
Million Dollar Baby performed brilliantly this week earning $8.8 million for an international total of $60 million, placing fourth on the international box office charts. In France the film dominated the marketplace with $4.94 million on 450 screens and in Germany the film earned $760,000 in semi-limited release (120 screens) for the best per screen average in the market. On the other hand, the film flopped in Slovakia where it missed the top ten in its debut. On the holdover front, the multi-
Oscar winning front saw its weekend haul climb by 20% in Spain to $980,000 and it's still doing well in Australia, Italy and South Korea.
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March 27th, 2005
Million Dollar Baby has again slipped off the radar screen, but we do know it hit $52 million internationally, which means it made $9 million during the week. The film didn't earn $1 million in any single market, but is still doing strong in South Korea, ($970,000), Spain, ($840,000), Italy, ($600,000) and Australia, ($350,000.) Best estimate has the film earning just shy of $5 million of that over the weekend and taking sixth place on the international box office charts.
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March 20th, 2005
After gathering in all the data the winner for the race for fifth place is
Million Dollar Baby, I think. It would need to lost more than 40% from last week's total and that's not taking into account its openings in South Korea at $1,515,672 and second place, its $110,000, third place debut in Finland, $86,000 in Russia, $50,000, second place debut in Hong Kong. Unfortunately, exact weekend totals are unknown but it is estimated at $6 million raising its international total to $43 million so far.
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March 16th, 2005
Not only is
Hitch the undisputed champion of 2005 for the domestic market, it is also the new number one worldwide, topping
Howl's Moving Castle $216.5 million to $211.9 million. And with $28.1 million this weekend on 4,600 screens in 40 markets, the film sits at $66.0 million internationally and could become the first film from 2005 to reach the $100 million milestone on the international scene.
The film's biggest opening of the weekend came from the U.K., where it racked up $8.1 million including sneak peaks, which represented more than 50% of total box office in the market.
Add in first place debuts in Italy with $2.5 million on 300, Belgium with $820,000 on 57, Netherlands with $670,000 on 93 and $225,000 on 16 screens in the U.E.A. The film also performed admirably in South Korea with a third place, $1.4 million weekend on 175 screens. Notable holdovers include its $6.3 million in Germany, down less than 30% to $17.2 million in that market alone and $1.83 million in Australia, down 34% and still first place in both markets. The film was also first place in Scandinavia, but exact numbers are currently unavailable.
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March 13th, 2005
Shark Tale finished its international run with a second place $2.08 million opening in Japan on 485 screens. Its $4,296 per screen average it quite low for the market and generally means the film won't have the usual legs films in Japan have. The film performed much better in Italy where it finished first again with $3.0 million, down just 23% during its sophomore stint. Overall it took in $5.2 million to raise its international total to $181 million, but without any more openings it might struggle to hit $200 million.
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March 12th, 2005
Flight of the Phoenix was clearly a disappointment when it was release in theatres last December, but it's fortunes turned around at the home market. Opening week of release saw the
remake bring in $7.27 million in DVD rentals and $1.23 million in VHS rentals. Combined they represent nearly half the film's $21.0 million domestic box office.
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March 5th, 2005
Thanks in part to a slow week for DVD releases,
Saw remained the top DVD rental on this weeks charts with $6.80 million this week, a drop of 28% from last week, and a two week total of $16.27 million so far. On the VHS side, the film dropped first to third with $1.09 million, down 38% for a total of $2.83 million.
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March 2nd, 2005
Meet the Fockers maintained their hold on the international box office crown with $20.8 million on 4200 screens in 48 markets for a running tally of $184.7 million. The film opened in only one market, New Zealand, which is strange since the film has been playing in Australia since Christmas. Like Canada and the U.S., most films tend to open in Australia and New Zealand on the same day, and it looks like the delay hurt the film's box office as $524,000 on 53 screens was lower than expected. The film maintained its pole position in several larger markets including Germany, where the film dropped just 15% to $5.0 million and Austria down just 7% to $1.0 million.
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February 27th, 2005
The Aviator started out Oscar evening extremely well, but it was Million Dollar Baby that won the biggest prizes at the 77th annual Academy Awards.
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February 27th, 2005
Ocean's Twelve may have dropped out of the top five, but it is still going strong with $4.5 million on 1400 screens in 35 markets for an international box office of $225.8 million so far. No new openings means the
heist film had to rely on holdovers likes its $2.5 million during its third weekend in the U.K. and $1.4 million during its fifth week of release in Japan, finishing second in both those markets.
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February 24th, 2005
The low-budget
horror movie,
Saw was the top rental this week bringing in $9.47 million in DVD rentals and $1.75 on the VHS side.
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February 20th, 2005
Iznogoud: Calife a la place du calife, a movie based on a Asterix and Obelix
spin off of sorts, dominated the French box office taking in $7.1 million, more than double the second place film and more than a third of the top ten total. It is also enough to push it into the
Top Five on the international scene, dropping
Finding Neverland into sixth place. Unfortunately, like the several films made in the Asterix and Obelix series, this one is unlikely to make much of an impact outside the French speaking markets.
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February 9th, 2005
A higher than expected opening in Spain and a lower than expected decline in the U.K. allowed
Meet the Fockers to retain top spot on the international charts. The film opened first in a handful of markets, including a $4.7 million opening in Spain on 356 screens, $377,000 in Denmark, $352,000 in Taiwan and $275,000 in Israel. Its most prolific market continues to be the U.K. where the film brought in $8.5 million during its second weekend there; that's a 42% drop-off, which is a little high for the market, but not as high as expected given its huge start last weekend. That one market represented more than half of its weekend total of $16.3 million on 1700 screens in 28 markets for a running tally of $82.9 million.
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February 5th, 2005
More than a dozen awards were handed tonight in Los Angeles at the Shrine Exposition Center, and with only five theatrical awards there were more than a few surprises.
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February 5th, 2005
The 11th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards are handed out tonight and while there are numerous awards only five are for theatrical releases.
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February 2nd, 2005
Meet the Fockers open in the U.K. over the weekend with an astounding $14.8 million on 456, which is more than four times the
original's earnings there in 2000.
That figure was also more than 8 times the second place film , and more than half the market's total box office.
Add in a handful of openings in other, mostly smaller markets and the film brought in $19.2 million on 1,700 screens in 15 markets for a $58.8 million total so far.
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February 1st, 2005
Oscar Nominations gave a box office boost to many films this past weekend while other films are too far into their runs for it to make a difference, (
The Motorcycle Diaries) or out of theatres completely, (
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.) But of the 35 films that received
Oscar Nominations, 17 saw increases in either their overall box office, per theatre average or both.
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January 31st, 2005
Every week films get a second chance at success from the home market; or, in some cases, a first chance at success. Here is a list of wide releases, limited releases and a few from the growing TV on DVD section including this week's winner Penn & Teller: Bullshit! - Season 2 - Buy from Amazon and Sealab 2021 - Season 2 - Buy from Amazon and Wonderfalls - The Complete Season - Buy from Amazon and Degrassi Junior High - Season 1 - Buy from Amazon. Wow - busy week.
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January 31st, 2005
On Saturday, the Directors Guild of America celebrated their 57th annual awards. And while there were many winners, only two awards were for theatrical releases.
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January 26th, 2005
The International Box Office Race is certainly interesting, as Ocean's Twelve recaptured the lead this weekend with $14.4 million on 4,600 screens in 58 markets and now sits at $170.4 million internationally and $292.8 million worldwide. A large chunk of that total came from Japan, where the film earned $6.8 million (including sneak peaks) on 510 screens, while ending Howl's Moving Castle's nine week reign on top.
While this was a strong performance, it was 20% lower that the original's debut in the same market.
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January 25th, 2005
Of the eight films that won Golden Globes last weekend, only a handful saw their box office take increase this weekend.
This can be partially explained by the snowstorm, and partially by how late in the film's run it was by the time the awards were announced.
However, it may also be an indication of the declining influence the awards ceremony has.
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January 25th, 2005
The Oscar Nominations were announced this morning and at first glance it appears that most of the nominations went to films with smaller budgets and box office results.
Box office hits were nearly shut out of the major nominations.
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January 19th, 2005
After a massive opening last week in Spain,
Alexander took top spot on the international charts thanks to a strong opening in Italy, Brazil and Hong Kong. The film managed first place in all three markets with $3.87 million on 446 screens in Italy, $906,900 on 193 screens in Brazil and $275,244 on 30 screens in Hong Kong. Holdovers were not as kind to the
Sword and Sandal epic as it dropped nearly 50% in the U.K., Spain and France. Overall the film brought in $14.5 million on 3600 screens in 51 markets for a running tally of $88 million. And while the film will easily cross $100 million internationally, which is roughly 3 times its domestic figure, it has to be looked at as a disappointment financially.
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January 17th, 2005
The Golden Globe were handed out tonight with no one film really dominating the night.
The Aviator led the night with three awards with a few others films taking home two apiece.
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January 12th, 2005
The race for first in the international marketplace continued to be close with three films within a couple million of each other. Leading the way was
Ocean's Twelve with $17.5 million on 5200 screens in 54 markets; the film's international total now sits at $137 million, slightly more than half of what
Ocean's Eleven finished with. The
heist film did open well in several markets, which mostly balances out severe drop-offs due to the post-holiday. For instance, the film opened well in South Korea with $2.1 million on 150 screens and debuted in first place in Argentina, ($500,000), Portugal, (with $720,000) and in the Philippines, ($370,000.)
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December 21st, 2004
It is a week after the
Golden Globe nominees were announced and a perfect time to look at the effect, if any, that the acclaim has brought previously released films.
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December 14th, 2004
Golden Globe Nominations were announced on Monday and as with the
IFP Independent Spirit Awards,
Sideways lead the pack with 7 nominations. This does not mean it is the favorite in any particular category, but it does help its chances of taking home some hardware on January 16th.
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November 12th, 2004
This weekend also sees the opening of three more films in wide release, (including
Polar Express, which opened on Wednesday) and another with opens in just several hundred theatres, but should still finish in the top ten. It's a busy weekend for moviegoers indeed, one reminiscent of the Thanksgiving Holiday weekend.
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November 8th, 2004
The
top film on the charts wasn't as impressive as predicted, but that helped some of the holdovers hold up better. Overall, there was a massive leap from last weekend at 43.8%, but a troubling 5.8% drop from last year. This extended pseudo-slump the box office has been in has cut 2004's lead over 2003 to just 2.1%, $7.641 billion to $7.480 billion. Unless 2004 can close strong, we will see the second year in a row with declining ticket sales.
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November 5th, 2004
Predicting which movie will finish on top of the charts this weekend is a simple matter. The real question is will
The Incredibles break records, and if so, how many.
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November 2nd, 2004
Sideways was again able to top the per theatre average chart this week. Its average of $25,288 was more than double its nearest
competitor and was the only film to top the $10,000 mark.
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November 1st, 2004
With four of the films in the top five beating expectations, this Halloween wasn't as bad as predicted. It was still down about 5.0% from last weekend and 1.5% from last year, but that's not as bad as it could have been. At first glance that's not too bad, however, last year Halloween was on a Friday and there were no new wide releases, which undoubtedly lead to last year under-performing.
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October 29th, 2004
Traditionally, Halloween is not a good day for the movies, with kids and families staying away from the theatres in order to trick or treat. The only films that really benefit from Halloween are
horror films aimed at High School and College students.
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October 28th, 2004
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 Kung Fu Hustle -
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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October 14th, 2004
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
A Very Long Engagement -
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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October 1st, 2004
October is generally a transition month. Not the dumping ground that September is, but without a major holiday, it's not as prosperous as November. Also, the month is usually good to horror movies for the obvious reason. One last note, the movie industry as a whole is in a bit of a slump right now, of the 11 films that opened wide in September, only 2 will beat expectations by any reasonable degree. This has caused me to downgrade some of my predictions, especially for earlier in the month.
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July 22nd, 2004
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 the winner for the week,
Aliens vs. Predator -
Offical 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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July 15th, 2004
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 the winner for the week,
Garden State -
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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