October 12th, 2010
New releases walked away with the top two spots on this week's DVD sales chart, as well as four of the top six, and six of the top 30. Leading the way was Iron Man 2 with 2.82 million units generating $64.53 million in revenue during its opening week of release. This is weaker than its predecessor opened with, but the film compensated with stronger Blu-ray sales.
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October 5th, 2010
It was another week where new releases dominated the DVD sales chart with ten of them placing in the top 30. This includes Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue, which took top spot with 920,000 units sold, while its opening week sales of $16.80 million were actually second best. This is a drop from The Lost Treasure; however, it did much, much better on Blu-ray than either of the previous releases.
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September 20th, 2010
Some of the summer blockbusters are starting to filter their way onto the home market, but this week's list is still dominated by TV on DVD releases like Castle: Season Two, Modern Family: Season One, and 30 Rock: Season Four. All three of which were in contention for Pick of the Week, as were The Secret in Their Eyes on Blu-ray and Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue on Blu-ray / DVD Combo. In the end I went with Modern Family: Season One on Blu-ray.
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July 11th, 2010
In an age of day-and-date global releases, Shrek Forever After is taking the slow route. This week it opened in a number of major markets, which propelled it into second place with $42.57 million on 4,484 screens in 25 markets for a total of $137.12 million internationally and $369.40 million worldwide.
In the U.K. it opened with $13.56 million on 539 screens, which was easily enough for first place.
However, its predecessor made $33.45 million during its opening three years ago. Ouch. In France it made $10.77 million on 842 screens, down from $13.05 million. South Korea produced $6.37 million on 627 screens, including midweek numbers, down from $10.74 million. Finally, in Germany it made $5.11 million on 767 screens, down from $7.84 million. The film is still a major hit and will have no trouble earning a profit; however, it is still the weakest in the franchise when you look at ticket sales.
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July 4th, 2010
Knight and Day started its international run in second place with $12.42 million on 2241 screens in 12 markets. It opened in first place in Russia with $3.33 million on 949 screens, while it also took top spot in South Korea with $3.04 million on 565 screens over the weekend and $3.76 million in total. Next up for the film is the U.K. this weekend, while it has major market openings right till October when it debuts in Japan.
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June 26th, 2010
The A-Team climbed to second place with $13.97 million on 4929 screens in 48 markets for a total of $34.74 million. New openings this past weekend include France, where it made $3.05 million on 621 screens. On the one hand, that was enough for first place. On the other hand, that's not a particularly strong start, especially for a summer blockbuster. It was only half has much as Prince of Persia opened with, for instance. In Italy it had a similar result with a first place, $1.11 million opening on 354 screens. That said, if it can earn half of what Prince of Persia does, then The A-Team will end its run with more than $100 million internationally and close to $200 million worldwide. As long as it is a hit on the home market, that will be enough to show a profit eventually, particularly if you take into account increased DVD sales for the TV series it is based on.
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June 20th, 2010
For the third weekend in a row, Robin Hood remained in fourth place. This time it pulled in $7.19 million on 5742 screens in 54 markets for a total of $183.71 million internationally and $283.17 million worldwide. This week it opened in China and India, two countries that rarely release box office numbers in a timely fashion.
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June 17th, 2010
Pixar releases its eleventh feature-length film this weekend. And considering its previous ten have all opened in first place (assuming you discount prestige limited releases) this is reason for Disney to celebrate.
In fact, it could be reason for the industry as a whole to celebrate, considering more than 10 million tickets could be sold for this movie, which means more than 10 million people watching trailers for upcoming releases, seeing posters for new movies, etc.
Compared to last year, Toy Story 3 could make more than the top five combined, which should help boost 2010's lead over 2009.
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June 13th, 2010
Rajneeti was the second Indian film within a few weeks to open strong on the global scene. Internationally, it earned third place with $11.01 million on 925 screens in 16 markets, which is an excellent start for this type of film. After Kites opened respectively well, it quickly collapsed. Thanks to a higher than average production budget, it will end up costing the studio money. However, this film is already well on its way to profitability and hopefully it will show much better legs.
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June 6th, 2010
Sex and the City 2 started its international run in second place with $23.98 million on 2739 screens in 18 markets for a total opening of $27.11 million. The film's biggest opening came in the U.K., where it made $8.93 million on 530 screens, 24% more than the original's opening. It had the biggest opening of the year in Germany with $5.90 million on 736 screens over the weekend for a total of $7.72 million. This was 23% higher than the original managed. On the other hand, it only saw 4% growth in Italy, with $2.4 million on 499 screens. This is not enough to keep pace with inflation. However, it is still better than it managed here.
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June 2nd, 2010
May is over, and not a moment too soon. I remember at the beginning of last month that a lot of people were suggesting this was going to be the highest grossing summer of all time and that May was going to be the highest grossing month of all time. Since this summer is a weekend shorter than most and this missing weekend was at the beginning of May, this was never going to happen. However, now that the month is over, we can see just how unrealistic those predictions were. Even Memorial Day long weekend wasn't enough as the total box office take was $152 million over three days and $193 million over four. Compared to last week, this was up just over 1%. While any increase is welcome, this it hardly a reason to celebrate. Compared to last Memorial Day, this was down 14% over three days and 13% over four. Not good. Year-to-date, 2010 is still ahead of 2009, but the lead has been cut to 4.7% at $4.30 billion to $4.10 billion. Perhaps it's not quite time to hit the panic button, but I'm starting to do warm up exercises for when running around in a panic will be required.
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May 28th, 2010
Memorial Day long weekend started early with the midnight release of Sex and the City 2, but it's not the only saturation level release debuting this weekend. With the weakness shown last weekend by Shrek Forever After, the industry is looking forward with a bit of trepidation. Should both of these stumble, the narrative going forward will be quite negative, as none of the May releases will have excelled. This time last year, Up opened with close to $70 million. I don't think either film will match that, especially over three days. But their combined strength will hopefully give 2010 a boost at the box office.
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May 27th, 2010
Robin Hood remained in the top spot on the international chart, hitting the century mark over the weekend. It did show weakness in a lot of major markets and overall fell 57% to $30.09 million on 7,073 screens in 56 markets for a total of $125.37 million internationally and $191.53 million worldwide. Granted, it had no major openings this past weekend, but this is still troubling. Additionally, it only has two major openings left (China and Japan) so it is not like it has a lot of markets left to draw from. That said, it has made more globally than it cost to make, and it should add another $100 million or so to that final tally. It should eventually break even.
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May 25th, 2010
I'm starting to get a little concerned about summer. Granted, we are only three weeks in, but so far we have had two films that came short of high expectations and another that was expected to struggle at the box office and did. This time around, the number one movie failed to meet even the low end of expectations and the overall box office managed just a hair under $150 million. This was 8% more than last weekend, but 15% lower than the same weekend last year. Granted, this time last year was Memorial Day long weekend, so the comparison isn't entirely fair. But still troubling. Year-to-date, 2010 has amassed $4.04 billion, which is 4.8% higher than last year, but the boom in 3D films and the higher ticket prices that go with it means that attendance is down 1.7%.
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May 20th, 2010
It's the first long weekend of the summer; at least it is up here in Canada. What effect will this have on the box office? Not a whole lot, but Canada does represent about 10% of the total domestic box office and every little bit will help. This time last year saw the debut of two box office hits and we only have Shrek Forever After this time around. Granted, even the low end estimates have the pseudo-final chapter in the Shrek franchise crushing either Night at the Museum or Terminator, individually. The question is, can it top their combined opening? It might need to if 2010 is to keep pace with 2009.
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May 19th, 2010
As expected, Robin Hood topped the charts at the international box office. It was significantly more popular internationally than it was domestically. During its opening weekend, the film made $70.13 million on 7081 screens in 56 markets for a total opening of $75.16 million. Adding that to what it made here and the movie had a global opening of $111.22 million.
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May 19th, 2010
The winners of our Give to the Poor contest were determined and they are...
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May 18th, 2010
Just like they did in the overall box office, Iron Man 2 and Robin Hood top the per theater chart, finishing in the same order. It was a close race with Iron Man 2 coming out on top, $11,854 to $10,295.
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May 17th, 2010
The overall box office this past weekend was adequate. While three of the top five films were unable to match Thursday's predictions, none were off by a significant degree. All combined, the box office brought in $139 million, which was down 22% compared to last week. Again, this was expected. Compared to last year it was higher, but by a mere 1.3%. Not enough to keep pace with inflation. Year-to-date, 2010 is still ahead of 2009 at $3.85 billion to $3.62 billion. However, due to the influx of 3D ticket sales and the much higher ticket prices they command, attendance is actually down by a fraction of a percent. It's nothing to worry about at the moment, but it is still interesting.
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May 16th, 2010
This Summer's first blockbuster face-off ended with a victory for Iron Man 2 as the superhero actioner saw off the medieval actioner, Robin Hood.
Both movies enjoyed weekends roughly in line with expectations.
Iron Man 2 posted a respectable 59% drop from its opening weekend to earn $53 million, and take its domestic box office total to $212 million.
With another $210 million internationally, the movie is well on its way to topping Iron Man's $582 million worldwide tally.
Robin Hood couldn't match that level of performance, but posted a decent $37.1 million opening in North America, and earned an estimated $77 million internationally, to take it past $100 million worldwide on its first weekend.
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May 13th, 2010
The second weekend in May tends to be weak at the box office; for instance, it was the second weekend of May that saw the release of Speed Racer and Poseidon, just to name two recent examples. It is unlikely that Robin Hood will do that poorly at the box office; in fact, it might open with more than Speed Racer made in total. If it can, it will go a long way towards helping 2010 keep pace with last year. But even if it does, it will likely have to settle for second place.
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May 7th, 2010
Week two of the summer has just one Saturday-level release, Robin Hood, which is this week's target film. In order to win, one must simply predict the opening weekend box office number for Robin Hood.
Whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend box office (Friday to Sunday), without going over, will win a copy of Tooth Fairy on Blu-ray
Meanwhile, whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend box office (Friday to Sunday), without going under, will win a copy of According to Jim: Season Two on DVD.
Entries must be received by 10 a.m., Pacific Time on Friday to be eligible, so don't delay!
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May 1st, 2010
It's summertime! April started off okay, but ended with a thud. In fact, How to Train Your Dragon was arguably the biggest box office draw of the month, and it opened in March. That said, it's May, and that means there's a clean slate for the box office, as even under the best of circumstances holdovers mean very little at the beginning of the month. As long as the overall box office is healthy, we should be fine. And given the number of $100 million hits that have opened in 2010 so far, plus the $300 million hit that is Alice in Wonderland, I think it is fair to say that we will be fine. The real question is how well May 2010 will compare to last year, when we had six $100 million movies including two that reached $200 million. This time around there's one less weekend, so we will need help from some of the counter programming to match that number. Since there are only three films that you could call counter programming, this could be a problem.
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June 19th, 2008
This week's round of new casting information contains updates for 2012, Public Enemies, Transformers 2, and more!
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April 6th, 2008
This week's round of new movie release information contains release dates for Underworld 3, Pink Panther 2, Nottingham and more!
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