October 19th, 2011
A pair of powerful new releases helped push the Blu-ray sales chart to record levels. The Lion King led the way with 1.57 million units sold, earning $46.46 million. If you add in The Trilogy Box Set, which sold 44,000 units / $3.33 million, the film earned nearly $50 million in opening week sales. I wasn't expecting it to sell this well.
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October 18th, 2011
The list of new releases to reach the top 30 on this week's DVD sales chart was short with only two such DVDs. This does include a new number one film, Fast Five, which sold 851,000 units while generating $13.92 million during its first week of release.
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October 5th, 2011
It's a maddening week on the home market. There were more than a dozen featured reviews this week, and what seems like an equal number that are late. (And that's not mentioning the more than a dozen Blu-rays and DVDs that arrived late last week that I still haven't gotten to. At least I don't have to worry about not having enough to do for the next few weeks.) There were a number of contenders for Pick of the Week, including The Walking Dead: Season One on DVD or Blu-ray. But in the end I choose The Lion King Blu-ray Combo Pack.
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April 27th, 2011
Rio is the first film of 2011 to top $200 million on the international chart, reaching that milestone late in the weekend. It earned $44.27 million on 12,901 screens in 67 markets for a three-week total of $206.01 million internationally and $286.82 million worldwide. The film didn't open in any major markets this past weekend, but that clearly didn't hurt too badly, as the holds were excellent. For instance, the film was down just 10% in Brazil, earning $6.65 million on 971 screens for a total of $31.19 million. To put this into perspective, Avatar made less than $60 million in that market in total, and only had just over $20 million after three weeks of release. At this pace, $300 million internationally and $400 million worldwide is easily within reach.
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April 25th, 2011
That's two wins in a row. This weekend pulled in $136 million, which was 5% higher than last weekend and an impressive 37% higher than the same weekend last year. Granted, Easter landed on a different weekend last year, but this is still an impressive win. Also, it helped 2011 close the gap on 2010 to 17% at $2.84 billion to $3.41 billion. It still going to take a lot just to catch up by the end of the year, but at least there's some reason to be optimistic going into the summer.
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April 24th, 2011
After a typically topsy-turvy Easter weekend, with Friday the best day at the box office, it looks as though Rio will top the chart with an estimated $26.8 million 3-day weekend. Madea's Big Happy Family still stands a small chance of finishing first, but is currently projected to end the weekend about $1 million back with $25.75 million. Both those figures are about in line with expectations, but Water for Elephants did slightly better than expected with $17.5 million for third place.
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April 21st, 2011
The box office is looking to extend its winning streak to two this weekend. There is some great news regarding that goal, as this time last year was really poor, with the three new releases earning less than $30 million combined. I would be shocked if Madea's Big Happy Family opened with less than that. With the Easter holiday, Rio and Hop should hold on well and 2011 should finally start digging itself out of the huge hole it is in.
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April 20th, 2011
Rio has become the biggest hit on the international box office so far this year after just two weeks of release. This past weekend it made $56.34 million on 13,754 screens in 63 markets to lift its total to $131.78 million. This is just a couple of million above The Green Hornet, although it is extending that lead very rapidly. The film was aided by a pair of first place openings in major markets, scoring $4.92 million on 667 screens in France and $2.38 million on 626 screens in Italy. It really shone in a number of holdover markets as well, including Brazil, where it was down a mere 14% to $7.22 million on 1,025 screens over the weekend for a total of $18.75 million after two. At this pace, it will top the final box office of Toy Story 3, Harry Potter and Tangled by next weekend. It added $5.70 million on 1,297 screens in Russia to lift its running tally to $18.94 million. It did drop by 39% from its opening weekend, which was higher than in most major markets, but still very strong for Russia. It grew by 33% in Australia to $3.22 million on 467 screens over the weekend for a total of $7.97 million after two. It was up 12% in the U.K. to $2.76 million on 531 screens over the weekend for a total of $8.97 million. Rio doesn't have a lot of markets left to expand into, but even so, at this pace it should hit $200 million internationally and $300 million worldwide with relative ease.
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April 19th, 2011
The winners of our Scream for Joy contest were determined and they are...
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April 19th, 2011
Woo hoo! 2011 finally won a week without having to rely on a misaligned holiday. Granted, the overall box office was about $20 million lower than expected, but I don't care. At this point I will take any win we can get. The overall box office was $130 million, which is 12% higher than last weekend and 8% higher from the same weekend last year. Year-to-date, 2011 is still down by a tragic amount, 19% to be precise at $2.65 billion to $3.29 billion, but at least we are moving in the right direction and if we can add a couple more wins before summer starts, it would be great.
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April 17th, 2011
At the 19th attempt, 2011 finally has a legitimate winning weekend at the box office, thanks to a better-than-expected opening for Rio (and, to be fair, a weak comparison weekend last year). With a $40 million estimated debut, Rio lays claim to having the best opening of the year so far, and the fifth-best April weekend of all time (nudging out Hop debut two weeks ago). While that's undoubtedly good news, the rest of the chart is something of a mixed bag.
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April 14th, 2011
While 2011 has been a year to forget, we could see that turn around this weekend with two potentially massive hits, at least compared to the average April release. Historically, April has the fewest $100 million hits over the past several years, but this year should buck that trend with Hop well on its way to that milestone, and both wide releases this weekend could also get there. Scream 4 and Rio are both tracking head of Hop's opening and by Monday could both be in the top five April openings of all time. Will that be enough to help 2011 finally earn an uncontested win in the year-over-year comparison? The total box office this time last year was $120 million, while the top two films should earn more than $40 million each. If the rest of the box office can't at least earn another $40 million, we are in serious trouble.
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April 11th, 2011
Ugh. It's time to break out the thesaurus to look up different ways of saying, "disappointing". This past weekend three of the four new releases missed expectations, while the holdovers were not able to compensate. This led to a 7% drop-off from last weekend to $116 million, which was 9% lower than the same weekend last year. 2011 continues its depressing pace and is now behind 2010 by 21% at $2.49 billion to $3.13 billion. Hopefully things will turn around next weekend. We need at least one win going into summer, or we could be in desperate trouble.
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April 8th, 2011
Next weekend there are two wide releases, both of which are opening at saturation level theater counts and both of which could be monster hits. At least monster hits in comparison to the average April release. I think Rio will be the bigger hit in the end, but Scream 4 will probably open faster and 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 Scream 4.
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 American Dad!: Volume 6 on DVD.
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 copy of American Dad!: Volume 6 on DVD.
Finally, one additional entrant will be chosen and they will win the final copy of American Dad!: Volume 6 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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April 1st, 2011
Another month has gone by and 2011 has slipped further behind 2010's pace. March was a bit of an improvement over the first two months, but only in the most generous of terms. It still lost ground to 2010, but not at the same disastrous pace as January and February did. There is some good news, as last April was rather weak and there's a chance 2011 could actually gain ground. After all, only Clash of the Titans earned $100 million last year (although Date Night came awfully close). This year, there are three or four films that could hit the century mark. That would be welcome news indeed. On a side note, April is usually a bit of a dumping ground as studios fear going head-to-head with summer blockbusters opening in May. However, I get the feeling that this year they are hoping to extend summer by having it open a couple of weeks early. Maybe they'll succeed.
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