December 4th, 2012
It is an awesome week for new releases on the home market. Not only is one of the biggest hits of all time coming out, but there are a number of other releases that are Pick of the Week contenders. The Dark Knight Rises, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Finding Nemo, Star Trek: The Next Generation: Season Two, My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic: Season One, Brazil, Francis Ford Coppola: 5-Film Collection - Blu-ray, and others. In the end, I went with Finding Nemo: 3D Combo Pack, but it really is an excellent week for prime releases.
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March 19th, 2010
While there were plenty of new releases reaching the top 30 on the sales chart this week, a holdover, Law Abiding Citizen, remained in top spot. During its second week of release it sold an additional 353,000 units, lifting its total to 1.18 million units sold and $11.97 million in total sales.
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March 18th, 2010
Only three new releases reached the top 30 on this week's sales chart, and only one of those reached the top five. However, that film, Law Abiding Citizen, was able to win the race to the top with 830,000 units sold for opening week sale of $8.29 million.
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March 7th, 2010
The Oscars are being handed out as we speak and I will be updating our list of nominees with some of the winners as they happen. So far we've seen a few awards handed out, but no surprises.
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March 7th, 2010
The Numbers' annual Oscar polls have proved to be remarkably accurate predictors of
the final results on Oscar night.
We call results based on the hundreds of The Numbers readers who vote in our
Predict the Oscars competition.
We've received all the votes now, and are ready to make predictions in all categories.
Percentage figures are the percentage of The Numbers readers who believe a movie or performance
will win.
They are a rough guide to how likely a particular movie is to win in a category.
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March 3rd, 2010
With our annual Oscar Prediction contest underway, now is the best time to look at the nominees and try and figure out which films are the favorites and which should just feel honored to be nominated. Today we look at Best Animated Feature Film, which is the least competitive category that we will be dealing with this year.
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February 2nd, 2010
Oscar nominations were announced at 5:38 this morning, continuing a tradition that have never been adequately explained to me. (Why so early in the morning? Does earning an Oscar nomination become sweeter if people have to wake you up to congratulate you?) Leading the way in nominations were Avatar and The Hurt Locker, both of which pick up nine nods each, many of them in the same categories.
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January 25th, 2010
The Producers Guild of America handed out their awards on Sunday and the results ranged from mostly predictable to completely predictable.
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January 24th, 2010
Up in the Air started its international run in sixth place with $5.83 million on 936 screens in 9 markets. This includes a fifth place debut in the U.K. where it earned $2.13 million on 325 screens while it also managed fifth in Australia with $1.61 million on just 173 screens. While it is hard for films to open in limited release domestically and expand wide, it is usually a lot harder for these films to thrive internationally. After all, many international markets are simply too small to have a thriving limited release marketplace. It will be interesting to see if this film will be able to take its performance during Awards Season and turn it into a successful international run despite this.
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January 17th, 2010
Some might debate the predictive value of The Golden Globes.
After all, they don't have all of the same categories as the Oscars, and the results for Best Picture in particular have varied from the Oscar result many times over the years.
However, it is hard to argue with the free publicity a film gets from winning, and the big winner tonight was Avatar.
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January 17th, 2010
More than half the films on this week's International Details column were international films, starting with sixth place Io, loro E Lara. That film placed first in Italy with $7.56 million on 608 screens over the weekend, giving it $12.91 million in total.
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January 10th, 2010
Black Lightning opened in sixth place internationally with $8.42 million on 798 screens in 5 markets.
Those markets include Russia, Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
The latest from Timur Bekmambetov debuted in second place in his native Russia behind Avatar with an estimated $8 million on 700 screens.
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January 6th, 2010
The Producers Guild of America announced their nominations this week, and while there are only three categories for theatrical releases, they tend to be quite accurate predictors for the Oscar nominations.
This is great news for Up, which picked up nominations in two of the three categories.
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December 20th, 2009
Arthur And The Revenge Of Maltazard fell out of the top five, but still did relatively well, earning $8.14 million on 2,198 screens in 19 markets for an early total of $23.58 million. In its native France it added $6.27 million on 925 screens over the weekend for a total of $17.57 million after two. This is not that much weaker than the original, which at this point had made just over $20 million in France.
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December 16th, 2009
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced their nominations this week, but looking over the list of films chosen, it is hard to declare any one film as the big winner. Up in the Air did pick up six Golden Globe nominations, including several of the most prestigious nominations, but it is far from the only major player.
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December 13th, 2009
A number of international releases reached the top 30 this week, including Zweiohrkuken, a.k.a. The Chicken With Two Ears, from Germany, which placed sixth with $10.72 million on 839 screens in 3 markets.
It made $9.39 million on 714 screens in its native market, which was easily enough for first place and more than twice what the original,Keinohrhasen, a.k.a., No Ear Hare, opened with in 2007.
Keinohrhasen went on to earn $74 million worldwide, of which more than $60 million was earned in Germany.
However, I don't think this film will have the same legs.
That said, since it was written, directed, and stars Til Schweiger who was recently in Inglourious Basterds, it could earn see releases in more markets.
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December 12th, 2009
Black Friday sales gave a decidedly retro look to the DVD sales chart for the week ending November 29.
All major retailers were offering deeply discounted prices of catalog titles, including $4 deals at Target for Elf, Sex and the City and Forgetting Sarah Marshall, among others, and Best Buy offering Hellboy 2: The Golden Army, Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor and Forgetting Sarah Marshall at the same price.
Walmart wasn't going to be outdone though, and offered some DVD titles, including Hellboy 2, Mummy 3, I am Legend and Casino Royale in limited quantities at just $2.
The real champion of the bargain basement, however, was The Dark Knight, which was available for $5 at Walmart, and $4 at both Target and Best Buy.
With low, low prices, the unit volumes for the week were astronomical, but overall spending was actually down from 2008 thanks to the price cuts.
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December 9th, 2009
New releases were not that plentiful on the sales chart this week, but they did dominate the top of the chart, scoring first place and three of the top four.
The new number one was Star Trek, which sold 3.58 million DVD units and generated $53.00 million in consumer spending at retail.
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December 9th, 2009
Star Trek led all new releases and holdovers to dominate the rental chart this week.
It took top spot with two-and-a-half times the rentals of last week's winner and this week's second place film, The Ugly Truth.
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December 6th, 2009
Ninja Assassin started its international run in sixth place with $5.30 million on 665 screens in 9 markets over the weekend for a total of $5.97 million. Most of those markets were in Asia, including South Korea, where it opened in second place with $2.97 million on 401 screens over the weekend and $3.55 million in total.
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November 29th, 2009
Planet 51 started its international run in a limited fashion, but was only a little better than its domestic opening. Its biggest market was Russia, where it placed fourth with $1.49 million on 344 screens, which is on par with its opening here, perhaps a little bit stronger.
The film also placed fourth in Italy with $1.16 million on 255 screens, which is again on par with the US, but perhaps a little weaker.
Overall, it landed in sixth place with $3.22 million on 894 screens in 6 markets during its opening weekend, but should improve this weekend when it opens in Spain, Mexico, and Brazil.
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November 25th, 2009
As expected, Up dominated new releases on this week's sales chart as it earned first place with $88.13 million in consumer spending at retail and 5.30 million units.
This instantly places it fourth on the overall chart for 2009.
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November 25th, 2009
The same two new releases that topped the sales chart this week also topped the rental chart, although they were in the opposite order.
The Ugly Truth took first place with more than 50% more rentals than Up.
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November 18th, 2009
2012 crushed the competition with $166.19 million on 12,943 screens in 76 markets and $231.43 million worldwide over its debut weekend.
This is the fifth best international opening of all time, and is massively better than expected.
The film's biggest market was Russia where it pulled in $16.31 million on 840 screens, while it topped $10 million in Germany ($12.53 million on 756 screens) and the U.K. ($10.83 million on 480 screens).
Other major markets included Spain ($8.56 million on 606 screens), South Korea ($8.26 million on 855 screens over the weekend and $10.04 million in total), Italy ($7.64 million on 532), Australia ($5.67 million on 405), Brazil ($5.29 million on 550) and Mexico ($5.03 million on 780).
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November 12th, 2009
And the Oscar goes to...
I'm not kidding. If this movie doesn't win many, many Oscars, it will be a crime.
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November 11th, 2009
This Is It saw its weekend haul fall 42% internationally, but it still stood on top with $29.50 million on 8,623 screens in 76 markets for a total of $129.23 million internationally and $186.24 million worldwide.
The film reached $100 million internationally early in the weekend and could reach $200 million worldwide, perhaps before this weekend.
The film held on well in Japan to remain in first place with $3.93 million on 322 screens for a total of $23.52 million.
It also remained in first place in Australia with $1.74 million on 292 screens over the weekend for a total of $6.80 million.
On the other hand, it was down 72% in the U.K. and fell to second place with $2.27 million on 486 screens over the weekend for a total of $13.61 million, also after two.
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November 9th, 2009
We are getting closer to the Thanksgiving long weekend and the official start of the holiday shopping season.
Because of this, there are plenty of great releases coming out this week, including Up on a 4-Disc Blu-ray / DVD Combo Pack, which is clearly DVD Pick of the Week material.
Also a DVD Pick of the Week is Monsters, Inc. - 4-Disc Blu-ray / DVD Combo Pack, while the late arriving Monsters vs. Aliens - Blu-ray earns an honorable mention.
With a massive list of releases, including nearly a dozen spotlight reviews, we have once again needed to split the release report into two parts.
The first part can be found here.
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November 9th, 2009
We are getting closer to the Thanksgiving long weekend and the official start of the holiday shopping season.
Because of this, there are plenty of great releases coming out this week, including Up on a 4-Disc Blu-ray / DVD Combo Pack, which is clearly DVD Pick of the Week material.
Also a DVD Pick of the Week is Monsters, Inc. - 4-Disc Blu-ray / DVD Combo Pack, while the late arriving Monsters vs. Aliens - Blu-ray earns an honorable mention.
With a massive list of releases, including nearly a dozen spotlight reviews, we have once again needed to split the release report into two parts.
The second part can be found here.
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November 4th, 2009
There was a new number on film on the international chart this past weekend, as This Is It took top spot with $51.07 million on 8910 screens in 74 markets over the weekend for a total of $68.93 million. Individual markets were led by the U.K. where it pulled in first place with $7.96 million on 498 screens, while it also led in Germany with $6.3 million on 930 screens, France with $5.8 million on 484, Japan with $5.75 million on 321, and Australia with $3.35 million on 293. In all of these markets the film did better than it did here, given the relative sizes involved, but it was still below expectations after all of the talk about record-breaking pre-orders for tickets. Other major markets include Italy where it opened in third place with $2.16 million on 478 screens over the weekend and $3.19 million in total, while it earned second in Spain with $2.04 million on 377 screens over the weekend and $2.72 million in total. In Russia it only managed fourth place with $873,000 on 231 screens while it only managed sixth place with $325,000 on 210 screens over the weekend and $422,000 in total.
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October 28th, 2009
Up remained in first place on the international chart with $20.19 million on 4572 screens in 26 markets for a total of $324.88 million internationally and $617.79 million worldwide. During the past week, the film reached two major milestones: $300 million internationally and $600 million worldwide. It is the fifth Pixar film to reach the former milestone and the fourth to reach the latter. Additionally, with strong holds in the U.K. ($6.21 million on 762 screens over the weekend for a total of $32.07 million after three) and Italy ($4.57 million on 624 screens over the weekend for a total of $13.84 million after two) and an upcoming opening in Japan, it has a shot at $700 million worldwide.
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October 21st, 2009
Up had its best weekend on the international stage thanks mainly to two factors: It's first place opening in Italy, and its first place hold in the U.K. In Italy the film opened with $6.67 million on 652 screens over the weekend for a total of $7.15 million, which is a little weaker than Ice Age but better than Transformers. It held on very well well in the U.K. down just 19% to $8.40 million on 746 screens over the weekend for a total of $22.62 million after just two weeks of release. Ny this time next week it could have more than Cars made in total in that market, while it should end its run somewhere between WALL-E ($41 million) and Ratatouille ($48 million). Overall the film added $29.77 million on 4602 screens in 26 markets for a total of $295.15 million internationally and $587.96 million worldwide and has very likely that the film has reached $300 million internationally.
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October 14th, 2009
It took a long time, but after 20 weeks of release, Up finally took top spot on the international box office this past weekend. It earned $21.73 million on 3,616 screens in 25 markets over the weekend for a total of $257.39 million internationally and $550.03 million worldwide.
Almost half of the film's weekend haul came from the U.K., where it opened in first place with $10.10 million on 411 screens.
It is still going strong in Germany after pulling in $3.17 million on 846 screens over the weekend for a total of $20.22 million after four.
At this pace, it should earn around $30 million in that market, and with debuts in Italy and Japan, as well as other, smaller markets, the film should have no issue reaching $600 million worldwide, while $700 million isn't out of the question.
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October 7th, 2009
There was a tight race atop the international box office with barely $2 million separating first place and sixth place. Surrogates climbed into first place with $11.83 million on 2763 screens in 23 markets for a total of $28.84 million. The film debuted in first place in Mexico, but with only $872,000 on 350 screens. It opened in third place in South Korea with $2.17 million on 267 screens over the weekend and $2.60 million in total. Surprisingly, the film remained in first place in Russia despite falling 58% to $2.24 million on 603 screens over the weekend, while it now has $8.97 million in that market.
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September 30th, 2009
The Founding Of A Republic remained in first place down just 26% to $13.56 million on 1,380 screens over the weekend for a total of $36.16 million after two.
This film is performing amazingly in China and while it nationalistic story (it is about the rise of the communist party in China) will hurt its chances elsewhere, it's already made enough money to be considered a success.
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September 24th, 2009
The Founding Of A Republic opened in first place in China and first place internationally with $18.24 million on 1450 screens. It's quite rare for an non-Hollywood movie to top the international charts, but now is a great time of year for that to happen, as the summer blockbusters are (mostly) coasting on holdovers and the fall blockbusters are weeks away.
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September 17th, 2009
The Final Destination reached first place on the international chart with $16.15 million 2,704 screens in 25 markets for a total of just a hair under $55.00 million.
It is already the highest grossing film in the franchise both domestically and worldwide, and it will soon become the undisputed champion when it overtakes the first film's international final figure of close to $60 million.
As for this weekend's returns, it opened in first place in Russia with $5.50 million on 621 screens over the weekend for a total of $6.68 million.
It was pushed into second place in Germany with $2.15 million on 427 screens over the weekend and $7.16 million in total.
Meanwhile, it remained in second place in the U.K. with $1.54 million on 385 screens over the weekend and has made $17.70 million there after just three weeks of release, which is higher than the total box office of any of the other three films in the franchise.
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September 10th, 2009
There was a close two-way race for top spot on the international box office chart with Inglourious Basterds just coming out on top with $14.90 million on 2,929 screens in 34 markets for a total of $83.99 million.
The film remained in first place in France with $3.7 million over the weekend and now has $18.8 million in total.
It was pushed into second place with Germany, but it was still impressive with $3.02 million on 466 screens over the weekend for a total of $13.99 million after three.
It opens in Spain in just over a week's time, and when it does it will have reached $100 million internationally and $200 million worldwide, and will likely become the undisputed biggest hit of Quentin Tarantino's career when it does.
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September 5th, 2009
G-Force just missed the top five with $7.09 million on 2964 screens in 30 markets for a total of $67.97 million. The film had no major market openings this week, but it did add $2.17 million on 409 screens in Russia for a total of $8.93 million after two weeks there. Up next is Spain this weekend, which means it could climb back into the top five, if it performs well there.
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August 26th, 2009
Inglourious Basterds made its debut on the international market taking first place with $27.49 million on 2650 screens in 22 markets. This includes first place openings in a number of major markets, led by France where it opened with $6.09 million on 500 screens; this is not really surprising as Quentin Tarantino is extremely popular in that market. The U.K. was close behind with $5.92 million on 444 screens, while it also topped the charts in Germany ($4.20 million on 439 screens) and in Australia ($2.56 million on 266). On the other hand, the film was stuck in second place in Russia, but still performed well with $2.55 million on 340 screens. So far the film is tracking well ahead of Kill Bill - Volume 1 and should become his biggest hit of all time topping Pulp Fiction.
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August 19th, 2009
G.I.Joe remained in top spot on the international chart with $26.12 million on 6875 screens in 49 markets for a total of $91.58 million. The film had only one major opening of note, Germany, but while it finished first there, it still struggled with just $1.74 million on 474 screens. It earned more in South Korea with $2.70 million on 488 screens over the weekend and $10.48 million after two. It added $1.75 million on 514 screens over the weekend in France for a total there of $5.66 million. It had near identical results over the weekend in Japan ($1.36 million on 385 screens) and in the U.K. ($1.35 million on 442 screens) and it now has $6.99 million and $6.32 million in those two markets. So far it is hard to be overly impressed by these results, especially when compared to its production budget. The only way this film gets a sequel is if it is a massive hit on the home market, and even then I think the studio will demand a cut in costs.
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August 16th, 2009
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince became just the second film of the year to reach $500 million on the international chart, but the sixth film of that franchise to reach that milestone. Over the weekend it earned $22.85 million on 9346 screens in 63 markets for a total of $548.68 million internationally and $822.53 million worldwide after just four weeks of release. The film is running on holdovers, but it did place third in France adding $3.78 million on 918 screens over the weekend for a total of $45.08 million in that market. Meanwhile it remained in first place in Germany with $2.74 million on 908 screens giving it $54.68 million in total. Its best market overall remains the U.K. where it has made $73.85 million, including $2.25 million on 535 screens over the past weekend.
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August 8th, 2009
Ice Age - Dawn of the Dinosaurs became the all-time highest grossing animated film on the international scene during the past week. Over the weekend it earned $24.66 million on 8844 screens in 68 markets for a total of $551.39 million internationally, which tops the $526.88 million earned by Finding Nemo. On the other hand, that film made $866.59 million worldwide compared to this film's running tally of $733.45 million. Ice Age isn't done yet, and should reach a couple milestones before it is done. but the record is likely safe.
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July 7th, 2009
New releases were not as strong as expected, and Independence Day itself hurt a little more than I was expecting, but the overall box office was still solid at $162 million.
Granted, this was nearly 19% less than last weekend, but more importantly it was 1.4% higher than the same weekend last year.
Year-to-date, 2009 has made $5.44 billion, which is 11.6% ahead of last year's pace.
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July 5th, 2009
The Hangover climbed into second place with $11.14 million on 2091 screens in 28 markets for a total of $47.81 million. This was actually 2% lower than last week's performance. Its only major market opening came from France where it placed second with $3.31 million on 251 screens, but that was for the full week. (This is still impressive.) In the U.K. it was down just 15% to $3.15 million on 425 screens over the weekend and $18.50 million after three. It is a couple of weeks away from overtaking Terminator Salvation in that market. Over in Australia it managed to dip just 30% to $1.80 million on 227 screens over the weekend for a total of $9.07 million. It will also top Terminator Salvation in this market, and could beat out Angels and Demons as well. Massive. On the other hand, I'm not sure the film will do as well in most non-English speaking markets, as comedy tends to be harder to translate into other cultures.
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June 29th, 2009
The biggest opening of the year, and in some respects the biggest opening weekend ever, helped the overall box office recover from its mini-slump, with moviegoers spending just a hair shy of $200 million on tickets over the weekend.
This was up 32% from last weekend and 7.9% higher than the same weekend last year.
Year-to-date, 2009 has now amassed $5.13 billion in ticket sales, which is 12% higher than last year's pace.
It has been a long, long time since we've seen this kind of year-over-year growth, and while it is likely the box office will cool down over the rest of the summer, this is still an amazing performance.
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June 28th, 2009
Terminator Salvation fell to second place with $18.94 million on 9263 screens in 71 markets over the weekend, for a total of $200.84 million internationally and $320.57 million worldwide. The film has been troubled by sharp drop-offs internationally, and that was certainly the case this past weekend, as it was down 65% in Japan. Japan. It was down 65% in Japan, which is a market known for its strong holds. It still added $3.72 million on 697 screens over the weekend for a total of $19.70 million after two, but that's a sharper decline than anticipated.
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June 26th, 2009
It looks like the high end of expectations might not have been high enough as Transformers - Revenge of the Fallen opened with more than $60 million on Wednesday, including midnight showings. This bodes very week for its weekend haul, which should help the overall box office from last year. To put this into perspective, last year's number one film, WALL-E earned $63 million over the weekend, or barely more than Transformers - Revenge of the Fallen earned in one day.
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June 23rd, 2009
It was a better-than-expected weekend at the box office as every film in the top five matched or exceeded expectations.
This led to an overall industry haul of $151 million, which is 9.6% higher than last weekend and 5.6% higher than the same weekend last year.
Year-to-date, 2009 has earned $4.78 billion, which is 10.5% higher than 2008's pace.
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June 21st, 2009
Night at the Museum - Battle for the Smithsonian remained in second place adding a solid $18.53 million on 8300 screens in 67 markets for a total of $175.90 million. The film opened in first place in Mexico, no surprise there, but with $3.34 million on 1150 screens its per screen average is not that impressive and being booked on more than 1000 screens, you think the studio was expecting a bit more. The film did hang on better than most in South Korea down just 50% to $2.13 million on 576 screens over the weekend for a total of $7.57 million after two. It also added $1.77 million on 506 screens in the U.K. for a total of $27.96 million, which is its best single market of its run so far.
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June 21st, 2009
This was the weekend of the comedy in theaters, and romance won out over the numbskulls.
Sandra Bullock enjoyed her best opening weekend ever as The Proposal topped the chart with an impressive $34.1 million, according to Disney's Sunday estimate.
Bullock's previous best was the $17.5 million opening for Premonition in 2007, so this is a tremendous weekend for her.
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June 18th, 2009
We have another two new saturation level releases and two holdovers that will play an important part in this week's box office race, again. It appears that only one of the new films has a legitimate shot at top spot, while we could have our first threpeat in nearly a year. Overall, the box office looks like it will continue its losing streak vs. 2009, as this time last year was marginally stronger. Hopefully that will change next week.
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June 16th, 2009
It was a rough weekend at the box office as neither saturation level new release was able to live up to expectations.
Even with stronger than expected holdovers, total box office receipts were still down 16.7% from last weekend to $138 million, which is 23.3% below the same weekend last year.
Year-to-date, 2009 has earned $4.55 billion at the box office, which is still 10.9% higher than last year's pace, but we are getting to the point where attendance might show declines, as we've lost a lot of ground in the past few weeks.
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June 14th, 2009
Night at the Museum - Battle for the Smithsonian was pushed into second place in the international chart, but still added $27.88 million on 8350 screens in 66 markets while it lifted its international total to $149.55 million. The film opened in first place in South Korea with $4.33 million on 669 screens over the weekend and $4.75 million in total. It also remained in first place in China with $2.1 million on 818 screens over the weekend and $12.2 million in total, but that was a huge drop-off from last week. On the other hand, the film improved by 18% in the U.K. with $3.96 million on 509 screens over the weekend for a running tally of $25.31 million after three. That's better than the film's performance here, if you take into account the relative size of the two markets. The film opens in Mexico this weekend, and in Japan in August. It has likely reached $300 million worldwide already, and could make it all the way to $400 million before it is done. This is a drop-off from its predecessor, but the film is still well on its way to profitability and will get there before it reaches the lucrative home market.
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June 14th, 2009
After a titanic three-way struggle at the top of the chart, the weekend belongs to The Hangover, which beat off a continued strong run from Up and a decent, but slightly disappointing debut from The Taking of Pelham 123.
Hangover recorded the best second weekend decline ever for a movie playing in over 3,000 theaters, excluding holiday weekends -- a truly remarkable performance, and a sign that this will be the surprise hit of Summer.
For comparison, the record was previously held by Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, which fell 27% in its second weekend.
Hangover is projected to fall 25.7%, so the record isn't guaranteed, but the movie is moving in pretty exalted circles.
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June 11th, 2009
We have two new saturation level releases and two holdovers that will play an important part in this week's box office race, and three of them have a legitimate shot at taking first place. This depth should help the overall box office numbers, but the weekend will still have a hard time reaching the box office level of last year when The Incredible Hulk opened with just over $55 million.
In fact, the number one film this year might not earn half that much.
Let's hope that is not the case, but there is certainly a chance of that happening.
On the other end of the spectrum, there is a slim chance the top film surprise by earning $40 million, or more, and coasting to $100 million in total.
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June 9th, 2009
Two new releases cracked $10,000 on the per theater chart this week, including Away We Go, which led the way with $32,603 despite mixed reviews.
The overall number one film, The Hangover, was second with $13,759.
Perhaps most impressive was Up, which remained in the $10,000 club during its sophomore stint with $11,561.
It's rare for a saturation level release to repeat on this chart.
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June 9th, 2009
We had a surprise number one at the box office this past weekend, and the films that beat Thursday's predictions outnumber those that failed to reach expected levels, both in terms of the number of films and in terms of total box office generated.
This helped the industry to $165 million at the box office over the weekend; however, this was down about 0.2% from last weekend and 5.4% from the same weekend last year.
That said, this is better than most were expecting, and 2009 is still way ahead of 2008's pace at $4.34 billion to $3.85 billion.
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June 7th, 2009
Terminator Salvation opened worldwide this weekend, but we won't have those numbers till Wednesday. In the meantime, it earned third place with $13.37 million on 1283 screens in 12 markets for a total of $25.52 million. Most of this has come from South Korea, where it slipped to second place with $4.21 million on 713 screens over the weekend for a total of $15.52 million after two. So far the film has been a disappointment domestically, but it can salvage its run with a massive box office next weekend on the international stage. If it does so, profitability will be assured, but that's a big 'if'.
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June 7th, 2009
Up held on to top spot on the box office chart over the weekend, based on the studio's Sunday estimates.
But it was a very close thing.
Only strong family business on Saturday and Sunday was enough to hold off a very impressive debut by The Hangover.
The buddy comedy opened with an estimated $43.275 million, which was well ahead of most predictions, and showed that good reviews can still help bring in moviegoers.
Land of the Lost, meanwhile, showed how bad reviews can still kill a movie: it opened with a paltry $19.5 million, making it the worst Summer opening of Will Ferrell's career.
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June 4th, 2009
It looks like we will have another losing weekend at the box office, as none of the three new wide releases look like they will come close to last year's winner. In fact, they might not top last year's second place film, or the sophomore stint of last week's box office champ.
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June 4th, 2009
The winners of our Up, Up, and Away contest were determined and they are...
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June 2nd, 2009
Only one film cracked the $10,000 mark on the per theater chart, and that film was the overall box office leader, Up. It opened with $68 million in 3,766 theaters for an impressive average of $18,085.
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June 1st, 2009
It was a close call, but 2009 wasn't able to keep pace with 2008, despite Up's better than expected opening.
Overall, the box office generated $166 million, which was 6.0% lower than last weekend and 1.4% lower than the same weekend last year.
Year-to-date, 2009 still has an impressive 13.6% lead over 2008 at $4.11 billion to $3.61 billion, and even with weakness over the next few weeks, 2009 should maintain its lead for a while to come.
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May 31st, 2009
Up has become the seventh Pixar out of nine to record a $50 million weekend, according to Disney's estimates released on Sunday.
The new toon scored an estimated $68.2 million, which, if it holds up, will be the third-best opening for Pixar, behind The Incredibles ($70.5 million) and Finding Nemo ($70.3 million).
(See complete box office history for Pixar movies.)
With the summer just heating up, Disney can bank on having a $200 million hit on their hands.
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May 30th, 2009
Not much competition for the Weekly Website Award this time around, as there was only one site that was significantly above average. That site was Up's Official Site, and it is the winner of the Weekly Website Award.
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May 28th, 2009
There are some people worrying that 2009's winning streak could be coming to an end. Not only was last weekend barely above 2008's pace, but this weekend could see an actual decline due to a number of factors. This includes a surprisingly strong film opening in first place last year, as well as weakness in one of the new releases from last week. Up should carry its weight, but it might not be enough.
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May 22nd, 2009
Another week, another potential monster hit. This time around it is the latest from Pixar, Up, which is the target film for this week's box office prediction contest. In order to win, one must simply predict the opening weekend box office of Up.
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 Terminator 2 - Judgment Day on Blu-ray, as well as Russel Brand - In New York City on DVD.
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 copy of Terminator 2 - Judgment Day on Blu-ray, as well as Jo Koy - Don't Make Him Angry 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, 2009
Last May was strong with two films that cracked $300 million at the box office. This May we might not have any movies reach that milestone. Then again, there are six films that have a shot to reach $200 million. I'm not saying all of them will get there, but I would be surprised if at least two of them don't get there, while all six should reach at least $100 million, which is two more than the same month last year. There are also a few midlevel hits in the waiting, as a few limited releases of note. This latter category includes The Brothers Bloom, Departures, and Pontypool.
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October 2nd, 2008
This week's round of new casting information contains updates for Paper Man, Sherlock Holmes, Kung Fu Panda 2, and more!
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April 17th, 2008
This week's round of new casting information contains updates for Mardi Gras, The Uninvited, A Thousand Words, and more!
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February 3rd, 2008
This week's round of new movie release information contains release dates for Igor, Up, Planet 51 and more!
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December 18th, 2007
This week another number of upcoming movies, new stars and directors have been added to our archive!
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December 16th, 2007
This week's round of new movie release information contains not only the general weekly update, but also an a number of release updates we had missed earlier.
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