January 31st, 2006
Brokeback Mountain again led the list of nominees as with 8 Oscar nods. There were three films with six nominations a piece,
Crash,
Good Night and Good Luck, and
Memoirs of a Geisha, (although for that last one, they were all the less prestigious technical awards.
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December 17th, 2005
Fantastic Four was the movie that stopped the massive box office slump this summer, and it is continuing that strong performance on the home market. It topped the home market with a combined total of $11.26 million, $10.47 million from DVDs and $800,000 from VHS.
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December 10th, 2005
Mr. and Mrs. Smith won the race to the top of the weekly rental charts and nearly had the same total as
last week's winner. Over the week the film pulled in $15.44 million in combined rentals, just $100,000 behind
War of the Worlds opening.
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December 3rd, 2005
War of the Worlds easily won the race on the rental charts with $15.54 million in combined rentals, which is one of the best results of the year.
This is more of a surprise than it may first seem, since people usually buy blockbusters like this and not rent them as much.
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November 21st, 2005
As Christmas approaches, each week more and more DVDs are being released that theoretically would make perfect gifts.
But for the DVD Pick of the Week I went with the perfect Re-Gift, Seinfeld - Re-Gift Set.
There are a couple others I would recommend (like the King Kong - Collector's Edition), but overall it feels like a really slow week.
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September 18th, 2005
Marrying the Mafia 2 is the latest local film to lead the South Korean box office as it opened with $5.555 million on 449 screens, $7.515 million including Thursday.
Not only was that easily enough for first place in its home market, but also put the film in third place on the overall international box office charts.
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September 11th, 2005
The 40-Year Old Virgin topped the U.K. marked with an impressive $3.26 million on 394 screens in the U.K., but this is probably not indicative of its potential in other international markets. The film should do well in the U.K., Australia, and New Zealand, but will likely struggle in non-English speaking markets. (Germany may be an exception.)
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September 4th, 2005
War of the Worlds opened in its last international market over the weekend making $3.0 million on 583 screens in China. That's about 10% more money that
Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith earned, but
War of the Worlds needed nearly double the number of screens. Overall the film added $4.5 million to its $345 million international total, easily the second best of the year so far.
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August 28th, 2005
The Skeleton Key opened in 10- more markets over the weekend and in now playing on 1400 screens, however, it still hasn't found the success the studio was hoping for. It did open in first place in Germany, but it still had a very soft opening with $1.6 million. It also opened in first place in Russia with $625,000 over the weekend and $780,000 since Thursday, but in Australia and New Zealand it had to settle for a distant second place with $760,000 and $110,000 respectively.
The Skeleton Key also open in Austria with $230,000 for the week, but its placing is unknown at the moment. Add in holdovers in France, ($250,000 for $2.2 million) and the U.K., ($130,000 for $4.5 million) and you have roughly $4 million for the weekend and $16.5 million so far.
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August 21st, 2005
Mr. and Mrs. Smith opened in first place in both the Czech Republic with $180,000 on 20 screens and in Slovakia with $50,000 on 8 screens. The film also remained in first place in France with $2.675 million, Belgium with $635,000, The Netherlands with $490,000 and Poland with $266,000. Strangest of all, the film stayed in second place for the fourth weekend in a row in Germany adding $2.12 million to its $20.6 million running tally in the market. Overall the film has made $143 million in markets where
Fox is handling the distribution and may have hit $200 million overall, but there's no conformation on that yet.
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August 14th, 2005
Mr. and Mrs. Smith opened in Belgium with $1.7 million on 80 screens, easily enough for first place and had a similar result with $480,000 in Poland. It also remained in first place in France with $2.88 million, (despite falling 54% there) and in the Netherlands with $740,000. In Germany the film remained in second place for the third straight week with $3.06 million for a $17.06 million running tally. The film now have $140 million in territories where
Fox is handling the distribution and $192 million overall.
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August 3rd, 2005
Thanks almost entirely to a massive opening in the U.K.,
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was able to top the international box office charts with $19.8 million on 2300 screens in 15 markets over the weekend. It's biggest draw was in the U.K. at $14.1 million on 531 screens, which was more than the total made by the
second place movie. That is on par with
War of the Worlds's opened a couple of weeks ago and should lead to a $40 million to $45 million total in that market alone. And that should come as a bit of a relief to the
studio since the film was monstrously expensive to make and it will need a strong showing internationally to make a profit. Other openings this weekend include a first place, $1.43 million debut in just 47 theatres in Mexico, which was more than double its
nearest competitor. Holdovers continued to help
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory's international campaign adding $2.37 million during its third weekend in France to its $12.8 million running tally there. Overall the film now has $36.3 million internationally and could finish its run north of $300 million.
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July 27th, 2005
It was a close race for top spot on the international charts this weekend but
Madagascar just managed to pull ahead when the final figures were announced. The film added $24.6 million this weekend to its $190 million international total, including an incredible performances in both Germany and South Korea. The film was down just 14% during its second weekend adding $7.5 million to its $20.5 million running tally, if the film continues to show strong legs is could beat
Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith in the market. In south Korea the film rose by 14% to $2.65 million for the week and $5.41 million during its tun. Things weren't quite as rosy in the U.K. where the film dropped by 40% to $5.7 million for a total of $19.7 million so far. The film remained in first place in both Hong Kong, ($574,000) and Taiwan, ($375,000) while its only opening was in Venezuela where the film earned $360,000.
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July 25th, 2005
I guess analysts got caught up in the recent bit of good news at the box office because nobody was able to predict this weekend's disaster.
Only one film in the top five was able to beat expectations by any real margin and every new film came up short.
Speaking of coming up short, the overall box office fell by 16% from last weekend and 8.8% from last year.
However, strong weekday numbers helped on the year-to-date comparison with 2005 at $4.983 billion, down 7.7% from 2004 while the summer season is 9.6% below last year's pace.
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July 20th, 2005
Unlike so many day-and-date worldwide openings, Madagascar went the few markets at a time route, but still managed to reach the top of the international charts this weekend with $31 million on 5,100 screens. Most of that came from openings in both the U.K. ($9.7 million on 505 screens) and Germany ($8.5 million on 800).
The film also opened in South Korea, but failed to topple War of the Worlds, finishing second with $2.375 million in 301 theaters over the weekend and $2.69 million overall.
The film led in a couple of other Asian markets, taking in $1.35 million on 80 screens in Taiwan and in Hong Kong it brought in $1.2 million on 50 screens since its release on Thursday.
Overall the film now has brought in $143 million internationally and $327 million worldwide.
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July 18th, 2005
The weekend box office was even busier than expected, despite the incredible competition on Saturday from the release of the latest Harry Potter novel.
Every film in the top ten topped Sunday estimates and landed within a couple million of predictions, leading to a 10.5% increase from last week, and more importantly, a 7.1% increase from last year.
Year-to-date things are not as rosy: 2005 is still down 8.1% from last year with $4.751 billion, while the summer is down by 10.5% at $2.25 billion.
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July 15th, 2005
Now that The Slump is over, the movie industry is looking to
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to make sure the box office doesn't start a new slump.
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July 13th, 2005
War of the Worlds again finished on top of the international charts this weekend, but fell further than one would expect in many markets, mostly major markets. In the U.K. it dropped 51% to $7.49 million, down 49% in Spain to $2.9 million, down 47% in Australia to $2.68 million, 46% in Italy to $2.3 million, and down 44% in Germany to $3.7 million. The film also fell 37% in Japan to $5.2 million, which is very high for the market even taking into account the
new competition.
War of the Worlds also had a few new releases this weekend and overall they were very impressive, especially in South Korea where the film made $8.5 million in 300 theatres since its release on Thursday; compare that to the $3.8 million
Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith opened with. On the other hand,
War of the Worlds only brought in $11 million in 848 theatres in France, less than half the $22.3 million
Sith made and the same was true in Sweden, ($2.7 million on 130 screens vs. $1.1 million on 88.) The film also opened in Belgium with $1.5 million in 85 theatres and Portugal earning $750,000 in 70, both on par with the summer's other blockbuster. Overall
War of the Worlds added $60.5 million in 6,300 theatres pushing its international total to $201 million.
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July 11th, 2005
The Slump is dead.
After 19 weeks, it has finally ended.
It has been more than four months since the last time 2005 topped 2004 in the yearly comparison, but that's just what happened this weekend.
Before we start celebrating too much, note that the margin of victory was tiny at just over $500,000.
But at this point a victory is a victory and the movie industry will take them anyway they can get them.
On a week-to-week basis we actually saw pretty good growth, rising by 5.2%, which is strange for a post-holiday weekend.
Year-to-date, 2005 is still off by 8% $4.523 billion to $4.934 billion while the summer is down 11% $2.023 billion vs. $2.281 billion.
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July 8th, 2005
The Fantastic Four battle Dr. Doom and
invading aliens this weekend. But the real competition comes from
last year when
Spider-Man 2 took home $45 million during its second weekend of release. And while no film will top that figure, the combination of strong starts and healthy holdovers could stop The Slump, but I wouldn't bet on it.
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July 6th, 2005
War of the Worlds made its worldwide debut on Wednesday bringing in $13.35 million on that day alone and $102.5 million on 8000 screens in 78 markets in its first five days. Compared to
Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith,
War of the Worlds made almost 30% less over the same period, and nearly 20% lower than the earlier 5-day record of $125.7 million set by
The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. Its best single market was Japan where the film made $15.5 million on 765, but the U.K. was close behind with $15.2 million on 507 screens.
War of the Worlds beat
Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith in a few markets, (Hong Kong, $1.7 million vs. $1.2 million) Taiwan, ($1.0 million vs. $500,000) and Russia, ($3.7 million vs. $3.2 million.) However, in many other major markets the film was far behind including Spain ($9.7 million vs. $7.7 million), Australia, ($10.4 million vs. $5.9 million), and Germany, ($17.8 million vs. $7.3 million.)
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July 6th, 2005
Despite a blockbuster opening by the competition, March of the Penguins was able to repeat on top of the Per Theater Charts with an average of $20,601.
Coming in second was said blockbuster, War of the Worlds, which earned an average of $16,602 in just shy of 4,000 theaters.
The final film in the $10,000 club was The Beat My Heart Skipped.
The French film earned $65,000 in just five theaters for a $13,073 average.
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July 5th, 2005
It was a very predictable weekend at the box office as four of the top five films finished within $1 million or so within expectations, at least over the first 3 days.
Monday was another story as several films missed predictions.
And as expected, the overall box office was down again on a year-to-year comparison -- and that's now for 19 weeks in a row.
But first some good news, the 3-day portion of the weekend saw an 11.1% increase from last weekend, which is not all that great taking into account the holiday on Monday.
On a yearly comparison the 3-day weekend was down 14.6% while the 4-day weekend was down an incredible 23%.
Year-to-date 2005 has now brought in $4.313 billion, 8.4% behind 2004, while the summer is down 11.7% at $1.813 billion so far.
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July 4th, 2005
As with all long weekends, July Fourth will cause a one day delay in both Weekend Wrap-up and the Per Theatre Charts. They will be published on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively. In the meantime, here are the studio estimates for the Top Ten, both over the 3-day weekend and the 4-day weekend.
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July 3rd, 2005
Summer blockbusters continue to squeeze out the competition, so much so that the only real news is about such blockbusters. For instance,
War of the Worlds managed $13.35 million during its first day of release on the international scene, which is good, but below expectations. On the other hand,
Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith broke another record earning $4.96 million during its preview in Japan.
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July 1st, 2005
The Independence Day long weekend is one of the most important weekends on the calendar.
However, there will likely be little celebrating once the numbers start coming in.
Simply put, the target needed to break The Slump is too high and there's almost no chance of breaking it this weekend.
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July 1st, 2005
July Starts with a bang, thanks to the long Independence Day weekend, but the rest of the month is solid, with a potential $100 million movie being released practically every weekend.
It is also the first full month where school children are free meaning weekday numbers are almost as important as weekend grosses.
On the other hand, the month isn't as strong as last year and there's a good chance the record breaking slump the box office is in will continue throughout the month.
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June 30th, 2005
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,
Pretty Persuasion -
Official Site.
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June 29th, 2005
War of the Worlds gets a jump on the both the Independence Day long weekend and the competition when it opens tonight. The most important question regarding the film is whether the combination of
Steven Spielberg and
Tom Cruise can finally break the box office out of its 18 week slump?
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June 23rd, 2005
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,
Chicken Little -
Official Site.
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June 2nd, 2005
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, The Perfect Man - Official Site.
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June 1st, 2005
June's a great month for movies, even though it doesn't have a major long weekend like May (Memorial Day), or July (Independence Day).
There are a couple of films that have real potential to become monster hits, plus lots of $100 million contenders.
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May 26th, 2005
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,
Cinderella Man -
Official Site.
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May 5th, 2005
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. Slow week with most of the sites being merely average or too early in their development to tell if the film is an award winning site or not. So in the end I decided not to hand out the award to any site. Hopefully next week things will pick up.
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April 21st, 2005
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, Kicking and Screaming - Official Site.
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April 7th, 2005
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,
Yes -
Official Site.
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March 24th, 2005
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,
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy -
Official Site.
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February 10th, 2005
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,
The Jacket -
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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February 8th, 2005
The Summer Season Shuffle continues today with the news that Fantastic Four will be pushed back a week to July 8, avoiding a July 4 showdown with Dreamwork's War of the Worlds.
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January 20th, 2005
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,
Fantastic Four -
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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December 16th, 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
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events -
Official Site and all subsidiaries. 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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December 2nd, 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
Ocean's Twelve -
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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