December 19th, 2006
This is the last week before Christmas and there are a lot of DVDs on this week's list that would make perfect last minute Christmas gifts. There are also a lot of DVDs that feel like they are being dumped on the home market in the hopes that they will be scooped up by ever desperate shoppers. Of the contenders, Jackie Chan's Police Story - Special Collector's Edition and The Simpsons - The Complete Ninth Season - Collectable Lisa Head Packaging came close to taking home the honor. But in the end I went with When the Levees Broke.
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May 9th, 2006
Army of Shadows remained in first place on the per theatre charts this week.
In fact, the film's average grew by more than 9% to $13,775. Next up was the overall box office leader, Mission: Impossible III with $11,777 while fellow newcomer Art School Confidential was very close behind with $11,311.
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May 5th, 2006
It was not a great week when it comes to new websites with most of the really interesting updates coming in the form of new trailers. However, it was one of those sites,
Casino Royale -
Official Site, that was awarded the Weekly Website Award. I just hope when the site goes live in two weeks by Fanboy enthusiasm is rewarded.
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May 4th, 2006
We have the usual mix of unusual films coming out in limited release this week. Included are the
most expensive Chinese film ever, an
award-winning Western from Australia, and the
latest from Terry Zwigoff.
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April 6th, 2006
It's a much busier week this week including several sites that I found through e-mails. Thanks for the tips. (On a side note, if you sent me an e-mail regarding a movie site and I forgot it, please send it again. It was a big list this week and I'm almost positive one or two sites slipped between the cracks.) Unfortunately, while there are plenty of sites on this week's list, there's not a lot of top notch ones. The movie on this list that made me the most excited was
The Simpsons Movie, and that one doesn't even have an official movie site, just the
teaser trailer.
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February 19th, 2006
Fun with Dick and Jane added an handful of new markets this week and that allowed the film to remain in sixth place with $6.00 million on 2645 screens in 49 markets for a running tally of $63.30 million. The film opened in first place in Spain with $1.54 million on 316 screens and in the Netherlands with $475,000 on 75 screens over the weekend and $520,000 in total. It took first place in Argentina as well with $136,000 on 48. On the other hand, it had to settle for second place during its debut in Denmark with $319,000 on 45 screens over the weekend and $335,000 in total. Holdovers include the U.K. where the film was down 56% to $699,000 over the weekend and $10.44 million in total and Italy with a 55% decline to $594,000 over the weekend and $4.83 million in total.
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February 5th, 2006
Jey Li's latest
Hong Kong production, Fearless, (a.k.a. Huo Yuan Jia) started its international run in sixth place with $7.35 million on 596 screens in 6 markets. The film finished first in four Asian markets including China with $1.39 million, Taiwan with $630,000, Singapore with $605,000 and Malaysia with $590,000. Paradoxically, the film's best market was its home market of Hong Kong, where it had to settle for a close second place with $2.03 million on just 48 screens over the full week. So far there is still no North American release date, but with this start, that should change soon.
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January 8th, 2006
With openings in the U.K. and Australia,
Just Like Heaven shot back up the charts with $4.70 million on 3173 screens in 32 markets for an international total of $32.33 million so far. In the former market is finished third with $2.06 million on 298 screens while in the latter it struggled to a sixth place finish with $932,000 on 168 screens over the weekend and $1.87 million in total.
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December 21st, 2005
There's not much time for films looking for a little Oscar glory, so there's no surprise that a few films are trying to squeak in under the wire. However, outside a near certain Best Foreign Language nod to Master of the Crimson Armor, it doesn't seem like any of the films on this week's list are destined for Oscar glory.
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December 21st, 2005
King Kong was a bit of a disappointment domestically, it performed better on the international scene, earning $63.4 million from Friday to Sunday, which is almost as much as the film made in five days here.
Since Wednesday, the film has earned $82.87 million on 7,215 screens in 56 markets, finishing first in 53 of them.
Its best market was the U.K. where it made $10.63 million on 481 screens over the weekend and $12.31 million since Wednesday.
In France it made $7.3 million on 721 screens, and $6.38 million on 739 screens in Germany.
On the other hand, the film wasn't a big hit in Italy, taking in just $2.33 million on 467 screens, which was only good enough for third place.
Granted, there were three wide releases this week, including two Italian films.
It also missed finishing first in Japan with $2.6 million at 709 screens, finishing second to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire's third weekend of release and suffered the same fate in the Czech Republic with $170,000 on 26 screens.
On the other hand, the film opened in Thailand with $1.6 million on 345 screens for an unbelievable 92% share in that market.
Overall the film has made $149 million worldwide, which is barely more than half of what Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith made in the same timeframe.
Granted, I don't think anyone was expecting the film to have a Sith-like run, but it does put $600 million worldwide in serious jeopardy.
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