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Tuesday, November 24, 2009
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2008-12-08
It's a deceptively light week with most of the top ten DVDs on Amazon's sales chart coming from The Dark Knight.
In fact, that film is dominating sales so much that it has scared away most of the competition.
Don't get me wrong, it's not the only release worth picking up, but the either the Two-Disc Special Edition DVD or the Blu-ray w/ Digital Copy are probably the best picks this week.
Personally, I went with the Limited Edition Blu-ray w/ Batpod, but I clearly should not be trusted with money.
There are other DVDs coming out this week that are also worthy of the DVD Pick of the Week, including Man on Wire - Buy from Amazon and Lost - Season Four - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray.
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2008-05-05
There were only a handful of new releases to chart this week, but we did have a new number one seller. Cloverfield started its home market run with $16.64 million in revenue from 1.04 million units sold.
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2008-04-14
Only three new releases charted this week, but this includes the two top-selling DVDs. Leading the way was Alvin and the Chipmunks with an impressive 3.15 million units for opening week sales of $51.96 million. The movie is already in the top five for 2008.
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2008-04-14
There were only two new releases to reach the top 30 on the rental chart, but they placed one - two on the charts. Alvin and the Chipmunks led the way with $8.74 million while Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Baker Street was right behind with $8.08 million.
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2008-04-07
It was a good week for top-notch releases with plenty that are worth picking up. But there were two films that were obvious choices for DVD Pick of the Week: Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story and Adventures of Baron Munchausen. In both cases, I would recommend the Blu-ray versions over the DVD. (On a side note, there were a few late spotlight reviews this week, and next week there will be a few more. Hopefully I will catch up by then, but there's always a chance that more screeners will arrive late in the meantime.)
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2008-04-07
New releases didn't have a major impact on the DVD sales chart this week and that helped I Am Legend remain in top spot with 803,000 units sold for revenue of $15.32 million for the week. Its total sales have reached $81.71 million from 4.36 million units making it the best-selling DVD of the year so far.
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2008-04-07
There were only two new releases to chart this week while I Am Legend repeated on top with $9.08 million in rentals for the week and $20.08 million in total.
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2008-03-31
New releases had an impressive one-two punch on the DVD sales chart with I Am Legend leading the way over second place Enchanted by 3.56 million to 2.82 million in terms of units and $66.39 million to $44.69 million in terms of dollars. They are not only the top two for the week, they are the top two openings of 2008 so far, and catapult both movies into the top four for the year to date.
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2008-03-31
Half a dozen new releases charted this week, including I Am Legend, which generated $10.99 million in rentals.
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2008-03-18
The movie business is cyclical with peaks (summer season and the winter holidays), as well as lulls (September and January). This translates into the peaks and lulls in the home market as well, just three to four months later. We are finally coming out of the latest home market quiet period and the biggest hit of the Christmas Holidays is hitting the home market. However it is not the DVD Pick of the Week. That honor goes to Enchanted, which is worth picking up on DVD but is a must-have on Blu-ray.
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2008-02-24
Rambo climbed five spots just missing the top five with $6.96 million on 1989 screens in 25 markets for a total of $25.63 million. The film opened in second place in Germany with $2.78 million 405 screens while it managed third in Mexico with $704,000 on 300. Next up is the U.K., Australia, and Italy, where it opens this weekend, while it enters South Korea next weekend.
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2008-02-13
Asterix At The Olympic Games remained on top of the charts with $24.52 million on 3925 screens in 25 markets for a total of $72.49 million after just two weeks. The film opened in first place in Spain with $2.75 million on 385 screens while it had to settle for second place in Italy with $1.86 million on 357 screens. Meanwhile it was down just 22% in Germany adding $2.29 million on 600 screens for a total of $6.76 million. In Russia it was down 51% during its second weekend, which is better than average for the market, as it picked up $2.19 million on 549 screens for a total of $7.58 million. As for its native market of France, the film was down 58%, but it still earned an easy first place with $9.80 million on 1078 screens for a total of $35.19 million. At this rate, it will take at least a week for the film to match its production budget, while it will likely have to wait till the home market for it to show a profit, but that should still make the studio happy.
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2008-02-06
Asterix at the Olympic Games, the latest adaptation of the popular comic series, opened in first place on the international charts thanks to a number of big debuts.
This included a first place opening in its native market of France where it pulled in $23.35 million on 1,078 screens.
Meanwhile, it earned a very, very close second place in Russia with $4.45 million on 550 screens.
On the other hand, the film opened in limited release in the U.K. earning just under $20,000 on 3 screens. It also opened in second place in Germany with $2.99 million on 600 screens while it slipped to second place in Poland with $609,000 on 136 screens for a total of $1.94 million. Overall it now has $38.30 million on 3,002 screens in 19 markets for a total of $39.76 million, which is a great start, but unless it does well in many other markets, it will have trouble making back its budget of nearly $100 million, which makes it the most expensive French film.
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2008-01-30
There was another record-breaking homegrown release in Russia as The Very Best Film earned topped spot on the international charts with $17.82 million on 790 screens in 2 markets. Of that, $16.48 million on 702 screens came from its home market, which is a record opening in that market.
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2008-01-29
We are one month into 2008 and so far there are a lot more positives than negatives at the box office.
On the negative side, the box office was down 7% from last weekend to $144 million. But on the positive side, that was an increase of 21% from the same weekend last year and year-to-date 2008 has a 16% lead on 2007.
Granted, it is early and it is unlikely the box office will remain this hot for long, but it is still good news.
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2008-01-24
I Am Legend has become the third film in Will Smith's career to top $500 million worldwide, which is a very impressive milestone.
It was able to reach that mark in part thanks to the film's first place finish on the international charts with $28.12 million on 5,369 screens in 49 markets and now has $260.89 million.
The film opened in first place in Mexico with $4.10 million on 450 screens and in Brazil with $2.81 million on 423 screens.
In the latter, it earned more than the rest of the top five combined, while in the former it earned more than the top ten combined.
While those were impressive starts, the film's best market of the weekend was Germany where it remained in first place with $5.12 million on 717 screens for a total of $17.68 million while in Italy it added $4.26 million on 506 screens for a total of $15.24 million.
I Am Legend has yet to open in Russia and a few other markets and should have little trouble hitting $300 million before long.
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2008-01-16
I Am Legend is getting ready to wrap up its international run, but it isn't slowing down. This weekend it grew by 32% to $40.18 million on 4951 screens in 44 markets for a total of $221.52 million topping $200 million internationally, just as it did domestically. Openings this week including a couple major markets led by Germany where it pulled in $10.89 million on 713 screens and easily taking first place, which is not a real shock as Will Smith is a huge draw in that market. On the other hand, it performed surprisingly strong in Italy where it also captured first place with a very impressive opening weekend of $8.52 million on 486 screens. Meanwhile in Australia the film fell 63%, but that was still enough to retain first place with $3.19 million on 338 screens over the weekend and $14.79 million in total.
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2008-01-15
It's the second weekend of January and we still haven't seen a January release top the charts.
This time the biggest hit was a wide expansion from December, which not only finished first, but also helped the overall box office reach $130 million.
This is about 7% lower than last weekend, but roughly 1% more than the same weekend last year, and this weekend last year was Martin Luther King Weekend, which helped boost the numbers.
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2008-01-10
This week, we have three new wide release and there are also a couple of expansions.
Add in several strong holdovers, and there could be quite a logjam on the top of the charts.
Not every new release / wide expansion will take part in this bounty, with In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale, which could turn out to be the worst movie of the year, likely to miss out.
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2008-01-10
There wasn't a single new release in the top five; in fact, there wasn't a single new release to chart this week. This left I Am Legend in first place with $30.51 million on 3492 screens in 33 markets for a total of $167.97 million internationally. The film has million dollar openings in a trio of markets, the largest of which was Australia where it pulled in $8.41 million on 338 screens over the weekend and $8.58 million in total. In Greece it earned $1.30 million on 79 screens over the weekend and $1.88 million in total while in New Zealand it opened with $1.04 million on 65. Meanwhile it was down 43% in the U.K. to $7.39 million on 458 screens over the weekend for a total of $36.50 million after two weeks.
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2008-01-08
The first weekend of 2008 was stronger than expected with the overall box office earning $140 million. This is 25% lower than last weekend, but that's to be expected. More importantly, it's 6% more than the same weekend last year and that's a great start to the new year.
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2008-01-04
With only one new release this weekend, and a sub-par one at that, holdovers will dominate the box office this weekend, just like they dominated the box office last weekend.
The same group of holdovers might dominate the box office next weekend as well.
2008 is starting off really slow.
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2008-01-04
I Am Legend maintained first place with $43.94 million on 3176 screens in 24 markets for a total of $117.91 million during its run. Its best opening this week came in the U.K. where it pulled in $13.01 million on 440 screens over the weekend and $21.84 million since Boxing Day. At this pace, even if the film had no markets left to open in, it would be able to reach $200 million internationally. And with debuts in Germany, Italy, Australia, and other major markets left to go, it should hit $300 million internationally and more than $500 million worldwide.
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2008-01-02
2007 ended on a high note. Whole not every film was able to meet expectations, there was a trio of films that hit milestones, either just before the weekend, on the weekend, or just after the weekend ended. Overall the box office added $186 million over the weekend, which was up 16% from last weekend. More importantly, it was up 15% from the same weekend last year given 2007 a total box office of $9.68 billion, which was 4% more than 2006 and 2% more than 2004's record. Ticket sales, on the other hand, was flat down less than 0.1% from last year and this is the fourth down year out of five for this vital stat.
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2007-12-28
It's the final weekend of 2007 and, like most years, there are no wide releases to deal with.
However, there are three films that opened wide on Christmas Day, as well as five films from the weekend, and two others from the weekend before that.
All in all, there's plenty to discuss.
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2007-12-27
Over five days, 8 wide releases debuted in theaters, which is an insane amount of competition. It comes as no surprise that only a couple excelled while almost half failed to find a real audience. Overall the three-day weekend brought in $160 million, which is within a rounding error of last weekend. Comparing it to last year, on the other hand, is moot since December 24th landed on the weekend, and it is one of the worst days at the box office. Without that issue, 2007 was up by 34% from 2006, but that is a misleading number.
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2007-12-23
The Screen Actors Guild nominations were announced this week, but again there were no clear front runners for the six theatrical categories.
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2007-12-20
The weekend before Christmas sees five films opening in wide release, by varying degrees. We have has a record-setting holdover and a surprisingly strong kids film to deal with, not to mention the three films opening on Christmas day. This will make for a very, very crowded marketplace and it is hard to imagine all films earning a place with moviegoers. However, figuring out which films will be squeezed out is very difficult.
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2007-12-19
I Am Legend became the latest hit on IMAX screens worldwide as it pulled in $3.2 million on 77 screens domestically and $3.4 million including 6 international screens. This is not record-breaking territory, but a strong start nonetheless.
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2007-12-19
With two weeks to go, the international box office set a record bringing in $8.6 billion in total ticket sales. Additionally, all six major studios crossed the $1 billion mark during the same year, which is a first. On the other hand, the celebration is tempered by the fact that the American dollar hit record lows against the Euro this year, and was at decade old lows against the Pound, and other international currencies, which helped to artificially inflate the box office numbers.
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2007-12-19
Despite expanding from 7 theaters to 40, Juno remained in first place on the per theater chart with an average of $35,686. The number one overall film, I Am Legend, had to settle for second place with a still very impressive $21,412.
Another holdover, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, remained nearly flat, earning an average of $18,855 in three theaters, but it better expand soon before it's too late.
Atonement earned nearly $2 million over the weekend in just 117 theaters for an average of $15,443.
Despite weaker than expected reviews, The Kite Runner opened with nearly $500,000 in 35 for an average of $13,478.
The final film in the $10,000 club was the second wide release to reach that mark this weekend; Alvin and the Chipmunks opened with an average of $12,750 in nearly 3,500 theaters over the weekend.
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2007-12-18
We finally got some really good news this weekend as I Am Legend smashed all expectations and broke records along the way.
Overall, the box office pulled in $161 million over the weekend, which was almost double last weekend's number.
More importantly, it was 35% more than the same weekend last year.
Hopefully this isn't the last positive surprise of the holiday season and 2008 can end on a high note.
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2007-12-16
I Am Legend broke a weak spell at the box office in spectacular fashion over the weekend, earning a massive $76.5 million, according to studio estimates released on Sunday.
If that number holds up, Legend will be the biggest opener ever in raw dollars in December (see full chart), beating the $72.6 million earned by Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King in December 2003.
It's also comfortably the biggest opening weekend of Will Smith's career, topping the $52.2 million earned by I, Robot in its first outing.
Adjusted for ticket-price inflation, however, Legend is slightly behind Return of the King, and is Smith's second-biggest opening behind Independence Day.
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2007-12-15
Only two sites with an intense amount of flash, sadly the bigger of these two sites features some of the worst music I have heard in a long, long time. This left I Am Legend - Official Site - as the clear winner for the Weekly Website Award.
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2007-12-15
://www.the-numbers.com/movies/2007/LEGND.php">I Am Legend and Alvin and the Chipmunks both out-performed expectations on Friday to kick-start the Holiday Season and break a long dry spell at the box office.
After opening with about $30 million on Friday, Legend will be Will Smith's biggest opening weekend ever, at least in dollar terms.
Adjusted for ticket price inflation, its opening looks like being on par with 1996's Independence Day -- around $80 million.
Alvin and the Chipmunks had a much smaller first day with $13.2 million, according to our estimates, but that's arguably an even bigger surprise.
It's 50% ahead of the opening day for The Golden Compass, which was expected to be one of the main money-earners over the holidays.
Compass pulled in an anaemic $2.96 million on Friday to finish in 3rd place, and is looking at a 60% weekend-to-weekend drop in box office.
- Friday
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2007-12-13
This weekend promises to give us the biggest opening box office for a film since August when The Bourne Ultimatum opened with nearly $70 million. I Am Legend won't earn that much, but it will easily win the box office race.
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2007-12-07
Next weekend I Am Legend opens wide and is the clear favorite to finish in first place at the box office, it is also the target movie in this week's box office prediction contest.
To win, one must simply predict the box office opening for I Am Legend.
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 Tony Hawk's Secret Skatepark Tour - Volume 2.
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 Tony Hawk's Secret Skatepark Tour - Volume 2.
In addition, one other entry chosen arbitrarily will win a copy of August Rush Soundtrack.
Entries must be received by 10 a.m., Pacific Time on Friday to be eligible, so don't delay!
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2007-12-01
It's been a while since we went into the final month of the year on such a down note.
Since mid-September the box office has been down on a year-to-year comparison every weekend but two.
There is some good news, including a competitive Oscar race and a strong group of films aiming for box office glory.
While there are no films that appear to be heading for the monster hits territory, there are also no films that look like outright bombs.
(Although a couple would be there if it weren't for the holidays.)
Every week at least one Oscar contender and one box office giant are being released.
This means that every weekend there is at least one film that should hit $100 million, or more.
If five or more can reach that milestone, 2007 will set the record for most $100 million films in a year.
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2007-11-30
While Beowulf's success on the big screen has been muted, it's numbers on the really big screen have broken records. The film opened with $3.58 million on 84 IMAX screens, which was a record for highest percentage of the total opening weekend for an IMAX release. During its second weekend of release, the film added $2.95 million on 84 screens, this time a record for sophomore stint for a Hollywood IMAX release.
Overall, Beowulf has brought in a total of $8.8 million domestically and $11.1 million worldwide, proving that 3-D is on the verge of making a full comeback and returning to the glory days not seen since drive-ins dotted the landscape.
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2007-10-06
We are starting to get full websites for some of the massive holiday season releases, which should mean there will be at least one award worthy website on each week's list. As for this week, there were a few that have potential assuming the sections marked coming soon live up to the rest of the site. But just one site, The Seeker: The Dark is Rising - Official Site, that was worthy of the Weekly Website Award.
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2007-07-29
Server upgrades went... less smoothly than anticipated, which delayed this column, but at least there are a huge number of sites to check out. Many of these sites are making their first appearance on the list while quite a few are making their last appearance. Unfortunately, while it's a big list, there are not many that are even close to being award worthy at the moment. 30 Days of Night - Official Site comes the closest, but I'm waiting for the missing features to be added before I make that decision.
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2007-07-21
Big list in terms of numbers, not so much in terms of quality. In fact, the best film in terms of updates this week was The Simpsons Movie - Official Site, which has already won the Weekly Website Award. Because of that, there are no new winners this week.
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2007-06-09
There are a lot of movies on this week's list, but many have just the synopsis, image gallery, and the trailer, and many don't even have that. There were very few that stood out, but at least Speed Racer - Official Site got off to a great start. Perhaps it will win the award before it hits theaters.
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2006-12-17
This week's round of new movie release information contains release dates for I am Legend, Angels & Demons and more.
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2006-08-06
This week's round of new movie release information contains release dates for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, a sequel to Madagascar and more.
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