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Wednesday, November 25, 2009
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2009-03-31
It was a strange week on the sales chart, as the best new release didn't come out last Tuesday.
Twilight came out on Saturday, sold an estimated 3 million units on its first day and 4.65 million units over two.
And with that, it instantly became the second-best-selling DVD of 2009 in terms of units sold, and the best in terms of raw dollars.
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2009-03-24
It was a huge week for new releases with nine of them reach the top 30, including four of the top five. The new number one film was Pinocchio, which sold 1.40 million units and generated $23.78 million in consumer spending at retail.
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2009-03-24
Role Models led the massive collection of new releases on the rental chart with roughly 25% more rentals than Transporter 3.
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2009-03-17
There were half-a-dozen new releases to reach the top 30 on the sales chart this week, including a new number one movie, Beverly Hills Chihuahua. That film sold 1.61 million unites generating $28.40 million in sales, which was enough to put it in sixth place on the 2009 sales chart after just a week of release.
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2009-03-17
Two new releases were able to top the rental chart this week with first place Australia generating about 20% more revenue than second place Beverly Hills Chihuahua.
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2009-03-03
Kind of a slow week for DVD releases this week. ... Actually, there are 40 releases on this week's list, including 10 spotlight reviews, but compared to the last several weeks, it feels slow. (I didn't even have to split the column into two parts.) There are a few releases that are definitely worth picking up, but none that really rise to the level of a DVD Pick of the Week. Watchman - The Complete Motion Comic on DVD or Blu-ray and Wonder Woman on DVD, DVD + Digital Copy, or Blu-ray come the closest, but neither have enough extras to make it over the top.
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2009-02-24
Is it national drug dealer week and no one told me? I have four, count them, four spotlight reviews this week dealing with drug dealers. This includes The French Connection, which is making its debut on Blu-ray this week and is a clear contender for DVD Pick of the Week. The other main contender is Futurama - Into the Wild Green Yonder on either DVD or Blu-ray. I can't decide which is better, so both are awarded the DVD Pick of the Week. As is the case more often than not, this week's list of reviews has to be split into two with part two found here.
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2009-02-22
Recep Ivedik opened in its native Turkey and a few other markets scoring sixth place with $8.32 million on 483 screens in 4 markets. Of that total, $6.10 million was earned on 390 screens during a first place opening in its native market, which is above the pace of its predecessor. The film managed fourth place in Germany with $1.75 million on just 75 screens. An excellent start for the film.
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2009-02-15
Bride Wars continues its bridesmaid run just missing the top five this week after just missing the top ten last week. It did ad $5.88 million on 2485 screens in 30 markets for a total of $32.11 million after a month of release. Openings this week include Germany, where the film placed second with $1.62 million on 455 screens, which is a mixed debut.
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2009-02-08
Slumdog Millionaire slipped to sixth place with $7.67 million on 1275 screens in 12 markets for a total of $42.46 million. The film had no major openings this past weekend, but it added $3.02 million on 416 screens during its fourth weekend on top of the charts in the U.K. for a total of $18.21 million in that one market.
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2009-02-02
The Very Best Film 2, the sequel to The Very Best Film opened in Russia and a handful of other markets this past weekend. It scored first place in its native land with $8.38 million on 948 screens, while it earned sixth place in total with $9.29 million on 1072 screens in 4 markets. This is a serious decline from its predecessor's opening weekend, but still a strong start otherwise.
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2009-01-25
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa fell from second to sixth with $9.07 million on 5601 screens in 48 markets for a total of $380.42 million. No openings hurt the film this past weekend, and its only $1 million markets this past weekend were South Korea at $1.20 million on 432 screens and Poland at $1.09 million on 130. The film has made $3.76 million after two weeks in the former and $7.72 million after three weeks in the latter.
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2008-10-27
The weekend proved profitable, with the overall box office $133 million, which was more than 33% greater than last weekend. More importantly, it was more close to 33% greater than the same weekend last year. Year-to-date 2008 has increased its lead over 2007, but it is still up by less than 1% at $7.67 billion to $7.63 billion. However, next weekend could be tricky as Halloween lands on a Friday, and Halloween is one of the worst days at the box office.
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2008-10-26
Vicky Cristina Barcelona remained in sixth place internationally with $6.66 million on 1136 screens in 11 markets for a total of $22.85 million after a month of release. This includes France, where the film remained in first place with $3.15 million on 443 screens for the week and $7.68 million after two. Meanwhile, it opened in Italy with $2.16 million on 378 screens, which was enough for second place in that market.
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2008-10-23
One of the most unpredictable weekends in recent memory opens today, with the debut of High School Musical 3, but it is not the only new release of the week. There are two other wide releases, plus a re-release that could challenge for a spot in the top ten. Overall the box office compares very well to last year and unless something unexpected happens, 2008 should extend its lead over 2007.
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2008-10-20
It was a mixed weekend at the box office. The new releases were not able to match modest expectations, which caused the overall box office to drop 2% to $100 million compared to last weekend. However, this was close to 4% higher than the same weekend last year. Even better, year-to-date, 2008 has now just over $7.51 billion in ticket sales while at the same point in 2007, total receipts were just under $7.51 billion. With High School Musical 3 and Saw V opening this Friday, we could see continued growth at the box office.
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2008-10-19
First some updates on Wednesday's numbers. Due to Columbus Day, we were relying on studio estimates instead of final numbers, and while they were mostly accurate, they were not entirely accurate. The Russia film, Admiral (Koltchak), did indeed top the charts with $12.51 million on 1,223 screens in 2 markets over the weekend and $13.31 million in total. Meanwhile, Eagle Eye added $10.88 million on 3,030 screens in 38 markets for a still early total of $29.41 million. Mamma Mia! continues its quest for $400 million with $8.37 million on 3,713 screens in 46 markets for a total of $390.72 million. These three films were very close to the original figures, however, the rest of the top five was different than originally reported, starting with...
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2008-10-19
Fox broke a dry spell over the weekend with two strong opening weekends.
Video game adaptation Max Payne scored a good $18 million opening.
That's not exactly blockbuster territory, but a good result for this time of year.
Searchlight's The Secret Life of Bees also scored well.
Beverly Hills Chihuahua continued its good run, falling 36% to an estimated $11.2 million, and $69 million in total.
Two other openers were third and fourth, although both were close enough to Chihuahua that the rankings could easily be reversed when final results are announced on Monday.
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2008-10-16
Another week, another four movies opening wide. At least the four films are widely different (violent action film, teenage sex comedy, political drama, and female-centric movie) and they shouldn't steal too many moviegoers from each other. On the other hand, none are doing particularly well with the critics, nor are they tracking well at the box office. Back to the original hand, five of seven wide releases from last year bombed, so this year has a shot at pulling ahead for the first time in a while.
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2008-10-13
With four wide releases this past weekend, I knew not all of them would be hits, but I also didn't expect all of them to be misses. Perhaps that's not entirely fair, and given the production budgets involved, not all films flopped at the box office, but enough did that overall box office receipts dropped 10% to $102 million. Compared to the same week last year, that still represents an increase, albeit by less than 3%, which is more or less in line with ticket price inflation. Year-to-date, 2008 and 2007 have both brought in $7.38 billion, but 2008 has had the edge the past few weeks and could retake the lead this upcoming weekend.
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2008-10-12
German Unification Day helped The Baader Meinhof Complex grow by 10% as it remained in second place in Germany with $4.82 million on 594 screens for a total of $10.99 million after two weeks. Adding in two smaller markets and the film made $5.35 million on 660 screens in 3 markets for a total of $12.06 million.
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2008-10-12
Beverly Hills Chihuahua came out on top on another weekend where new releases failed to gain significant traction.
Disney's family movie earned an estimated $17.5 million, a fall of 40% from its opening, and passed $50 million after two weekends in theaters.
The big surprise of the weekend was Quarantine, which won the day on Friday and finished with an estimated $14.2 million.
Body of Lies was a big disappointment, earning just $13.1 million to finish 3rd.
That, however, was good compared to the weekend's other openers.
Overall, the weekend looks like it will beat last year by about 6%.
Given the current state of the economy, that's an encouraging sign (as is impressive opening sales numbers for Iron Man on DVD and Blu-ray). Growth is being driven more by the number of new releases than the strong performance of any individual movie -- whether that's good or bad probably depends on one's perspective.
Certainly, executives at Universal and Fox won't be feeling happy today.
U's inspirational sports movie, The Express mustered only $4.7 million over its opening weekend, while Fox's City of Ember turned in just $3.2 million, and may find itself outside the top ten once full figures are published.
This week's wide expansion, The Duchess fared a little better, earning an estimated $3.3 million.
A per theater average of $2,750 suggests that it won't expand muc
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2008-10-09
The truth is that we have too many movies right now.
It's hard enough for most films to thrive at the box office, and it is nearly impossible for them to do it when they have to deal with so much competition.
This week we have four films opening wide, which is half as many new openers as last week.
However, all four are opening in more in 2,000 theaters, which is twice as many as last week.
Despite this onslaught of new films, we might have a holdover come out on top, as Beverly Hills Chihuahua has a decent shot at repeating at number one.
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2008-10-07
Of the eight films that opened or expanded on Friday, only two were able to do some serious business, while most were lucky if they topped the Mendoza line by earning more than $2,000 per theater. It was just a disaster, in many ways. That said, it was still the first weekend in October and the overall box office was up 13% from last weekend to $113 million. More importantly, it was 35% higher than the same weekend last year. Year-to-date, 2008 closed the gap with 2007. 2008 is just a little below and 2007 a little above $7.25 billion. By this time next week, 2008 could retake the lead, at least in terms of raw dollars.
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2008-10-05
A busy week for new releases with more than a dozen sites here, but most were just average. The best of this week's selection was the Official Site for Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, which has enough of the basics, extras, and style to stand out.
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2008-10-05
Beverly Hills Chihuahua rose above a very crowded field of openers to claim the box office crown, according to studio estimates released on Sunday.
The movie scored Disney's biggest opening weekend in October with an estimated $29 million.
Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist also performed well with a $12 million debut in 2,421 theaters.
That's a great return for a movie with a budget reported at $13 million.
The other strong performer was Appaloosa, which expanded to 1,045 theaters and pulled in $5.015 million for an impressive 5th place.
The rest of the wide openers didn't fare so well, although a couple of limited releases impressed...
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2008-10-03
If you thought last weekend was too busy, this weekend is worse with eight films opening or expanding wide, or at least wide-ish. However, only one film is opening at saturation level (3,000 or more theaters) and one other is opening truly wide (2,000 or more theaters). After those two films, the rest of the new releases will be forced to fight over the table scraps.
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2008-10-01
September ends, and for that we are all very grateful. However, while we are entering the final push for 2008 at the box office, things don't look too rosy for the upcoming month. First of all, there are way too many films opening, including eight that are opening or expanding on the first weekend. Of those two, maybe three will thrive. Most will sink without being noticed, which could negatively affect the overall box office going forward. On the other hand, there are a few films opening this month that could be players come Awards Season, which is just around the corner. Perhaps this will help a few mid-level hits rise above the crowd.
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2008-08-28
This week's round of new casting information contains updates for City of Ember, Flash of Genius, Toy Story 3, and more!
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2008-06-15
This week's round of new movie release information contains release dates for Transporter 3, Hoodwinked 2, The Green Hornet and more!
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2008-01-27
This week's round of new movie release information contains release dates for The Night Watchman, High School Musical 3, Toy Story 3 and more!
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2007-07-21
This week's round of new movie release information contains release dates for Big Stan, Valkyrie, Monsters vs. Aliens and more.
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2007-06-08
This week's round of new movie release information contains release dates for Death Race, Prince of Persia, Narnia 3 and more.
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