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Wednesday, November 25, 2009
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2009-08-25
As is usual this time of year, TV on DVD dominates the list of this week's releases. This includes two of the three DVD Pick of the Week contenders: Samantha Who? - Season Two and NCIS - Season Six. The best High Definition release is Adventureland on Blu-ray, while all three are worth of the DVD Pick of the Week honors. It was a pretty busy week, especially in terms of spotlight reviews, and the list had to be split into two with the second part found here.
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2009-08-18
It's that time of year again. It's getting closer to the start of the new TV season, which means there is a flood of TV on DVD releases this week. And next week. And all next month. While there are several TV on DVD releases that are worth picking up, like Dexter - Season Three, there are no releases this week that combines an excellent show plus excellent extras, and therefore there are none that rise to the level of DVD Pick of the Week. However, while there are not a lot of top tier releases, there are plenty of total releases and this week's list had to be split into two. The first part can be found here.
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2003-07-02
3 and it’s time to look at the state of the movie industry, and the news is decisively mixed. The overall box office is down approximately 1.5% while the average ticket price has increased more than 2.5%. And there’s no monster hit like last year’s Spider-Man. But despite this, so far in 2003 just the top ten movies represent almost 40% of the box office. (Up nearly 4 percentage points from last year.)
Good news is the dramatic increase in the number of $100, $200 million movies, and the number of $50 million openings. All are double what they were this time last year. Also good news, production budgets seem to be coming down, closer to 2001’s figures.
But even with lower average costs, of the 60 movies that received a wide release, only about half made more at the box office than it cost to make. Factor in P&A budgets and theatres’ share and only a handful will make a profit domestically.
Highest grossing movie by June 30th
2002: Spider-Man at $395,874,471.
2003: The Matrix Reloaded at $269,409,164.
Number of $200 million movies
2002: 2 (Spider-Man and Attack of the Clones)
2003: 4 (The Matrix Reloaded, Finding Nemo, Bruce Almighty, X2: X-Men United)
Number of additional $100 million movies
2002: 3 (Ice Age, Scooby-Doo, The Sum of All Fears)
2003: 6 (Anger Management, Bringing Down the House, 2 Fast 2 Furious, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, The Hulk, Daredevil)
Number of $50 million openings
2002: 3 (Spider-Man, Attack of the Clones, Scooby-Doo)
2003: 6 (The Matrix Reloaded, X2: X-Men United, Finding Nemo, Bruce Almighty, The Hulk, 2 Fast 2 Furious)
Submitted by: C.
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2003-03-31
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Head of State and Bringing Down the House battled for top stop at the box office this weekend, while the two other new releases faired poorly.
Head of State came in first with $13.5 million, a good figure when you consider its relatively small budget and the small number of theatres it was playing in. With reasonable CinemaScores, this film should have reasonable legs - nothing amazing, but enough to make the studio heads happy.
Chris Rock’s first attempt at directing has done significantly better than most analysts predicted and should lead to more opportunities to direct in the future.
Bringing Down the House failed to become the first film to win the weekend for weeks in a row since The Fellowship of the Ring. However, it was able to squeak over the $100 million mark by mere thousands. It is only the second film release this year to do so, after How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days did it on Saturday. And it reached the mark in less than half the time.
The Core came in third with only $12.0 million, which is nothing short of a disaster. Its estimated $70 million production and $30 million Print and Advertising budgets means this movie will end up costing Paramount a bundle. This movie failed to live up to analysts' predictions and its chances of sticking around in the top ten for more than one more week are minimal.
Also failing to live up to expectations was Basic, which could only muster $11.5 million. While cheaper than The Core, it still won't see a profit. In fact, after factoring in the exhibitor's share, the domestic box office probably won't cover John Travolta's salary. Expect Basic to lose more than half its box office next weekend before dropping out of the top ten.
Chicago re-entered the top 5 after its big win at the Oscars last week. Its box office climbed slightly to $7.2 million due in part to the increase in theatre count. However, it only increased by about 150 theatres, not the 300 - 400 predicted after its 6 Oscar wins last Sunday. With two of the three openers this week ready for a collapse at the box office, and none of next week's opening films creating much of a buzz, Chicago could stay in the top five for another week.
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2003-03-29
mates, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days was just $200,000 short of the $100 million mark, and will definitely cross it today. It is the first movie released in 2003 to reach that milestone, beating Daredevil in what was once a close race. Daredevil was more than $1 million short of that mark when the weekend started and it is shedding theatres fast. In fact, it lost more than half its theatre count in just one week. At this rate, it will take a couple more weeks to reach $100 million and Bringing Down the House will easily beat it to that mark. The unstoppable Steve Martin comedy is just $9 million short and should make it by Monday, twice as fast as either of the other two films.
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2003-03-10
ar since Steve Martin’s last movie was released and over three years since he last had a wide release. But it looks like that absence didn’t cause his fans to forget about him. Bringing Down the House brought in $31.1 million this weekend, a opening weekend record for both Steve Martin and his Co-Star Queen Latifah. This was much higher than almost anyone predicted and should lead to an increase in demand for everyone involved, especially Eugene Levy who has four movies being released this year.
The only other movie opening wide this week was Tears of the Sun staring Bruce Willis, which was in second place with a box office of $17 million. With a budget of $75 million (and almost 50% more for advertising) Sony has to be disappointed with this figure.
Still doing well after 3 weeks is Old
School. Just over $9 million this week raises its total past $50 million. Moving up a place to fourth was Chicago, now in its eleventh week. The multiple Oscar nominated film continues its impressive post nomination run adding almost $7 million to its total box office. How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days is still hanging in the top 5 and should reach $100 million, but probably not before Daredevil does.
Of note, last week’s winner Cradle 2 the Crave fell from first to sixth with an unbelievable 60% drop. We haven’t seen that kind of drop since Star Trek: Nemesis dropped 76%.
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2003-03-03
/www.the-numbers.com/movies/2003/CRGRV.php>Cradle 2 the Grave was the only movie to open wide and it won the weekend race with little difficulty. The Jet Li and DMX action movie made a more than respectable $16.5 million. However, Jet Li’s movies tend to open well and crash quickly afterwards. Cradle 2 the Grave could prove to be an exception, but we’ll have to wait another week before that could be judged.
With only one film opening wide this week the real winners were last weeks’ holdovers. Starting with Old School which held on to second spot with $14.0 million, a drop of less than 20% from last week. An amazingly small drop-off considering the genre. Old School could beat director Todd Phillips’s previous best box office, which was with Road Trip at just shy of $70 million.
Daredevil didn’t fare so well as it dropped from first to third while losing 38.5% of its second weekend box office. While this was the largest drop in the top 10 it is still much better than last week’s 55% drop. This should help Daredevil cross the $100 million mark before its run is over.
In fourth place is the Romantic Comedy that Wouldn’t Die, also known as How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. This week it made a little over $10 million, only an 11.5% drop. So far this movie has had amazing legs and should cross the $100 million mark, possibly before Daredevil does. Next week it could still be hanging on in the top five, which is bad, 'cause typing How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days over and over again is giving me carpal tunnel syndrome.
Still in fifth place 10 weeks into its run is Chicago with only a tiny 5% drop from last week. Chicago beat $100 million this weekend and should beat Rocky Horror Picture Show for third place on the all time box office list for Musicals. Grease will likely remain first on that list with over $188 million.
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2003-03-02
X Warner Bros. actioner Cradle 2 the Grave lept its way to #1 this weekend, grossing a relatively mild $17.1 million opening weekend for a not-bad per screen average of $6,520.
In second place is DreamWorks' comedy Old School. The comedy had good word-of-mouth and dropped only 20% to gross $13.8 million from 2,742 cinemas. In two weekends it has grossed an excellent $37.2 million.
In third place is Fox's Daredevil. After freefalling a massive 55% last weekend, the Man Without Fear recovered only slightly this weeking, falling 39% to a gross of $11 million. The superhero flick has grossed a lower-than-expected $84.1 million in three weekends.
In fourth place is Paramount's rom-com How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. The film is showing some terrific legs, falling only 12% from last weekend for a gross of $10.1 million. It has amassed $77.5 million in four weekends, surely excellent news for Paramount.
And sitting pretty at #5 is Miramax's Chicago. The 13-times-Oscar-nominated film gross $8.1 million, a drop of only 1.4% from last weekend.
The Top 10 looked like this this weekend...
1. Cradle 2 the Grave ($17.1 million)
2. Old School ($13.8 million)
3. Daredevil ($11 million)
4. How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days ($10.1 million)
5. Chicago ($8.1 million)
6. The Jungle Book 2 ($6.7 million)
7. Shanghai Knights ($4.8 million)
8. The Life of David Gale ($4.3 million)
9. Gods and Generals ($2.7 million)
10. The Rec
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2003-02-24
the-numbers.com/movies/2003/DARED.php>Daredevil was only able to grab $18.5 million during its second week at the box office, good enough for first place. However, the loss of 55% was greater than expected. Fox claims this loss was due in part to post-holiday weekend slumps. However, Presidents’ Day is not a big holiday for movies and the snowstorm that hit the Northeast lessened its effect even more. If Daredevil doesn’t rebound next week with a lose of less than 40% it will have a very difficult time crossing the $100 million mark. Making it the first movie to make $40 million on its opening weekend to fail to hit that milestone.
In second place, making $17.5 million (exactly what I predicted) was Old School. This teen comedy staring 30 year olds got surprisingly great reviews. It was the only movie opening wide last week that got an overall fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
Also living up to predictions was How To Lose a Guy in 10 Days with $11.6 million for third place. In fourth was Jungle Book 2 which only dropped 24% from its first weekend. A phenomenon which can be entirely explained by the complete lack of competition for its target audience, a trend that will continue till March 21st when Piglet’s Big Movie is released. Just behind in fifth place was Chicago with $8.2 million. Chicago should hit the $100 million mark next weekend.
As for the rest of the new releases, none made much of an impact at the box office. The Life of David Gale just failed to make the top 5 with $7 million. Gods and Generals made slightly more than predicted, but still not enough. Its production and advertising budget was nearly $90 million, so less than $5 million during it’s opening weekend has to been seen as a huge disappointment. And sitting in 9th place with less than $4 million is Dark Blue, which I predicted would make more than twice as much.
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2003-02-21
entrants into the box office race this weekend, but don’t expect any of the to challenge Daredevil for the top spot. Even a 50% drop would leave DD with a box office of more than $20 million. With no real competition that should be enough to win.
The widest opening this weekend is for the frat comedy Old School starring Will Farrell, Luke Wilson and Vince Vaughn. None of who are big box office draws. Better than expected reviews could help out, although the target audience for these movies generally don’t read reviews. Expect similar numbers to other comedies of a similar maturity level. Almost 2,700 theatres and a predicted $6,500 per theatre for a total of $17.5 million.
Battling for third will be How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days and Dark Blue with Kurt Russell. Kurt hasn’t stared in a big hit since Stargate, and with an ad campaign that wasn’t aggressive enough and less than 2,200 theatres he’ll have to wait even longer. Dark Blue will lose a close race for 3rd with both movies getting between $11 and $12 million.
Chicago is still picking up theatres, but will start to lose box office, but slowly for the next couple of weeks. $10 million and 5th place is reasonably safe bet.
The Life of David Gale at 2,000 theatres and Gods and Generals at 1,500 theatres are the only other movies opening wide this weekend. But with such low theatre counts and generally awful reviews they will not factor in the top 5. In fact, Gods and Generals might not factor in the top 10.
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2003-02-19
.the-numbers.com/movies/2003/DARED.php">Daredevil easily won the Presidents’ Day weekend race with a four day total of $45 million, just a little higher than most predictions. However, its Friday to Sunday internal multiplier was only 2.63 and low Cinemascores suggests that Daredevil won’t have the legs fellow Marvel comic book creation Spider-Man had. It will probably end up with a final box office of $100 to $125 million.
The Jungle Book 2 came in 4th with $14 million, in line with recent Disney sequels like Return to Neverland. Similar opening weekends suggest The Jungle Book 2 should finish with a box office just shy of $50. But it will do better business with home video market than it did in the theatres.
Notable holdovers this week include How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, which couldn’t maintain its Valentine day boost, but still only lost 21% compared to last weekend. Buoyed by the Oscar buzz, Chicago’s box office increased this week by nearly 18% for a total so far of more than $80 million. But that increase can be entirely attributed to the increase in Chicago’s theatre count as its per theatre average dropped a few percent. Rounding out the top 5 was Shanghai Knights, which lost nearly 43% from its debut last week. That’s quite steep and doesn’t bode well for its long-term box office success.
It does appear that, for the most part, any increase in box office due to the long weekend was nullified by the blizzard conditions in the North East.
Submitted by: C.S.
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2003-02-15
ted Daredevil to break Hannibal’s record for highest February opening, which is good, cause it won’t. It will come closer than most experts predicted, (although here at The Numbers we’re closer than most) with more than $15.6 million on Friday alone. The only other movie opening wide on Friday was The Jungle Book 2, which pulled in $3 million.
The Oscar bump was barely noticeable as Chicago only made $4 million. A million more than last Friday but in 400+ more theatres, for a per theatre increase of only 10%. Other movies with multiple nominations got similar bumps, but most were so far down the list that it hardly mattered.
The real surprise for holdovers the weekend was How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, which only dropped 10% from last Friday. Since opening weekends tend to be more frontloaded, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days could actually have a better the second weekend at the box office than their first. The other sophomore movies didn’t do so well. Deliver us From Eva lost a very respectable 33% but Shanghai Knights lost nearly 43%. Maybe The Tuxedo’s sluggish performance at the box office wasn’t Jennifer Love Hewitt’s fault after all.
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2003-02-09
s in for the weekend How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days overcame bad reviews to take top spot in this weekend’s box office race. How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days won with a higher than predicted $24 million. In second place was the sequel to Shanghai Noon, Shanghai Knights which pulled in a disappointing $19 million. Sequels tend to be front-loaded, and Jackie Chan movies are already quite front-loaded to being with. Shanghai Knights could have difficulty beating Shanghai Noon, or maybe even The Tuxedo. Finally getting a wide release was Chicago, although it may have been too late as per screen average dropped nearly 50%. Chicago's box office of $10 million was good enough for 3rd place. It will take a serious Oscar Nomination bounce this week to get Chicago’s final box office past the $100 million mark. The only other movie widely released was Deliver Us From Eva came in at a respectable, if a little disappointing, $7 million good for 6th place.
As with all estimates, the final numbers may vary.
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2003-02-06
me since a movie opened wide to positive critical reviews, we have to go all the way back to the last week of December to find such a movie (Catch Me If You Can.) And if the early indications are anything to go on, we’ll have to wait another week for that trend to end.
Opening wide this week are:
How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days: Romantic Comedy starring Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey. Receiving generally awful reviews, including a 0% from the cream of the crop over on Rotten Tomatoes. Too predictable is the greatest criticism, however, other reviewers admit there is a certain charm. Widest release of the week with 2,923 theatres.
Shanghai Knights: Sequel to 2000’s Shanghai Noon starring Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson. Both stars are looking for box office rebounds; Jackie Chan’s last movie was the box office disappointment The Tuxedo. (Although to be fair, The Tuxedo is performing better than expected overseas.) And Owen Wilson’s last was the box office bomb I Spy. The reviews substantially better than How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days and fall just short of the 60% needed for an overall fresh rating. Even with the slightly smaller opening of 2,753 theatres should win this week’s box office race. Update: Latest reviews on Rotten Tomato pushed Shanghai Knight past the 60% to an overall fresh rating.
Deliver Us from Eva: Opening in only 1,139 theatres this romantic comedy stars Gabrielle Union as the title character. While the reviews are in between those of Shanghai Knights and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, the reviews from the cream of the crop are at 80%. Even with the low thetre count, Deliver Us from Eva should finish in the top 5.
Also opening in limited release are:
Kedma: Tells the story of illegal Jewish immigrants who traveled to Israel just before it was officially declared a country.
May: Receiving the best reviews including Variety naming star Angela Bettis as one of the top ten stars to watch for. Should open wide, or at least wider, in the coming weeks. For more information check out the official site.
Note: All reviews were at the time of release. Numbers subject to change, as more information becomes available.
Submitted by: C.
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2002-12-14
How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days is online
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