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Tuesday, November 24, 2009
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2007-04-24
It's a busy week for DVD releases, but the signal to noise ratio is a little high, and that made it harder to find the DVDs that were truly worthy of attention.
(And even then, I went off track a couple of times.)
As for the DVD Pick of the Week, there is really only one choice for me, The Queen - Buy from Amazon.
However, I'm also giving that honor to Burning Annie - Buy from Amazon, which would have won a few weeks ago if I had got the right information on the quality of the DVD.
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2005-12-04
Here's this week's round-up of international box office numbers.
In Her Shoes fell out of the top five this week with $3.95 million on 2,050 screens in 23 markets for a $30.60 million international box office.
The film held up amazingly well in Spain, dropping just 8% to $810,000 on 290 screens, but it wasn't as fortunate in France where it lost more than half its opening, earning $400,000 on 293 screens, falling out of the top ten in the process.
It suffered a similar fate during its third weekend in the U.K. where it was down 55% to $736,000 on 268 screens, but the film already has $7.06 million there, which is better than its domestic run if you take into account the relative sizes of the two markets.
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2005-11-27
The Legend of Zorro fell from second to sixth this week and because of that its quest from $100 million internationally took a serious hit. Over the weekend the film pulled in $4.20 million on 4062 screens in 62 markets for a running tally of $80.73 million. In France the film fell 57% to $1.01 million over the weekend and $14.80 million during its four-week run while it had a similar drop-off in Spain where it was down 56% to $475,000 over the weekend and $9.10 million in total. The box office was less kind in Russia, (down 68% to $136,000); Germany, (down 70% to $232,000) and the U.K., (down 83% to $120,000).
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2005-11-20
The Corpse Bride missed the top five by the narrowest of narrow margins losing out to Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit $5.50 million to $5.45 million. The film earned its $5.45 million on 2586 screens in 28 markets pushing its total to $53.4 million total at the international box office. In South Korea the film fell 43% to $753,000 on 114 screens, which is better than average for the market. And the film is also doing well in Italy adding $764,000 on 268 screens to its $2.67 million running tally there, $700,000 in France for a $8 million box office, and $462,000 in Japan for a $7.0 million box office.
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2005-04-17
The Pacifier finally debut across Australia after playing in Queensland and Victoria for the past two weeks; the massive expansion allowed the film to climb to first place with $1.125 million on 267 screens. That lifted its total in the market to $3.41 million so far and the film should have strong legs. Add to that its $1.75 million opening in Spain and $590,000 in Belgium and the film managed $4.1 million over the weekend, which doubled its early total to $8.1 million.
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2005-04-10
It was a slow week at the international box office, the slowest of the year, and without much activity at the box office hit there were little in the way of details published by the studios. Therefore this week's column is much shorter than usual. Leading the best of the rest was Be Cool with an estimated $5 million for a disappointing $12.7 million international tally. Its best single market was the U.K. where the film finished second with $2.2 million on 336 screens after an exclusive engagement last weekend. The film also did well in the Netherlands with $190,000 on 43 screens but really struggles in Germany opening in fifth place with just $930,000 on 321 screens, a result mirrored in Austria, (fifth place, $165,948.)
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2005-04-03
Million Dollar Baby performed brilliantly this week earning $8.8 million for an international total of $60 million, placing fourth on the international box office charts. In France the film dominated the marketplace with $4.94 million on 450 screens and in Germany the film earned $760,000 in semi-limited release (120 screens) for the best per screen average in the market. On the other hand, the film flopped in Slovakia where it missed the top ten in its debut. On the holdover front, the multi-Oscar winning front saw its weekend haul climb by 20% in Spain to $980,000 and it's still doing well in Australia, Italy and South Korea.
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2005-02-27
The Aviator started out Oscar evening extremely well, but it was Million Dollar Baby that won the biggest prizes at the 77th annual Academy Awards.
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2005-02-26
Sideways swept the 20th annual Independent Spirit Awards winning all six categories it was nominated for.
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2005-02-20
The Annual Writers Guild Awards held their 57th annual awards on Saturday. Among the more than a dozen awards handed out were three for theatrical releases, including the inaugural award for best documentary, (which had been handed out earlier.)
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2005-02-05
The 11th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards are handed out tonight and while there are numerous awards only five are for theatrical releases.
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2005-01-25
The Oscar Nominations were announced this morning and at first glance it appears that most of the nominations went to films with smaller budgets and box office results.
Box office hits were nearly shut out of the major nominations.
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2005-01-08
Every week films get a second chance at success from the home market; or, in some cases, a first chance at success. Here is a list of wide releases, limited releases and a few from the growing TV on DVD section, including the winner of the DVD Pick of the Week, Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle - Unrated Extended Edition
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2004-12-14
Golden Globe Nominations were announced on Monday and as with the IFP Independent Spirit Awards, Sideways lead the pack with 7 nominations. This does not mean it is the favorite in any particular category, but it does help its chances of taking home some hardware on January 16th.
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2004-12-02
That's right, it's officially award season as the IFP Independent Spirit Awards announced their nominees. This year the leader of the pack was Sideways, which was nominated 6 times. Topping the list of studios was Fox Searchlight with 14 nominations.
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2004-10-27
Despite a 45% drop in its weekend haul, Shark Tale was able easily able to earn it third first place finish on the international charts. Still early in its run, the film took home $16.2 million in 4,368 theatres in 24 markets pushing its total to $80.3 million internationally. Without any openings the film relied on strong holdovers like in the U.K. where it drop 39%, in France it was off 32% and 35% in Germany.
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2004-10-20
Thanks to mostly unopposed openings several more markets, Shark Tale was able to repeat as the international box office champ this week. Not only that, but its $29.6 million more than doubled its international tally prior to the start of the weekend as the film now sits at $56.2 million. The best opening of the weekend, and most likely of its international run, was in the U.K. where the film managed to take in $9.1 million, ($13.6 million if you include last week's previews.) In France the result was strong with $4.2 million but in the face of local competition, it could only manage $3.4 million in Germany.
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2004-10-13
With openings in nearly a dozen new markets, Shark Tale was able to take top spot on the international charts with $9.4 million in 16 markets, pushing its early total to $19.2 million internationally and over $100 million worldwide. Highlights include $4.4 million in the U.K., (including previews) and $2.05 million in Mexico. How happy the studio is with these results depends on their expectations. Compared to the average film, Shark Tale is a massive hit. But compared to Dreamworks previous digitally animated film, Shrek 2, it is a large drop.
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2004-09-27
Every week films get a second chance at success from the home market; or, in some cases, a first chance at success. Here is a list of wide releases, limited releases and a few from the growing TV on DVD section, including the co-winners of the DVD Pick of the Week Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - Buy from Amazon and Degrassi: The Next Generation - Season 1 - Buy from Amazon.
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2004-03-26
Four movies open wide this weekend, or maybe it would be more accurate to say one and three halves as only one film opens in more than 1,600 theatres. This makes the race for top spot not so tough to predict, but the rest of the top ten is wide open. The three smaller openings are hoping for strong word of mouth, but as last week's soft debut for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind tells us, that's a risky bet.
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2004-03-22
For the first time this year we saw a substantial increase over the box office from this time last year that wasn't due to a single movie. This week we saw a token 1.4% increase from last weekend, but a fantastic 21.5% increase from last year. It is important to keep in mind, however, that Spring was the weakest point in 2003's box office if you take into account Seasonal Adjustments. This weekend last year was when the war in Iraq started, for instance, and this weakness continued till mid-April. So 2004 has a golden opportunity to put some distance between itself and 2003.
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2004-03-19
With three movies opening wide we should see a change at the top spot this week. But there are a couple of twists. Firstly, all three movies are rated R, which should help more kid friendly fare at the box office. Secondly, the movie with the best reviews is also opening in the fewest theatres.
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2004-03-19
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 the winner for the week, Connie and Carla - 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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2004-03-04
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 the winner for the week, The Prince & Me - 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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2004-02-19
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 the winner for the week, Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen - 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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2004-02-06
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 the winner for the week. Miracle - 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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2004-01-02
During the past week promotional websites for several movies were launched and some older ones added additional content. This week we have a very abridged list due to the holidays; in fact, the list is so abridged I contemplated not giving an award this week. In the end I gave the award for the week to King Arthur - Official Site - for excellence in a placeholder site. (Hopefully the full site will not let me down.) 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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2003-10-09
k promotional websites for several movies were launched and some older ones added additional content. Here’s a list of highlights, plus one last look at websites for films opening this week. If you know of any new movie websites not on this list feel free to e-mail me with the details.
This will be an abridged version due previously mentioned scheduling conflict. But you can't really tell.
The Alamo
Current Content: The full trailer is up, along with the old teaser trailer.
Barbershop 2
Current Content: A placeholder site so far with just the teaser trailer.
Big Fish
Current Content: Typical Sony placeholder site with just the synopsis and trailer.
Broken Lizard's Club Dread
Current Content: Typical Fox Searchlight placeholder site with just the synopsis so far.
Eternal Sunshine for the Spotless Mind
Current Content: The site is based on the company Lacuna from the movie. Right now its just a commercial for that company, but it says to check back tomorrow for further updates.
The Dreamers
Current Content: Typical Fox Searchlight placeholder site with just the synopsis so far.
Dopamine
Current Content: Simple site without sound or animation. There's some interesting content, including some on the role of Dopamine in the brain. But overall there's not enough to keep a surfer's attention for too long.
Elf
Current Content: Another game was added, Stocking Stuffer. But that background music is getting to me something awful. And to think, I've got to listen to every week to check for updates.
Girls Will Be Girls
Current Content: The format is the same as most IFC sites, but there is more content than most of their sites. Trailer, synopsis and cast and crew bios are all there, so are a few clips, image gallery and even sites for the three girls from the film.
Good Boy
Current Content: Another game was added to the site, this one a variation on concentration. Overall, this is a good site especially for its target audience.
House of the Dead
Current Content: The original site was removed due its graphic nature. The new site is toned down, but relatively unchanged.
Intolerable Cruelty
Current Content: Two TV spots and four clips were added just in time for the movie's release.
Kill Bill
Current Content: No changes from last week, and with Volume 1 opening tomorrow I doubt the remaining three character intros will be added till Volume 2 is nearing its release date.
Looney Tunes: Back in Action
Current Content: The second blog was added to the site, which adds a bit more background information.
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
Current Content: Did they really need the whole name in the URL? I don't think so. A large portion of the site is called The Journey, which alternates between entries in the Captain's Log and information about life on a ship from the sails to meals. There are also regulars features, but so far much of this is marked coming soon. Synopsis, Cast and Crew Bios, Production Notes and Featurettes are all marked coming soon. That does leave the trailer, images, interviews with three consultants (in .pdf format) and something called The Broadband Experience. The last feature is for Internet Explorer users only, so I can't review it. There are also several international sites, but they are all marked coming soon. The only complaint is the URL, but to deny it an award based on that would be petty, so it wins this week's nugatory Weekly Website Award.
The Matrix Revolutions
Current Content: As expected, there were more updates this week. This time it was information on The Matrix Reloaded's DVD release and a couple more posters, one just for international sites.
Mystic River
Current Content: There were no new additions since the last update. It is still an understated yet compelling website.
Shark Tale
Current Content: New name, new URL, same intro.
The Singing Detective
Current Content: The flash site launched and while it takes a little advantage of the animation flash allows, there is no sound outside the trailer and a clip from E.T. The site does have synopsis and cast and crew bios, but I was looking forward to for some behind the scenes info.
Spider-Man 2
Current Content: Quite a big update this week. A new webisode was added with director Sam Raimi and costume designer James Acheson that is about the changes to Spider-man's costume. The character section was added with brief bios and connections between the characters. In addition, the Ultimate Quiz will quickly show how much time you spent reading Spider-man comics as a kid (for me it was obviously too much.) There were also some more behind the scenes images and another wallpaper added.
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