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2009-06-16
A strangely busy week for spotlight reviews with ten of them representing nine DVDs and seven Blu-rays. It would have been a bigger list, but several are late. As for the best of the best, I'm giving an tentative DVD Pick of the Week rating to Transformers - Generation One - 25th Anniversary Edition - Season One. However, those will to wait for the retail version of Matrix of Leadership - Complete Series, or willing to spend more on the limited release will want to give this one a pass. Additionally, we have a DVD Puck of the Week, as the Canadian release, Murdoch Mysteries - Season One, is a must have for all loyal Canucks. With the number of spotlight reviews, the column had to be split into to, with the second part found here
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2008-10-15
The DVD Release Report finally comes out this week after a couple of delays. At least it is worth the wait as one of the most anticipated films of the year, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, comes out on both Two-Disc Collector's Edition and Blu-ray. This release is clearly the DVD Pick of the Week, on either format, while there are so many other releases that the list had to split into two. You can find the second part here.
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2008-03-17
New releases were again plentiful this week with nine reaching the top 30 and three of them sweeping the top few spots. The best of the best was 101 Dalmatians, which sold 1.36 million units during its first week for $21.64 million in revenue.
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2008-03-17
There were only four new releases to chart this week, and only one made it into the top five. This left Beowulf with an easy road to first place as it added $9.02 million in rentals for the week and $19.94 million after two.
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2008-03-10
There were plenty of new releases to hit the sales chart this week, as well as an older release that returned to the top five. Number one was Beowulf with 902,000 units sold for $17.08 million in revenue in its first week.
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2008-03-10
New releases were spread pretty evenly on the rental charts and included a new number one, Beowulf, which opened with $10.93 million.
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2008-03-03
There were a number of new releases to chart this week, including the new number one, American Gangster, which sold 2.63 million units for $44.54 million in revenue. After one week, it is already the best selling DVD of the year. This isn't surprising as the film was the first $100 million hit to be released on the home market this year, but is an impressive start nonetheless.
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2008-03-03
New releases dominated the rental charts taking three of the top five spots, as well as five of the top ten and the best of the best was American Gangster with $9.67 million during its opening week.
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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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2008-02-19
With the Oscars less than a week away, we have a few Oscar contenders on this week's list. However, for DVD Pick of the Week I've made what many might consider a weird choice and went with Walker - Criterion Collection - Buy from Amazon.
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2008-02-17
Thanks to an opening in the U.K., Juno shoot up the charts nearly reaching the top five with $8.28 million on 1111 screens in 15 markets for a still early total $17.15 million. In the U.K. the film placed second with $3.91 million on 363 screens, but had the best per screen average in the top 10 there. It also opened in France scoring sixth place with $1.22 million on 149 screens, which gave it the second best per screen average in the top ten there. Meanwhile in Spain the film grew by 5% to $1.03 million on 170 screens over the weekend and a total of $2.34 million after two.
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2008-02-17
With our annual Oscar Prediction contest underway, now is the best time to look at the nominees and try and figure out who the favorites are and which films should just feel honored to be nominated. Today we look at Best Female Actor in a Supporting Role and Best Male Actor in a Supporting Role.
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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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2008-02-04
The Italian movie, Scusa Ma Ti Chiamo Amore, opened in first place in Italy with $7.55 million on 491 screens, which was more than double its nearest competition.
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2008-01-27
The Screen Actors Guild nominations handed out the hardware tonight and there were five winners amongst the six theatrical awards.
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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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2008-01-22
The Oscar nominations were announced today and there is no shortage of contenders.
In fact, with no real juggernaut to deal with, the competition is more up in the air that most years.
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2008-01-20
Enchanted fell out of the top five but still had a very impressive weekend box office adding $8.12 million on 4348 screens in 43 markets for a total of $151.50 million. This includes a fifth place opening in South Korea where the film earned $1.08 million on 322 screens over the weekend and $1.34 million in total. Meanwhile it also earned fifth place in the U.K. with $1.59 million on 472 screens over the weekend for a total of $29.46 million after a month of release. Its chances at $200 million internationally depend heavily on its run in Japan staring mid-March, but $300 million worldwide is all but assured now.
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2008-01-13
Bee Movie slipped to sixth place this weekend with $14.34 million on 4820 screens in 49 markets for a total of $131.97 million. This includes a first place opening in South Korea where it earned $1.96 million on 334 screens over the weekend and $2.30 million in total, but this is not a particularly strong start.
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2008-01-06
Alien vs. Predator: Requiem opened in sixth place internationally with $16.43 million on 1877 screens in 20 markets. The film opened in second place in Germany with an impressive $4.64 million on 553 screens, while it debuted in fourth place in Australia with $1.86 million on just 182 screens over the weekend and $2.95 million since Boxing Day.
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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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2007-12-16
The Heartbreak Kid slipped a spot to sixth with $5.04 million on 2029 screens in 46 markets for a total of $79.44 million internationally, which is more than twice what it earned domestically. This includes France where it pulled in $1.10 million on 320 screens while lifting its running tally to $3.37 million in that market.
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2007-12-13
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced their Golden Globe nominations this week, but there were no truly dominate films out of the 14 theatrical categories.
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2007-12-05
Beowulf had its last major push into the international marketplace this past weekend and that helped it stay in first place with $19.06 million on 6229 screens in 56 markets for a total of $74.07 million. This includes a first place opening in Australia with $1.96 million on 269 screens, a third place, $1.81 million opening on 268 screens in Japan and first place, $1.11 million opening in 273 screens in Brazil. It's best holdover was Russia where it slipped to second while adding $1.83 million on 502 screens for a total of $6.99 million. At this point, $100 million internationally should not be an issue, but that's still not enough to be considered a financial boon.
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2007-11-29
The weekend after Thanksgiving is the only slow weekend during the entire Holiday Season.
So it comes as no surprise that only one movie is opening wide, but it is a bit surprising that the weekend is a weak as it is.
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2007-11-28
Beowulf opened in 23 more markets this past weekend, finishing in first place in 20 of them. This helped the film repeat as champion on the international box office with $25.40 million on 5433 screens in 44 markets for a total of $48.53 million. This includes number one debuts in Russia, ($4.13 million on 502 screens), and Mexico, ($1.93 million on 512 screens). However, it had to settle for second place in Spain, ($3.12 million on 450 screens), and fourth in France, ($1.88 million on 481). As for holdovers, no major openings let the film remain in second place in the U.K. with $3.03 million on 487 screens over the weekend and $9.35 million in total. On the other hand, it fell from first to fourth in South Korea with $1.36 million on 304 screens over the weekend and $6.13 million in total. The film is rapidly running out of major markets to open in, and it has made roughly half of the film's total costs worldwide so far. I think if the film fails to recoup its costs, it will be the fault of the technology, as it hasn't advanced enough to completely replace live actors without falling into the uncanny valley.
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2007-11-21
Beowulf was able to come out on top on the international charts just as it did domestically, but it was by a lot closer margin of victory. During its first weekend of release, the film pulled in $17.41 million on 2432 screens in 13 markets, including a first place debut in South Korea where it earned $2.91 million on 365 screens over the weekend and $3.92 million in total. Beowulf opened in other major markets but had to settle for second in the U.K. with $4.51 million on 485 screens, and in Germany with $2.12 million on 698 screens while it could do no better than third place in Italy with $2.09 million on 368. Like its domestic debut, these results could be described as disappointing when placed next to its $150 million production budget.
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2007-11-20
It was another tough week at the box office. No film missed Thursday's prediction by a significant margin, but there was an overall weakness. This pushed the box office to $104 million, down 8% from last weekend. More importantly it was down 28% from the same weekend last year. It is getting close to the time to panic. Granted, this year is safe but there's little evidence that this slowdown at the box office, which has lasted almost the entire fall, is going to end now that the Holidays have started. The only good news is that last Thanksgiving was a terrible weekend for new releases.
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2007-11-15
It's looking like 2007 is going to end on a really soft note. Since mid-September, only one weekend has been above the same weekend last year, and there's almost no chance that things will turn around this weekend. This time last year, we had two $40 million openers. This weekend, we might not have a single film top $30 million.
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2007-11-12
There was little to cheer over the weekend, as all four of the new releases missed expectations, some by substantial margins.
This left the overall box office struggling with $113 million over the weekend, down 16% from last weekend and 11% from the same weekend last year.
This means the streak of year-to-year growth ends at one.
On the other hand, had the four wide releases mere met expectations, the overall box office would have been within a rounding error of last year.
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2007-11-08
With the streak of year-to-year declines finally over, the winter holiday season is looking to start earning back some of the loses from October. The good news is, this weekend there are three films that should top $20 million at the box office compared to just one that did last year. Bad news, that one film was Borat, which earned more than $28 million and there's a chance no film will replicate that performance this time around.
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2007-11-06
The overall box office leader, American Gangster, was also the champion on the per theater chart with $14,265. The only other film to crack $10,000 was Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten with an average of $10,440 in two theaters.
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2007-11-05
November got the box office back on track as a record-breaking opening for Denzel Washington and Russel Crowe, (and for that matter, Jerry Seinfeld), helped the overall box office earn $134 million over the weekend. That's 33% higher than the last weekend, but more importantly, it was 4% more than the same weekend last year. That growth doesn't even keep up with the growth in ticket prices, (although it is extremely close), however, it does stop the six-week slid we've been experiencing and hopefully this will mean bigger business over the holidays.
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2007-11-03
Just like at the box office, we have two movie sites in a close battle it out for first place. But in this case it is Bee Movie - Official Site that takes the top prize while the movie will likely have to settle for second place at the box office.
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2007-11-01
Thankfully October is done, but it did a lot of damage in four weeks.
However, the damage has been done and the fall box office is down just under 1% from last year while ticket sales are down more than 5%.
However, this weekend we have two potential $100 million movies and both should be significantly stronger than last year's surprise champ, Borat.
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2007-11-01
After a horrible October, we finally get to November and the start of the holiday season.
Just like the summer season doesn't officially begin until Memorial Day, the winter holiday season doesn't officially begin until the Thanksgiving long weekend.
However, studios are trying to stretch the lucrative box office season as long as possible and the holiday-like releases start during the first weekend of the month.
This means practically every weekend this month, there's at least one potential $100 million movie. There are also a few that might be Oscar contenders, although not as many as I had expected.
In fact, so far Award Season has been particularly slow, but at least this means there should be more buzz surrounding the upcoming films as the race is wide open.
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2007-11-01
This week's round of new casting information contains updates for Game, Meet the Browns, The Taking of Pelham 123, and more!
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2007-10-11
This week's round of new casting information contains updates for Avatar, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Star Trek XI, and more!
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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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2007-08-30
This week's round of new casting information contains updates for American Gangster, The Informers, Nothing but the Truth, and more!
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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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2006-09-17
This week's round of new movie release information contains a number of new and changed release dates.
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Thursday, November 26, 2009
