January 11th, 2012
Rise of the Planet of the Apes returned to the top of the Blu-ray sales chart with 390,000 units / $5.84 million over the week for totals of 1.59 million units / $33.76 million after three.
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January 10th, 2012
There wasn't a lot of activity on this week's DVD sales chart. There were just two new releases that reached the top 30, neither of them reached the top five. In fact, there was only one film in the top five this week that was wasn't in the top five last week. The Hangover II remained in first place with 298,000 units / $2.96 million for the week giving it total sales of 2.91 million units / $38.35 million, after a month of release.
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December 26th, 2011
It's the week after Christmas, so it should come as no surprise that there's not a lot to talk about on the home market. Granted, there are a few releases that are noteworthy, but it is a very shallow list. That said, we didn't have to lower the standard for Pick of the Week, as Archer: Season Two came out on DVD and Blu-ray. Either format is worth the money, while the latter is the better deal.
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September 12th, 2011
The weekend after the Labor Day long weekend is often the worst weekend of the year, and that appears to be the case this time around. No film matched Thursday's predictions, although a couple came relatively close, like Contagion. Unfortunately, the rest of the new releases really bombed and most of the holdovers fell significantly more than expected. This led to the box office falling 24% from last weekend to just $82 million. This is the lowest it's been all year, and lower than last year, but by less than 1%. Unless next weekend will be even worse, and it is almost hard to imagine that as a possibility, this will be the lowest point for the year. On the other hand, there's a chance that we don't dip below this level for a long, long time, if ever. Given population growth and inflation, hitting these low points are less likely each year.
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September 8th, 2011
The winners of our To the Moon contest were determined and they are...
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September 7th, 2011
We had a pleasant surprise over Labor Day long weekend as the holdover held on a lot better than expected, while the new releases were on par with expectations, at least on average. (One struggled, one came within a rounding error of the weekend prediction, and one crushed expectations.) This led to a total box office haul of $107 million from Friday through Sunday and $137 million if you include Monday. By comparison, last year the total box office was $106 million / $133 million. It was a close win, but a win's a win. Overall 2011 is behind 2010 by 4% at $7.46 billion to $7.78 billion. There's a slim chance 2011 will close the gap and come out on top in the end, but in order to do that, it will need to earn bigger victories than it did this weekend.
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September 1st, 2011
Summer officially ends at the box office this weekend, although looking at the numbers it's clear that summer ended weeks ago. The selection of new releases includes two horror films that were not screened for critics and a film that I don't think it would be unfair to call busted Oscar bait. There is a chance all three films will bomb and The Help will remain in first place for the third week in a row. On the opposite end of that scale, all three films could find an audience and 2011 could squeak out a win over 2010.
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September 1st, 2011
After a strong start, August ended on a really low note, and that's bad news for September, as it means the positive momentum we had is gone. Looking at the upcoming month, there are 18 films opening wide over five weekends (including one re-release) but only four or five of them have a real shot at being midlevel hits, and it is unlikely that all of them will get there. Worse still, there are no films opening this month that look like they will match The Town, which made more than $90 million last September. In fact, the selection of releases is so weak that the film I'm most looking forward to is a limited release that has already come out on Video on Demand, Tucker and Dale vs. Evil. (It has seventeen reviews on Rotten Tomatoes and still not a negative one among them.)
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August 26th, 2011
Next week is the beginning of September, which means the quality of films will continue to drop. (And it's not like there have been a lot of box office hits coming out the past few weeks.) There are two films that could battle it out for top spot: Apollo 18 and Shark Night 3D. I don't expect either to be anything more than a midlevel hit, but Apollo 18 will likely come out on top. Regardless of that prediction, it is the target film in this week's box office prediction contest. In order to win, one must simply predict the opening weekend box office number for Apollo 18.
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 Dora the Explorer: Dora's Halloween Parade on DVD.
Whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend box office (Friday to Sunday), without going under, will win a copy of Go, Diego, Go!: Fiercest Animal Rescues on DVD.
Entries must be received by 10 a.m., Pacific Time on Friday to be eligible, so don't delay!
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