February 7th, 2012
The biggest release of the week on the home market is The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 1, which comes out on DVD and Blu-ray ... on Saturday. So you still have a few more days to wait. As for the best release of the week, that's Lady and the Tramp, which is making its Blu-ray and is our Pick of the Week.
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November 8th, 2009
Disney's A Christmas Carol got off to a disappointing start over the weekend, according to studio estimates.
While a $31 million debut is nothing to sniff at, it's well below expectations and might leave the movie outside the top 50 November weekends (see list).
This might be a case of opening a Christmas movie too soon, and Disney will be looking for long legs through Thanksgiving and into the Holiday Season proper, so all is not lost yet, but the next couple of weeks will be key.
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June 3rd, 2008
This was a bad week for big movies, with not a single first run release is even worth rating a solid purchase, never mind being a contender for DVD Pick of the Week. There were a few other contenders for the title, including Dirty Harry Collection on DVD or Blu-ray. However, I found it impossible to decide which format was the better deal. Had the Blu-ray provided anything more than High Definition, or been a more reasonable price compared to the DVD, it would have been an easier choice. One of them is the DVD Pick of the Week, I just don't know which one. On a side note, there is an immense flood of Blu-ray releases, including a few I thought were coming out previously.
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May 25th, 2007
New releases took top spot on both the rental and the sales charts, but there were different films. On the rental chart Pan's Labyrinth was this week's champion after earning $6.48 million.
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May 19th, 2007
It was not a good week for new releases on the DVD rental chart.
None were able to take a spot in the top three, and this left Night at the Museum in first place with $7.38 million for the week and $28.01 million during its run.
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May 11th, 2007
For the past few weeks, new releases have dominated the home market, and while this week saw two holdovers in the top two spots, there were still plenty of new releases to place high on the charts. Leading the way were Night at the Museum with $9.08 million for the week and $20.64 million overall with Deja vu remaining in second place with $7.02 million this past week and $15.66 million in total.
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April 30th, 2007
It was a tough week to write this column, partially because of the selection of DVD coming out tomorrow, and partially because my DVD player had a meltdown while I was in the middle of reviewing Dinosaurs - The Complete Third and Fourth Seasons . (And then today my mouse stops working while my Internet connection has been sporadic all day. It's like my electronics are conspiring against me.) There were a few DVDs that were contenders for DVD Pick of the Week, but in the end I went with Dreamgirls - 2-Disc Showstopper Edition while giving Michael Palin's Around the World in 80 Days an honorable mention.
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March 25th, 2007
The French film, Taxi 4, just missed the top five with $3.94 million on 1255 screens in 7 markets for a total of $49.56 million. Obviously, most of that has come from France, $35.70 million in fact, but the film is also doing well in Russia with $10.63 million so far, including $2.22 million on 466 screens over the weekend.
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March 18th, 2007
There was quite an international flavor on the charts this past weekend with five local hits charting, and one more just missing that mark. The best of these was Lubov Morkov, which opened in sixth place with $5.38 million on 492 screens in 4 markets over the weekend and $6.28 million in total. Of this amount, $4.90 million on 427 screens was earned over the weekend in Russia while it managed $5.80 million including midweek numbers.
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March 7th, 2007
Ghost Rider was relatively flat this week as it earned $16.63 million on 4008 screens in 47 markets for a total of $61.49 million internationally. Its biggest market in terms of raw dollars was the U.K. with $3.56 million on 342 screens, but it could only managed second place behind local smash hit, Hot Fuzz. On the other hand, it opened in first place in Brazil with $1.8 million on 278 screens and remained in first place in Germany with $1.44 million on 369 screens for a two-week total of $4.25 million. On the opposite end was its opening in Japan; there the film could do no better than fourth with $1.16 million on 256 screens and will likely disappear very quickly after this weekend.
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February 26th, 2007
Last night's Oscars were a interesting mix of clear favorites and surprising upsets.
There were enough surprises to keep people talking for a while while enough favorites won that most will be satisfied with the overall outcome.
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February 25th, 2007
The Oscars have all been handed out, but that's not the end of our coverage. Tune in tomorrow for more thoughts as well as next week when we look at the Oscar bounce. And later on we'll announce the winners of our contest,
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February 25th, 2007
The Blood Diamond fell from second to sixth this past weekend, mainly due to the lack of new openings. The film still pulled $8.52 million on 3409 screens in 59 markets for a total of $77.51 million and is still on pace for $100 million internationally, but that's the last milestone in its future.
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February 21st, 2007
It was a record-breaking President's Day weekend as 2007 produced it first blockbuster.
Overall, total box office hit $158 million from Friday to Sunday, $188 million including Monday.
That 3-day figure represents a 40% increase over last week and 22% over the same weekend last year.
In addition, the 4-day portion was 20% higher than last year.
This is great news for a year that hasn't gotten off to a fast start.
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February 18th, 2007
Charlotte's Web's return to the international charts was a successful one as it just missed the top five with $6.37 million on 2192 screens in 40 markets. However, its international tally of $32.57 is still a terrible result given the film's production budget, which has been estimated to be north of $100 million. The film has one strong opening this weekend as it earned second place in the U.K. with $3.69 million on 489 screens. On the other hand, the film flopped in France missing the top ten with $762,000 on 347 screens and that was for the full week. It did little better in South Korea with $872,000 on 150 screens over the weekend and $969,000 in total while scoring $218,000 on 54 screens over the weekend in Belgium and $271,000 in total.
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February 11th, 2007
Babel just missed the top five this past weekend and showed that
Oscar nods still meant something at the box office, at least internationally. The film added $5.16 million on 1467 screens for a total of $61.31 million so far. It was aided by a first place, $1.23 million opening on 256 screens in Russia, but that is one of the film's last significant openings.
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February 4th, 2007
For the second weekend in a row
Apocalypto earned sixth place on the international charts, this time pulling in 7.03 million on 2308 screens for a total of $47.42 million. Its best market of the weekend was Mexico where it had an easy first place finish with $2.43 million on 502 screens over the weekend and $2.66 million including previews. It was also strong during its second weekend in Spain as it was down 40% to $1.17 million on 284 screens for a total of $3.64 million.
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January 28th, 2007
The
Screen Actors Guide were handed out tonight and while there are plenty of awards, only five dealt with theatrical releases.
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January 25th, 2007
The final weekend in January gives us plenty of new releases, but not much in terms of quality.
Of the four wide releases opening this week, two are earning roughly 30% positive reviews and the other two are not being screened for critics.
However, movie fans should not fret as several Oscar hopefuls are expanding this week and are giving moviegoers plenty of choice.
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January 23rd, 2007
The
Oscar nominations were handed out today and for the most part they've followed the script written by previous awards committees fairly closely.
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January 23rd, 2007
The
Golden Globes were handed out last week, but the real winners were rewarded this weekend as the Golden Globe Bounce was in full effect.
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January 23rd, 2007
The lone wide release of the weekend struggled to find an audience and even though most of the rest of the top five were able to beat expectations, the weekend box office was still way down.
At just $100 million, the weekend was down 22% from last week and 17% from the same weekend last year.
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January 19th, 2007
Just the one new wide release this weekend, which is surprising since there are five films opening or expanding wide next weekend.
This weekend could handle one or two more wide releases and take some of the pressure off next weekend.
But as it is now, The Hitcher will have little competition this weekend while next weekend at least two films will be squeezed out at the box office.
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January 16th, 2007
Only two films were repeat winners on tonights
Golden Globes,
Dreamgirls with three wins and
The Queen with two. There were a few surprises along the way and some troubling signs for Oscar hopefuls.
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January 12th, 2007
The weekend prospects are pretty weak, with none of the wide releases / expanding films looking like they have what it takes to top the box office charts.
This is not particularly surprising, as the Martin Luther King long weekend is not known as a powerhouse at the box office.
With a returning champion and a selection of new and expanding films, moviegoers have a lot of choice, but come Tuesday, there won't be a lot of celebrating in the movie studios.
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January 9th, 2007
Pan's Labyrinth saw its theater count more than double this past weekend, but it was still able to win the race on the Per Theater Chart with $17,359 in 44 venues.
Letters from Iwo Jima climbed to second place with $15,859, which represents a less than 10% drop-off from the weekend before.
Notes of a Scandal showed amazingly strong resilience on the chart, as it dipped just 36% to $12,100, this despite quadrupling its theater count.
Two other films just managed to top $10,000: Dreamgirls with $10,168 and Comedy of Power with $10,061.
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January 9th, 2007
There were a couple of pleasant surprises this week, including a generally stronger than expected performance by the holdovers. Better than expected still resulted in an 18% drop-off from last weekend to $133 million, but that's 3.5% better than 2006's start.
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January 5th, 2007
The
Screen Actors Guide handed out their nominations yesterday and of the 5 theatrical categories, there were more than a dozen films to pick up at least one nomination.
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January 5th, 2007
The first weekend of the year is not known for producing many hits. In fact, perhaps only the first weekend after Labor Day is worse.
This year is no exception: the three wide releases are not earning strong reviews, only one new film is able to crack 2,000 theaters, and none of them have a real shot at first place.
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January 4th, 2007
The
PGA announced their nominations today, two of which deal with theatrical releases.
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January 4th, 2007
The last weekend of the year normally brings with it several Oscar contenders, and this year it was no different. With the sheer number of high profile Oscar hopefuls, there's no surprise that so many were able to top $10,000 on the per theater.
Leading the way was Pan's Labyrinth with more than $500,000 in just 17 theaters for an average of $33,449.
Children of Men was just behind with an average of $31,313 during its first full weekend of release.
Notes on a Scandal was well back but still performed very well with more than $400,000 in 22 theaters for an average of $18,840.
Letters from Iwo Jima slipped a mere 1.31% to $17,586 and is shaping up to be a bigger hit than its companion film, Flags of Our Fathers.
Dreamgirls expanded into a semi-wide release and earned more than $14 million in 852 theaters for an average of $16,549; this is better than Chicago ever did, but that film showed better legs.
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer did well with an average of $12,360; it expands into more than 250 theaters this Friday, but that could be as far as it goes if it shows any sign of weakness at the box office.
The final film to top $10,000 was Venus, which dipped less than 4% to $11,443.
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January 3rd, 2007
It was a fairly predictable weekend as far as box office numbers go. No film really beat expectations by a wide margin, nor did any fail to do so.
This meant nearly every film in the top ten showed significant growth (the lone exception was Rocky Balboa), while the only film in the top twenty to see a serious drop-off was the Christmas film, The Nativity Story, which plummeted more than 67%.
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December 29th, 2006
It's the New Year's Day long weekend, and not surprisingly, there are no new wide releases this week.
There are, on the other hand, two movies that are playing their first weekend, Dreamgirls and Black Christmas.
However, it looks as if neither has what it takes to wrestle top spot from Night at the Museum.
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December 28th, 2006
Dreamgirls fell 40% during the second weekend of its road tour, but it still earned an incredible $228,000 in three theaters for an average of $75,879.
There were three other films to crack $10,000, all of them new releases.
Leading this pack was Letters from Iwo Jima with just under $90,000 in 5 theaters for an average of $17,819.
This is a better start than expected after the disappointing run by Flags of Our Fathers and if it earns a few more nominations, it could expand wide later on.
Another Oscar hopeful, The Painted Veil, placed third with an average of $12,771. Finally there was Venus, which started its run with $35,000 in 3 theaters for an average of $11,868.
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December 28th, 2006
Most films missed expectations this weekend and that hurt the overall box office, which was off 8% compared to last year.
But there were still reasons to celebrate with Pursuit of Happyness and Rocky Balboa matching their production budget over the weekend while Dreamgirls exploded on Christmas Day.
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December 21st, 2006
Christmas is one of the busiest times of year and this year is no exception with five films opening wide from now to the 25th and another expanding. Because of the crowd, at least one or two will be lost, squeezed out by the competition. However, there are also two or three films that are aiming at $100 million, or more.
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December 19th, 2006
Dreamgirls set a new record per theater average for a live action film over the weekend by pulling in $380,000 in three movie houses for an average of $126,317.
While this is significantly ahead of the previous record holder, Brokeback Mountain, it is important to note that tickets for Dreamgirls were $25, meaning there were 5,000 tickets sold per theater compared to 10,000 for Brokeback.
On a tickets-per-theater average the film is more in line with Sideways or In Good Company, which is still a very good result.
The only other film to crack $10,000 was The Good German at $15,363.
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December 16th, 2006
The end of year big movie rush continues, the last few big movies are launching their sites. And one such movie,
Night at the Museum -
Official Site, is the winning of the Weekly Website Award.
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December 15th, 2006
The last major contender for Oscars opened this week with
Dreamgirls. Sure, there are a few films on this week's list made to win Oscars, but with the
Golden Globe nominations announced,
Dreamgirls is the only real contender opening from now till the end of the year.
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December 15th, 2006
Babel led the way when the
Golden Globe nominations were announced today with seven nominations while
The Departed was close behind with six.
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December 1st, 2006
Looking at my calendar I see that it's March 11th. ... March 11th, 2003. This means it's time for me to get a new calendar, but more importantly, it's time for the December preview. December is an insanely busy time of year with studio release major blockbusters in hopes of cashing in on the holidays, as well as a ton of Oscar bait movies hoping to remain fresh in voters' minds by the time the ballots are handed out. On a side note, this is the first time in several years that's there not an obvious Must See movie opening during the month. Sure, there are quite a few that should crack $100 million at the box office, maybe even $200 million, but nothing like
The Lord of the Rings. In addition to the ton of wide releases and limited releases scheduled to open wide this month, there are several more movies opening in limited release this month before expanding in the new year. Movies like
Home of the Brave,
Arthur & the Invisibles,
The Painted Veil,
Letters from Iwo Jima,
Children of Men,
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer,
Fast Track, and
Pan's Labyrinth, and possibly some others.
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November 18th, 2006
A lot of trailers on this week's list of websites. Not only were there a lot of site with just trailers, there were a few trailers without sites. On the other hand, there were also a few contenders for the Weekly Website Award. In the end it was
The Children of Men -
Official Site that took home that prestigious award.
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October 28th, 2006
There was a good selection of sites this week in terms of updates, but unlike last week there were fewer contenders for the Weekly Website Award. That's not to say
Let's Go to Prison -
Official Site didn't deserve to win, it just had a lot less competition than it would have had if it launched last week.
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October 8th, 2006
This week's round of new movie release information contains release dates for Dreamgirls, Stephanie Daley, Black Book and more.
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June 2nd, 2006
There were a few major updates for a few major movie sites this week, and it was one such site that walked away with the Weekly Website Award -
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest -
Official Site.
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March 2nd, 2006
During the past week promotional websites for several movies were launched and some older ones added additional content. There was a three way race for top spot this week with
Slither -
Official Site taking home the award. However, it won based on equal parts what it is and what it should become once all the content marked coming soon is added to the site.
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February 16th, 2006
During the past week promotional websites for several movies were launched and some older ones added additional content. It's another busy week as the winter slump starts to subside. As for the best site on this week's list, it came down to the interactive feature of
Freedomland -
Official Site and the atmosphere of
Night Watch -
Official Site. After looking over the sites a few times, I still can't decided which one should get the award, so I'm giving it to both.
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November 24th, 2005
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 this week's winner,
The Producers -
Official Site.
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