July 29th, 2016
Next week is the first week of August and only two wide releases are coming out: Nine Lives and Suicide Squad. ... It is not going to be a competitive weekend at the box office. There are many who think Suicide Squad will earn well over $100 million during its opening weekend, so there’s little doubt it should be 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 Suicide Squad.
The main prize this week is a John Travolta Blu-ray Bundle that includes five Blu-rays, plus a Digital Download Code. The bundle is lead by I Am Wrath (Blu-ray Combo Pack), as well as The Forger (Blu-ray); From Paris With Love (Blu-ray); The Punisher (Blu-ray); Pulp Fiction (Blu-ray); and She’s So Lovely (Digital Downloads).
To determine the winner, we will look at the participant who came the closest without going over and the participant who came the closest without going under. Whoever is closest among those two wins the John Travolta Blu-ray Bundle. The other will win a pair of previously reviewed movies.
Whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend box office (Friday to Sunday), without going over, will be in the running for the John Travolta Blu-ray Bundle.
Whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend box office (Friday to Sunday), without going under, will also be in the running for the John Travolta Blu-ray Bundle.
To determine the winner, we will look at the participant who came the closest without going over and the participant who came the closest without going under. Whoever is closest among those two wins the John Travolta Blu-ray Bundle. The other will win a pair of previously reviewed movies.
Finally, we will be choosing an entrant from the group of people who haven't won, or haven't won recently, and they will also win a Frankenprize consisting of a pair of previously reviewed movies.
Entries must be received by 10 a.m., Pacific Time on Friday to be eligible, so don't delay!
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June 22nd, 2010
No new release was able to take top spot on this week's sales chart leaving Alice in Wonderland as the repeat champion. It added $12.34 million from 657,000 units sold to take its two-week totals to 2.75 million units and $52.47 million in consumer spending at retail.
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June 8th, 2010
This time of year is normally very slow at the home market. It's too late for the last of the winter blockbusters to find their way onto DVD, while it is too early for the flood of TV on DVD releases coming out to promote the upcoming season. However, thanks to a better than expected spring at the box office, we have another strong week at the top. The best-selling release is Shutter Island. While that movie is good enough to be worth picking up on its own, the DVD and Blu-ray are weak enough to prevent it from being the Pick of the Week. To find the Pick of the Week we have to go a little further down the sales list till we get to Not the Messiah: He's a Very Naughty Boy on Blu-ray from Amazon and Animation Express on Blu-ray.
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June 3rd, 2010
From Paris With Love was a January release... oh boy. Then again, it was written by Luc Besson, who has given us a number of cool action movies over the years. Plus, it was directed by Pierre Morel who has just directed the massive surprise hit, Taken, and who made the breakout hit, District 13, which in just four years has influenced a number of films. Given the type of films these men make, I expected a stylish action film, and nothing more. Some might say I'm setting the bar a little too low, but can the film accomplish this task?
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April 25th, 2010
There were more than a dozen foreign releases to reach the top 30 on the international chart, starting with Go Lala Go!. This Chinese film opened in first place in its native market and sixth place overall with $6.44 million on 655 screens.
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March 21st, 2010
The Round Up opened in sixth place with $6.32 million on 632 screens in 3 markets. Of that, $5.67 million was earned on 602 screens in France, which was easily enough for first place in that market.
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March 7th, 2010
The Princess and the Frog may have slipped out of the top five internationally, but it still added $8.32 million on 3053 screens in 28 markets for a total of $143.18 million. It had no major market openings again this week, but it added $2.84 million on 689 screens over the weekend in France for a total of $27.30 million after a month of release there. This weekend the film debuted in Japan, which could help it return to the top five. Regardless, it has made enough money that it should show a profit, eventually.
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February 28th, 2010
Shutter Island started its international run with a sixth place finish this past weekend, earning $9.28 million on 1229 screens in 9 markets. The film opened in first place in Spain with $3.25 million on 406 screens. It had to settle for second place in Australia, in a virtual tie with Valentine's Day at $2.50 million on 250 screens. It's way too early to tell where the film will end up, but matching its domestic run internationally is a solid goal.
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February 16th, 2010
Okay. Wow. All three wide releases beat expectations, some by massive margins, which helped this year shatter the previous Presidents' Day long weekend record. The three-day tally this year was $205 million, ahead of the previous record by more than $16 million. And, adding in Monday, the total box office over four days was $239 million, nearly $20 million more than the previous best.
(In both cases, the previous best was last year.)
This helped push the year-to-date box office to $1.48 billion, which is 1.6% higher than last year's pace.
However, ticket sales still lag behind, albeit by less than half a percent.
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February 14th, 2010
For the first time during its international run, Alvin and the Chipmunks 2: The Squeakquel missed the top five and placed sixth with $7.10 million on 3,699 screens in 42 markets for a total of $200.87 million internationally and $413.03 million worldwide.
With no major market openings left, the film will likely fall further down the chart over the coming weeks, but it has already made a huge profit, so Fox will be more than happy.
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February 11th, 2010
The winners of our Love These Prizes contest were determined and they are...
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February 9th, 2010
In a shocking development, Avatar didn't win at the box office race over the weekend.
Instead, the romantic drama Dear John, based on the Nicholas Sparks novel, took top spot.
Unfortunately, while Dear John did much better than expected, the overall box office was still weak.
Total box office was $114 million, which was 9% lower than last weekend and 26% lower than the same weekend last year.
Year-to-date, 2010 has brought it $1.21 billion, which is 1.2% more than last year; however, for the first time admissions are down, by 0.8%.
This is a troubling sign.
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February 7th, 2010
Avatar's run at the top of the chart came to an end over the weekend, according to studio estimates released on Sunday morning.
Its surprise vanquisher turned out to be Dear John, which ran up an impressive $32.4 million opening, a record for Superbowl weekend.
Avatar was down almost 25% to $23.6 million -- its weakest weekend yet, in spite of an impressive list of Oscar nominations earlier in the week.
But with $630 million in the bank now from North America alone, this can hardly be described a disappointment.
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February 4th, 2010
It appears Avatar will walk away with yet another victory at the box office and it appears likely that it will set yet another record in the process. There are some factors that make the box office potential of all films a little more fluid this weekend. This includes the Super Bowl, which should draw away a lot of potential ticket buyers. Secondly, the Oscar nominations should help Avatar and a few other holdovers still playing in multiplexes. Depending on which factor is greater, we could keep pace with last year, or the slump could continue.
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February 1st, 2010
2010 started in record-breaking fashion with the most lucrative January of all time, and only the second time that the box office reached $1 billion before the end of the month.
The first year to do that was 2009.
There were two problems preventing real celebration, however.
Firstly, roughly 30% of the total box office for the month came from one film, Avatar, which was a holdover.
Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, most films that were released / expanded wide in January missed expectations.
Because of this, February starts on a bit of a down note.
Compared to last year, the top of the list is about as strong with a couple of films aiming for $100 million, while there are fewer films that seem like they will bomb at the box office.
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January 28th, 2010
There is no saturation level release next week and there's a chance neither new film will finish in first place. However, we need a target film for this week's box office prediction contest and it is ... let me flip a coin... From Paris With Love. In order to win, one must simply predict the opening weekend box office number for From Paris With Love.
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 Triangle on DVD.
Meanwhile, whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend box office (Friday to Sunday), without going under, will also win a copy of Triangle 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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