May 3rd, 2011
Historically, this is the weakest time of year for DVD releases. The last of the winter releases have already been released. It's too early for the flood of TV on DVD releases for the upcoming season in the fall. And studios are too worried about competing with blockbusters in theaters. There's really only one first run release that's generating any buzz, The Green Hornet, but while the 3D Blu-ray / Blu-ray / DVD Combo Pack is worth picking up, the sales potential quickly declines from that point and by the time you reach the bottom of the top ten, you are really struggling to find any release that will have any real impact on the home market. As for the best release, as opposed to the biggest, there are two TV on DVD imports that are worth checking out: Being Human: Season 3 on DVD and Murdoch Mysteries: Season 3 on DVD or Blu-ray. (The Blu-ray release for Being Human is too pricey.) Both are worth picking up, but for Pick of the Week, I'm going with Murdoch Mysteries.
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May 2nd, 2011
From Prada to Nada opened in a targeted limited release and earned terrible reviews, but did respectable business all things considered and eventually reached $3 million. Considering Cedar Rapids was the first limited release to reach $4 million this year, this is a good run. Now that it is coming out on the home market, will is continue this moderate level of success, or will audiences agree with critics?
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March 30th, 2011
Seven films topped the $10,000 mark on the per theater chart this week, but leading the way were last week's top two films: Bill Cunningham New York and Win Win. The former earned $21,786 in 3 theaters while the latter was right behind with $20,192 in 23. My Perestroika earned $17,680 in its lone theater over the weekend and $25,084 since its Wednesday opening. Mia and the Migoo and Miral were neck-and-neck at $16,975 and $16,561. They also share something else, bad reviews, so their futures are in doubt. Trophy Wife earned an average of $12,288 in seven theaters. Finally, Jane Eyre made nearly $1 million over the weekend in 90 theaters for an average of $10,778.
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February 8th, 2011
Like last week, only one film reached the $10,000 mark on the per theater chart this past weekend. That film was Cold Weather, which beat my expectations, earning $14,513 in one theater ahead of its VOD demand later this week.
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February 1st, 2011
There's was only one film able to top $10,000 on the per theater chart and that film was Kaboom, which made $13,714 in one theater.
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January 30th, 2011
It looks like another slow weekend at the box office, based on studio estimates released on Sunday, but there are some signs of improvement, thanks to a couple of decent openings and some healthy performances by Oscar hopefuls.
The Rite debuted with an estimated $15 million, about in line with expectations, while The Mechanic posted $11.5 million, which is a little ahead of the consensus going into the weekend.
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January 28th, 2011
This week's collection of limited releases includes a film that is already a worldwide hit, one that earned two Oscar nominations, one opening in more than 250 theaters, and others. It will be interesting to see if the critically acclaimed films can find audiences here, or if the wider releases can fill all of those theaters.
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January 27th, 2011
Our daily charts are updated every day by 1pm (with early studio reports) and 3pm (with complete final numbers).
On Thursdays, we publish early studio theater counts by 1.30pm, and the complete list by 5pm.
- Wednesday Daily Numbers
- Weekend Theater Counts
Trailers for this week's openers:
- The Mechanic
- The Rite
- From Prada to Nada
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January 1st, 2011
Well, 2010 is over and while it started amazingly, it ended on a real down note. I'm not saying December was a disaster. ... Actually I am. There were only ten wide releases, and of those, eight missed expectations, some by very wide margins. Despite having a $200 million lead going into the month, 2010 still managed to lose out to 2009. The bad news continues in 2011, as Avatar made $300 million during January alone. With no strong holdovers to help power the box office, and only one or two potential solid hits among the new releases, 2011 will likely get off to a very weak start.
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