May 20th, 2008
This week's list is dominated by Blu-ray releases. This is not surprising as this is the first week Paramount has released Blu-ray discs after dropping the format last August for an exclusive HD DVD commitment. However, it is another Blu-ray release that caught my eye: the National Treasure Blu-ray Two-Pack. This is the best format has to offer this week, but it is not the best movie coming out. If you want the DVD Pick of the Week, you have to grab Night of the Living Dead Buy from Amazon.
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October 31st, 2006
Halloween falls on a Tuesday this year, and that is playing havoc with this week's DVD releases.
The only single day that messes with the movie industry more than Halloween is Christmas Eve.
That doesn't mean there are no DVDs worth picking up -- there are -- but they are few and far between.
There were only two real contenders for DVD Pick of the Week, Ghost Whisperer - The Complete First Season and Kids in the Hall - Complete Season 5, and if I were forced to choose just one I'd go with Ghost Whisperer - The Complete First Season.
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August 26th, 2006
This week's batch of DVDs managed to place a handful of new releases on the chart, including the top two films.
R.V. opened in top spot with $9.08 million, a reasonable start given its domestic total and its target audience.
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August 12th, 2006
It was a slow week for
new releases, but that didn't stop one of them,
V for Vendetta from reaching the top with $9.30 million in total rentals.
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July 31st, 2006
The first full week of the month is usually quite busy, however, since the DVD coming out tomorrow had to be shipped in July, this is not the case this time around. In fact, there was only one contender for DVD Pick of the week,
V for Vendetta -
2-Disc Special Edition, and since I'm 90% sure an even better Ultra Edition is coming out, it fails to win that coveted honor. Next week we should have a much better selection of DVDs.
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May 28th, 2006
Mission: Impossible 3 was knocked out of first place by
The Da Vinci Code, but that was not a surprise to anyone. What was a surprise is the lack of staying power
Mission: Impossible 3 has exhibited so far; this week the film fell a further 43% o $23.22 million on 6392 screens in 57 markets for a total of $164.32 million. Its best market of the weekend was the U.K. where it added $3.44 million on 445 screens to its total of $23.70 million. However, South Korea is close behind with $3.19 million on 330 screens for a total of $23.22 million. The film only as a few openings left and Japan is the only major player out there so unless a minor miracle happens
Mission: Impossible 3 won't reach the heights that its
predecessors did.
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May 21st, 2006
Silent Hill's weekend numbers were better than earlier estimates and that helped place the film fourth overall with $4.99 million on 1398 screens in 11 markets. The film finished first in Russia with $1.45 million on 213 screens over the weekend and $1.61 million in total while it had to settle for second in Germany with $1.10 million on 308 screens. It also opened in second place in Hong Kong with $462,000 on 34 screens and $580,000 including the previews mentioned last week. So far the film has earned $18.92 million at the international box office, the largest single chunk coming from the U.K.; in that market the film has made $6.32 million including $439,000 on 285 screens this week.
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May 14th, 2006
With
Mission: Impossible 3 dominating the international charts, most films saw a serious drop-off and those that didn't were able to climb the charts, or at least remain stable. For instance,
Eight Below fell 27% to $3.67 million on 1951 screens in 27 markets, but despite there being two new releases in the top five, it was able to remain in sixth place on the overall charts. The film was not able to crack $1 million in any single market, but did perform well in Spain with $587,000 on 225 screens and that lifted its total box office to $2.15 million in the market, $30.35 million internationally, and $111.42 million worldwide.
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May 7th, 2006
A pair of openings in major markets helped
Eight Below climb a spot to sixth with $5.05 million on 2129 screens in 24 markets for a total of $24.26 million so far. The film opened in France but could only manage sixth place with $1.85 million on 473 screens while in Spain it opened in first place, but only managed $981,000 on 224 screens. In the meantime, the film dipped just 4% during its second weekend in Australia adding $769,000 on 258 screens to its total of $2.29 million there.
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April 26th, 2006
Ice Age: The Meltdown continues its international run adding another $40.23 million on 9034 screens in 60 markets to its total of $333.06 million on the international scene and $501.41 million worldwide. The film in now 43rd on the
All-Time Charts and is climbing the charts very quickly. It had a trio of openings in major markets taking first in Italy with $5.25 million on 538 screens but had to settle for second in South Korea with $1.41 million on 234 screens over the weekend and $1.55 million in total. In Japan the film was even weaker finishing in fourth place with $1.28 million on 465 screens, which is well below the $5000 per theatre average that separates the hits from the missing, so even with Golden Week holidays,
Ice Age: The Meltdown won't have much legs in the market. Its best market overall was Germany where the film remained first despite a post-East drop-off of 57% falling to $5.35 million on 1109 screens for a total of $48.60 million after three weeks there.
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April 23rd, 2006
The latest Asterix & Obelix movie, Asterix and the Vikings, opened in second place in native
France with $3.64 million on 606 screens. The film also made $167,000 during its second weekend in Belgium for a $454,000 two week total. These films are very popular in France and other parts of Europe, but have never made the transition here.
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April 12th, 2006
Ice Age: The Meltdown was even more unstoppable during its second weekend of release scoring $94.7 million on 8,216 screens in 45 markets, which was one of the greatest three-day weekend on the international charts ever. It was another weekend of record openings with the film taking the number one opening for an
animated film in several markets. Including in that list was Germany where the film opened with $14.16 million on 1061 screens over the weekend and $17.15 million including previews and the same can be said for its opening in Switzerland, ($2.76 million on 139 screens, $3.17 million including previews), and Denmark, ($1.27 million / $1.58 million on 92). Other huge openings include the U.K. with $17.02 million at 502 screens including previews, which was nearly 10 times its nearest
competition and France with $12.5 million on 858. It also opened in first place in Australia taking in $3.87 million on 388 screens, which is not as strong as most other markets it has opened in. The best holdover for the film was Mexico where it dropped just 39% to $5.31 million on 1012 screens over the weekend for a two-week total of $18.05 million. The film now has $156 million internationally and should break $300 million worldwide before the weekend. It goes without saying that both those totals are the best 2006 has had to offer so far.
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April 11th, 2006
Deep Sea 3-D is the latest IMAX Edutainment film.
While it started slower than expected, it has held on well, recently crossing $5 million in box office receipts.
This puts its on pace to top Magnificent Desolation, which is itself poised to reach $10 million shortly.
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April 5th, 2006
Ice Age: The Meltdown was nearly as impressive during its international debut as it was domestically with a weekend haul of $47.37 million on 4605 screens in 29 markets. The film set records in a couple of markets, include Mexico with an outstanding $8.85 million on 1083 screens, which was more than 20 times more than the next highest debuting film in that market. Other record setting openings came in Argentina with $1.2 million on 134 screens, Venezuela with $531,000 on 80, Ecuador with $278,000 on 30. It also has huge openings in Russia with $7.6 million on 460 screens and in Spain with $6.47 million on 449. Probably its most impressive numbers came in the U.K. where the film brought in $4.1 million in previews alone. Look for the film to open huge there next weekend.
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April 3rd, 2006
For the first time in a long, long time we have a bona fides hit topping the charts. Not only did
Ice Age: The Meltdown beat almost all expectations, but it single-handedly brought the 2006 box office out of its slump. The overall box office was $142 million, nearly half of which came from that one movie. This represents a 29.7% increase from last weekend and a 34% increase from last year. Year-to-date, 2006 is still behind 2005, but the deficit was cut in half to just 1%.
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March 31st, 2006
We have the first event movie of the year coming out this weekend. Yes, I realize I said that when V for Vendetta came out, but this time I mean it. In all seriousness, if Ice Age: The Meltdown doesn't have the best opening of the year, then the 2006 box office is pretty much sunk.
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March 29th, 2006
The Inside Man started its international run on top of the charts with $10.27 million on 1,588 screens in 19 markets. Its biggest market was the U.K. where it easily finished first with $3.15 million on 355 screens while Germany wasn't that far behind with $2.17 million on 297 screens. Other first place finishes came in Holland ($414,000 on 65 screens), and in Switzerland ($310,000 on 30) while the film had to settle for second in Mexico with $812,000 on 230 screens.
On the other hand, the film finished fourth in both Australia ($390,000 on 178 screens), and in Poland ($224,000 on 40).
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March 27th, 2006
The number one film of the weekend got off to a much stronger start than expected, and that helped the overall box office climb to $109 million over the weekend, which was 2.4% higher than last weekend.
It was also 9.8% higher than last year, stopping a five-week slump of year-to-year drop-offs, but 2006 is still behind 2005's pace by 2%
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March 24th, 2006
Three wide releases this weekend, and of those
two are not being screened for critics, which likely means the streak of terrible movies will continue. Fortunately, the
third wide release is earning the best reviews of any prospective number one the whole year. It could also beat
last year's weekend chart topper, but the overall market still seems weak and that will lead to yet another year-to-year drop-off.
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March 22nd, 2006
The Pink Panther repeated on top of the international charts with $12.55 million on 3616 screens in 37 markets and now has $46.68 million in total. This film's biggest market of the weekend was the U.K. where it opened in first place with $3.41 million on 403 screens. It also opened first in Russia with $1.64 million on 265 screens over the weekend and $1.88 million in total and second in New Zealand with $125,000 on 40 screens. Meanwhile, the film was down 39% in Germany to $1.29 million for the weekend and $3.82 million in total.
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March 20th, 2006
Another poor weekend at the box office saw the overall gross drop to $106 million, which is 3.6% lower than last weekend and 8.7% lower than the same weekend last year. Year-to-date, 2006 has now brought in $1.8 billion, which is about 2% lower than 2005's pace.
If this keeps up 2006 will be the second year in a row of declining box office revenue and the fourth year in a row of declining ticket sales.
It's not quite time to push the panic button yet, but it is certainly worrying.
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March 17th, 2006
The first event movie of the year comes out this week, and V for Vendetta should have no problem topping the charts.
However, there are other questions that are not so easily answered.
For instance, will it become the biggest opener of the year?
Will it help the box office keep pace with last year?
Can it become the first $100 million movie of the year?
At least two of those three questions will be answered by Monday.
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March 16th, 2006
Pretty average week with all best sites being previous award winners. The best of the rest was
Silent Hill -
Official Site, and even though this week's update wasn't huge, it was enough to make the overall site award-worthy.
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March 13th, 2006
Our second weekly box office prediction contest begins today. The prizes for this contest are from the recent releases, The Hills Have Eyes and include a T-shirt, double-sided poster, a plastic knife that you can wear so it looks like you have a knife through your head, and a squishy ball with eyeballs inside. Since that movie has already opened, we will be basing this contest on V for Vendetta, which is also opening this Friday. All you have to do to enter is predict the opening 3-day weekend (Friday to Sunday) gross for the movie. The winner will be whoever's prediction is closest to the actual result without going over. Entries must be received by 10am, Pacific Time on Friday to be eligible, so don't delay!
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March 9th, 2006
During the past week promotional websites for several movies were launched and some older ones added additional content. This week's winner was one of last week's best sites,
She's the Man -
Official Site, which added a lot of content this week including some old stuff that was off site for previous weeks.
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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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March 1st, 2006
This is a not as busy a month as it initially looks. Granted, there are 18 movies on this month's list, but there are five weekends, or at least five Fridays. Also, every week there's at least one film that may or may not be getting a truly wide release. Considering the level of competition, I'm leaning against any of five such films opening in more than 2000 theatres. On the plus side, we should see the
first $100 million movie of 2006 open this month, and perhaps even see
two movies reach that milestone.
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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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February 9th, 2006
During the past week promotional websites for several movies were launched and some older ones added additional content. It was the busiest week in more than a month, but there weren't many big launches or massive updates, so it is the slow-growing
V For Vendetta -
Official Site that earns the Weekly Website Award.
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February 2nd, 2006
During the past week promotional websites for several movies were launched and some older ones added additional content. It was another slow week with nothing really grabbing my attention and nothing award-winning, (although there are a couple of sites that show promise). Hopefully some of the summer blockbusters will start launching flash sites so this slump can end.
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February 1st, 2006
Roving Mars, the latest edutainment movie to hit
IMAX screens everywhere, was a hit taking in $412,000 on just 27 screens for an average of $15,272. This is a better start than both
Magnificent Desolation and
Wild Safari but not up to the level most DMR Hollywood releases earn.
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December 15th, 2005
During the past week promotional websites for several movies were launched and some older ones added additional content. We've hit another slow patch for movie websites, which is not unexpected since the most of the new site on this list are for films that open months from now so there's hardly any content, or open during the dead zone that is January. I would say the best of the rest would be
King Kong -
Official Site, but it is not strong enough to win the Weekly Website Award.
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November 17th, 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, however, it was a slow week for updates and I've decided not to award any site with the Weekly Website Award.
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November 10th, 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,
Aeon Flux -
Official Site
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August 4th, 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,
Broken Flowers -
Official Site.
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July 28th, 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,
Sky High -
Official Site.
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June 30th, 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,
Pretty Persuasion -
Official Site.
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June 16th, 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,
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory -
Official Site.
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May 26th, 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,
Cinderella Man -
Official Site.
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May 12th, 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,
Layer Cake -
Official Site.
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March 10th, 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,
Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous -
Official Site. If you know of any new movie websites not on this list feel free to
e-mail me with the details.
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