January 25th, 2012
Like it was on the DVD sales chart, there were three new releases to top the Blu-ray sales chart, although they finished in a slightly different order. Moneyball still led the way with 467,000 units / $9.74 million giving it an opening week Blu-ray share of 44%, which is excellent for a drama.
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January 24th, 2012
Moneyball led all new releases and the overall DVD sales chart with 601,000 units / $10.22 million during its first week of release.
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January 9th, 2012
It's a pretty good week on the home market, for this time of year, with a number of releases that are worth checking out. This includes big budget releases, like Moneyball on Blu-ray Combo Pack, as well as TV on DVD releases like Doctor Who: Story 71: Invasion of the Dinosaurs and Story 83: The Android Invasion, as well as smaller releases like Higher Ground on Blu-ray Combo Pack. Unfortunately, it's not a particularly deep week for releases, and it isn't long before we start getting to DVDs and Blu-rays that would be ignored during a typically busy week. Not only that, but I'm still waiting for screeners for a number of bigger releases. One of these, Boardwalk Empire: Season One on Blu-ray, is the most likely candidate for Pick of the Week.
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October 10th, 2011
October started out with mixed results and it seems for every bit of good news there was equal and opposite bad news. Real Steel topped expectations, but Ides of March did not. The overall box office slipped by 4% from last weekend to $95 million, but it was higher than the same weekend last year. Growth was under 2%, meaning ticket sales were weaker. Year-to-date, 2011 is still behind 2010, but the gap was narrowed to 3% at $8.11 billion to $8.39 billion. There's still a chance we can catch up, but we are running out of time and can't afford any missteps.
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October 6th, 2011
The winners of our Pick a Number contest were determined and they are...
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October 3rd, 2011
It was a good news / bad news weekend and the box office. First the bad news. Only one of the four new wide releases made any real impact and this led to a 16% drop-off from last weekend to just $99 million. The good news is that's still 4% higher than the same weekend last year. Year-to-date, 2011 is still behind 2010 by 3% at $7.99 billion to $8.27 billion, but at least there's a little hope left that we can turn things around, if October beats expectations.
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October 2nd, 2011
The industry's slow period in September and October is traditionally a dumping ground for films that the studios would rather forget, but it also presents an opportunity for movies that would otherwise be swamped by the competition at busier times of year. This weekend provides a perfect example of this phenomenon, with two pictures aimed at church-going families coming out the big winners. Dolphin Tale dropped just 25% in its second weekend to jump from third to first on the chart, overtaking Moneyball, which had a good second weekend (down 35% to $12.5 million) and The Lion King, which ran out of steam a bit, but still crossed $400 million at the box office. But the bigger surprise was the $8.8 million opening for Courageous from what must have been 1,161 carefully-chosen theaters. Its $7,580 per theater average comfortably tops the list among wide releases.
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September 29th, 2011
It's another busy week with three wide releases, plus another opening in just over 1,000 theaters, which is barely semi-wide. The widest release is What's Your Number?, but romantic comedies rarely have breakout success. The best-reviewed is 50/50, but its subject matter might make it hard to sell to audiences. Meanwhile, Dream House had an effective trailer, but there are still no reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. Courageous should grab a spot in the top ten, but it is not a sure bet. Unfortunately for the year-on-year comparison, none of the new releases look as strong as The Social Network, which opened this weekend last year. In fact, there's a slim chance all four of this year's wide release combined won't match The Social Network's $22.45 million. On the other hand, three of the four could crack $10 million, plus there are three holdovers that could do the same. Depth could be the key to victory in the year-over-year comparison.
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September 22nd, 2011
There are three wide releases opening next weekend, one of which is estimated to open in 3,000 theaters. That film is What's Your Number?, which may or may not be the number one film next weekend. What I can tell you is that 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 What's Your Number?.
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 Ferris Bueller's Day Off on Blu-ray.
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 Four Weddings and a Funeral on Blu-ray.
Finally, one additional entrant will be chosen and they will win a copy of Overboard 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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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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