March 28th, 2012
The Adventures of Tintin led all new releases and took top spot on the Blu-ray sales chart. It sold 504,000 units and generated $11.09 million in opening week sales. This represents an opening Blu-ray share of very nearly 50%, which is an excellent start for a kids film.
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March 27th, 2012
Like last week, new releases dominated the DVD sales chart this week with three new releases topping the chart. The best of the best was Happy Feet Two with 896,000 units / $13.43 million during its first week on the home market. The film struggled at the box office, so this start on the home market is better than expected.
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March 13th, 2012
There are two themes this week. The first is Awards Season. There are no fewer than half a dozen Award Season players on this week's list, although one was a late review. Speaking of late reviews, that's the other theme on this week's list, as there are no fewer than eight releases on this week's list where I'm waiting for the screener to arrive. (This includes Wizards which arrived on Monday; however, screeners need to arrive by Friday if I'm to get the review done on time.) Unfortunately, there's a lot of crossover among these two groups and a few Pick of the Week candidates are late. For instance, My Week with Marilyn and Melancholia fit into both groups. Other screeners I'm waiting for that could be Pick of the Week are Wallace & Gromit: World of Invention and the aforementioned Wizards: 35th Anniversary Blu-ray, while The Guild: Season Five was up for that honor as well. However, in the end I went with The Descendants on Blu-ray Combo Pack.
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January 5th, 2012
The latest round of major nominations were released today with the WGA nominations. Like much of the rest of the previous announcements, the only surprise was the lack of surprises. Four of the five Original Screenplays earned other nominations in that category or other guild nominations. That number rises to five out of five for Adapted Screenplays. There's little doubt about what films are Oscar contenders at this point. The Documentary films category is a little more contentious, but it usually is.
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December 19th, 2011
Well, serves me right for being optimistic. The box office was again filled with disappointments and both wide releases missed expectations, which is bad. They missed expectations by a combined $30 million, which is a disaster. I was going to say, "At least it wasn't as bad as last week!", but that's damning it with faint praise. The overall box office did grow by 57% to $118 million; however, since last weekend was the worse weekend in a few years, this not a reason to celebrate. Compared to last year, the drop-off was 12%. With two weeks left in the year, 2011 is behind 2010's pace by 4% at $9.71 billion to $10.12 billion with no hope of catching up. At this point, the only thing to do is looking forward to 2012 and hope the slump we are in now doesn't extend past the new year.
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December 16th, 2011
The box office has given us disappointment after disappointment for a long time. It is getting to the point where no matter how strong a film looks on paper, I expect it to struggle at the box office. This week, we have three or four major releases, depending on how you define things. Both Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked and Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows are opening in roughly 3,700 theaters, while Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol is opening in 400 theaters and Young Adult is expanding into nearly 1,000 theaters. All four films should place within the top five. They should also do well when compared to last year's batch of new releases / expansions. The best new release from this week last year was Tron: Legacy, which made $44 million. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows should top that with ease, and the combined strength of the rest should help 2011 earn a solid win. Then again, I've said that before recently and ended up being disappointed the following Monday.
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December 16th, 2011
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced their nominations and the Awards Season picture started to look a whole lot clearer. The Artist led the way with six nominations, while The Descendents and The Help were right behind with five apiece.
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December 14th, 2011
Three new releases were able to reached the $10,000 mark on the per theater chart, while there were three holdovers that were able to join them. Leading the way was Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy with an outstanding average of $77,641 in four theaters. Young Adult opened with nearly the same total, but was playing in eight theaters giving it an average of $38,783. We Need to Talk About Kevin earned $24,587 in one theater during its Oscar qualifying run. A Dangerous Method spent its third weekend in the $10,000 club with an average of $19,234 in four theaters. However, it has seen in per theater average cut by more than half since its opening, and it has yet to expand. The Artist has also seen its per theater average fall, but it expanded its theater count to sixteen this past weekend and still earned an average of $18,460. It is already an art house success and will soon start earning some measure of mainstream success. Shame more than doubled its theater count, but hung onto a spot in the $10,000 club with an average of $13,496 in 21 theaters.
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December 11th, 2011
A dismal weekend is predicted all round this weekend, and the total box office is set to record its poorest score in three years, and its worst December weekend in over a decade. With Breaking Dawn, Part 1 continuing its rapid decline, and no hits coming out since, the top of the chart has a decidedly anemic look to it. New Year's Eve will be top with around $13.7 million, a number that is miles behind last year's $56.3 million debut for Valentine's Day. The Sitter will come second with $10 million, which is less of an embarrassment, given its edgier nature, but still well below par.
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December 9th, 2011
It's an excellent week for limited releases with several films earning reviews that are strong enough to suggest they can thrive in limited release (Tomatometer Scores of 80% positive or more). There are even a few that have reviews that are strong enough to suggest they will be players during Awards Season. Of these, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy probably has the best shot at winning awards, but Young Adult likely has the best shot at mainstream success.
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December 1st, 2011
Well... game over. At the beginning of November, 2011's total box office was $340 million behind 2010's pace. We needed that gap to be closed significantly by the end of the month, but it actually grew wider. So now that there's virtually no chance that 2011 will avoid a year-over-year decline at the box office, not unless there's a surprise Avatar coming out this month. But is there at least some hope for the next four weeks? Last December six films reach $100 million, including one that opened in limited release and expanded wide, but none reached $200 million. This year, four are practically sure bets at $100 million, including one or two that could reach $200 million. Plus, there are four others that should make between $75 million and $100 million. I doubt all of them will reach the century mark, but if one did, it wouldn't be a shock. Then there's a couple of limited releases that should expand wide and, maybe, if one of them becomes the big play during Awards Season, it could reach $100 million as well. Even if every film beat expectations, 2011 won't come out ahead. But maybe if enough do, we can at least end the year on a high note. Unfortunately it has come down to that. Instead of talking about the box office record being broken, we are hoping 2011 doesn't end on yet another sour note.
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