The Apartment came out on Blu-ray a couple weeks ago, maybe. I received an offer to review the Blu-ray, I jumped at the chance, but then the Amazon.com link said, "Sign up to be notified when this item becomes available." However, I got a screener in the mail anyway, so maybe this is just an issue with Amazon, one that they will clear up shortly. In the meantime, how is the movie? And how is its Blu-ray debut. ]]>
There are two important dates in February: Valentine's Day and Presidents Day. This weekend deals with neither of those, so it is probably going to be a little soft at the box office. On the other hand, all three films opening this weekend, Big Miracle, Chronicle, and The Woman in Black, have overall positive reviews and are averaging around 75% positive (That might change by the end of the evening as more reviews come in.) By comparison, this weekend last year saw the release of The Roommate and Sanctum, both of which earned terrible reviews and neither of which earned a lot at the box office. Those two films combined earned just under $25 million over the weekend, while there's a slim, slim chance The Woman in Black will make that much by itself. Even on the low end, the top two new releases should match that, while this year appears to have the advantage with depth as well. I'm almost feeling optimistic. ... I may have just cursed the box office. ]]>
It was a good weekend for Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol. It crossed $200 million domestically and jumped back to first place on the international chart with $25.23 million on 6,411 screens in 56 markets. It now has $369.37 million internationally and $571.93 million worldwide, which is the best in the franchise. The film earned first place with $12.7 million on 3000 screens in China, but had to settle for second place in Italy with $3.01 million on 575. It will quickly cross $600 million worldwide, even though it has no more major markets left to open in. ]]>
2012 got off to a great start, with January earning four wins in a row in the year-over-year comparison and finishing the month with a double-digit lead over 2011's pace. This has made me very hopeful going forward. That said, there are fourteen films opening wide or being re-released wide in February, and I don't think there's a $100 million hit in the group. In fact, I don't think any will get all that close to the century mark. There are several that should be solid mid-level hits and with a little luck, half of them could reached $50 million and there are five that could reach $75 million. Last February, Just Go With It topped $100 million while Gnomeo and Juliet came within $33,000 of doing the same. We won't replicate that this year, so we have to hope for a lot more depth. If films like Safe House, Journey 2, Ghost Rider 2, The Phantom Menace: 3D and The Vow all meet expectations, then perhaps 2012 will continue its hot start. ]]>
January is typically a really bad month for the home market, and it is usually even worse for Blu-ray. Not only are there not many hits coming out, but those that are being released tend to be films that are better suited to DVD than Blu-ray (middling hits, dramas, etc.). This is certainly the case with this week's new releases. Leading the way on the Blu-ray sales chart was Ides of March, a political drama, with 116,000 units / $2.08 million. Its opening Blu-ray share was 39%, which is better than expected for the genre. ]]>
It was a mixed week on the home market as far as new releases were concerned. On the one hand, four of the top five spots on the DVD sales chart were new releases. On the other hand, they were the only new releases to reach the top 30. Courageous was the best of the bunch selling 381,000 units and generating $6.47 million in opening week sales. ]]>