May 19th, 2007
It was not a good week for new releases on the DVD rental chart.
None were able to take a spot in the top three, and this left Night at the Museum in first place with $7.38 million for the week and $28.01 million during its run.
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May 11th, 2007
For the past few weeks, new releases have dominated the home market, and while this week saw two holdovers in the top two spots, there were still plenty of new releases to place high on the charts. Leading the way were Night at the Museum with $9.08 million for the week and $20.64 million overall with Deja vu remaining in second place with $7.02 million this past week and $15.66 million in total.
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May 5th, 2007
New releases again dominated the rental charts as there were able to capture the top three spots, in fact, all three of these new releases were able to score more than last week's top film was able to. Leading the way was Night at the Museum with $11.56 million; this quite low compared to its theatrical box office of just over $250 million, but the younger target demographic explains this.
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April 24th, 2007
It's a busy week for DVD releases, but the signal to noise ratio is a little high, and that made it harder to find the DVDs that were truly worthy of attention.
(And even then, I went off track a couple of times.)
As for the DVD Pick of the Week, there is really only one choice for me, The Queen - Buy from Amazon.
However, I'm also giving that honor to Burning Annie - Buy from Amazon, which would have won a few weeks ago if I had got the right information on the quality of the DVD.
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April 8th, 2007
Norbit saw its weekend haul sliced neatly in half landing in sixth place with $4.09 million on 2270 screens in 39 markets for a total of $49.38 million. The film wasn't able to crack $1 million in any single market, but Italy came the closest with $940,000 on 263 screens for a two-week total of $3.19 million.
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March 25th, 2007
The French film, Taxi 4, just missed the top five with $3.94 million on 1255 screens in 7 markets for a total of $49.56 million. Obviously, most of that has come from France, $35.70 million in fact, but the film is also doing well in Russia with $10.63 million so far, including $2.22 million on 466 screens over the weekend.
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February 11th, 2007
Babel just missed the top five this past weekend and showed that
Oscar nods still meant something at the box office, at least internationally. The film added $5.16 million on 1467 screens for a total of $61.31 million so far. It was aided by a first place, $1.23 million opening on 256 screens in Russia, but that is one of the film's last significant openings.
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February 4th, 2007
For the second weekend in a row
Apocalypto earned sixth place on the international charts, this time pulling in 7.03 million on 2308 screens for a total of $47.42 million. Its best market of the weekend was Mexico where it had an easy first place finish with $2.43 million on 502 screens over the weekend and $2.66 million including previews. It was also strong during its second weekend in Spain as it was down 40% to $1.17 million on 284 screens for a total of $3.64 million.
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January 24th, 2007
Night at the Museum remained in first place, as it has since it opened four weeks ago, but this time it was involved in a relatively close race. The film added $14.84 million on 4391 screens in 45 markets for a total of $173.86 million. The film only had one new opening this weekend and that was in Uruguay where it opened with $38,000 on 13 screens; that may not seem like much, but it represents the fifth biggest opening ever in the market.
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January 21st, 2007
The Holiday slipped out of the top five this week, but still has plenty of reason to celebrate as the film hit $100 million on the international scene. Over the weekend it added $8.16 million on 3104 screens in 45 markets to its running tally of $102.54 million. This includes Mexico where the film opened with a respectable third place earning $711,000 on 230 screens while it took fourth place in Argentina with $153,000 on 40.
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January 15th, 2007
Apocalypto was the best of the rest this weekend pulling in $8.3 million over the weekend for a running tally of $20 million on the international scene. Its biggest single market was the U.K. where the film opened in third place with $2.62 million on 385 screens, (including very limited previews), which was a record for a
foreign language film. It did even better in Italy with $3.17 million on 316 screens placing second. Given the film's R-rating, it should outperform its domestic total giving it a target box office of over $100 million worldwide.
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January 7th, 2007
Since New Years Eve fell on a Sunday this year, there was precious little in terms of international box office numbers released this week. We have some studio estimates, some box office information for major markets, and some updated totals. But for the most, there's little to share.
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December 23rd, 2006
Curse of the Golden Flower started its international run in its native
China with a record breaking $12.27 million on 826 screens. That was almost enough to reach the top five falling just short to
Arthur & the Invisibles and its $12.47 million.
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December 17th, 2006
Open Season solidified its chances to reach $100 million with a first place debut in Italy. Over the weekend the film just managed to beat
Happy Feet $1.68 million to $1.66 million over the weekend, (with midweek numbers
Open Season earned $1.82 million on 430 screens). The film was not as successful in Japan with just $968,000 on 441 screens; with such a small per theatre average, it will likely disappear quickly from charts. Overall it earned $4.97 million on 3451 screens in 51 markets for a total of $87.16 million; and even with no major markets left to open in, it does have a great shot at $100 million before its run is over.
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December 11th, 2006
Saw III slipped another spot to sixth with $4.46 million on 1518 screens in 29 markets for an international total of $54.27 million. Its best opening of the weekend came in South Korea where it placed third with $1.08 million on 144 screens, which is the last major opening for the film this year.
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December 5th, 2006
Over the weekend all the holdovers were within a rounding error of expectations, but none of the new releases were able to come close to that.
This left the overall box office down 42% from last weekend at $93 million.
However, it was a post-holiday weekend and the large drop-off should surprise no one.
Compared to the same weekend last year, the overall box office was up 7% and that is a much more significant figure.
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December 3rd, 2006
Open Season only has a few more markets to open in and is starting to shed screens and markets; however, it sill managed sixth place with $4.08 million on 3489 screens in 49 markets for a two-month total of $76.58 million. This week the film opened in first place in both South Africa with $257,000 on 77 screens and in the Czech Republic with $79,000 on 23 screens.
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November 30th, 2006
The first weekend of December rarely brings us a big blockbuster, and this year is no different. Three films open wide, or in varying degrees of wideness, but none look to have the chops to take first place.
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November 28th, 2006
As was the case last year, the Thanksgiving long weekend was dominated by holdovers, with the number one film earning almost as much as the four new wide releases combined.
Over the 3-day weekend the total box office was $162 million, which was more than 10% higher than last weekend but more importantly it was just over 2% lower than the same weekend last year.
Over 5 days the top ten pulled in $197 million, or about 5% lower than the same weekend last year.
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November 24th, 2006
This week the list is abridged due to the holidays, but there are still a few good sites here. In fact, percent-wise, there are more good site than most weeks. However, the best site has already won the award while the rest don't quite reach the level of an Award-winning site. If I were to pick the best of the rest it would be
Dhoom 2: Back in Action -
Official Site.
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November 22nd, 2006
The Thanksgiving long weekend marks the beginning of the holiday season and is traditionally one of the biggest weekends of the year.
This year is no exception with four films opening wide, and two others adding a massive number of theaters.
However, despite the glut of new and expanding films, there's a very good chance that it will be a holdover that claims the top spot over the weekend.
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November 20th, 2006
It's the Thanksgiving long weekend and we have a lot to give thanks for.
Mainly the B.C. Lions winning the Grey Cup. To celebrate, our box office prediction contest will feature two movies.
First, there's the new Denzel Washington film, Deja Vu, and second there's the new Tony Scott movie, Deja Vu.
In order to win, one must simply predict the opening weekend box office of either Deja Vu.
Whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend (Friday to Sunday), without going over, will win Cars on DVD.
Meanwhile, the person who comes the closest to the film's opening 3-day weekend (Friday to Sunday), without going under, will win Accepted on DVD.
Important note: the movie opens on Wednesday, but we are only using the Friday to Sunday box office.
Entries must be received by 10 a.m., Pacific Time on Thursday to be eligible, so don't delay!
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November 18th, 2006
A lot of trailers on this week's list of websites. Not only were there a lot of site with just trailers, there were a few trailers without sites. On the other hand, there were also a few contenders for the Weekly Website Award. In the end it was
The Children of Men -
Official Site that took home that prestigious award.
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November 3rd, 2006
Slow week for websites with only one real contender for the weekly website award, (not counting those sites that have already won). Fortunately, that site,
Flushed Away -
Official Site, truly deserved to win.
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November 1st, 2006
Note: Article updated 11/18/2006 with correct budget for Harsh Times
It's that time of the month again, a time to look forward, but it is also a time to look back.
October was a stronger month than expected and, while there are a lot of reasons for that, I think one must pay particular attention to the play of Taylor Pyatt.
The departure of Anson Carter to free agency over the summer was troublesome and many felt finding a right winger for the Sedin twins was a key in maintaining or even improving upon last year's numbers.
Without good chemistry, Daniel and Henrik might have taken a step back this year.
However, with a team leading 6 goals, Taylor Pyatt is more than proving he can play with the speedy Swedes. ...
What?
Oh right, movies.
It was a pretty good month for movies as well.
November sees the beginning of the most important time of year for the movie industry.
Not only do the holidays start with Thanksgiving, but this is also the time of year that award season really heats up.
This means there is an excellent mix of blockbusters, especially family films, and critically acclaimed films hoping that first impressions are lasting impressions.
It also means there are several limited releases that could expand wide later in their run; these include Fur, Bobby, For Your Consideration and others.
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October 7th, 2006
Good week for websites, but most were smaller updates or new sites with just a few features. Two sites,
Happy Feet -
Official Site and
The Prestige -
Official Site, stood out above the crowd, but both will need a few more update to take home the Weekly Website Award.
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