June 29th, 2008
The Happening fell from first to fifth with just $14.05 million on 5579 screens in 65 markets for a total of $56.40 million after two weeks. Good news, it was able to remain in first place in France despite falling 60% to $1.93 million on 550 screens over the weekend for a total of $7.68 million after two. On the other hand, it fell from first to third in Spain down 65% to $1.20 million on 387 screens over the weekend for a total of $5.41 million after two. Even worse, it was down just under 80% in Italy and just over 80% in South Korea earning $367,000 on 338 screens and $206,000 on 293 screens respectively. Its totals of $2.77 million in the former and $2.18 million in the latter are hardly impressive, and well below its domestic run. This is a shocking decline, especially since films tend to have better legs internationally than they have domestically. And while it should earn more on the international marketplace, there's little hope of reaching $200 million worldwide now.
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April 1st, 2008
A mixed week when it comes to top-notch releases and there were very few that caught my eye. There are several that are worth picking up, but only Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Baker Street - 2-Disc Special Edition was a contender for DVD Pick of the Week.
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March 23rd, 2008
There were eight new releases to chart this week, including seven of the top eight spots. Needless to say, we had a new sales champion with Bee Movie leading the way with 1.41 million units sold for total revenue of $23.09 million. That isn't the best start of the year, but it is close. In fact, the film is already the ninth best-selling DVD of 2008
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March 23rd, 2008
New releases took the top four spots on the rental chart this week including No Country for Old Men, which earned first place with $10.20 million during its opening week.
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March 11th, 2008
A rather slow week for new releases, which is good because three DVDs arrived late last week and I was able to get caught up on spotlight reviews. (Actually, I'm not completely caught up as at least one failed to show up in time for this week.) As for the DVD Pick of the Week, the obvious choice would seem to be No Country for Old Men, but the lackluster DVD just screams double-dip and in the end I went with Stargate - Ark of Truth - Buy from Amazon instead.
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January 22nd, 2008
The Oscar nominations were announced today and there is no shortage of contenders.
In fact, with no real juggernaut to deal with, the competition is more up in the air that most years.
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December 23rd, 2007
For many people reading this, it is December 24th. Christmas Eve. If you haven't got all of your Christmas shopping done, may I offer a word of advice... AAAAHHHHHHHHHH! But don't worry, you are not along. December 24th is the busiest shopping day of the year. Granted, a lot of it is people buying food for the next day, but at least a few people are looking for last minute gifts. This week we are looking at the... well... anything. Anything that pops into my head that I think would make a good gift. And there are some that might not, but we are getting into desperation time.
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December 16th, 2007
The Heartbreak Kid slipped a spot to sixth with $5.04 million on 2029 screens in 46 markets for a total of $79.44 million internationally, which is more than twice what it earned domestically. This includes France where it pulled in $1.10 million on 320 screens while lifting its running tally to $3.37 million in that market.
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December 11th, 2007
The box office has been soft practically since summer ended, but things are starting to get desperate.
This was another week of significant declines at the box office, with overall business of just $82 million.
That's down more than 2% from last weekend, and, more significantly, down more than 15% from the same weekend last year.
Year-to-date, 2007 is still ahead in terms of raw dollars, but ticket sales are now trailing last year's pace.
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December 9th, 2007
Bee Movie returned to the charts in sixth place with $6.71 million on 1288 screens in 11 markets for an early international total of $19.43 million after a month of release. This includes a pair of first place debuts in Spain and Mexico. In the former it earned $2.81 million on 421 screens while in the latter is earned $2.60 million on 389 screens. While Spain is the larger marker, I thought the family friendly nature of Mexico would give it the edge. Even so, there are great openings for the film.
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December 7th, 2007
Next weekend I Am Legend opens wide and is the clear favorite to finish in first place at the box office, it is also the target movie in this week's box office prediction contest.
To win, one must simply predict the box office opening for I Am Legend.
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 Tony Hawk's Secret Skatepark Tour - Volume 2.
Meanwhile, whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend box office (Friday to Sunday), without going under, will also win a copy of Tony Hawk's Secret Skatepark Tour - Volume 2.
In addition, one other entry chosen arbitrarily will win a copy of August Rush Soundtrack.
Entries must be received by 10 a.m., Pacific Time on Friday to be eligible, so don't delay!
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December 6th, 2007
It's another slow week for wide releases -- like last weekend, there's only one.
However, His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass should do significantly better than last week's Awake.
It better do significantly better or the holiday season is in real trouble.
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December 3rd, 2007
There were very few shocks at the box office this weekend as Enchanted remained the dominant film.
However, there was an unsettling malaise as the overall box office reached just $85 million.
This is barely more than half of last weekend's $162 million holiday-inflated haul, but that was to be expected.
What wasn't as expected was the 8% drop-off from the same weekend last year.
At the moment, 2007 is ahead of 2006 in terms of box office and ticket sales.
However, while a gain at the box office is academic at this point, a slide in ticket sales is likely if things don't turn around.
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November 29th, 2007
The weekend after Thanksgiving is the only slow weekend during the entire Holiday Season.
So it comes as no surprise that only one movie is opening wide, but it is a bit surprising that the weekend is a weak as it is.
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November 27th, 2007
Thanksgiving provided plenty of reasons for studios to give thanks, especially since every single film managed to earn enough to be called a hit in one form or other.
Even the weakest releases of the week did well compared to their modest costs.
Overall, the box office brought in $162 million over three days, which is 55% more than last weekend.
More importantly, it is virtually identical to the same weekend last year.
Over five days, movies earned an estimated $229 million, which is up just shy of 2% from last year.
This is great news after a Fall that most would like to forget, but the growth is still lower than ticket price inflation, meaning actual attendance was down.
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November 25th, 2007
As expected, Enchanted won the Thanksgiving box office race, according to studio estimates released on Sunday.
With a solid $35 million over the three day weekend, and $50 million in five days, the family fantasy had an excellent debut.
If strong reviews translate into good word-of-mouth, this could be the first blockbuster of the Holiday Season.
The biggest surprise of the weekend, though, was This Christmas, which blew past its tracking numbers and beat everyone's expectations with an estimated $18.6 million in just 1,858 theaters.
It has already notched up $27.1 million in its first five days.
Also out-performing expectations was Hitman, which finished fourth with a very creditable $13.035 million.
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November 24th, 2007
There are not a whole lot of movies on this week's list, but at least we had a race for top spot with both This Christmas - Official Site and Enchanted - Official Site. Both had their strong points, but in the end Enchanted was able to take home the crown.
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November 21st, 2007
The five-day Thanksgiving long weekend officially starts tonight, as does the lucrative holiday weekend. From now until the New Year, there we should see hit after hit released, as well as a number of Oscar contenders.
With the box office slowing down, this couldn't come at a better time.
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November 15th, 2007
It's looking like 2007 is going to end on a really soft note. Since mid-September, only one weekend has been above the same weekend last year, and there's almost no chance that things will turn around this weekend. This time last year, we had two $40 million openers. This weekend, we might not have a single film top $30 million.
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November 1st, 2007
After a horrible October, we finally get to November and the start of the holiday season.
Just like the summer season doesn't officially begin until Memorial Day, the winter holiday season doesn't officially begin until the Thanksgiving long weekend.
However, studios are trying to stretch the lucrative box office season as long as possible and the holiday-like releases start during the first weekend of the month.
This means practically every weekend this month, there's at least one potential $100 million movie. There are also a few that might be Oscar contenders, although not as many as I had expected.
In fact, so far Award Season has been particularly slow, but at least this means there should be more buzz surrounding the upcoming films as the race is wide open.
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October 14th, 2007
Quite a few full sites launched this week, but as is the case most times, there were pretty Spartan at the moment and it will take a few more updates before we can tell if they are award-worthy or not. That said, it was a site for a movie that opens this week, Lars and the Real Girl - Official Site, that won the top prize as it finished adding all the material marked coming soon this week.
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September 22nd, 2007
Not a long list this week, but at least we had a clear winner for the Weekly Website Award, Resident Evil: Extinction - Official Site. IN the coming weeks we should see some big sites launch as award season starts to heat up.
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August 12th, 2007
Another good week for movie sites with a few sites that either won in the past or could win in the future. This includes this weeks winner, The Brothers Solomon - Official Site.
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August 5th, 2007
This week's round of new movie release information contains release dates for Fame, Watchmen, Shrek 4 and more.
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June 30th, 2007
One of the slowest weeks I can remember for this list, but at least we have a top-notch site to give the Weekly Website Award to: Ratatouille - Official Site.
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April 1st, 2007
This week's round of new movie release information contains release dates for The Nanny Diaries, Sweeney Todd, The Happening and more.
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