January 16th, 2013
There were not many new releases to reach the top 30 on the November 25th edition of the DVD sales chart. This is not a surprise, as it was the Thanksgiving Sales weekend and holdovers tend to dominate the chart. Brave remained in top spot with 1.59 million units / $27.28 million during its second week of release. At this point, it had sold 3.75 million units and generated $61.79 million, which was enough for sixth place for 2012.
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May 23rd, 2012
There was a weird mix of new releases and ancient holdovers on the top of the DVD sales chart this week. (Maybe "ancient" is overstating things.) Leading the way was The Vow with an impressive opening week sales of 810,000 units / $13.76 million. Given its domestic box office numbers, this is a great start and it is likely already profitable.
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February 23rd, 2012
With our annual Oscar Prediction contest underway, now is the best time to look at the nominees and try and figure out who the favorites are and which films should just feel honored to be nominated. Today we will look at the two writing categories, finishing with Best Original Screenplay. This race could be closer than it looks at first, as differences in rules affected the WGA nominations, but will there be an upset?
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February 15th, 2012
With our annual Oscar Prediction contest underway, now is the best time to look at the nominees and try and figure out who the favorites are and which films should just feel honored to be nominated. This week we will look at the four acting categories, starting with Best Supporting Actress, which is possibly the least competitive this year, and not just the least competitive acting category, but the least competitive overall.
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January 24th, 2012
Yesterday was one of the biggest days during Awards Season as The Oscar nominations were announced in the morning. It was a two horse race for top spot as far as the big winners are concerned. Hugo earned the most nominations with eleven, while The Artist was right behind with ten. However, one could argue The Artist is the bigger winner, as more of its nominations were in the more prestigious categories.
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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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January 4th, 2012
The nominees for this year's Producers Guild of America were announced and there were not a lot of surprises. For instance, nine of the ten nominees for Theatrical Motion Pictures also earned Golden Globe Nominations for either Best Drama or Best Musical / Comedy. Four of the five Animated films also did the same. It does make the Awards Season picture a lot clearer going forward, but it makes coming up with something to say much harder.
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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 15th, 2011
The SAG nominations were handed out this week, and while The Help led the way with four nods, it wasn't the only film that earned multiple nominations.
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December 13th, 2011
We are in the final stretch for the Christmas shopping season, but there are still few more summer blockbusters coming out from now till Christmas week. This time around, there were half a dozen new releases on this week's DVD sales chart, led by The Smurfs with 491,000 units / $8.34 million. For a kids' film that sold more than $140 million in tickets, this is slow start.
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December 6th, 2011
Cars 2 returned to top spot on the DVD Sales Chart this week thanks in part to Black Friday sales. Over the week it sold 1.06 million units, lifting its totals to 3.86 million units / $61.14 million putting into fourth place for 2011.
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November 23rd, 2011
This weekend is Thanksgiving and as always that means Black Friday and Cyber Monday plus 48 hours of shopping in-between. And as always, I've already done my Christmas shopping, for the most part. (I'm still waiting to see if the B.C.Lions win the Grey Cup. If not, I'll need to look for an alternative gift.) For everyone else who is still searching, we present the first part in our annual Holiday Gift Guide. As usual, the gift guide is divided into several sections, starting with Major Movie Releases. These are first run releases, franchise box sets, etc. However, before we get into the individual titles, we will start with an update on...
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October 19th, 2011
A pair of powerful new releases helped push the Blu-ray sales chart to record levels. The Lion King led the way with 1.57 million units sold, earning $46.46 million. If you add in The Trilogy Box Set, which sold 44,000 units / $3.33 million, the film earned nearly $50 million in opening week sales. I wasn't expecting it to sell this well.
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October 18th, 2011
The list of new releases to reach the top 30 on this week's DVD sales chart was short with only two such DVDs. This does include a new number one film, Fast Five, which sold 851,000 units while generating $13.92 million during its first week of release.
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October 14th, 2011
Transformers: Dark of the Moon dominated the new releases and the Blu-ray sales chart in a way few films have managed. It sold 1.42 million units generating $29.66 million from Friday through Sunday. Its opening Blu-ray ratio was 64%, which is a record for a first-run release. It also represented 68% of all Blu-rays sold, which is mind-boggling.
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October 12th, 2011
There were only three new releases to reach the top 30 on this week's DVD Sales Chart, but all three placed high on the list. Leading the way was Transformers: Dark of the Moon with 796,000 units / $13.53 million from Friday through Sunday. This is lower than Bridesmaids opened with last week, but this was a Friday release, so that does have some effect. I'm still a little disappointed in the film's DVD sales, but hopefully it was much stronger on Blu-ray.
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October 5th, 2011
Bridesmaids led the way on the Blu-ray sales chart, just as it did on the DVD sales chart. It was by far the best new release selling 593,000 units and generating $13.30 million in revenue. Its opening week Blu-ray ratio was 30%, which is very high for this type of release and further proof Blu-ray is taking over from DVD.
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October 5th, 2011
New releases were again dominated by TV on DVD releases representing five of the eight new DVDs to reach the top 30 on this week's DVD sales chart. However, none of them reached the top five. The best of these new releases was Bridesmaids with 1.37 million units / $21.44 million in opening week sales.
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September 28th, 2011
There are three major releases on this week's Blu-ray sales chart, including one that was released a little early, and one that was released a little late. Leading the way in terms of units sold is Thor with 799,000 units / $22.00 million. Its opening Blu-ray ratio was just a hair under 50% and that's a figure that will quickly become the norm for blockbuster releases.
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September 20th, 2011
It's another incredibly busy week on the home market with over 400 new releases on Amazon.com. Granted, the vast majority of them are not worth mentioning, while the signal to noise ratio seems to be lower than the average week. There are several major releases coming out in this group, including a few that are prime contender for Pick of the Week. Bridesmaids on Blu-ray Combo Pack, Castle: Season Three, and Dumbo: Blu-ray Combo Pack were all on the shortlist. But in the end, that honor went to Modern Family: Season Two.
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September 20th, 2011
While there were high hopes for Bridesmaids in terms of critical reception, it wasn't expected to be a huge hit in theaters. Female driven comedies are generally a hard sell at the box office. R-rated ones are practically unheard of. It opened with respectable numbers, but nothing too special. Then its legs kicked in. In the end, the film earned more than $160 million and topped such films as X-Men: First Class and Green Lantern, both of which opened with twice as much money as Bridesmaids did. Is it really as good as its box office numbers would indicate. Or will I be one of the few to fail to see its appeal.
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August 24th, 2011
The Smurfs remained in first place with $35.18 million on 10,737 screens in 47 markets for a total of $211.52 million internationally and $329.07 million worldwide. The film had no major market openings this past weekend, but did add $3.95 million on 504 screens during its third weekend in Brazil and it now has $21.91 million in that market. That's like earning more than $200 million domestically. With openings in Italy, Japan, and Australia still ahead, the film should have no trouble getting to $400 million worldwide, which means it is on pace to earn a profit before the home market.
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June 29th, 2011
In a battle of digitally animated sequels, Cars 2 came out on top with $39.23 million on 4,873 screens in 25 markets for a total opening of $43.98 million. Its best market was Russia where it opened in first place with $9.42 million on 950 screens. By comparison, the original Cars made $4 million in that market, in total. The film was also very strong in Mexico with $8.08 million on 1,981 screens and in Brazil with $5.29 million on 747 screens over the weekend for a total opening of $7.04 million. The film had to deal with direct competition in Australia, but still came out on top with $5.13 million. The final major market it debuted in was Italy, where it earned $3.86 million on 834 screens over the weekend for a total opening of $5.71 million. Overall, the film more than doubled the debuts of Cars in the markets it opened in, while it was on par with Toys 3's openings. Granted, it likely won't have the same legs, but this is still a great start.
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June 19th, 2011
As expected, Green Lantern led the way at the box office this weekend, based on studio estimates released on Sunday, but a weak performance on Saturday and an expected further decline on Sunday will leave it with a fairly modest $52.69 million weekend, according to Warner Bros.' estimate. That puts it behind X-Men: First Class ($55 million) and Thor ($66 million) so far as opening weekends for superhero movies are concerned, and its reviews suggest it won't have the legs of the other two. Mr. Popper's Penguins also under-performed compared to original expectations, although its $18.2 million debut is in line with the numbers Fox was expecting going in to the weekend.
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June 2nd, 2011
After a record-breaking Memorial Day long weekend, the industry is hoping to maintain that momentum throughout the summer. There's only one wide release to deal with this weekend, X-Men: First Class, but most analysts expect it to earn more than the four wide releases earned in total this weekend last year. Add in stronger holdovers, and every indication says there should be a solid win for 2011 in the year-over-year comparison.
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May 31st, 2011
Records were broken on Memorial Day long weekend, which makes the weekend one to remember. Ironic then that the biggest hit of the weekend was a film about people who can't remember the night before. Yes, The Hangover 2 easily took top spot, while Kung Fu Panda 2 was disappointingly far behind. On the other hand, it still earned more than last year's number one film, Shrek Forever After, so it at least pulled its weight. Overall, the three-day box office was a very healthy $223 million, or 33% more than last weekend and 47% more than the same weekend last year. Over four days, the box office pulled in $277 million, or 44% more than last year. Those figures were both records for biggest Memorial Day long weekend ever, crushing 2007's offering by $22 million. Year-to-date, 2011 now has $4.02 billion and has cut the gap with 2010 to just over 8% at $4.38 billion. If the rest of the summer is as strong as May was, we could be in good shape going into the fall.
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May 26th, 2011
It's Memorial Day long weekend, which is one of the most important weekends of the year. Not only is it one of the most lucrative, but it can help set the tone for the rest of summer. 30 million people going to theaters, each seeing countless posters, trailers, etc. for upcoming releases is a boon for the marketing for those film. This is why when both new releases failed to make an impact last year, it was such a devastating result. This time around, there are two sequels opening, Kung Fu Panda 2 and The Hangover 2, both of which should earn more individually than Sex and the City 2 and Prince of Persia earned combined. There's a slim chance one will dominate the other, but in that case, the overall box office should still be a large step up from last year. But the best case scenario has both of them becoming monster hits, and that would have a positive effect on the rest of the box office for weeks to come.
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May 23rd, 2011
We had a reason to celebrate this weekend as On Stranger Tides had the best opening of any film so far in 2011, even if it was a little weaker than expected. This helped the overall box office grow nearly 20% from last weekend to $167 million, which is 12% higher than the same weekend last year. Year-to-date, 2011 is still behind 2010 by $3.65 billion to $4.13 billion, but the gap is down to 11.6% and the box office is moving in the right direction.
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May 22nd, 2011
While a $90 million opening is nothing to sniff at, and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides will most likely become, briefly, 2011's top-grossing movie, the film's performance puts Disney in an interesting position. On the one hand, its international performance so far has been impressive, and there's a good chance it will end with $700 million or so outside North America. That alone will make it a highly-profitable movie. But domestically it will most likely top out around $250 million, which won't take much of a chunk out of its estimated $250 million production budget, and home video sales are unlikely to come anywhere near the kind of numbers posted by previous movies in the franchise. So from a purely domestic perspective, it would be tempting to scale back or retire the franchise. But the international demand clearly suggests it has some life yet.
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May 19th, 2011
Not to put too fine a point on it, but so far 2011 has been a terrible year at the box office. Granted, the past month or so have been better, but if we were to extrapolate the total box office based on how we've done so far, we'd have the worst year in a decade in terms of dollars, and way longer than that in terms of tickets sold. This really should change this weekend with the release of On Stranger Tides, which should earn more than Shrek Forever After, last year's number one film, with relative ease. In fact, it might earn more than the top five combined did last year.
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May 18th, 2011
The winners of our Better Hustle contest were determined and they are...
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May 17th, 2011
L'Amour Fou was the only film to top the $10,000 mark on the per theater chart, earning first place with an average of $18,625 in two theaters. The number two film on the overall box office chart, Bridesmaids, did at least come relatively close with an average of $8,995.
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May 16th, 2011
A stronger than expected hold by Thor and a better than expected debut by Bridesmaids helped 2011 earn a surprise win in the year-over-year comparison. Granted, with an overall haul of $140 million, it was 16% lower than last weekend, but it topped the same weekend last year... By less than $1 million. Hey, a win is a win and I'll take it. Year-to-date, 2011 is still behind 2010 by $500 million at $3.44 billion to $3.94 billion, but we could see that gap close next weekend.
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May 15th, 2011
A bigger-than-expected opening for Bridesmaids gave the market a welcome shot in the arm this weekend, according to studio estimates. While the comedy didn't top the weekend, it did top most predictions (although C.S. just about nailed it in his Friday column) with an estimated debut of $24.4 million, continuing an excellent run for Universal after a long stretch of under-performance. Thor remained top of the chart though, and will drop a respectable 47% according to Paramount's figures. That puts it on track for about $170 million in total, which isn't bad for the first outing in a franchise, although hardly record-breaking.
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May 12th, 2011
With no blockbuster releases this weekend, Thor seems set to repeat at the box office champion. This will likely result in a pretty big decline from last weekend's total box office, and there's almost no chance the box office will keep pace with last year. Hopefully next weekend things will turn around.
Thor has to deal with direct competition and the Fanboy Effect this weekend. On the positive side, it also has strong reviews and neither of the new films are expected to be monster hits. The combination of factors makes a 50% drop-off likely, while a fall as much as 60% would not be a large surprise.
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May 5th, 2011
After two weeks of massive hits, next weekend neither film seems likely to be anything more than a midlevel hit. This makes it all the more difficult to pick a target film in this week's box office prediction contest. Bridesmaids is not your typical blockbuster, but I think it has a better than 50% shot at outperforming Priest in 3D and as such 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 Bridesmaids. Meanwhile, all three prizes are from Fox's Father's Day collection of Blu-ray releases.
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 The Hustler 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 also win a copy of The Comancheros on Blu-ray.
Finally, one additional entrant will be chosen and they will win the final copy of Tigerland on Blu-ray.
Entries must be received by 10 a.m., Pacific Time on Friday to be eligible, so don't delay!
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May 1st, 2011
Summer is officially upon us and after a depressing start to the year, we finally have some reason to be optimistic. April produced a few films that were stronger than expected and the last three weekends have produced wins in the year-over-year comparison. Granted, 2011 is a long way from matching 2010's pace, but if we can earn a few more wins this month, we could be in good shape going forward. In comparison with last May, the month starts off slowly this year, but comes on really strong by the end and looks much healthier overall. In fact, last May there were only three films to make more than $100 million at the box office. (Granted, two others came very close.) This year there are four films that might open with more than $100 million. Right now 2010 has about a $500 million lead on 2011, but hopefully by the end of the month that lead will be down to $300 million.
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